- Joined
- Oct 18, 2012
- Messages
- 8,022
- Reaction score
- 22,096
1. I already said Nebby & Ultra Space was bridge that was going to be crossed one way or the other. The just decided to take the most ham-fisted and drama thicken route and couldn't even smooth any of that out.
Also, yes, granted as much as I want to revive Nebby I think otherworldly Titans who were setup to be dangerous (tell but don't show at that point of course) early on running amok in the land is a huger issue than little girl wanting to go to Ultra Space to tell Mommy she sucks. Esp. if Mommy dearest had no intention on leaving.
Of course, outside Hapu telling us of her her and Fini getting their ass handed to them badly we never see the effects of damages should we hastily try to glide out there. Makes it easier to focus on Lillie's little problem.
2. There's a difference between "pretending" and "hoping". I was "hoping" Big Z got his time to shine in game along side the otherworldly Titans who gave a small sliver of promise of a cool sci-fi plot. Of course, this meant prof Burnet, Gladion (both of who was also horribly underutilized) and mostly Null would've had more time to shine. But that's not really here no there.
3. The game was a mishmash of multiple plots both major and minor that the team probably couldn't handle in one larger "Tales of" style story dropped it all in a hat and eventually chose to focus on the centerpiece story (Lillie and Cosmog). And even then...even frickin' then, there was no focus on any of that when it counted. No bothering to visit the relics, no exploration (before plot drop) on Nebby, no slow development of Lillie's discovery of self-worth and Pokemon battles.
I'd have been all for a nice side quest of going back to Island One just for her to try her hand at Trainer stuff at the school but nope no. Instead we got all of that instead.
Like I said, no offense and while also feel bringing Lusamine to (Trainer) justice is also high on the list (assuming she planned on ever coming back anyway). I don't think it's right to handwave what could have been an interesting (and if we had focused writing, quite...a something given Pokemon's kid-friendly environment) villainess just because poor Lillie (poor Lillie more like poor Gladion, really) needed a personal hurdle.
But back on topic, Guzma: Embodiment of destruction itself just needing the firepower to be it or local disillusioned failed prodigy turned local violent street bully? You decide.
The alternative that you're describing sounds to me like another cookie-cutter "we save the imperiled region/world from a bad dude with a Freudian excuse who unleashes deadly dangers in an effort to change~ the world to suit his views" plot. Which is fine if that's your taste, and obviously that particular plot structure has the capacity to function given that they've re-used it so many times. Personally, the thought of having yet another story such as that makes me want to gag, though I am of the opinion that smaller-scale stories are almost always preferable to larger-scale stories. So of course I would appreciate the decision to focus SM's storyline on the personal development of a single young girl as opposed to preventing whatever apocalyptic horrors the UBs might wreak upon the world (and even that storyline still happens, to an extent, albeit in the post-game). The way I see it, there's actually some unpredictable tension in the way that Lillie addresses and responds to her problems, and that makes it an area worth exploring. Whereas we know the world isn't going to be destroyed by the Ultra Beasts. We are invariably going to succeed in stopping them. Whatever "threat" they may be said to pose is entirely hollow from the very outset. It is true that you could use them to make a point about Guzma or traditions, but, you know... they still ended up making a similar point, without making us save the world for the umpteenth time.
I also think that expecting Pokémon to prioritize showing over telling is probably hoping for too much, given the way in which the series has tended to arrange its priorities in exposition. Though I'll give them some credit - the resemblance between Lillie's clothing and Nihilego is left largely unremarked upon so as to leave the symbolism and its implications up to our inference.