US/UM Trailers and News Discussion

[JFrombaugh]

I REALLY hope the Alolan Vulpix in the Aether Paradise ends up becoming Lillie's...and that Alolan Ninetales will therefore become her "signature mon" (both in the anime and in USUM).

Professor Kukui: "I've got an Alolan Ninetales! It's the Ice-type powerhouse of my team! Woo!"
Lillie: "That's great. You caught one first. You want a prize for that? Anywho, Snowy is an Alolan Ninetales too, but I raised it from an Egg at the Aether Paradise, and back when it was a newborn Vulpix I decided to keep it in my custody when I ran from my mother. And that's when I found Nebby."
Kukui: "I adopted my Rockruff back when I was just a boy, oh yeah, and he was my pet for a long time. Now he's grown into the Midday Lycanroc I use in battles today!"
Lillie: "How nice. But, Snowy bonded with me so closely because I've always been a very shy yet noble person, and so she wanted to stand up for me, and Nebby, and fight my battles."

 

[Esserise]

I don't necessarily mean entire islands swapping (though that would be cool) but since Melemele and Akala in particular are roughly circular, we could maybe go around them in a different order. This would be especially cool in Akala, since we could go do the trials in an order like Fire>Grass>Water, which could help the game feel a little different in terms of difficulty and pacing.

I wouldn't count on it for Melemele; that trailer with the walking Rockruff shows a trial barrier between Routes 1 and 3 just like before. But reversing the order of Akala would be very nice indeed.

I also wonder if Alolan Marowak replacing Salazzle will be the only changed Totem - though we can probably assume there will be a new Fairy Totem for Mina's trial (side note, will Totem Kommo-o still be in the game?). I think the Fairy Totem will be either Shiinotic, Comfey, or most likely, Ribombee (since that's the only one that actually appeared on Poni in Sun and Moon).

I don't see any particularly strong reason to lose Totem Kommo-o; sure it's a basic trial but, you know, why not? It's a decent little obstacle before getting into the heavy plot stuff.

Ribombee is Mina's signature Pokémon and Comfey is a little too underwhelming. So probably Ribombee for the Fairy Totem (assuming there even is a Totem for her trial - they could still choose to be weird with that one), although I think Shiinotic has a more interesting movepool with stuff like Strength Sap and Spore. Of course, Shiinotic is a nocturnal Pokémon, and its diurnal counterpart isn't Fairy-type, so...

I were going to change any of the other Totems, it would probably be Wishiwashi. Not that I didn't like the Wishiwashi trial, but just to shake things up a bit. I'd probably replace it with Araquanid, or a Gen 2 Alola Form if there is one.

 

[Mitchman]

I wouldn't count on it for Melemele; that trailer with the walking Rockruff shows a trial barrier between Routes 1 and 3 just like before. But reversing the order of Akala would be very nice indeed.



I don't see any particularly strong reason to lose Totem Kommo-o; sure it's a basic trial but, you know, why not? It's a decent little obstacle before getting into the heavy plot stuff.

Ribombee is Mina's signature Pokémon and Comfey is a little too underwhelming. So probably Ribombee for the Fairy Totem (assuming there even is a Totem for her trial - they could still choose to be weird with that one), although I think Shiinotic has a more interesting movepool with stuff like Strength Sap and Spore. Of course, Shiinotic is a nocturnal Pokémon, and its diurnal counterpart isn't Fairy-type, so...

I were going to change any of the other Totems, it would probably be Wishiwashi. Not that I didn't like the Wishiwashi trial, but just to shake things up a bit. I'd probably replace it with Araquanid, or a Gen 2 Alola Form if there is one.

Water Trial as the final one, with Akala as the 3rd Island, and the second to last trial. Totem Wailord with SOS Wishiwashi.

 

[SamurottMan]

They might also show off the new pokedex additions by making the Fairy totem a pokemon that wasn't in SM.

EDIT: Togekiss appears in Poni Island via Island scan in SM. It'd be neat to have totem Togekiss

 

[Alola]

Today's trailer: "Introducing new features we should have had in the original game one year ago!"

 

[Nicolas721]

New dex: Good, it's confirmed. However, I'm worried that many of the Pokemon shown have Mega evolutions, so that could mean that a good chunk of the returners will be the missing ones from SM. Not that I hate those mons, but it feels too cheap and too limiting. And going even more pessimistic, you could say that the reason they were added to the main Alolan Dex instead of the postgame is because the postgame Pokemon roster will be limited again...Hoping the best, expecting the worst. I might add Heracross to my team, assuming it's not a version exclusive.
New trials..: Yes!!!!! This has a lot of potential, I wonder which new charac...
...With a character you already known and who you've already battled!: Ugh. Mina needed redemption, but that's not something I would put on a marketing video. It's just a part of the game that will last just 5 minutes at best and that it's not groundbreaking at all. Unless they are foreshadowing that trial capitains now battle with us before the trial, but I'm not counting on that.
Lurantis and Vikavolt cutscenes: Nice, those trials really ruined the inmersion in SM with their stubborness to not use overworld models, I'm glad they will be fixed.
Mantine surf: This thing is too simple, yet too cool to be true. It's hard to not be amazed at the graphics and at the fact that we're having a very natural sidequest activity.

Decent amount of information overall, but just like everything in USUM there are a few worrying details.

 

[Alola]

My sarcasm aside, I'll comment on the information revealed by the Japanese trailer since the American one sucks eagles:

• Lillie finally has art for her Z-Powered form and it looks super adorable! And Hau's new serious art is very intriguing-a complete reversal of his initial art. I think this hints at a more complex side to him that was merely touched on in the first games.
• Speaking of Hau, his Torracat was visibly seen running with him! I don't know if that will be indicative of walking Pokemon, but I do think it makes the games feel more immersive. I also like the fact that he now commands 4 Pokemon when you battle him in Paniola Town, in contrast to the lacking two he wielded in Sun & Moon. Hopefully this means he will have a full party by the game's end.
• The Mantine surf-minigame-Ride Pokemon looks cool and gorgeous with that animated water. Its funny though because I thought the distance between the islands was too great for any Pokemon to swim in a reasonable amount of time though, hence the boats and flight.
• The picture feature seems like a glorified version of what Generation 4 tried to do, so I'm not particularly concerned with that.
• I'm sure a lot of people are going to be happy with the massive Pokedex expansion. With over 400 Pokemon, there is definitely something for everyone. Tropius is finally in the tropical region. I hope this means that Trainers will have more than one Pokemon in their parties this game around-there's really no excuse not to.
• Lastly, it seems like the trials have all been updated, graphically at least. It seems Verdant Cavern has a trial related to finding a real Sudowoodo among fakes, Sophocle's challenge already seems hoops better than whatever that was in Sun & Moon, Acerola appears to be explicitly creeped out by Totem Mimikyu, and Alolan Marowak seems to replace Salazzle as the fire Totem!

I hope they make Trailer Fridays a thing because this was a pleasant surprise to wake up to.

 

[Esserise]

Forecasting USUM has certainly been a dodgy endeavor thus far, but the trailers have gradually been widening in scope. If there are big guns to reveal, it would make sense to do so next month - after all, what else are they going to show? Not the Photo Club again, surely? I guess they could explain more about Mantine Surfing, but it feels like it made its splash well enough here. We already know what the early event distribution is, and Duskdog has gotten its focus. Z-Moves can only fill so much trailer time. And there's still a month and a half to go, which has the potential to yield two or three more trailers.

 

[Niyuura]

My sarcasm aside, I'll comment on the information revealed by the Japanese trailer since the American one sucks eagles:

• Lillie finally has art for her Z-Powered form and it looks super adorable! And Hau's new serious art is very intriguing-a complete reversal of his initial art. I think this hints at a more complex side to him that was merely touched on in the first games.
• Speaking of Hau, his Torracat were visibly seen running with him! I don't know if that will be indicative of walking Pokemon, but I do think it makes the games feel more immersive. I also like the fact that he now commands 4 Pokemon when you battle him in Paniola Town, in contrast to the lacking two he wielded in Sun & Moon. Hopefully this means he will have a full party by the game's end.
• The Mantine surf-minigame-Ride Pokemon looks cool and gorgeous with that animated water. Its funny though because I thought the distance between the islands was too great for any Pokemon to swim in a reasonable amount of time though, hence the boats and flight.
• The picture feature seems like a glorified version of what Generation 4 tried to do, so I'm not particularly concerned with that.
• I'm sure a lot of people are going to be happy with the massive Pokedex expansion. With over 400 Pokemon, there is definitely something for everyone. Tropius is finally in the tropical region. I hope this means that Trainers will have more than one Pokemon in their parties this game around-there's really no excuse not to.
• Lastly, it seems like the trials have all been updated, graphically at least. It seems Verdant Cavern has a trial related to finding a real Sudowoodo among fakes, Sophocles challenge already seems hoops better than whatever that was in Sun & Moon, Acerola appears to be explicitly creeped out by Totem Mimikyu, and Alolan Marowak seems to replace Salazzle as the fire Totem!

I hope they make Trailer Fridays a thing because this was a pleasant surprise to wake up to.

There are no walking pokemon, not in the same sense that they existed in HGSS anyway.

The random rockruff that "followed" us can be seen in this screenshot and it is apparently just a lovelier overworld pokemon

I think Hau only has his cat out just for some small flavor like he had his unevolved starter with him the first time we battle him

 

[SamurottMan]

Also the 3 Sudowoodo are from Mallow's trial

 

[Saternoir]

for all we know, we have a skip button this time

wait what? source on this?

 

[Niyuura]

wait what? source on this?

i did say "for all we know", meaning we don't know whether that was added and that it might have been added this time to save us from cutscenes we've seen already

 

[Muur]

There was no excuse as to why Mina didn't have a trial in the first game, it was just "lol I cba, here have the crystal" "oh thnx m8"

 

[Desdar300]

Quick thoughts.
Hau - seems to be alot more resolute now and no longer hides behind his smile.
He seems to want to overthrow Hala as the new Kahuna of Melelele.
Lillie - is definitely a trianer this time around and will probably go through an arc similar to Wally's from RSE/ Oras.
Mantine minigame - Looks great and for those of you that wanted sidquest rejoice.
Photoshop- according to TPC this feature can increase your Pokemon's friendship so that's interesting.
Trials - It's nice to see them upgraded.

 

[Niyuura]

Quick thoughts.
Hau - seems to be alot more resolute now and no longer hides behind his smile.
He seems to want to overthrow Hala as the new Kahuna of Melelele.
Lillie - is definitely a trianer this time around and will probably go through an arc similar to Wally's from RSE/ Oras.
Mantine minigame - Looks great and for those of you that wanted sidquest rejoice.
Photoshop- according to TPC this feature can increase your Pokemon's friendship so that's interesting.
Trials - It's nice to see them upgraded.

Where do you all get this "definitely a trainer" idea? Sure, she holds a pokeball in that poster but this trailer showed us a literal copypaste of her entire SM story (she still changes appearance after the Aether raid) and she still goes on the same journey with you in her "Z form". There is absolutely nothing to suggest she is definitely a trainer now save for the pokeball she's holding in the poster, which may just mean she gets to keep Nebby in these games instead of gving it to us... I mean, I'd want her to be a trainer too, but everything so far points to her story being 90% recycled (if not 100%)..

 

[FroyoDragon]

YOU'VE HEARD OF ELF ON THE SHELF, NOW GET READY FOR

I'm so sorry

 

[Desdar300]

Where do you all get this "definitely a trainer" idea? Sure, she holds a pokeball in that poster but this trailer showed us a literal copypaste of her entire SM story (she still changes appearance after the Aether raid) and she still goes on the same journey with you in her "Z form". There is absolutely nothing to suggest she is definitely a trainer now save for the pokeball she's holding in the poster, which may just mean she gets to keep Nebby in these games instead of gving it to us... I mean, I'd want her to be a trainer too, but everything so far points to her story being 90% recycled (if not 100%)..

The games haven't really given us much to go off of aside from the new features, that said, it was more of a bold prediction on my end

 

[Kallyle]

Where do you all get this "definitely a trainer" idea? Sure, she holds a pokeball in that poster but this trailer showed us a literal copypaste of her entire SM story (she still changes appearance after the Aether raid) and she still goes on the same journey with you in her "Z form". There is absolutely nothing to suggest she is definitely a trainer now save for the pokeball she's holding in the poster, which may just mean she gets to keep Nebby in these games instead of gving it to us... I mean, I'd want her to be a trainer too, but everything so far points to her story being 90% recycled (if not 100%)..

Some people seem to think that Lillie's going to become a trainer after she switches to her Z-Form in order to spice things up. Besides, just because she ran away from Aether this time doesn't mean she won't catch a few Pokémon to defend herself with. I don't think Lillie's going through the trials yet, but there's a chance she might be more a battler this time around.

Mostly though, people just want USUM to have a few key differences in order to justify having to sit through the same storyline + Necrozma due to all of the cutscenes. Being able to battle Lillie would be one of those differences.

 

[Niyuura]

Some people seem to think that Lillie's going to become a trainer after she switches to her Z-Form in order to spice things up. Besides, just because she ran away from Aether this time doesn't mean she won't catch a few Pokémon to defend herself with. I don't think Lillie's going through the trials yet, but there's a chance she might be more a battler this time around.

Mostly though, people just want USUM to have a few key differences in order to justify having to sit through the same storyline + Necrozma due to all of the cutscenes. Being able to battle Lillie would be one of those differences.

Okay, but there is nothing to base those thoughts on :/ There is footage/pictures of Lillie still being our healing machine in the "victory road" place, still thinking she made a great achievement being able to cross a bridge...Same dialogue when she changes appearance, still same dialogue on Poni island and when meeting Hapu again, she still stole Nebby and we still meet the same timid girl on a bridge...truth is the pokeball in the poster is like the tiny glimmer of hope in a sea of copypasta evidence as opposed to things being the other way around. The only evidence of change we have is for Hau, who will have a diverging story this time around (I don't expect anything drastic but still ). We can only hope Lillie changes too(changes more than her z-thing form)

 

[Kallyle]

Okay, but there is nothing to base those thoughts on :/ There is footage/pictures of Lillie still being our healing machine in the "victory road" place, still thinking she made a great achievement being able to cross a bridge...Same dialogue when she changes appearance, still same dialogue on Poni island and when meeting Hapu again, she still stole Nebby and we still meet the same timid girl on a bridge...truth is the pokeball in the poster is like the tiny glimmer of hope in a sea of copypasta evidence as opposed to things being the other way around. The only evidence of change we have is for Hau, who will have a diverging story this time around (I don't expect anything drastic but still ). We can only hope Lillie changes too(changes more than her z-thing form)

To be fair, I never expected Lillie to be retconned into participating in the Island Challenge if that's what you're implying. I just think she might carry a couple of Pokémon on her like Alolan Vulpix and occasionally battle us in order to let her Pokémon get some exercise.