Spoilers Is Ultra Sun and Moon too Similar to Sun and Moon?

[Lufenium]

Honestly, yes, but they were never marketed as anything other than Sun/Moon retellings, so I'm not fussed either way.

 

[SinnohEevee]

I don't see why GF will stop making third versions when they can just dupe the gullible fandom into buying them like they did with USUM.

 

[JFrombaugh]

What I liked better overall about each pair of versions...

USUM
-Team Rainbow Rocket postgame story (waaayyy better than that farce with Looker in the originals)
-Hau being the Champion (when we battled Kukui as the final boss of the original games, a big part of me felt like he came across as being just a lot more Mary Sue-ish than previous regions' Professors)
-Mantine Surfing & Ultra Warp Ride
-Much better movepools and more Z-moves - not to mention Move Tutors
-Rotom Dex is a lot more interesting, if anything I wish there were more things you could talk to him about and more than two possible dialogue options for each conversation
-An insane number of easter eggs and side-quests for you to find
-Totem Stickers feel a lot less out-of-place to be collecting than Zygarde Cells

Sun & Moon
-I actually liked the default outfits of the Player Characters (especially Moon) much better in SM
-I felt like the originals handled Lusamine as the antagonist a lot better. I remember thinking the first time I played USUM that the Aether Paradise climax was strangely quiet this time, and that it felt like the developers couldn't really decide whether they wanted Lusamine to retain most of her abusive behaviors from the original, or to be a genuinely compassionate and caring mother who simply went insane when she became obsessed with Nihilego...so they tried to have it both ways and made her this sort of well-intentioned extremist. TBH I would have really liked to have actually seen her make amends with Lillie in the original games.
-Good level of difficulty for a Pokemon game IMO, hard enough to get the kids to think about strategy but not drop-dead easy like Gen VI. USUM on the other hand are definitely the hardest Pokémon games since HGSS (I actually warned about it to my 9-year old niece when I got her Ultra Sun for Christmas).
-The original Electric Trial (answer a question wrong at least once, it's funny!)

 

[ZDaemon09]

What I liked better overall about each pair of versions...

USUM
-Team Rainbow Rocket postgame story (waaayyy better than that farce with Looker in the originals)
-Hau being the Champion (when we battled Kukui as the final boss of the original games, a big part of me felt like he came across as being just a lot more Mary Sue-ish than previous regions' Professors)
-Mantine Surfing & Ultra Warp Ride
-Much better movepools and more Z-moves - not to mention Move Tutors
-Rotom Dex is a lot more interesting, if anything I wish there were more things you could talk to him about and more than two possible dialogue options for each conversation
-An insane number of easter eggs and side-quests for you to find
-Totem Stickers feel a lot less out-of-place to be collecting than Zygarde Cells

Sun & Moon
-I actually liked the default outfits of the Player Characters (especially Moon) much better in SM
-I felt like the originals handled Lusamine as the antagonist a lot better. I remember thinking the first time I played USUM that the Aether Paradise climax was strangely quiet this time, and that it felt like the developers couldn't really decide whether they wanted Lusamine to retain most of her abusive behaviors from the original, or to be a genuinely compassionate and caring mother who simply went insane when she became obsessed with Nihilego...so they tried to have it both ways and made her this sort of well-intentioned extremist. TBH I would have really liked to have actually seen her make amends with Lillie in the original games.
-Good level of difficulty for a Pokemon game IMO, hard enough to get the kids to think about strategy but not drop-dead easy like Gen VI. USUM on the other hand are definitely the hardest Pokémon games since HGSS (I actually warned about it to my 9-year old niece when I got her Ultra Sun for Christmas).
-The original Electric Trial (answer a question wrong at least once, it's funny!)

While USUM's plot was a bit less focused due to the Ultra Do Nothing Squad only really being there to foreshadow Necrozma... and most if not everything existing to foreshadow Necrozma as the big bad. USUM gave one thing to the main plot that S/M never did... freaking closure! S/M left us wanting more before ending the story.
(If you still think USUM was skimpy on the main Aether plot, go see what Lusamine has to say after you beat the game, but before you start the Rainbow Rocket episode. Then check again, see what she has to say when she challenges your title... then wait a month after you beat Rainbow Rocket to challenge Gladion.... "Twist of USUM is that he was the one who left for Kanto... HE freaking came back!" there is a surprise in Aether waiting for you. "The games true ending if you would call it that!")

 

[Hidden Mew]

I don't see why GF will stop making third versions when they can just dupe the gullible fandom into buying them like they did with USUM.

I'm not sure if they really duped anyone. While a lot of people, including myself, were hoping that they were going to be more than a set of traditional third version games, I don't think that they attempted to make US/UM sound drastically different in the promotion. It took us forever to get something more than just Dusk Lycanroc and they didn't focus on too much beyond some of the new features, the Ultra Beasts and Team Rainbow Rocket. The only part that felt like a stretch during the promotion was saying that this isn't the Alola that we know, or something along those lines, since the region itself didn't feel drastically different enough for that distinction. I was still hoping for something different even when the leaks starting to come in, but the promotion for US/UM was noticeably lacking in a lot of areas.

Besides that, people decided for themselves as to whether or not they wanted to buy the games. Game Freak didn't con or force people into buying US/UM. I don't know if I'd consider the fandom gullible either, mainly because of how the backlash to US/UM was apparent right from the start and didn't let up too much during its pre-release season. The games sold well because it's a main series Pokemon title. Those tend to sell pretty well. I don't know how well US/UM sold compared to Sun/Moon, but I believe it was successful.

As for the question itself, I'd say yes, but that's mainly because I was hoping for something more different than the return of traditional third versions with these games. I don't think it bothers me as much as it did with other fans due to how the new Pokemon available, new features and some of the changes to the storyline/post-storyline content helped to make US/UM more fresh despite going through the Sun/Moon just a year ago. Oddly enough, I think I prefer some of the smaller changes to the storyline more so than major ones. As cool as the fight with Ultra Necrozma was, I think that Lusamine worked better as a final villain and it fit better with Lillie's storyline too. On the other hand, things like Hau and Guzma's improved character development really shined through and made me appreciate both characters more than I did after going through Sun/Moon. I liked both of them after playing through Sun/Moon, but I thought that their development worked better in US/UM and that made them both more interesting to me. It also probably helps that the third version format never bothered me before. It is an outdated concept and I really prefer Game Freak doing something else like sequels or skipping a return trip altogether just to do something different, but I've enjoyed most of the third version games before and that never made me regret buying the first two games of a generation either.

It is kind of strange how I've heard such mixed reviews on the games. Some comments I've seen put it on the same level of B2/W2 in terms of new content at least and others dismiss it as just a traditional third version game. I'd probably be somewhere in the middle. Despite basically taking the place of third version games, B2/W2 were more fresh and going for two sequels as opposed to two third version games felt more justified. US/UM feels more along the lines of Platinum in terms of its new content and what it adds to the storyline. I think that makes it a pretty good third version, especially when I think that Platinum is the best third version title, but not quite as good or as refreshing as something like B2/W2.

 

[Almonds]

Besides that, people decided for themselves as to whether or not they wanted to buy the games. Game Freak didn't con or force people into buying US/UM. I don't know if I'd consider the fandom gullible either, mainly because of how the backlash to US/UM was apparent right from the start and didn't let up too much during its pre-release season.

I think part of the reason some fans feel that they were cheated might be because of the trailers and ads before the release. When that trailer with "This is no longer the Alola you know" arrived, I remember that a lot of people were excited and hyped. Personally, that ad did look impressive. The rest of the information revealed before the games also seemed to indicate that we were going to have a bunch of content.

But then came the games... and then that was what it was. The ads were all they were. The trailers were all they were. There was hardly anything new aside from what was presented in the trailers/pre-release ads. True, it wasn't false advertising, and aside from the usual glorification for hype purposes, there wasn't anything really exaggerated. Nothing technically illegal about the ads themselves. However, people were upset because they watched the trailers and thought 'I'm so excited! I wonder what's in the games they HAVEN'T revealed??', only to discover that in the games, there wasn't anything that wasn't revealed.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think part of the reason some fans feel that they were cheated might be because of the trailers and ads before the release. When that trailer with "This is no longer the Alola you know" arrived, I remember that a lot of people were excited and hyped. Personally, that ad did look impressive. The rest of the information revealed before the games also seemed to indicate that we were going to have a bunch of content.

But then came the games... and then that was what it was. The ads were all they were. The trailers were all they were. There was hardly anything new aside from what was presented in the trailers/pre-release ads. True, it wasn't false advertising, and aside from the usual glorification for hype purposes, there wasn't anything really exaggerated. Nothing technically illegal about the ads themselves. However, people were upset because they watched the trailers and thought 'I'm so excited! I wonder what's in the games they HAVEN'T revealed??', only to discover that in the games, there wasn't anything that wasn't revealed.

That was the line that I mentioned before was a stretch. They obviously would want to hype up the games, but considering how much Alola hadn't really changed, it does come off as more of an exaggeration than anything else. I can understand feeling disappointed with that in mind. Perhaps not going as far as feeling cheated, but I was hoping for something a bit more with US/UM and I thought that there were some details/features that they didn't mention during the pre-release season. Even though I like US/UM, I'm still kind of disappointed that they didn't go with sequels, if only because I thought that that there was some interesting potential with seeing the characters and Alola region change after a short time skip after going through Sun/Moon. If I didn't like Sun/Moon as much as I did and if I didn't like some of the smaller changes they did make to US/UM, I'd probably be more upset about the return to the third version format than I was. I can still understand some of the disappointment other people had about it at least.