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Spoilers Story Discussion

I feel like I might be alone on this, but I’m kind of disappointed that the battle is against Hau, instead of Professor Kukui. Its different for USUM, but the context of the battle and such just makes it disappointing. In Sun and Moon, battling against Professor Kukui felt like the student putting everything they learned up against the teacher they’ve grown to like and really respect. Its you and Professor Kukui celebrating your success. You made it to the top of the league and Kukui’s dream of Alola having one has been fully realized. What better way to celebrate than two of Alola’s strongest trainers having a full out, serious, yet friendly battle. With Hau, its just another friendly rival battle, only Hau is serious this time.
 
I feel like I might be alone on this, but I’m kind of disappointed that the battle is against Hau, instead of Professor Kukui. Its different for USUM, but the context of the battle and such just makes it disappointing. In Sun and Moon, battling against Professor Kukui felt like the student putting everything they learned up against the teacher they’ve grown to like and really respect. Its you and Professor Kukui celebrating your success. You made it to the top of the league and Kukui’s dream of Alola having one has been fully realized. What better way to celebrate than two of Alola’s strongest trainers having a full out, serious, yet friendly battle. With Hau, its just another friendly rival battle, only Hau is serious this time.
On the other hand, this would be the first time since the Kanto games where your opponent for the Champion spot is your rival (well besides the Title defense battles in SM). It might be just me but I liked the idea of your final battle being your rival from the very beginning and having raised his team simultaneously as you.

I didn't mind Hau in SM. Here he's pretty annoying.

Huh. I thought it the other way around
 
So in the scope of the Pokemon multiverse, can we say that the event that diverges the SM universe from the USUM universe is that Necrozma did not steal the light of Ultra Megalopolis, and thus the Ultra Recon Squad never arrived in Alola, in the SM universe?

Well, clearly there are two different stories between USUM and SM, so it's safe to say yes.
 
I thought the story was good, better than Sun and Moon, which I thought had a great story. I thought the characters were more likable and relatable, too. On the other hand, there are some parts of the story that drag a bit, especially dialogue-heavy scenes. While it was a problem in SM, it's a much bigger problem here because of how much content is had. Overall, however, USUM's story is definitely the best part of the game.
 
Now that I've finally went through the biggest part of the story, I have to agree with those that say that this story was pretty rubbish. There was a lot of potential here, with a city in ultra space that has lost all its light and the Ultra Recon Squad and all. But imo, where they went wrong is trying to incorporate Lusamine's story in all this. All it does is create a lot of plotholes:

1. We're now trying to stop Lusamine from.... saving the world? Alright then, makes total sense. I guess her kids want to save her, which is also pretty weird considering all the shit she spouts at them so yeah this whole thing makes no sense at all. At least in SuMo it's clear she's mad and her motives are 100% selfish so you had reason to stop her.

2. Lusamine fights you to prove she's strong enough to take on Necrozma. She loses and then... goes anyway. Talk about a pointless battle, simply shoved in there cause it would be weird if you didn't battle her at all I guess.

3. The Ultra Recon Squad call Lusamine selfish for wanting to take on Necrozma. They tell you you should defeat Necrozma so you can save Alola from its light being stolen, which is... exactly the same thing Lusamine is doing. Are they simply mad she went instead of a trainer they chose? They just want Necrozma defeated right, so not sure what their problem is.

4. Lillie keeps talking about going to stand up to her mother and all. Mom comes back from the Ultra Wormhole, suddenly cured from her hatred for Lillie and then tells Lillie (in not really a friendly way imo) to come help her in Aether Paradise. Lillie happily runs to her. Great job Lillie, a lot of standing up to her happened there.

All in all, Lusamine just wasn't critical to this story in any way, she's just there cause something had to be done with her character, but all it does is create plotholes and ruin SuMo's story. It would've been better if they'd just excluded her from the whole thing at all, or if she kept her original motivations and then somehow summons Necrozma to this world too. What was the point of having her wanting to fight the thing anyway?

And of course the whole of Ultra Megalopolis is an extreme disappointment. So much could've been done with that, but all we get is a hallway. What also bothers me is that none of the NPCs react to the world going completely dark. They already have the excuse that not the whole of Alola goes dark immediately, so they could've at least just given the NPCs in Seafolk Village some different lines, or they could've let them run inside and when you run up the doors they're locked cause they're too scared or something. Just do something instead of the NPCs just standing there like nothing majorly weird just happened.

Also whatever happened to that device the Recon Squad was talking about, the one they made together with Colress? They say they're gonna give it to the person who takes on Necrozma but that never happens? Or did I miss something there? Surely could've used some help from some device with that hellish thing that is Ultra Necrozma ^^;
 
@Soki: I've been hearing the same thing from the Pokemon subforum at Serenes Forest too. Shall I just go with Sun and Moon and forget the Ultras? I haven't got around to Gen 7 yet so...
 
@Soki: I've been hearing the same thing from the Pokemon subforum at Serenes Forest too. Shall I just go with Sun and Moon and forget the Ultras? I haven't got around to Gen 7 yet so...

Hmm that's a difficult question really. Like I think SuMo's story is better, but with all the extra features USUM has (Mantine Surf, Ultra Space traveling, Photo Club, Rainbow Rocket) and the extra Pokémon, I would still choose USUM over SuMo. So it depends on what you find more important, story or features. And it's really only the last part of the story that differs a lot from SuMo, the rest is still practically the same. I think the best you could do is just find a list of differences between SuMo and USUM and decide for yourself which of those you find more important and all.
 
Hmm that's a difficult question really. Like I think SuMo's story is better, but with all the extra features USUM has (Mantine Surf, Ultra Space traveling, Photo Club, Rainbow Rocket) and the extra Pokémon, I would still choose USUM over SuMo. So it depends on what you find more important, story or features. And it's really only the last part of the story that differs a lot from SuMo, the rest is still practically the same. I think the best you could do is just find a list of differences between SuMo and USUM and decide for yourself which of those you find more important and all.

In recent years, story has become more important for me, and I don't really have all that time to go through other stuff anyway. I might just go with the originals and call it a generation, then.
 
Since only the climax is different (and the first battle with Lusamine) and it isn't long at all, you can just watch the SM one on YouTube right as you've finished the USUM one.

If none of the new features appeal to you (I don't blame you), the decision boils down to whether you prefer the Anabel sidequest to Episode Rainbow Rocket. The former has a more cohesive story but is pretty boring in terms of what you actually do. The latter seems more popular even though it's just fanservice.
 
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1. We're now trying to stop Lusamine from.... saving the world? Alright then, makes total sense. I guess her kids want to save her, which is also pretty weird considering all the shit she spouts at them so yeah this whole thing makes no sense at all. At least in SuMo it's clear she's mad and her motives are 100% selfish so you had reason to stop her.
I think it's also to stop her from killing Nebby. But since that's a good thing, Lusamine did nothing wrong.


3. The Ultra Recon Squad call Lusamine selfish for wanting to take on Necrozma. They tell you you should defeat Necrozma so you can save Alola from its light being stolen, which is... exactly the same thing Lusamine is doing. Are they simply mad she went instead of a trainer they chose? They just want Necrozma defeated right, so not sure what their problem is.
The Recon Squad confuse me on so many levels, but this is one of the things that confuses me the most. Why do they never gang up on Necrozma with Lusamine and Guzma? Why not use their Solgaleo/Lunala to find them and bring them back, or bring you over to Ultra Megalopolis so you can all fight Necrozma? Unless the 3DS's battle lag also applies in-universe, they could have logically defeated Necrozma when it was at its weakest, our legendary-conquering protagonist powers wouldn't be needed..

4. Lillie keeps talking about going to stand up to her mother and all. Mom comes back from the Ultra Wormhole, suddenly cured from her hatred for Lillie and then tells Lillie (in not really a friendly way imo) to come help her in Aether Paradise. Lillie happily runs to her. Great job Lillie, a lot of standing up to her happened there.
This is even funnier when you get to Rainbow Rocket.

Lillie assures us that she can fight and won't be a burden. She gets in a double battle with you and completely flops, then just spends the rest of the story acting as your healslut. Good to see Lillie grow and change so much.

Also whatever happened to that device the Recon Squad was talking about, the one they made together with Colress? They say they're gonna give it to the person who takes on Necrozma but that never happens? Or did I miss something there? Surely could've used some help from some device with that hellish thing that is Ultra Necrozma ^^;
I don't remember this, but maybe they meant the fusion/diffusion devise Colress gives you at the League? Like it was going to be used to diffuse Necrozma from the box legendary should it try to absorb them, maybe? Which would be pretty weird, since they could have easily waited until they had the device before fighting Necrozma.
 
What was the point of having her wanting to fight the thing anyway?
Because everything she finds beautiful is being threatened. Since the Ultra Recon Squad called her selfish, I think it's safe to assume that she never gave a crap about saving the world and blatantly lied about it. She clearly wanted glory and her Nihilego to be safe; nothing else. It's just that Necrozma, due to being a Psychic type, somehow mind raped her and forced her to become a better person.
 
I've also finished the ordeal that was the Necrozma situation. Now that I'm training for the Elite Four, I guess I can comment on USUM's story. Who had the stronger story line? I'm going to have to say Sun & Moon. I felt it was a better articulated tragedy that really had you aid and understand the plight of Lusamine's family. That isn't present here.

I don’t understand why Lusamine had a villainous connotation in this game. Completely unlike Sun & Moon, she’s trying to save the world and isn’t losing her sanity due to a Nihilego. I guess her only “fault” would be trying to sacrifice Nebby to do so, but then it becomes a question of “the life of one over the lives of many.” Game Freak could have had a lot of potential with that perspective, but chose not to do so. Even more jarring, the Ultra Recon Squad reprimands her for her actions too…when they have the player to do the same thing. How is sending us to stop Necrozma any different from Lusamine asserting herself to do so? I think a big problem with this characterization is that they still gave her some of her “evil” aspects from the first game, such as (her disdain for Lillie and Gladion, cryogenetically frozen Pokémon, evil smirk regarding Nihilego, having all the Aether Foundation attack you, etc.) that only made sense given her background from the first game.

The Aether Paradise rescue loses a lot of luster here, imo. Sure, we don’t know exactly know what’s going to happen to Lillie and Nebby from an in-game perspective…but once you find out the above information, well that’s all undermined! Especially the penultimate climax- Lusamine fights you to prove she's strong enough to take on Necrozma and ease everyone’s worries. Inevitably she loses and then still goes anyway. Why? Made sense, as well as the battle, in Sun & Moon but here, it just paints her as an honor-less, selfish baby. Also, for all her talk about catching and preparing for Necrozma, she leaves without taking the Master Ball (!) and refuses to use the Ultra Beast killer, (her) Gladion’s Type: Null.


A pivotal plot point in Sun & Moon was Lillie and Lusamine’s relationship. They completely made a mess of that here. Lusamine isn’t crazy, distant and abusive like she was in Sun & Moon. This in turn undermines Gladion and Lillie’s running away from her in these games. Especially Lillie, because Lusamine makes it clear she was going to make Cosmog use its power for good intentions-she wants to stop Necrozma and save the light of Alola. She does it in an egotistical way, yes, but the point still lies that she wanted to save the world and, importantly, her children. This then makes Lillie look somewhat ignorant and selfish in comparison, and makes me actually side with Lusamine (if for that instant).

Furthermore, any ill will between them is magically cured off-screen when you make it back to Alola. Lusamine rather coldly tells Lillie to come back home, and Lillie happily obliges. What? LOL, what was the point of Lillie’s Z-Powered form, her new confidence and attitude, updated musical theme and all if her arc was just going to be handled poorly like that? Hell, she doesn’t even get the Nebby portion since Necrozma comes and takes over instantly after Nebby evolves.

It may be just me, but it was harder to root for Lillie in this game because her home life wasn’t as bad as it was in first game-which made a lot of her actions understandable. Here, it just seems she ran away from home because…Exactly-we don’t even get a good reason for that. Did she see Cosmog being abused horribly? Did Lusamine mistreat her, personally? Lusamine seems frustrating at worst in these games, which I don’t think warrants Lillie running away this time. Of course, it’s all perspective I understand. Then let me rephrase-I don’t think the writers did a very good job conveying why Lillie ran away and goes through the development she does. It seems they were lazily relying on people having played the first game for that, and took a shortcut in that regard.

Lusamine simply wasn’t critical this time around. The writer’s inclusion of her, and poor/copy & paste writing of her character, only made the story suffer as well as Lillie’s (and I guess Gladion too) development.

Ultra Recon Squad

After playing through the game, I don’t think they were handled too well either. Two blue-skinned strangers come to a new planet and simply walk around, conveniently offering varied exposition. And for what? They only thing notable they did in the story was offer Solgaleo/Lunala for us to ride to the Ultra Megalopolis. Their colluding with Lusamine didn’t make sense because they condemned her for her actions, but were comfortable having an 11 year old do the same thing.

Their world was a huge disappointment too. Megalopolis is a huge understatement, my goodness. Like a lot of people have said, it was simply a corridor to Necrozma. No interaction with citizens, no special items or moves you can only obtain there, no catchable Ultra Beast-nothing. Furthermore, after dealing with Necrozma…their plight is still the same. No light in their world and no apparent future of it returning either. No wonder Soliera/Zossie want to stay in Alola.

The URS also had several plot holes as well: a) What happened to the Furfrou they caught? b) Why didn’t they catch Nebby in Seaward Cave when they could have done so? Especially when they were shown chasing after it in the opening scene? c) What happened to the alleged device with Colress that would help deal with Necrozma?


Necrozma

Some parts of its inclusion didn’t make too much sense either. Why is a Solgaleo or Lunala needed for it become whole again? The game never explains that or the relation between the two species. Kyurem made sense because all three Dragons used to be one entity. Yet here, I’m not so sure. Also, what happens with Necrozma now? After defeating Ultra Necrozma, didn’t we put it right back in the same position it was in prior to absorbing Nebby? Why was it still in pain despite regaining its original form? The game only offers “Maybe one day it’ll get better,” but that’s such a lazy handwave. Now, it’s somewhere in Alola…which makes you think that such a plot could possibly start again. I don’t know, I don’t think it was handled all too well.


While I do have criticisms, I do think being able to venture into Ultra Space with Nebby was really cool. The concept of another world as well was intriguing and Ultra Necrozma was an annoying treat to fight. Ideally, I think Lusamine’s plot from Sun & Moon should have been combined with the plot of USUM. Like for example, in a quick summation, after you defeat Mother Beast Lusamine, Necrozma could suddenly appear through an Ultra Warp Hole (there had been hints in-game that it was stalking Nebby from afar) and absorb your title Legendary. You fight the new Dawn Wings/Dusk Mane Necrozma (because of this, you don’t catch Nebby this time around). Cue the Ultra Recon Squad appearing with the opposite Legendary, to take you, Lillie, Guzma and Lusamine back to Alola safely. There, they fill you in about Necrozma and the plot goes from there. That way, everyone gets justified focus and both you and Lillie get to be respective heroes for different aspects of plot.
 
Because everything she finds beautiful is being threatened. Since the Ultra Recon Squad called her selfish, I think it's safe to assume that she never gave a crap about saving the world and blatantly lied about it. She clearly wanted glory and her Nihilego to be safe; nothing else. It's just that Necrozma, due to being a Psychic type, somehow mind raped her and forced her to become a better person.
Lots of assumptions here.

1. She says that she hates the UBs for what happened to Mohn.
2. There is no indication that Necrozma brainwashed her. Why would it care about her being a better person?
 
Lots of assumptions here.

1. She says that she hates the UBs for what happened to Mohn.
2. There is no indication that Necrozma brainwashed her. Why would it care about her being a better person?

Closest thing with Lusamine and Necrozma is as simple as an old warcraft scenario.... she pulled the boss before the team was ready and nearly caused a wipe. (Eating the light of the world!)
 
This is even funnier when you get to Rainbow Rocket.

Lillie assures us that she can fight and won't be a burden. She gets in a double battle with you and completely flops, then just spends the rest of the story acting as your healslut. Good to see Lillie grow and change so much.

OMG, Lillie was USELESS in that double battle XD I was so excited that Lillie was finally going to battle and then she didn't do SHIT. I was like, "wtf was the point in making her battle then??" USUM are truly the game of missed opportunities.
 
OMG, Lillie was USELESS in that double battle XD I was so excited that Lillie was finally going to battle and then she didn't do SHIT. I was like, "wtf was the point in making her battle then??" USUM are truly the game of missed opportunities.
It really says something when Faba is completely right about Lillie being a burden that holds us back during the fight, despite the narrative making this out to be the culmination of Lillie's character development.

On the plus side, at least her lone Clefairy made a good meat shield. Faba's Bruxish seemed determined to kill it while ignoring my side of the field.
 
Please note: The thread is from 6 years ago.
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