Pokémon Sun & Moon Q&A: 50 Interview

[CynthiaLover]

I agree with the fossil Pokemon argument. We never get a fossil itself, let alone get the chance to revive one, until at least after the first gym (and in the Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Unova games, after gyms 4, 2, and 3, respectively). So they probably just didn't get far enough into the games to actually obtain, let alone revive, a fossil Pokemon. While there is still a chance that there won't be any fossil Mons like Johto, it's still too early to say for sure. So my money is that we don't get a fossil until at least after the first trial, let alone the ability to revive it.

 

[PinkIceFox]

Gonna us Tsu's post to comment on my thoughts...

1. No confirmed HMs, it is confirmed that TMs returning.
I would be pleased as punch for HMs to be gone. Just turn the GOOD moves into TMs.
2. D-Pad didn't have a specific use in the 2 hours they played. Default Run Speed.
Meh. D-Pad doing things is the least of my concerns.
3. Sneaking up on Pokémon is not returning.
Major disappointment. Why do they not like new, good features to stick around? The Dexnav revitalized the idea of catching pokemon for me! ):
4. More fluid Battle and scene movement than X/Y and OR/AS.
Eh. Battle Movements aren't that important to me. Scene movement sounds nice though.
5. 3D is still lowering performance.
Meh. 3D is a gimmick anyway why bother even using it.
6. Rotom is cute and adorable but has very little impact.
Thank god it has very little impact. I disliked Rotom before I was worried it'd be an annoying little Navi clone.
7. They can't confirm trainer card details.
When has the trainer card ever been that important? Weird, but okay then.
8. The game is fun yet easy.
As the main game should be, in my opinion.
9. The game tutorial/training is not so hand-holding but generally accepts the player has basic knowledge of Pokémon games.
Oker dokes.
10. You can change your haircut early in the game.
Aw yiss I'mma make myself up fancy.
11. They can't confirm boys have as much customization options as girls.
Boys always get shafted when it comes to customization. GIRLS LAIK FASHION AND SHOES AND HAIR AND SHOES AND ACCESSORIES AND SHOES. *rolls eyes*
12. Lillie is very sensitive. think Iris from MegaMan BN 6
I have a feeling I'm going to dislike this character.
13. Exp Share comes early on... Earlier than x and y.
Don't see the problem with that. I'll use it if I need to, but if I don't want to I'll just not use it.
14. Healthy mix of non-combatant npcs and npc trainers
That's cool.
15. Can't confirm Alola Dex. Pretty Obvious Answer (shouldn't have been on video)
Unsurprising, yeah.
16. Normal Original Kanto Pokémon were not seen.
I thought mom had a Meowth?
17. They made it to encounter Team Skull in the second major city, they haven't made it to the first island trial before the end of the 2 hours preview.
Ooh neat that must mean there's a lot to do if you can take two hours and not get to a trail! I approve!
18. Caught Pokémon before the first hour of gameplay. Kukui likely gives Pokéballs.
Well of course, someone always gives us Pokeballs once the game lets us go.
19. No big story dumps at the first couple hours, some vague mysteries but nothing they can talk about.
Good RPGs never give big story dumbs early on. They always build up.
20. You almost die by falling off a bridge and saved by Tapu Koko.
Way to go, Main Character. You moved to a new region and almost died. Good thing this one has active guardian deities!
21. They didn't even meet a single trial captain.
Meh, Pokemon doesn't often have you meet the gym leaders before you battle them. Seems trial captains are continuing the 'tradition'.
22. They encountered Pokémon that haven't been revealed yet but can't say anything.
This makes me happy. I'm hoping we have quite a lot of new pokemon!
23. Team Skull is funny and dense, with exagerate gangsters
Just as I expected.
24. They didn't level up any pokemon enough to evolve them. Popllio got to level 12.
Either they're the kind of people who don't stop to grind for a while, or there's a lot to distract you from battling.
25. The tutorial isn't heavy and not slow.
Dunno how Pokemon could have a heavy and slow tutorial in the first place, but okies.
26. They seen about 10-15 Pokémon
Okie doke.
27. Not able to talk about internet options, Menu is nice and clean.
Hopefully internet options will be about the same as XY/ORAS. What with Comcast looming over their customers with slapping data caps on our internet use I'm hoping to have to use internet as little as possible. -_-
28. Pokéfinder is usually the only reason to use 3D and it isn't very good.
Again, 3D is a pointless gimmick in the first place, so I wouldn't even use it for this. >->
29. Dex is divided by Islands. Didn't encounter any fossil Pokémon
Not surprising, since Kalos was divided by sections of course the islands would have their own dex divisions. Also when have we EVER encountered fossil pokemon in the first two hours?
30. Your Mom has her own room in the house.
Kalos mom got her own room. Of course Alola mom should get her own room.
31. The Music in battle isn't as great as the music in the overworld. The Soundtrack is still good.
I don't play the games for music and if I'm doing a ton of battling (grinding) I have the volume turned off so. Eh.
32. According to Gxplain: The best Musical Track is Route 1 and Hawaiian influenced.
That's nice, Game Explain. Your opinion is noted.
33. Hau chooses the weak Pokémon to yours and doesn't seem like your main rival.
Already knew this.
34. The power of Tackle is back to 40 HP.
They lowered the power of tackle from 50 to 40? Why? It's tackle. No one's going to keep tackle for that long, why bother making it even less likely to be kept around?
35. They can't name the towns.
...Okay then. Weird choice of something to make sure no one talks about, POkemon people.
36. It doesn't feel like a reboot of Pokémon, but a 20 year anniversary celebration
Why would they reboot pokemon anyway? Just keep adding new things. Refresh it. The last thing I want to do is have a reboot and an excuse to remake the most boring region of all (Kanto) again. |:

 

[Hidden Mew]

I am disappointed with the removal of sneaking up to Pokemon feature. I loved the DexNavi and it was such a cool way to find more Pokemon. Not to mention it made it extremely easy to search for a specific one, so that's a bumper. There are a lot of cool features, so hopefully it won't be a heavy loss or the Rotom Pokedex has something similar to the DexNavi minus the sneaking up to the Pokemon part. I just hope that Super Training is returning since they have Pokemon Refresh as the new Pokemon Amie. Hyper Training wouldn't really be the new Super Training per say since it focuses on IVs instead of EVs.

We'll most likely get fossil Pokemon at some point, but probably just further down the game. Being saved by Tapu Koko at the beginning sounds pretty intense, especially when you usually don't get in danger until the later stages of some of the games. I wouldn't blame them for only getting Popplio to level twelve in two hours. They were most likely focused on exploring and taking mental notes on whatever they could talk about more than level grinding. Not to mention they only had two hours to play the games before waiting another month, so that limited what they could do too. It all does sound really promising though, so that's awesome.

 

[Juliko]

I heard something about Sun and Moon no longer utilizing the D-pad to make the characters walk, and instead the circle pad is being used for walking from now own. This isn't true, is it? Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

I am glad that Dexnav is not coming back. Trying to chain in desert, water and cave was a real pain. Plus it is Hoenn exclusive.

 

[Silktree]

I heard something about Sun and Moon no longer utilizing the D-pad to make the characters walk, and instead the circle pad is being used for walking from now own. This isn't true, is it? Can anyone confirm this?

That's what they say in the video, in addition to running being the default speed. That sounds good to me.

 

[Cute Charm]

Welp, I know my muscle memory is still going to hold down b or try to use the d-pad.

I mean I'm really exited for the walking speed being upped to running speed, but at the same time I know it's going to take me a while to get used to.

 

[Alolan Ninetales]

Well, I'm really disappointed we don't get Dexnaving back cause man I loved to shiny hunt that way. However, I do hope they make an easier way to chain for shinies in this game (if chaining is to return as well). That was one of the highlights of ORAS for me, and it's sad that it won't return.

I'm excited that the default speed will be running now. Does that mean we'll get a speed faster than running though?

 

[Alolan Coconut]

7. They can't confirm trainer card details.
When has the trainer card ever been that important? Weird, but okay then.

In their defence: this is a little out of context. They asked for the trainer card details because they wanted to know if there was any information about a badge-system.

 

[Vyrron]

I clearly remember the PC being both able to walk and run during the E3 gameplay. I'm guessing it will depend on how hard you're pushing the circle pad.

Also apparently 3D is in the game but only when using Poke-Finder and during certain cutscenes.

 

[Boss1708]

I just hope that Super Training is returning since they have Pokemon Refresh as the new Pokemon Amie. Hyper Training wouldn't really be the new Super Training per say since it focuses on IVs instead of EVs.

Super Training has been replaced by Bouncy Castles. They just require you to pay a certain amount of Festival Coins, and your Pokemon gets the respective EV boost. It doesn´t involve a minigame like Super Training did, though.

Pokemon Refresh is a similar case. It is the same as Gen VI Pokemon Amie, except there are no minigames (Amie had 3 minigames).

As for Hyper Training, it also seems to involve no minigame, from what we´ve seen: you pay bottle caps, and your Pokemon directly gains the respective benefit, without involving a minigame.

So yes, SM has removed all of the Gen VI minigames, it seems.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Super Training has been replaced by Bouncy Castles. They just require you to pay a certain amount of FC, and your Pokemon gets the respective EV boost. It involves no minigame like Super Training did, though.

Same with Pokemon Refresh. It is the same as Gen VI Pokemon Amie, except there are no minigames (Amie had 3 minigames).

As for Hyper Training, it also seems to involve no minigame: you pay bottle caps, and your Pokemon gains the respective benefit, without involving a minigame.

That would be a bit disappointing, if only because it was so easy to keep track of how many EVs you putting for a specific stat with Super Training. As long as I can still do that and reset a Pokemon's EV levels, then that wouldn't be too bad, but I'd still miss the mini game aspect of Super Training. It was tricky at first, but once I got the hang of it, it was pretty good.

 

[Silktree]

The Festival Plaza seems to have a Tauros race mini game, at the very least.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Super Training has been replaced by Bouncy Castles. They just require you to pay a certain amount of Festival Coins, and your Pokemon gets the respective EV boost. It doesn´t involve a minigame like Super Training did, though.

How are we suppose to know if we max out the stat of a pokemon if Super Training is gone? With Super Training, you can see how high/low you pokemon stats is and which one you are increasing on the screen.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I didn't realize the lack of mini-games for Pokemon Refresh until now for some reason. I don't mind losing that too much compared to the mini-game in Super Training if that is the case. I was really only good enough to do the berry catching game while I had problems with the other ones. I wouldn't mind some new mini-games in place of those three for some variety, but losing them completely is okay. As long as I can still pet my Pokemon, I'd be fine with that.

 

[techitisJ]

I am kinda upset DexNav is gone. I mean, I only ever got one shiny out of it, but it was pretty fun to chain with. I am going to miss it. I am hoping they do provide some new ways to shiny chain in Sun and Moon then.

Great to see there are more new Pokemon (that we haven't seen yet) early on. One of my biggest qualms with X and Y was not that they didn't offer enough Pokemon, it was that they didn't offer a lot of new Pokemon early on. In fact, before the first gym, there was only 4 new Pokemon you could encounter, Bunnelby, Fletchling, Scatterbug, and Litleo. I am very happy that it looks like we are going to see more new Pokemon before the first trial.

That is rather funny, how we are put in such mortal danger from the very beginning, but then Tapu Koko saves us. It's a nice way to show you early on that there is someone out there watching your back.

 

[Esserise]

Pardon me, but is there any actual evidence that you can chain for Shiny Pokémon via the DexNav? I thought that was just a rumor. I mean, I "chained" like a bazillion Ditto and never encountered a Shiny one.

 

[CynthiaLover]

I didn't realize the lack of mini-games for Pokemon Refresh until now for some reason. I don't mind losing that too much compared to the mini-game in Super Training if that is the case. I was really only good enough to do the berry catching game while I had problems with the other ones. I wouldn't mind some new mini-games in place of those three for some variety, but losing them completely is okay. As long as I can still pet my Pokemon, I'd be fine with that.

Yeah, I'm in a similar boat. I was only good at the scramble puzzle game, the rest I screwed up on almost all the time. While I don't mind the lack of mini-games in Refresh, I am concerned about Super Training. I rarely used it, since I was terrible at the mini-games, but it did help monitor my Pokemon's EVs (something that I don't usually care about, to be honest, but I did appreciate it) and allowed me to better tailor my team's strengths more. While the Bouncy Castle thing would be easier (see: no effort) in boosting EVs, it does require a form of currency which may not be easy to obtain outside of internet interactions. But as long as I can play with my Pokemon and make them happy, I can live with no mini-games in Refresh (though I do wonder how we get Poke Beans... which I think should've been called Poke Treats instead). It's just the Super Training I'm a bit worried about, as it did come in handy, and I know several players who loved it, so I hope there is an easy-to-access version of it that doesn't require a form of currency to use freely.

 

[Juliko]

Wait! If the Pokemon-Amie minigames are gone, then how will we know when our Pokemon need exercise or don't want to eat any more of those beans?

 

[CynthiaLover]

Wait! If the Pokemon-Amie minigames are gone, then how will we know when our Pokemon need exercise or don't want to eat any more of those beans?

My theory regarding that is that the battling alone will be the "exercise", since we have the option of pulling up Refresh right after a battle. If so, then it may increase the usage and longevity of Refresh, since we can't just simply pet our Pokemon like crazy, max out affection, and then forget about it for the rest of the game (I know I'm guilty of that at times, especially with my Starter). As for the Poke Bean bit, they'll probably just do what Amie did and simply not accept it when full.