The Faults of Gen VII

[Xuxuba]

Too many cut scenes and just detours in general. I hated how I could barely walk a dozen steps and then suddenly someone would show up and start talking to me regarding some sub plot that I needed to do.

The worst part is that many of these cutscenes were completely irrelevant.

Like, no, i don't need an entire cutscene of Hau talking about Malasadas and eating them. This kind of thing should be optional dialogue, not obligatory cutscene, ffs.

Can i just go back to playing the game instead of having them interrupt me every single time?

 

[Mega Ampharos the Dragon]

I hate that in USUM, there was no Looker side plot at the end (which also got me disappointed about ORAS). I also hate that Alola seemed way smaller than Hoenn or Kalos. Strangely, I also hated that they took out HMs!!! Although I also hate the lack of National Pokedex, the Amie, and Super Training. I do like the new SOS thing since I got a lot of shinies outa that. It's the reason I caught my first shiny pokemon, a golden Magikarp.

 

[Rio!]

Alright just got done actually completing the NatDex and as much as I enjoyed the pokemon themselves, the region and mechanics were eeeh.

- I'm not a z-move fan at all. The only ones that had any merit and were actually i interesting to watch were of course, the personalized ones this gen, especially ultra necrozma's. Otherwise it looks really cheap and awkward for the sprite itself. Makes sense because trying to animate 800+ pokemon with 16 z-move types total is ridiculous, but a poor implementation.

- The sprites in the Dex appear to have been badly compressed, and while I like the idea of them, the quality isn't that great at all.

- Speaking of Dex...the lack of a Nat Dex. Really, we went through the trouble of it getting fixed for gen 6 now we're right back where we started? Not cool.

- Rotom is something else all together, neat concept but does it *have* to talk to the point it messes with me trying to access the map? -_-

- I don't mind cutscenes as much, but one kinda does when they're frequent and unskippable. It makes replays not as fun at all, and feels drawn out.

- The fest.plaza is a thing on itself, I still prefer the rss feed that was going on. Still glitchy, but easier to seek out people willing to trade/battle and get across what you wanted.

- Please for the love of all that's good, quit shoe horning in kanto! There were some admittedly nice designs, but the idea behind them felt shallow. Why is it only kanto was exclusive to this, as well as the ice stone?

I overall wish this game hadn't been split the way it was, especially with how practically identical the game was. Really hope that co.e switch era, the game is resolved in the first pair, not making you feel as though you bought the slightly improved version a year or two down the road. Make it worth 60 GF!

 

[Leonhart]

I hate that in USUM, there was no Looker side plot at the end (which also got me disappointed about ORAS). I also hate that Alola seemed way smaller than Hoenn or Kalos. Strangely, I also hated that they took out HMs!!! Although I also hate the lack of National Pokedex, the Amie, and Super Training. I do like the new SOS thing since I got a lot of shinies outa that. It's the reason I caught my first shiny pokemon, a golden Magikarp.

I dislike the SOS battle feature, at least in the beginning of the games since it made catching Pokemon somewhat more challenging. As for the Handsome (Looker) plot exclusion in US/UM, I agree that that was a flaw.

 

[Mega Ampharos the Dragon]

I dislike the SOS battle feature, at least in the beginning of the games since it made catching Pokemon somewhat more challenging. As for the Handsome (Looker) plot exclusion in US/UM, I agree that that was a flaw.

At the beginning, it gets annoying, but there isn't much of a chance of them doing it unless you bring it down to 1 HP, have a LV 50 or above on your team, or use the Adrenaline Orb. Although, I hated that the Totems would always call for help.

 

[Leonhart]

I can't believe I missed the most obvious flaw of Gen VII: the Pokemon that were exclusive to US/UM. I dislike the fact that I can't use Zeraora or one of the new US/UM Ultra Beasts in the regular S/M games since they're not in the data even though they're all from the same generation. Same goes for Meltan and Melmetal being exclusive to the Kanto remakes on the Switch even though they're from Gen VII as well.

 

[Mega Ampharos the Dragon]

Same goes for Meltan and Melmetal being exclusive to the Kanto remakes on the Switch even though they're from Gen VII as well.

I thought Meltan and Melmetal were suppost to be for Gen VIII, am I wrong?

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I thought Meltan and Melmetal were suppost to be for Gen VIII, am I wrong?

It’s a very odd situation as to when they were intended to be revealed in which Gen. You could say they’re Gen VIII Pokémon that were revealed and released before their Gen which is a very common thing with the franchise but then they are playable and part of the Pokedex in LGPE and those games are part of Gen VII. We’ve never had a situation like this before since the Pokémon introduced in USUM were clearly intended to be Gen VII, Meltang and Melmetal aren’t so clear.

 

[Ariki]

As I reflect further on Gen VII I’d have to say that not having developed lore for most of its mythicals is a disappointment and while I enjoyed US I felt they could have done more with the storyline could have developed the homes of the UBs more.

Oh and that no Gen VII game has all 88 Gen VII pokemon available in one single Gen VII game.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Oh and that no Gen VII game has all 88 Gen VII pokemon available in one single Gen VII game.

Version exclusives are a staple of the games. If GF made a game with every Pokémon that debuted in that Gen, then no one would want to buy or play the other versions.

 

[Ariki]

Version exclusives are a staple of the games. If GF made a game with every Pokémon that debuted in that Gen, then no one would want to buy or play the other versions.

But I’m not referring to version exclusives, I’m referring to the data itself eg Totem Marowak not being available in Sun and Moon or say Meltan in USUM. A definitive Gen VII game that collates together every Pokemon and associated formé if you will.

 

[BTS_fan]

The fact that there wasn't a National Dex in these games. It felt like Gamefreak was being lazy by only giving about 400 Pokemon Dex entries while ignoring the rest.

 

[Lion Demon]

No Alolan Water Growlithe or Water/Dragon Arcanine.

Now that I come to think about it, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon could have given us more Alolan Forms but that opportunity was wasted.

 

[Leonhart]

I thought Meltan and Melmetal were suppost to be for Gen VIII, am I wrong?

I don't know if we've had official confirmation on that, but I've considered them to be part of Gen VII simply because they were made available in Pokemon GO during this generation. But my main point was that I dislike how Game Freak handled the new Pokemon situation since they didn't patch the new ones from US/UM and LGPE into S/M.

 

[Argentarus]

I don't know if we've had official confirmation on that, but I've considered them to be part of Gen VII simply because they were made available in Pokemon GO during this generation.

Meltan and Melmetal were confirmed to be Gen VII. LGPE are also Gen VII games, too. New generations are always started with a new region.

 

[Shawn Anthony]

Festival Plaza isn’t the best and no NationalDex! Other than that, I’ve put quite a few hours into Gen 7 and have really enjoyed it.

 

[catzeye]

As I've written this out I've realized how much I actually dislike this generation. I appreciate it's attempts to shake things up but the execution failed so hard in my opinion that it turned what could have been the best 3DS entry into just okay.

1. No Optional Tutorials: I'm not opposed to Pokemon Games having tutorials whatsoever as it is a broad appeal game so it's needed for the kids. But I don't want to be forced to go through something that I've known how to do since playing Pokemon Ruby
2. No Skippable Cutscene: I really did like the cutscenes (I'm a sucker for cinematics in games) but I understand that others don't and should be allowed to skip it (especially for replays).
3. Alolan Forms: I actually REALLY LIKE the concept as it fits well into real word biology (many species having slight variations depending on their location) and it's something I'd like to see continue. My issue is that it was stuck to Gen 1 pandering. I give it credit for choosing Pokemon such as Muk, Ninetales and Raichu (who don't always get as much love as Pikachu/Charizard/Gengar/Mewtwo) but I would have love to see some Alolan forms like Tropius, Sunflora, etc in addition to Gen 1 mons
4. Festival Plaza: It sucked.
5. Too many legendaries/Mythicals: I'm personality not a fan of having a crap ton of legendaries/mythicals being introduced in each gym as it cheapens the appeal for me. This is especially true now that the number of Pokemon introduced in a gen is getting reduced. I'm also not that much of a fan of them evolving. I prefer forms for legendaries/mythicals personally.
6. Ultra Beasts: I have a love/hate relationship with the ultra beasts. I appreciate the attempt to use them as allegories for invasive species, but like the legendaries/mythicals I think too many were added relative to the regular mons. They could have stuck to like 2-3 lines of ultra beasts and it still could have had a similar impact.
7. Trials: Like the Alolan Forms, I actually REALLY LIKE the idea of having a non-gym quest. It made Alola feel unique. The issue is that the execution was poor in so many ways. For one I don't think the lore behind the trials was explored sufficiently enough. Like what is the perk of actually winning the island trial? Do Island Trial Champions get special status in the Alolan community? Are rejects actually shut out of opportunities in Alola like if it's known you never completed the trials are you passed over for regular jobs in favor or someone who did? Why is there a cutoff age for the trial captains and not a kahuna? Why doesn't trial captaincy pay? Is there a time limit you have to complete it? What makes a trial captain worthy of it? Why are there so few captains compared to possible trials? Why can't we battle more captains as part of the trial?
8. Kahunas: Again I like the concept but they could have done more with the Kahunas. As someone mentioned upthread, why didn't the Kahuna's Pokemon get auras? It would have tied in to the story a lot better seeing as they are chosen by the Tapus. They should get a special perk other than "woo, some random legendary chose me".
9. Totem Pokemon: Again, liked the concept hated the execution. I think SOS battles should have only been with the Totem Pokemon to make them unique. Also in USUM they should not have let us capture "totem sized Pokemon" it adds to a glut of Pokemon that may not be able to transferred well in future gens (think spiky-eared Pichu). Also more lore would have been nice.
10. SM Lillie's storyline: Her character arc was phenomenal and I enjoyed her character. I just hated how in Sun and Moon it felt more like "Lillie's story" rather than our own. I preferred USUM's more player centric arc as honestly at certain points in SM I felt like "why I am not just playing as Lillie herself?"
11. USUM: I liked the Necrozma arc and more emphasis on the player character but overall it confused me as to why we had a slightly rehashed story of SM instead of an actual sequel or third version. I think USUM did a better job story wise and it should have been first canonical entry for GEN 7 (leaving room for a third version, sequel or Sinnoh Remakes).