I've been lying low for a while, so hi all long time no see, I'd like to pitch in on all of the shenanigans that have happened in the last couple weeks.
The Trailers:
I was lukewarm for USUM up until the the last couple of trailers had dropped, I was hopeful that all the pastiche's of BW2 would rub off on actual game play and story line for a much better experience of the Alola region. From the trailers the darker turn on the games, quite literally, gets me excited that one day we might be able to go to one of the many wars that have been referenced in the games to play out a full title in one of those timelines. The whole idea of Necrozma being the antagonist in the game I'm really liking the sound of at this point, even if its a red hearing to the Ultra Recon Squad (I'll slaughter the name a bit more) being the real nemesis. I don't think there has been a main game title that has really had an actual mon as the antagonist without a team behind the mon in some way, so if the game is based around Necrozma being the sole antagonist I'm excited to see how GF play it.
The new stuff:
The expanded movement through Ultra Space I think is going to be a lot of fun, being able to go into other pockets of Ultra Space to find the original UB's in their 'home' territory I think will be fun, by the looks of it though, its a missed opportunity as of yet for some fun different forms for their home territory, but thats beside the point. The flying pangs of Latios/Latias fly in ORAS which I'm not going to complain about. The Megalopolis is looking very edgy and Tron, so no complaints here. My one suspicion, which has still got me obsessed, where is the light being produced in megalopolis? I'll come back to that anyway.
Lapras looks to be benched for surfing this time round, or at least its lost its touch since beating a blastoise for Ash in open seas surfing (props to anyone else for getting the reference.) So we now have the apparently most beloved mon of Generation 7 with how much love its getting, Mantine, to surf between Islands. This is a very nice touch on GF's end. In previous games the majority of the fun is held on one big mainland and you're able to freely move from one end of the map to another without having to take to any cut scenes unless you flew. Alola I think suffered on the hand holding because of how isolated each island was so you moved very markedly from one to another without real opportunities to return to a previous island with ease until you gained Charizard Fly. This hopefully will be opened up to the player earlier than the other ride pokemon so the game returns to its previous titles of being more open world than SM.
The snapshots of Lillie, Hau, Gladion, Guzma, Lusamine and Nebby in relatively similar attire to SM I think seals the idea that this game will be held in an alternate timeline to SM (could we get another previous starter in a demo with battle bond?????) How the game uses Guzma and possibly Team Skull (Po Town is clear on the map, much thinking,) will be interesting, one of the couple things to mitigate from the idea of an alternate timeline. Lusamine our favourite obsessive mother of two and general crazy lady will be a joy to interact with again and revel in how her antics with UB's is involved with the story line.
The return of Rotom Dex I am most thrilled and terrified at. I like the whole concept of Rotom Dex, its a fun gimmick, and a nice addition to the Alola region. What isn't is what happens when we get along really well with it this time round. Multiple Z moves. I have sudden nostalgia to when Z moves were first talked about and how they would level the playing field unlike what Mega Evolution did (reference?). Well GF are doing a good job of going against their word with the gradual introduction of mon specific Z moves and now allowing Z moves to be used multiple times. Both of these things are going to vastly change how both in game and competitive play is approached because, once again, people will prefer the unique and more powerful Z moves and subsequent mons which can abuse particular Z moves. The idea of double Celebrate Victini running around in the OU metagame scares the heck out of me and I hope dearly such things never occur (apart from Ultimate Z.) This revelation however may explain in part why the timer for VGC 18 has been cut to 5 minutes for a battle, due to allowing, national dex, Megamons and the introduction of double Z moves, It will literally be who can annihalated the other the quickest.
The Mons:
UB Burst - Fire Ghost
So near yet so far, I'm still a firm believer that Burst should have been Fire Fairy, it was too good an opportunity to produce a nice new interesting typing. In terms of viability for competitive use (waiting for the trigger) With its design and how GF have been playing their cards on design recently I think its gonna be as good as phero for a glass cannon, especially with Mind Blown, time will tell though whether they shaft the opportunity for a fast alolan marowak with a terrible moveset. I still however enjoy its design I think having talked with a couple of other users on dicord that Burst and Assembly are a step into a new pokemon era with GF starting to really challenge the 3d designs (head rolling general more intricate movements on burst, the eyes across Assembly) Either way Burst I view to be a bit of a missed opportunity typing wise but oh well, we will always be given curve balls.
UB Assembly - Rock Steel
So far: A faster Alolawak. Now: Aggron and Celesteelas ungodly child. So Gumshoos got his wall, this thing i'm really not sure how its stats are gonna go apart from bulky, I'd hope it will be a fast bulky support mon, not very many of those around at all and would be a fun niche to fill. It's design I quite like, my only issue is I think it should be a cylindrical chimeny instead of a cuboid to really get that all-seeing eyes thing going. Nonetheless it is a fun design and I hope it does good for in game backstory and dex entries.
UB Adhesive - Poison
Another opportunity to argue over whether UB's are legendaries? Even if its the first poison 'legendary' I like its design, all three I think we could have done a lot worse on even if i'm naming my UB Adhesive Sludgebi or celepoison. It also means we have our Gen 7 Pixie mon sorted out so we truly are ready to move to Switch, rid ourselves of these silly mono region games, go into VR, hand rear our pokemon from the eggs they were- sorry, got carried away. I'm feeling Xurkitree does poison type stat wise for Adhesive. My issue however is one which has already been made vary clear that these three mons are only going to make ground as a typing on the competitive scene even more spammable.
Necrozma forms - Steel Psychic / Psychic Ghost
I'm loving some of the cinematic battling between necrozma and the respective Legendary's. Maintaining the legendary's typings is a nice switch from how much they were copying Kyurem. Giving both mons Necrozma's ability, Prism Armour, will be very interesting on a competitive side. Solgaleo Necro will, in my eyes at least, be one of the bulkier mons in Ubers and actually challenge Mega Metagross and Aegislash and Lucario for the customary counter to Xern for your team. Lunala Necro on the other hand, out of the two I think will be the more likely to fall to OU if either of them do, if GF give it slightly more speed and some bulk then it'll be a force to be reckoned with however shadow shield was the reason why it didn't get sent back to ultra space by any dark type attack, without it I'm not sure it will be able to handle dark type attacks nearly as well.
The Light Mon - ?????
We still are no closer to what the eyes are on the cover arts for the game. whether it be Necrozma in Ultra Space or a wholly new pokemon. I'm still enchanted by the idea of a light pokemon but I feel like GF wouldn't make that step. However I live in hope.
BOLD predictions:
1. Through the ultra space fun is how we get to the vermillion gym esque place.
2. The hallowed Light Pokemon is in fact lighting the spire in the Megalopolis (Recon Squad is evil, noooooooooooooooooo)
3. Necrozma will be gendered
4. adding onto 2, the Light pokemon is in fact another necrozma in its Ultra Space form and is the female/male to the other one who's tearing up the place and its sole reason for all the mayhem is to free the other Necrozma
Feel free to tear this apart, ily all, nice to get back onto the forums again :)
ps: sorry for the number of 'fun' USUM is looking good thats all lol