WOOT! I know people have gone through the videos and site and picked everything apart already, but maybe I'll notice something no one didn't (or at least bring back the topic for discussion):
Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon More Details Trailer
0:07: Encountering (& picking?) the Starters in a different location.
0:10: Pokemon running out on the field! It doesn't look like the Rockruff was following the player strictly so probably just a wild/other trainer Rockruff who's out on the field and you can interact with. Still, they're using those walking and running animations that were hidden away in the game's code, so could this just be a taste/hint of following Pokemon returning?
0:11: New Trial? Looks sort of like Verdant Cavern, but the guy (Trial Guide? Do they know where clothes specific to the island/trial they help support?) is dressed in traditional Japanese clothing which would more point toward Malie City.
0:12: Exeggutor Island, Magikarp Boat that takes you there, nothing different here really.
0:13: Kahili, hoping this means she has a role in the story (especially since in this shot she's not wearing her Z-Ring so could be an early encounter with her). Maybe let us go onto the golf course connected to Hano Grand Resort.
0:14: Ryuki also makes a main story appearance (he looks the same to me, can't tell why people would think he's older), though what's more interesting is the building that they're in. It looks nothing like any building we saw in Sun & Moon, and its set up exactly like Vermilion Gym. Sign of Gyms returning? Well not sure. There's a generic Black Belt standing where Lt. Surge was, where the Gym Leader should be. So I'm not quite sure what to make of this place, in addition Ryuki's appearance further confuses things as, if we were indeed going through the Vermilion Gym's puzzle, Ryuki would be talking to us either just as we solved the puzzle or have completed it as the electric barriers are down.
0:16: Nice try distracting us with a cute Alolan Vulpix, but I know those ludicrous amount of pockets anywhere, Aether Foundation employee! Not to mention we're also in one of their route bases.
0:17: Finally the empty lots are being filled. The one in Hau'oli City looks to be for the new Alola Photo Club feature I'll talk about in the last video. Interesting, everyone suspected them to be Gyms (especially after just showing us a building set up like Vermilion Gym) but now that doesn't seem to be the case. So what this means that anything can be in those empty lots now. What are you planning GF?...
0:19: Arceus dammit, Giratina, can you keep control of your Distortion World portals? :P Well, might as well talk about the new map. Click the links for the
old SM map and
new USUM map (credit to Bulbapedia).
- Melemele Island:
- Some changes have been made to Hau'oli City. The back strip where the Mall, Salon, and Apparel Shop is had their parking lot changes to more sidewalk and putting in plotted plants to separate the buildings and add decoration. The Mall's exterior also looked to have been changed, it doesn't look any taller but at the same times it sort of looks to have a third floor now. And as previously mentioned the empty lot now has a building which has been revealed to be the Alola Photo Club.
- Route 2's motel now has a harbor, beach, and rock (cave?) structure behind it.
- Kala'e Bay's small island strip has been made bigger.
- Akala Island:
- Lot next to the Pokemon Center has been filled with a grey building. The Tide Song Hotel now has a beach behind it with a hut on it. And finally the Dimensional Research Lab has something on its roof and also a fountain(?) next to it.
- Royal Avenue's empty lot has been filled by a white building with a red/orange roof. Wela Volcano also has stopped smoking.
- Konokoni had its empty lot filled by a colorful building unlike the Alola Photo Club. I'm hoping it's not another Alola Photo Club, would seem like a waste. Anyway, the lighthouse area looks to have been redone so maybe the lighthouse will be accessible by normal means (they also added the gate which for some reason the old map doesn't have).
- The Poke Pelago is now visible, but that could be because it's no longer a secret what it is.
- Ula'ula Island:
- Malie City's empty lot has been filled by a white building with a red/orange roof.
- Secluded Shore has a building on it which sort of looks like an Aether Foundation route base.
- The path leading up to Mount Lanakila looks to have been extended. Also the Pokemon League entrance area has been more cleared of snow.
- Po Town, Route 17, and Ula'ula Meadow no longer have rain clouds.
- While not changes, little oddities that I'm surprised didn't get any changes that we see from the new map: that Poke Ball platform on Route 14 and the empty lot on Route 15 looks to have nothing done with them.
- Poni Island:
- The rock barrier in the surfing area of Poni Wilds is gone. Does this mean we can't surf in their anymore? Or could this mean we can surf to Exeggutor Island without needing to be sailed their? In that case, could the Magikarp boat we saw in the trailer now be a permanent part of Exeggutor Island (it was tied to a tree)?
- There's now a rock barrier in the waters of Poni Breaker Coast, meaning we can now surf there when we couldn't before.
- THERE'S A DARK SWIRLING CLOUD OF DEATH ABOVE CASTING A SHADOW OVER ALL OF PONI ISLAND!
- And another non-change oddity: the empty lot in Seafolk Village still looks to be empty.
Comparing the two, not much has changed (also I'm ignoring the added/change details to the ocean and sky/clouds). That's not bad of course, and there are changes both expected and not expected. Still, this could mean our adventures through Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon could be similar to Sun & Moon in terms of where we're led to go and there doesn't look to be that many extra added areas like BW2 had.
0:24: Yes, show us the dark swirling clouds of death above Poni Island... and then go into the new look of the playable characters which you already showed us.
0:35: And finally they talk about Lycanroc Dust.
0:52: Oh, and I guess we should also talk about that face of light. Now on the Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon website they revealed that, yes, Necrozma will have an extended role, even giving us a screenshot of the player encountering it at the Altar (specifically the Altar of the Sunne though it'll probably be the Altar of the version you're playing).
BTW this is right now all that the website really as to offer if terms of anything new. Also they talk about how the mascots of Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon are new Pokemon who look to be related to Solgaleo, Lunala, and Necrozma... like we're some kind of idiots. But ignoring that, I'm keeping to my theory that the new forms for Solgaleo and Lunala is because Necrozma sheds the shell body it has to unleash its true form, an Ultra Beast made of light. It originally grew the shell to protect itself and survive after being transported to the Pokemon World from Ultra Space via a Ultra Wormhole in ancient times, but with a Solgaleo and Lunala it can attach its shell armor to one of them to somehow sustain itself in its true form, maybe having the armor feed off the light they generate.
New Z-Moves Trailer
0:04: First off new version of the Sun & Moon Trainer theme, nice.
0:22: Hmm, that's odd. So Kommonium Z looks to be one of those new Z-Crystals you have to turn to activate, yet the trainer character didn't do that with the Z-Crystal. Is their an additional function to the Z-Ring we don't know about which has the trainer twist the Z-Crystal for a different effect?
And from here on I'm just going to post what the site had to say about "Clangorous Soulblaze":
Yikes. A spread Z-Move that also increases all non-HP stats by 1 stage (not to mention it'll probably have a Power of 210 since Clanging Scale's Power is 110 which is similar to Volt Tackle & Giga Impact for normal Pikachu and Snorlax's Z-Move). Also since it didn't mention it was a chance increase does that mean it's a guaranteed increase? That just seems a bit OP, course not that GF doesn't mind doing that time to time *obligatory mention of Mega Rayquaza here*. And to be fair Kommo-o kind of needed some help due to having lower than ideal Speed and its Signature Move is going off the weaker (though still strong) offense stat (serious GF, is it that hard to either make an attacking Signature move go off the Pokemon's highest offense stat or having the Pokemon's highest offense stat be the category of its signature move? Is this is like balance thing... which fails since it just means we'll go for the strong non-signature move?). Course, that was really all that it had going against it (and a quad weakness to Fairy) and this kind of feels its overcompensating for it. But whatever, we'll see what happens. At least also give Kommo-o some fighting moves, at least Superpower if not Close Combat.
BTW, TOMY is releasing the toy of the new Z-Ring:
Now, the image link calls the toy "Z Power Ring". Now this could be just what the toy is called, though then again if that was the case why put the "Power" in the middle of the "Z" and "Ring"?
Alola Photo Club
Looks like their expanding upon both the Rotom Dex's Poke Finder and Trainer ID photo by letting us pose our own pictures with our Pokemon. Looking through the video I see the following features:
0:08: Starting on the main screen (which is the pink camera on the side buttons), looks like the top left button lets us we switch between taking a photo of our Pokemon in Pokemon Refresh or this mode where both Pokemon and trainer can pose together. The top right button lets us choose what Z-Move pose the trainer can do, including the Pikachu dance pose. The bottom left button causes the Pokemon to do its idle animation while the right bottom button has the trainer do the Z-Move pose (it turns into a pause button when it's playing though its unclear if pressing it pauses the position the trainer is at the time or completely stops the animation and returns the trainer to the default standing pose). Finally the very bottom button takes the picture.
1:15: The purple camera side button controls where you place the camera for the shot. You can adjust how close/far away it is, if its leaning more towards the Pokemon or trainer, how high/low it is, and finally gives you four angles you can take the shot (front, left side, right side, back).
1:29: The yellow Pokemon placement button moves the Pokemon to where you want them around the trainer. It doesn't look like the trainer can move, only the Pokemon. This is backed up that there's a green Pokemon turn button and a blue turn trainer button, two separate buttons (which seems unnecessary, you're doing the actions on the bottom screen so why not have the moving and turning all in one button?).
2:20: Finally you'll be able to add in frames and prop pictures to put onto the photo. As you play through the game you'll get more, not too different from Gen V's Pokemon Musicals and its props.
2:31: Now I'm not sure how you get this screen, maybe with the "i" button? Anyway this screen lets you choose the Models (could their be more than just the Pokemon by itself and "Pokemon and Trainer"? Is their a choice for a picture of the whole party or with notable NPCs?), Pokemon your taking a picture of/with, the Background (and like the props you'll probably unlock more based on areas you go to in the game), what angle you're taking the photo from (aka Composition), and your Outfit (which includes the PokeRide gear, though aside from that I can't think of any other clothes unless they'll give you special clothing options or able to create clothing sets just for photos).
Anyway, looks like a neat little feature they had fun implementing. I'll be sure to take a few with my team after important events. I'm guessing you can also upload them to the PGL to share them with other trainers.
Well, that's it for the new news. Next is responding to other's comments.