The Official Travelog + Let's Play Thread

[Muur]

Team Aether: "You can't use Pokeballs in here due to our special waves".

Ultra Beast shows up and then my Pokeballs work. uwot Aether!? I guess already caught mons are fine but Imma go with "we lied lol".

Anyway that purple girl with Lille was cute, seemed to be dressed as a cat :3.

Changed my battle styles and tried them out, the girly one was the best. Is a bit like she's doing a kitty pose, :3.

Turtonator
Dartix
Sparkle the shiny Magnemite (needs to evolve now, holding the team back)
Lycanrek the Lycanroc
Toucannon
Araquanid

Level 28

I seem to be a little underlevelled now based on Haus rival battle on the island and that I'm now similar levels to the trainers on the islands. Ah well, it happens. I suppose I'd be way overlevelled if I hadn't turned off the exp share 11 seconds after getting it.

 

[techitisJ]

Haven't posted here in a few days. College finals are coming up and it's keeping me rather busy and away from my 2DS

Haven't played Moon at all in these past few days, so don't have anything there.

I think I'm satisfied with my exploring in my copy of Sun, I went up and defeated the 7th trial. Because I have a Mimikyu, that Kommo-o was pretty easy. did the plot antics with Nebby and going into Ultra Space. Man that was really cool. So interesting. Gosh I love Guzma. I like playing in my room with the door closed or when I'm in the house alone, because then I can give all the trainers their own voice, and talk them out, it makes it much more fun for me. Caught Solgaleo, or Nebby. Called it ScreechyRoar because I name all my legendaries weird things. Sorry Lillie I renamed your friend. Nebby's not going on the team, and honestly I feel kinda bad about that. It tore my heart out to see how Lillie was going to leave, but then she turned back to remind Nebby to stay in his Pokeball, and other things. She was a mother to it, and now she left him to me. Honestly I teared up. Finally I took on Gladion. Gosh he gets a good ending too, and I love his cute little smile. It just made me so happy. I feel like I am a bit underleveled though. My friend who has beat the game told me the champion's highest was at like 56 or something and only my starter is at that level. I don't like feeling too much stress about beating it my first time trying the league, so I'll probably grind up. Just where is the problem. I have missed quite a few of the water trainers, but I know they're levels are around 30s and that's not going to get me much, I'll probably start with them though since I should get them done. Probably won't check back again till be beat the main game. Have fun, trainers!

 

[Pyrax]

Held off from advancing the plot for 2 days because I had classes, also because I wanted to fill up my dex a bit more. So really this is more of an update over what I've done since my last post.

Made it to the Seafolk village and collected Aerodactyl. Met up with Hapu at Ancient Poni Path; this meeting really took me by surprise, because I thought Hapu had been a Kahuna all along, yet here she is, being chosen by Tapu Fini shortly after our meeting. But hey, at least Poni has a Kahuna again. Beat the Skull grunts and obtained the Poisonium Z from Plumeria after returning from the temple. We're gonna have to rescue Guzma too, not a problem.

I then explored Poni Canyon; fairly straightforward dungeon, managed to catch a Midnight Lycanroc on my way to the altar. Also met Mina, who gave me a Fairyum Z; shame she didn't have a trial, but I guess giving her one would've disrupted the flow of the game, seeing as I'm already at the storyline's climax. Anyways, I arrived close to the end and what do I find but trial gates! I felt it was fitting to have the final trial just be to fetch the Dragonium Z and battle the Totem Kommo-o. It's likely meant to test a challenger's raw strength. The totem went down on the first turn thanks to Ribombee's Twinkle Tackle - really anticlimactic imo.

Finally arrived at the Altar of the Moone, and might I add, its resemblance to a face from a distance has got to be intentional on GameFreak's part. Anyway, Lillie and Hikari played the flutes, and triggered Nebby's evolution into Lunala. As expected, Ultra Space felt pretty alien, albeit not as much as the Distortion World. Now I'm curious about what the rest of their dimension looks like. Finally found Lusamine (and our boy Guzma), and after an exchange between her and Lillie as well as a prebattle cutscene that wouldn't be out of place in any other JRPG, Lusamine fused with Nihilego and challenged that "hateful trainer" Hikari.

Thoughts on Lusamine below.

Spoiler

Admittedly, the totem effect for all of her Pokémon was a nice touch. Her team is so much better than Lysandre's pathetic excuse of a party. Glad to see GameFreak has actually given the main antagonist a proper team with full movesets again after Gen VI's trainwreck. The difficulty was alright I guess; I mainly struggled against Clefable, Mismagius and to a lesser extent Bewear, but otherwise she didn't give my party much trouble other than fainting Ribombee and Salazzle.
I liked that she's a more character-driven villain this time, as it fleshed her out and made her seem more "human" compared to previous team leaders. Even her abusive nature was delved into, in that it's thanks to Lillie we learn Lusamine wasn't always the abusive mother she is now. Over all, a very refreshing character to see unfold in my opinion.

After returning to Earth, Lillie told me about how Nebby wanted to travel around more. Meaning of course, I had to capture Lunala. Lanturn's Discharge paralyzed it and Bewear's Brutal Swing brought its HP down to red, while Nebby was caught on my ~5th Pokéball. Afterwards, Lillie bid Nebby farewell and went to see Lusamine with Hapu. Also apparently Nanu was watching the whole time. I'm currently at Tapu Village, just outside the Pokémon League.

Party:
Decidueye lv.50
Ribombee lv.50
Salazzle lv.49
Lanturn lv.49
Bewear lv.50
Vibrava lv.50

 

[Sakuraa]

Well, I believe I finished off the main storyline regarding Lillie, Nebby, and Lusamine. I have to say that it was quite nice.

Spoiler

I really love Lillie as a character. I never would have expected her to have such a major story arc like this. Watching her getting braver by running across the bridge by herself and taking charge instead of following me has been great.

While going through the Vast Poni Canyon, I met Trial Captain Mila who gave me the Fairium-Z. Also, I really don't understand this chick. She's the Trial Captian yet we only see her this one time before we do the trial. She doesn't even show up afterwards nor does she even look like a Dragon-type specialist. I really like the layout of the Vast Poni Canyon. Using a tree branch as part of the pathway was really nice.

I took on Totem Kommo-o and was immediately confused by its level. I get that the Kahuna is technically supposed to be our last challenge on the island, so I can sort of see why Hapu's Pokemon were stronger than it, but I think it could have been a bit higher leveled. Then again, even being like 3 levels higher than it, I still got near swept, so I really shouldn't be complaining. Heck, I probably would have lost if it were any stronger. I was super thrown off by Bullet Proof blocking my Ribombee's Pollen Puff. I didn't think that would be affected by it.

Anyway, I made it to the Altar of Sunne where Lillie and I played a lovely tune which allowed Nebby to evolve into Solgaleo. And I just have to say, the little animations Solgaleo does in the cut scenes are so cute. We ride into Ultra Space on Nebby's back where we learn that UB-01's real name that I can't even remember now

Once again, I love how Lillie took control to try to talk some sense into her mother. But seriously, Lusamine is so harsh. I can't believe she called her own child ugly just because she disagrees with her. Then again, it's clear that this woman is insane. I nearly lost my mind when she morphed with the Ultra Beast before the battle. Since we were on equal levels this time around, the battle against Lusamine was much easier. Just like before, it was only her Clefable that gave us trouble. IDK, what happened to Lusamine after the beast left her body, but its nice to see that she's slowly coming to her senses. That scene with her and Lillie was really heartwarming.

After leaving, Lillie insisted that I take Nebby along with me, so I Quick Ball'd that Solgaleo up. And of course I named him Nebby. No need to give him a new name when I'm already so used to calling him Nebby anyway. Nanu then kindly showed up to take me to Mount Lanakila to challenge the league.

Gladion showed up one more time to challenge me. I should have expected he'd show up with a water-type Silvally. Fortunately, the match was pretty simple. I went off on my own to get the Flyinium-Z for my Oricorio, Helina. Since Revelation Dance is (stupidly) always regarded as a normal-type move, and this bird doesn't learn any moves of its primary-type (why?) I couldn't give her the Ghostium-Z like I wanted to. Therefore I made Supersonic Skystrike her main Z-Move. On Mount Lanakila I also got the Icium-Z.

Hau challenged me one more time where I tried out my new Z-Move on his ugly Decideueye (or however the hell its spelled). Took it out instantly. I was actually surprised that Hau didn't give me the Psychium-Z. I thought for sure that he would considering that one of his main Pokemon was an Alolan Raichu. And thus, I had to go off and get that for myself as well.

After I got all of the Z-Crystals I went to the top where Kukui told be prepared for the league. Thus I spent the past few hours grinding up my party. It would have been much better if there were actually trainers on Mount Lanakila to give me some EXP:/ But whatever.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be taking on the league.

 

[Muur]

I defeated the Electric Totem - that was rather tough, five of my six Pokemon were killed. These totems are much more of a challenge than gym leaders, though that may be because of the fact you fight more than one Pokemon at a time. I was surprised to get the Steel crystal at the same time, so I guess there's no Steel challenge. Anyway I was not shown how to do the dance for the steel one, so how did my trainer know!? she must've made one up at random and it just happened to work. Freaky.

Team Skull trying to steal a bus stop... lmao. I hate buses too but that's no reason to steal the bus stop! and how dare that one try to hurt Lille! good job my trainer used the power of love to prevail in that battle. Saved outside the next totem location, so that will be the next course of action. I was one level above the previous totem but that Drowsee was level 33 from the grunt, so imagine the Ghost totem will be higher than me. Oh pewpy.

Toucannon Lv31
Turtonator
Dartix
Sparkle the shiny Magneton
Lycanrek the Lycanroc
Araquanid

Lv32

 

[Blockhead Pippi]

Whoever thought it would be a good idea to make the game's ending last 30 minutes can go straight to hell. I especially do not appreciate being forced into a legendary battle right after becoming champion before I even had a chance to save.

In other words, I just beat the game, but I am too angry to celebrate that. The cutscenes' length are the number one thing I hate the most about this game.

Final team was Incineroar, Lycanroc Midday, Magnezone, Vaporeon, Mudsdale, and Oranguru. It didn't change at all since my last update.

To hell with this, I'm done playing.

 

[Alola]

Moving on,

You can just feel the change in game play when you arrive in Ula Ula Island after visiting the Aether Paradise for the first time. It feels like dark things are going to happen soon...

Also, Hau practically kicked my butt during our battle upon arriving at said island. I managed to win, but it was a really sloppy victory that had me scrambling for Revives and whatever I could heal my team with. Had I known that this a fight that's okay to lose (understandably so), I would have just let him win.

 

[Arceus the Dragon]

Once again, I defended my title as champion. Just one more challenger I haven't faced yet. Defeated the guy at the Game Freak building.

 

[techitisJ]

My little heartstrings have been ripped, gosh this game is just too much! It's too much.

I didn't do that training I said I was going to do, and just went right in. Have to say I am a tad dissapointed that the road to Mt. where the League is didn't have any trainers, though it does kind of make sense as the League was just built. Wish there were to give me some challenges before hand. Did like the final battles with Hau and Gladion though, that was absolutely great. Especially Gladion. He's got the cutest little smile ever and I love it. I challenged the Elite 4 and the Champion. I have to say I had a harder time with most of the elite 4 members, than I did with the champ. Probably because I'm used to having to combat that well balanced team. I just had a lot of good types that matched up to his. But the Elite 4, jeez. I had the toughest time with Hala, and I even had a fairy type with Mimikyu, a Psychic type with Alolan Raichu, and a Fighting type with Passimian. Glad I didn't go through all my hyper potions and max potions I bought, though I did go through the Super Potions I had previously.

Spoiler: Lillie

My favorite part of it all though, the one that ripped me to shreds was seeing Lillie go. I loved watching this girl grow into a young woan. She grew so much and to watch as she sailed away to Kanto, leaving us behind, was heartbreaking. i was probably crying as much as Hau was. I am so happy for her, going on her own Pokemon Adventure in Kanto. My little heart is broken.

Also jeez was there seriously not a moment you could go ahead and save before you catch Tapu Koko. I mean beating the Champion, and going through all that dialogue, and then having to catch/beat Tapu Koko. I might have missed the moment where it saved, or where I had a chance to, but if not, jeez. That's almost as worse as not being able to save after catching Rayqueza in ORAS, and then having to go get Deoxys. I mean Tapu Koko is probably catchable if you have to refight him if you didn't. But I wasn't sure, so I tried very hard to catch him. Luckily I did. Took a few Dusk Balls, and of course I did a quick ball. Wasn't too bad but honestly, I was worried about killing it and not having the chance to get it again.

Here's my finalized, Pokemon Sun Team (yeah, I don't normally do set up moves on in game teams)
Alaka'i the Incineroar (Level 61, Male, Blaze, Quirky Nature, Very Finicky, with Outrage (never used), Flamethrower, Darkest Lariat, and Flare Blitz)
Ka'auki the Alolan Raichu (Level 60, Male, Surge Surfer, Serious Nature, Loves to eat, with Discharge, Psychic, Thunderbolt, and Wild Charge)
Leikea the Lycanroc (Level 59, Female, Sand Rush, Impish Nature, Strongly defiant, with Accelerock (glad I kept that, needed it in one of my battles), Stone Edge, Rock Slide, and Crunch)
Onaono the Lurantis (Level 59, Female, Leaf Guard, Lax Nature, Very Finicky, with Slash, Petal Blizzard, Solar Blade, and Leaf Blade
Hilina'i the Passimian (Level 57, Male, Receiver, Jolly Nature (yes!), Good perseverance, with Close Combat, Brutal Swing, Double-Edge, and Brick Break)
Mana the Mimikyu (Level 57, Female, Disguise, Gentle Nature, Sturdy body, with Play Rough, Dazzling Gleam, Shadow Claw, and Slash)

Anywho. I am going to go see what I can do now, do some exploring. Loved this game.

 

[Esiouqrut]

Today I've done a lot of things, from Aether Paradise to Mount Lanakila.

Spoiler: Long Version

Firstly, I invaded Aether Paradise and fought with the grunts and the branch chief.and also learning the lore behind Cosmog and Type: Null. As I thought, the only good guy in Aether is Wicke. And then, to no one's surprise, team skull and eventually Guzma, which defeats Gladion. I then battle president Lusamine after that long cutscene she opened Ultra Wormhole all over Alola. I'm not sure how I feel about them made UB0-01 and maybe 02 as the only plot relevant UB. I think this concept has so many potential, but maybe there's a limitation here and there. Anyway, Guzma's a hard battle and Lusamine's a hard battle as well but both are still manageable.

Lusamine then disappeared to the beast's dimension with Guzma and Cosmog condensed to something tiny, I assume this is a reference to the big bang theory. We then decided to search for the legendary Pokemon to help us go to the other dimension. The next day Lillie's changing her appearance, which is cool. I don't think there's someone who've done that in the previous game. Gladion appeared afterward and handed down the sun flute and a master ball. Then we moved to the Poni Island.

Searched for Hapu, which hasn't been a kahuna yet, and found her in front of her house. I thought she's denying her role when she said there's no kahuna in Poni though. We then headed to the ruins of hope after receiving Machamp Ride from Hapu's granny. The scene where Hapu is chosen to be kahuna is quite interesting to me.

Next is the Exceggutor Island. Not much to do, just grabbing the moon flute and immediately returning to Seafolk Village, then heading to the Vast Poni Canyon. Team skull was already waiting there and for a moment I thought that we should battle all five at once. Then Plumeria appeared and talked. She's not that bad, I'm starting to like her. Anyway, I almost immediately gave Tesla the Charjabug a rare candy so that he can evolve already. Battling and defeating Hapu after that. It's not that hard.

Continuing on, I met Mina who gave me Fairium-Z. I got the impression that she's a new captain because she seems to still thinking about what her trial would be. Then at last I arrived at the trial site. I don't want to use my Primarina because he's already 3 levels ahead of my other Pokemon, but I eventually did. Afterward we got to the altar of the moone to summon the legendary Pokemon. I love the flute summoning music, kinda gives me Pokemon movie 2000 Lugia's theme vibe. Nebby then turned into the gorgeous Lunala. Man, I'm so glad I could got the Moon copy.

We then went to the Ultra Space thanks to Lunala's Moongeist Beam. There we found Guzma. I thought we have to fought him, but he just told us his story instead. Further ahead, Lusamine was already waiting (not really waiting though) to fight me. She then fused with Nihilego the UB-01. Her Clefable was so bluky with it's Cosmic Power and her Bewear was a little tough, but the rest is not a problem. We then returned to our own dimension before Nihilego rampages further.

Hapu was already waiting when we returned and ordered Guzma to take Lusamine to her Mudsdale. Nebby then told us, through Lillie, that she still wanted to go on an adventure with us. But Lillie thought that she couldn't fulfill her wish and asked me to bring her to my adventure. Here it is, the Legendary Pokemon battle. I struggled a little bit to caught her and even Quiao the Crabrawler fainted (guess I'm unlucky that time) but in the end I succeeded to caught her in an ultra ball. Nicknamed her Nebby, of course. This maybe is the first time I got so emotionally attached to the legendary Pokemon. I wanted to bring her to my adventure, but my team is already set. Maybe I'll bring her with me for the post game. After that Nanu, who apparently watching all along, asked me if I want to go to Mt. Lanakila to challenge the league and I said yes. So we head straight to Mt. Lanakila and I can finally evolve my last team member, Crabominable.

Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the story of this game. I think the. did a good job this time
Current team: Chvette (Decidueye), Primarina, Tesla (Vikavolt), Quiao (Crabominable), Chleo (Salazzle), and Sable (Krookodile).

 

[Soki]

Beat the second trial yesterday and damn that was evil.

Rain to boost the power of Wishiwashi's moves, it uses Soak so your Grass- and Electric-type attacks lose its STAB and it summons an Alomomola that keeps healing it? The first time I tried I didn't even stand a chance. I healed my Fomantis three times and lost my whole team with Wishiwashi's health not even being below 50% and Alomola hardly having a scratch. Though it was only during the trial I realised that half my team is weak to water, hadn't really looked at weaknesses when I put my team together, so that wasn't helping either ^^;

Not complaining though, I was just caught off guard like whoa, since this game doesn't even trust you to have more than one path to walk on, so wasn't expecting this kind of difficulty. I did like having to think about how the hell I was going to get through this, and then remembered I met some Psyduck with Cloud Nine in the grass previously and caught one to at least keep the Wishiwashi from killing me so fast. I love that they added those Psyduck, you meet them during the rain so you immediately see their Ability work for yourself so you can be like 'oh hey, that's useful!'. I love it because you have to work it out for yourself, instead of someone literally telling you "You should catch a Psyduck with Cloud Nine, it will help".

The Psyduck wasn't needed eventually, since I got lucky the second time as Wishiwashi kept using Helping Hand instead of Soak or Water Gun this time, so I could beat it without Fomantis having any kind of damage

My team right now:
Torracat - Rockruff - Mudbray - Cutiefly - Fomantis

 

[Alolan Coconut]

I have just beaten Team Skull at Po Town and battled the - surprising - Kahuna of Ula'Ula Island. That said, I just want to point something out: Sun and Moon are the most hilarious Pokemon games ever.

The moment with Acerola after beating Totem Mimikyu is very subtle and the stuff npc's say is just plain wrong sometimes (like the machamp in the hotel). But I have been laughing audibly because of the Team Skull Grunts. Their hand gestures, their talks, some of it is just too goofy, even for a kids game. The best moments happened at Po Town, with the grunts that are basically waving at each other outside and when you sit on Guzma's chair after you've beaten him. I'm gonna spare what happens - for spoilers of course - but I still can't believe they (GF) really did this.

If this wasn't confirmation for me that these are the funniest games ever, then this is:
Ever since their reveal, I haven't been the biggest fan of Z-Moves. Heck, I haven't even used it in-game yet and luckily there isn't a lot of story emphasis on them. After I defeated Nanu, and he started doing his gimmicky movements, I was saying to myself (again): God, this is ridiculous. But apperently, Nanu 'the freakin Kahuna' agrees:

Spoiler

*weird dance* ->*awkward silence* -> ''Anyway, thats how you use it. Whatever.''

.

So now I'm om my way to Aether Island, and I have no idea what will happen next. But I don't mind, because I finally have completed my team. I haven't posted it yet, so here goes in order of obtaining them:

Decidueye (42)
Arcanine (41)
Lycanroc (42)
Golisopod (40)
Krokorok (39)
Hakamo-o (38) -> traded through GTS

I like using older gen Pokemon, especially when they are among my favourites. I noticed how high leveled I am compared to in-game opponents. So I spend the last day and a half (before going to Po Town) training my Krokorok and Hakamo-o.

Can't wait to come back from work and play again.

 

[TwistedxMind]

Just finished getting all the Zygarde cells and coresources!

 

[PokePal15]

I've been playing pretty much every day since I got the games and I managed to get to the post game just a couple of days ago (wish I would have discovered this thread sooner...)

For my first play through, I was focused on getting through the game. I avoided spoilers and the faster I beat the game, the less likely I was to get spoiled, so that's what I did. I've skipped a lot of stuff (mostly Trainer battles), but once I got to Poni Island, I slowed down a bit and I started to try to "catch 'em all". So far, I've got all the first stage Pokemon from Melemele Island (at least those that I can get in Moon) and have almost done the same for Akala. I don't have a set team yet, but here is what I have been using;

Incineroar, Toucannon, Mudsdale, Vikavolt, Lycanroc (Midnight).

All of my current team are in the high 60's, low 70's level-wise. That sixth spot is being rotated between those I need to level up or evolve. It is currently occupied by my Dragonair until she evolves. My original plan was to have Kommo-o and Sandslash rather than Mudsdale, but I like her too much at the moment and I need to hatch and level up my Jangmo-o first.

I am still looking for a good Water-type (and possibly Grass). The top 2 candidates right now are Gyarados and Gastrodon, and I'm seriously considering dumping my Toucannon for my Crobat (and possibly my Lycanroc). I have enough move variety on my team right now that I am doing fairly well against the in-game battles and I don't do a lot of online battles.

Story-wise, I have enjoyed the game so far, though I was able to predict a few elements like

Spoiler

Lillie being Lusamine's daughter, Gladion and Lillie being siblings, Team Skull working for Lusamine

but overall, it was a bit unpredictable.

I caught all of the Tapus the other day and finished the UB portion. I guess all I have left to do is finish filling up the PokeDex.

AND I MANAGED TO CATCH A SHINY GUMSHOOS ON PONI ISLAND! (Not something I'm really gonna use but still cool all the same).

Guess I can start working on starting Sun soon...

 

[Pyrax]

I started off this morning by arriving at Mt. Lanakila, and who would appear but Gladion! I underestimated his Silvally, leading to two of my party members fainting before I even started to climb.
After Poni Canyon and its multitude of trainers, Mt.Lanakila was a breath of fresh air and very straightforward. Kinda reminded me of GSCHGSS' victory road, especially the rival battle at the end. Hau wasn't a pushover either - I swear, that Raichu should be his ace considering how strong it is. Anyway, after that battle, he gave me 3 Max Revives and left. I took that opportunity to grind my team up from lv.49/50 to lv.55. League Time!

Hala was straightforward, possibly the easiest for me. Decidueye and Ribombe practically double-teamed him.
Likewise for Olivia; only Carbink gave me a hard time because of its defences. I primarily used Flygon and Lanturn, only switching in to Decidueye for the aforementioned Carbink.
Kahili's Skarmory managed to set up Spikes, while Mandibuzz survived Ribombee's Twinkle Tackle and almost KO'd it in return. Other than those, fairly straightforward battle. Fairy could use some type boosting items other than Pixie Plate. Preferably introduced this gen if not last gen, but that's off-topic.
Acerola's Dhelmise gave me the most trouble - its base Attack is 131, no wonder it hits like a truck. Decidueye outsped her Pallosand and KO'd it with Sinister Arrow Raid before getting an opportunity to use Neverending Nightmare. Pretty fun battle, though the same can be said for the entire Elite Four.

"Champion" and ending below.

Spoiler

Lycanroc went down in two hits from Lanturn, albeit not without setting up Stealth Rock. Snorlax went down quickly thanks to Bewear's x2 Work Up + Expert Belt. Braviary managed to set up Tailwind and KO Salazzle before going down from Flygon's Rock Slide. Without the aforementioned Salazzle, I tried to use Ribombee against his A-Nintales - that was disastrous, as Psychic failed to KO it, in turn KO'ing Ribombee. In hindsight I should've revived Salazzle.
Next up was Incineroar, who was actually the hardest for me; it actually managed to KO Flygon before I revived it, and Flygon was almost KO'd again before it went down from an Earthquake. Magnezone was the victim of Hikari's Z-Move for this battle; after being healed by Kukui three times, Decidueye got its health down low. I was worried he'd heal again, so I opted for Sinister Arrow Raid again, ending the battle.
After that, Kukui and the Elite Four congratulated Hikari on being Alola's first Champion! Iki Town held a party (Mina's absence irked me, I mean surely Hapu could've invited her or something), which was a pretty fun and amusing cutscene. Lillie and Hikari sneaked off to visit Tapu Koko's shrine, where the deity itself challenged me. I caught it, which I'm sure is pretty sacrilegious, I mean it's the guardian deity, it's sacred, it has a shrine, and I just caught it. I'm convinced the Tapus you encounter are avatars of the real Tapus, hence why seemingly everyone has no qualms with their capture. Lillie headed off for Kanto the next day. The final scene and end credits as a whole were incredibly poignant in my opinion.

Thoughts on the Elite Four and game as a whole below.

Spoiler

Kukui was a much, much better Champion than Diantha will ever be; I actually struggled at some points, unlike Diantha whom I practically swept with my Delphox's Calm Mind + Psychic/Shadow Ball. Though for a Professor specialising in moves, I was expecting much more diverse movesets - maybe Leech Life on Incineroar for recovery and Psyshock on Ninetales for coverage, for example.
The Elite Four as a whole are much more memorable than XY's in my opinion, because they're more far developed and fleshed out (even Kahili, who was really only alluded to by an NPC) - compare that to XY, where only Malva was the only one who stood out thanks to her ties with Team Flare. Their usage of a party of 5 again was really great - I'd really prefer if future games and generations kept to 5 instead of using 4 again. It was understandable for BW since you had to fight N and Ghetsis afterwards, but in XY that was just pathetic. Difficulty-wise, I think it's a step in the right direction.
The game has its flaws, but the plot was on par with, if not better than BW. Characters are much more developed and fleshed out; for example, I didn't think I would like Hau because I was one of the people who wanted an antagonistic rival, but now he's one of my favourite Pokémon characters, and possibly my favourite rival alongside Silver and Barry. Same goes for Gladion, who actually fills that antagonistic rival niche if you think about it. And of course there's Lillie; by far one of the most developed and fleshed out character in the franchise, on par with Silver, N, Cheren, and Bianca in my opinion.
Both antagonistic teams are very refreshing in my opinion. On one hand you have the hilarious Team Skull where even the grunts are given development, and other the other hand you have the Aether Foundation who seems genuinely good, but ran by someone completely obsessed by the Ultra Beasts. Then you have the revelation of Skull helping out Aether while Nihilego brainwashed its employees which I admit was a great twist by Pokémon standards. Apart from Faba and possibly Lusamine, I cared about pretty much every important character from both organisations; Team Flare and its admins and other important members who weren't Lysandre or Malva felt incredibly dull by comparison.
By SM's endgame, I cared about every character, whereas by XY's endgame I really only cared about my player character. I hated XY's rivals and most of its characters, simply put.
It's alright as a JRPG, but in terms of mainline Pokémon games it's excellent. Plotwise, SM was a step forward from XY, which itself was a step back from Gen V. I'm looking forward to seeing how Gamefreak can top SM's storyline in future games and generations. Could do without all the Kanto references though. At least sprinkle in some Johto seeing as it's literally connected to Kanto.
I've mentioned this earlier, but the OST is absolutely amazing. My favourites in particular are Aether Paradise's themes, both of Lusamine's themes, Konikoni city, Malie city, and Po Town.

Party:
Decidueye (Kotori) lv.59
Ribombee (Pixie) lv.59
Lanturn (Aoi) lv.58
Bewear (Hugs) lv.58
Flygon (Terra) lv.58
Salazzle (Pele) lv.57

 

[Ryoma Maser]

Well I beat the Elite Four and Champion in Pokemon Sun last night. Though when I did the credits were so long that I had to wait until nine to go to bed, since I had school in the morning.

Spoiler: Elite Four and Champion

I was surprised to see Hala, Olivia and Acerola. Acerola especially since she was just a simple trial captain, but god she is adorable probably my favorite trial captain next to Lana and Hapu. I was surprised to see a character we haven't met before with Kahli. But I was even more surprised that Kukui was the Champion(still wondering why); I was joking to a friend who told me the champion is someone we meet before and I said it would be Masked Royal, well guess I was a in a way. I was secretly hoping that the Champion would be Lillie, being a great turnaround for her character. But I was shocked and sad to see her leave, she is one of THE BEST developed characters in Pokemon History. Though I will never see her photo at the end with Solgaleo in Moon with Lunaala. It doesn't seem to fit in my head.

Spoiler: Also

This was the first Pokemon game that scared the crap out of me with Lusamine and UB-01. I had trouble falling asleep that night.

Final Team after defeating Champion.
Petunia(Female)-Deciudeye LV.58
Marianne-Misdreavus LV.58
Balboa-Lycanroc(Midday)-LV.57
Marie Lucent-Alolan Ninetales LV:57
Capacitor-Vikavolt LV:58
Grail-Kommo-O LV.53

Spoiler: Sad thing though.

I had to catch Tapu Koko with the master ball, he sadly took to my entire team. I had no other choice.

Edit: I forgot to mention I didn't use a single Z-Power the entire Main Game.

 

[Muur]

So quite a lot happened, some very interesting . I defeated the Fairy totem, which was easy tbh. I then moved in to save that Yoongus! surely you have better things to steal Team Skull I mean half your members already have that Pokemon but cool I suppose. Afterwards, I dealt with that Bug dude, getting his crystal then easily beat the Dark guy. That was then retconned multiple times do to a glitch. My game glitched like *Censored* fighting him. Persian's face merging with the floor, my character's bag flying, Hau and Gladian's arms contorting it was all rather perplexing so I turned the game off as it was still happening when I regained control. Dark rematches did not go very well.. two losses followed by a win with 1HP due to sturdy after a crit from the Z move. Jesus Pokemon, you weren't happy with my winning the first time, so you gave me two losses and a third almost loss? well screw you, I'm counting only the first win as canon, those two losses and second win are non canon and were a dream on the beat to the Aether Paradise. Now I need to save Lille from that evil girl, so don't worry Lille your princess in shining armour will come to save the day! athough I question as to why she has been taken to Aether, so I guess things are going to get very very interesting from here on out.

Toucannon Lv37
Turtonator L36
Dartix L37
Sparkle the shiny Magneton L37
Lycanrek the Lycanroc L36
Araquanid L36

 

[Silverwynde]

So after beating the Totem Mimikyu, I hung around the abandoned market and caught one of my own. I named her Mimic and she's taking the slot that belonged to Toucan Sam, my Toucannon. I'm about to head upstairs and hit Po Town, as I have a Yungoos to rescue.

Oh and I ran into Grimsley last night. I'd love to know why he isn't in Unova as of right now. But it was so good seeing him. (Hope his Bisharp is doing well...)

 

[Muur]

So after beating the Totem Mimikyu, I hung around the abandoned market and caught one of my own. I named her Mimic and she's taking the slot that belonged to Toucan Sam, my Toucannon. I'm about to head upstairs and hit Po Town, as I have a Yungoos to rescue.

Oh and I ran into Grimsley last night. I'd love to know why he isn't in Unova as of right now. But it was so good seeing him. (Hope his Bisharp is doing well...)

Ah yeah I saw him today too and kinda freaked out XD he said something like "battle" and I was like "with an Elite 4 member?!" only for it to be a coin flip. My heart rate took a while to go back to normal lol. I wonder if he'll be important later. It appears we're pretty similar in terms of progress.

 

[Esiouqrut]

I finally took on the league last night after winning against Gladion and Hau. Managed to beat them both without anyone fainting. I'm happy that the elite four and the champion is harder than XY's, and not just by a little. I actually used many revives while challenging them. After winning the league, it's time for the super long ending (I seriously thought that everyone was exaggerating when they said that the ending last 30 minutes. It turns out to be more than 30 minutes). And after that, the battle against Tapu Koko. I threw a quick ball immediately to check my luck. Of course it failed. And then my Decidueye OHKO-ed Tapu Koko with his critical hit (and he looked to me waiting for praise afterward, how sad).

I'm on the mission to collect UBs currently. I've already fought Annabelle, received beast balls from Wicke, and about to head back to the cottage in route 8.