SPOILERS! Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon In-Game Discussion

Pikachu315111

Ranting & Raving!
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For knowledge, the "Rocket Grunt" is actually the sample trainer you face on Agency, and there's indeed 3 new trainers at battle tree.

https://www.serebii.net/ultrasunultramoon/battle/kukui.shtml
https://www.serebii.net/ultrasunultramoon/battle/sophocles.shtml
https://www.serebii.net/ultrasunultramoon/battle/giovanni.shtml
Oh, still not that impressive as, aside from Giovanni, they're characters you would have expected to be at the Battle Tree.

But I just discovered something major: Battle Buffet can be re-challenged as many times as you want! Now, you can only get a prize once per day... but you still get money from trainers (which, let's be honest, is the main reason you use the Battle Buffet). This right here completely erases any money problems, with the tips I gave on another board you can probably make over a mil in under 30 minutes! And with the level increase post game I think I found my grinding spot to evolve all the Pokemon I need for the dex! :D
 
Finally completed the pokedex without transferring from my other games. Magerna etc don't count as a % so you will have 100% when you have caught 400 pokemon.

The shiny charm is also given to you after catching all 400 pokemon.
 
Oh, still not that impressive as, aside from Giovanni, they're characters you would have expected to be at the Battle Tree.

But I just discovered something major: Battle Buffet can be re-challenged as many times as you want! Now, you can only get a prize once per day... but you still get money from trainers (which, let's be honest, is the main reason you use the Battle Buffet). This right here completely erases any money problems, with the tips I gave on another board you can probably make over a mil in under 30 minutes! And with the level increase post game I think I found my grinding spot to evolve all the Pokemon I need for the dex! :D
I believe Chansey can be found in the Poni Plains, and has a chance of calling in Blissey. So, you know, you can do that and farm Lucky Eggs which they've got a 5% chance of carrying.
 
So, I just got past a certain infamous "cheese it or else" fight:

I could've beaten Ultra Necrozma on my first attempt but I decided to retry the fight to see if I could do it without any of my party fainting.

Team: Tyranitar/Gyarados/Primeape/Alakazam/Jolteon/Decidueye all at level 57 (which seems to be significantly overleveled compared to what the game expects).

I ended up doing the following switching loop twice:

Tyranitar -> Gyarados (resists Smart Strike) -> Primeape (resists Power Gem) -> Tyranitar (immune to Photon Geyser)

This got some Sandstorm chip damage in and got two attack drops from Intimidate. Tyranitar then tanked a Dragon Pulse (I'm guessing Necrozma's AI realised +1 Dragon Pulse was better than -1 Smart Strike) and finished the job with Z Crunch. Tyranitar actually took less than 50% damage so could've used another Crunch if needed.

A critical Z Crunch would also have done the job from the start - Tyranitar was capable of surviving a single +1 Smart Strike.
 
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I believe Chansey can be found in the Poni Plains, and has a chance of calling in Blissey. So, you know, you can do that and farm Lucky Eggs which they've got a 5% chance of carrying.
The bush in the middle of the plains has 20% chance to have a Chansey, 20% of a Scyther and 60% of Whimsi/Petilil iirc. All level 56+
 
Ugh, finally caught a HP Fire Latios (shame one of its max IV has to be Atk not Def). It was a total pain, and I wasn't mentioning how hard it was to get to the right hole and get the right legendary (Ugh can you leave me alone lake trios?)


Anyway, I wonder now, how about everyone's experiences with Totem Pokemon before? I want to hear everyone's hardest experience in them, I'm glad they are actually challenging unlike past generations' games.

I admit it, Togedemaru of all things nearly wiped me out. No, I don't bring Mudsdale or other Grounds. That freaking Skarmdog and its Tailwind, I should've targeted it first....
Araquanid also gave quite hard time due to me not yet evolving Pichu yet.

I admit with premeditated team including Roselia, I have little trouble with Lurantis while... I can imagine how hard it can be. People had hardest time with it.
Mallow, you genius....

Totem Aburibon/Ribombee though... managed a Quiver Dance first and then (thank Arceus), got OHKOed by my Lycanroc's Splintered Stormshard even on +2 Def. It could bring quite a problem if let unchecked. Also Marowak didn't give hard time due to team choice, although that set did KO (OHKO?) Rockruff.


If only they actually allow Totem Rematch, not just Gumshoos/Faticate....
 
Tastypie all bosses and totem and several story relevant trainers have not only optimized natured pokemon but also 6x30 iv and 252 252 ev spreads.
It's one of the reason USUM story is particularly more challenging if you run a in game team: boss have optimized pokemon, often with tm/tutored moves, while you are using suboptimal/mediocre iv and natures with possibly random Evs and leveling movesets.
 
Usum is the first poke.on game in a while where I had to think do I need to grind levels in the wild. Obviously this is without the exp share, xy SM etc didn't have that it was just, let me scald everything and they die.
 
Ugh, finally caught a HP Fire Latios (shame one of its max IV has to be Atk not Def). It was a total pain, and I wasn't mentioning how hard it was to get to the right hole and get the right legendary (Ugh can you leave me alone lake trios?)


Anyway, I wonder now, how about everyone's experiences with Totem Pokemon before? I want to hear everyone's hardest experience in them, I'm glad they are actually challenging unlike past generations' games.

I admit it, Togedemaru of all things nearly wiped me out. No, I don't bring Mudsdale or other Grounds. That freaking Skarmdog and its Tailwind, I should've targeted it first....
Araquanid also gave quite hard time due to me not yet evolving Pichu yet.

I admit with premeditated team including Roselia, I have little trouble with Lurantis while... I can imagine how hard it can be. People had hardest time with it.
Mallow, you genius....

Totem Aburibon/Ribombee though... managed a Quiver Dance first and then (thank Arceus), got OHKOed by my Lycanroc's Splintered Stormshard even on +2 Def. It could bring quite a problem if let unchecked. Also Marowak didn't give hard time due to team choice, although that set did KO (OHKO?) Rockruff.


If only they actually allow Totem Rematch, not just Gumshoos/Faticate....
Raticate wasn't too hard. Not too happy about it happily tossing Super Fang about, but I managed to best it.
Araquanid... what a pain in the ass. Rain and Water Bubble boosted STAB Bubble is far crueler than it has any right to be coming off of base 50 Special Attack. Needed a few Struggle Bugs to make it bearable before Magnemite could begin to go to work on it.
Alolan Marowak would probably go down in one hit from Hydro Vortex if it didn't immediately go for Detect. Salazzle finished off Brionne with Toxic, but Rockruff smashed it with Rock Tomb.
Lurantis was more annoying than hard because of that blasted Comfey.
Togedemaru... Skarmory makes it an enormous pain in the ass. Torment, Tailwind, and Togedemaru's Spiky Shield and Zing Zap is just evil.
Mimikyu I found to be almost easier this time around. Sure, Banette's Curse or Will-O-Wisp suck, but at least there's no Hypnosis shenanigans. Just break the Disguise, then Corkscrew Crash it into oblivion.
Kommo-o is somewhat harder on the basis that there's no Fairium-Z to rely on for it, but I didn't have that much trouble.
Ribombee took out my Muk after a time, but it was Blissey that was the bigger pain. It just... wouldn't... die, long after Ribombee had already fallen.

I haven't made it to the post-game yet, but I pretty much imagine Raticate round 2 to be pretty easy. It's not going to enjoy eating a Brick Break to the face.
 
Anyway, I wonder now, how about everyone's experiences with Totem Pokemon before? I want to hear everyone's hardest experience in them, I'm glad they are actually challenging unlike past generations' games.
I like how Totem Pokemon made me use moves I would never have used before. I think its the first time I used moves like Growl/Baby-Doll Eyes, String Shot, and other similar stat lowering move, which was always an immediate move to delete for me in previous games. I had to actually plan ahead for some Totems (which was mostly just thinking of a plan, but still) rather than go right in and see what happens. The best example was using the trade Arbok in combination with Baby Doll Eyes Sylveon for Lurantis.

Totem Ribombee gets a special mention for its ability to spiral out of hand very quickly if you don't know what you're doing beforehand or get lucky with what types you have.
 
I beat the main story earlier this week. Finally. This took forever. While I like taking it slowly as I play through games, this almost took too long. I blame it on the fact that I have been extremely busy with various things in real life for the past few months. I know a guy who also got Ultra Moon, he got the game one week after the release and a week later he had beaten the main story. I feel so slow in comparison to that.

I'm also not that fond of the games being released during this time of the year. I can understand why they release them in November since they want to get money from the juicy Christmas and holiday sales, but for me personally, I prefer it when Pokemon games are released at other points in the year. Like in the spring, summer, or earlier in the autumn.

Couldn't find an "experiences" thread for the games but I guess this thread will fulfill that role this time around. I did not read through this thread before making this post so there is a risk that I'm repeating what others have already said. This will also contain spoilers but I guess most people have beaten the game now.

I got Ultra Moon, will get Ultra Sun later on, likely in March/April next year. The reason I got Ultra Moon first was because I started with Moon from the first pair and it felt best to follow up with Ultra Moon as my first game from this pair.

My general impression of the game is that it felt similar to S/M, but with many minor differences. I liked the game, but like with S/M, it is not going to be my new favorite game in the series. In general, the game was similar to S/M but mostly better.

My in-game team consisted of Incineroar, Alakazam, Lilligant, Stoutland, Mantine and Mimikyu. They worked pretty well but not perfectly. I'll post a more detailed description of them in the in-game team thread sometime next year (hopefully in January).

There is a lot of things I want to say, so let's get started. First up, things I liked! I really like all the minor differences compared to S/M. In general, I think the Pokemon games benefit from having minor differences as opposed to major differences because those often tend to be coupled with some big gameplay flaws. I think G/S and S/M are pretty good examples of this.

I also like the Pokedex expansion. It always made me happy whenever I found a Pokemon that wasn't in the original Alola Dex. This also took away the sour feeling I got early on in Moon when I found way too many Kanto Pokemon. Ultra Moon did not give me the same feeling so that's really good.

I appreciated how you aren't forced to catch any legendaries during the main story this time around. While I like catching legendaries, I dislike being forced to catch/obtain them, especially during the main story. Having both Lunala/Solgaleo and Necrozma being optional was great, the same goes for the Poipole you receive. Unfortunately, this seems to have changed for the post-game as you are forced to obtain Type: Null and catch the 2 Stakataka/Blacephalon. Or so I assume, didn't try to get past them without catching them so I might be wrong.

I really like how they, for the first time ever, added new Pokemon in the middle of a generation. While there are only 4 (5 eventually), it is more than they have ever done before so that's really good.

I liked the story and the characters but I do feel that some things were better in S/M. Not completely sure about it though as I played with many big breaks during the story so I might just not have been able to connect everything. It also seems to continue for a bit during the post-game with the Rainbow Rocket episode so I guess I shouldn't say anything for sure until I am done with it.

I like how they expanded on Mt. Lanakila and made it into an actual Victory Road this time around and not another Mt. Disappointment like in S/M. It was way too short and small in S/M so I'm glad they fixed it here.

Unfortunately, the game also have some problems. One of my biggest annoyances is the Rotom Dex. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike everything about it. I like how it comments on various things during the story and reminding you where to go next. I also like playing with it and asking questions as well as the Roto Loto. But I can't stand its endless and useless babbling, giving me "advice I didn't ask for" or constantly reminding me to check my bag for healing items when one or more members of my party are heavily damaged. While doing this, it also blocks me from viewing the map which is annoying if I am exploring a new area and want to see the map. The fact that the Rotom Dex keeps talking even through minor cutscenes makes me wonder if it might actually be glitched. And even if it isn't, surely some of the playtesters must have gotten annoyed by it as well and told the game developers about it? Or maybe they just have a big tolerance for things like this. I do not, at least. I have been playing Pokemon since gen 1 and I have been able to live with a ton of annoying things throughout the years, but this is one of the most annoying things I have had to experience in several years, and that is not a good development at all.

While I like the Rotom Powers from the Roto loto, I dislike how you receive them randomly. According to Serebii, some are also more common than others, which I'm not so happy about. Especially since the objectively best one my favorite, the Exp. Power, is listed as rare. I prefer the way O-Powers and Pass Powers were handled as you could choose exactly which one you wanted at any time, as long as you had unlocked it. Still, having these Rotom Powers is better than not having them at all, I'll give the game that.

SOS chains existed in S/M as well, but playing through Ultra Moon now made me realize how awful this feature actually is. I honestly don't like it anymore. Will probably make a longer post about this in the annoyances thread sometime soon if I can get around to it.

From what I have understood, there is still no National Dex within the actual games. I have always liked completing the Pokedex so not having the National Dex in the games anymore is disappointing for me. Though there are at least 100 more Pokemon that contribute to the Alola Dex this time around, so that's something.

Ultra Megalopolis was a giant disappointment for me. They hyped it up quite a bit during the pre-release period, and it has such a great design, like a future Black City or something. Then when you get there, it is just a short corridor leading to an elevator which takes you up to the Necrozma battle. There's nothing else to do there during the post-game either, from what I have understood. I guess I shouldn't have expected much but I was really disappointed with it.

Continuing on a similar note. I did not like the Ultra Necrozma battle. I think it is a perfect example of an "unfair" boss battle which is common in many other RPGs but which Pokemon has thankfully been able to live without. Until now. Though the Totem Pokemon are similar but they are not quite that bad. Anyway, I did not enjoy being forced to battle an Uber Legend with a 754 BST and a +1 to all stats boost on the first turn. My own team was at level 53-ish at that point and I had no way of winning easily unless I wanted to grind for an eternity. I only managed to win by sacrificing my Focus Sash and getting lucky with some Pokemon Refresh battle bonuses two or three times. Not sure how they expect you to win here unless you grind a lot or catch some legendaries in the Ultra Space. Don't know about everyone else but this was something I did not like and I hope they never make something like this again in a future game. Though I would be okay with it if it was optional and not a mandatory part of the story.

Similar to S/M, the level curve and difficulty curve of the game felt rather unbalanced. There are some big jumps in level curve which makes it harder. The games doesn't really give you any good chances to grind against wild Pokemon, and trainers cannot be rebattld. I don't really like this. I prefer more balanced games. Though it is partly my own fault because I played with the Exp. Share off, but I think that if I had played with it on I would just get extremely overleveled instead. Like in X where my team was at above level 80 when I beat the Champion. I don't think there's any good solution here, sadly.

Like S/M, the game had quite a bit of fan pandering to Kanto and Gen 1. I had hoped Game Freak would move on from this by now, but nope. Which is a shame. I really hope they will stop with this in the next main series game, but given recent developments, I'm not expecting it.

I think that was it about the things I liked and was less fond of for the main game. Can't really say anything about the post-game since I have just started on it. I do have some hopes and expectations though. Before the release, I remember that it was said somewhere that the post-game of US/UM would rival that of Platinum. I don't recall the exact words though. I also remember that it was said that it would be much easier to train Pokemon here compared to in S/M. While I hope both of these statements are true, especially the part about easier training, I'm not expecting them to be. Years of being a fan of this franchise have taught me to take statements like this with a huge grain of salt since they have said things like this before without it living up to the statements in question. That said, it does feel like there is quite a bit more content and post-game compared to S/M, but the question is: how much? Though if I am going to be honest, it doesn't matter much to me since I will do my best to enjoy it. There is a lot I actually want to do and I'm not really sure where I should start! Fortunately, I won't have to rush anything since it was confirmed that these are the last main series Pokemon games for the 3DS which means I don't need to be done with them before the next games are out. Which I had to do with X/Y, OR/AS and S/M to various degrees. While playing through the game, I have done quite a bit of miniquests/sidequests and worked on other things. For instance, my Festival Plaza is already at rank 90 (though the two Global Missions we have had so far helped quite a lot with that). As for the actual post-game stuff... so far, I caught the two Stakataka and then got started on the Rainbow Rocket episode... guess I will play through the rest of it before doing anything else.

I think is it so far. There was actually probably a lot more I wanted to say but forgot about, though it doesn't really matter. This post also became much longer than I wanted it to be, guess there just was a lot I wanted to say about my experiences with the game so far.
 
I beat the main story earlier this week. Finally. This took forever. While I like taking it slowly as I play through games, this almost took too long. I blame it on the fact that I have been extremely busy with various things in real life for the past few months. I know a guy who also got Ultra Moon, he got the game one week after the release and a week later he had beaten the main story. I feel so slow in comparison to that.

I'm also not that fond of the games being released during this time of the year. I can understand why they release them in November since they want to get money from the juicy Christmas and holiday sales, but for me personally, I prefer it when Pokemon games are released at other points in the year. Like in the spring, summer, or earlier in the autumn.

Couldn't find an "experiences" thread for the games but I guess this thread will fulfill that role this time around. I did not read through this thread before making this post so there is a risk that I'm repeating what others have already said. This will also contain spoilers but I guess most people have beaten the game now.

I got Ultra Moon, will get Ultra Sun later on, likely in March/April next year. The reason I got Ultra Moon first was because I started with Moon from the first pair and it felt best to follow up with Ultra Moon as my first game from this pair.

My general impression of the game is that it felt similar to S/M, but with many minor differences. I liked the game, but like with S/M, it is not going to be my new favorite game in the series. In general, the game was similar to S/M but mostly better.

My in-game team consisted of Incineroar, Alakazam, Lilligant, Stoutland, Mantine and Mimikyu. They worked pretty well but not perfectly. I'll post a more detailed description of them in the in-game team thread sometime next year (hopefully in January).

There is a lot of things I want to say, so let's get started. First up, things I liked! I really like all the minor differences compared to S/M. In general, I think the Pokemon games benefit from having minor differences as opposed to major differences because those often tend to be coupled with some big gameplay flaws. I think G/S and S/M are pretty good examples of this.

I also like the Pokedex expansion. It always made me happy whenever I found a Pokemon that wasn't in the original Alola Dex. This also took away the sour feeling I got early on in Moon when I found way too many Kanto Pokemon. Ultra Moon did not give me the same feeling so that's really good.

I appreciated how you aren't forced to catch any legendaries during the main story this time around. While I like catching legendaries, I dislike being forced to catch/obtain them, especially during the main story. Having both Lunala/Solgaleo and Necrozma being optional was great, the same goes for the Poipole you receive. Unfortunately, this seems to have changed for the post-game as you are forced to obtain Type: Null and catch the 2 Stakataka/Blacephalon. Or so I assume, didn't try to get past them without catching them so I might be wrong.

I really like how they, for the first time ever, added new Pokemon in the middle of a generation. While there are only 4 (5 eventually), it is more than they have ever done before so that's really good.

I liked the story and the characters but I do feel that some things were better in S/M. Not completely sure about it though as I played with many big breaks during the story so I might just not have been able to connect everything. It also seems to continue for a bit during the post-game with the Rainbow Rocket episode so I guess I shouldn't say anything for sure until I am done with it.

I like how they expanded on Mt. Lanakila and made it into an actual Victory Road this time around and not another Mt. Disappointment like in S/M. It was way too short and small in S/M so I'm glad they fixed it here.

Unfortunately, the game also have some problems. One of my biggest annoyances is the Rotom Dex. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike everything about it. I like how it comments on various things during the story and reminding you where to go next. I also like playing with it and asking questions as well as the Roto Loto. But I can't stand its endless and useless babbling, giving me "advice I didn't ask for" or constantly reminding me to check my bag for healing items when one or more members of my party are heavily damaged. While doing this, it also blocks me from viewing the map which is annoying if I am exploring a new area and want to see the map. The fact that the Rotom Dex keeps talking even through minor cutscenes makes me wonder if it might actually be glitched. And even if it isn't, surely some of the playtesters must have gotten annoyed by it as well and told the game developers about it? Or maybe they just have a big tolerance for things like this. I do not, at least. I have been playing Pokemon since gen 1 and I have been able to live with a ton of annoying things throughout the years, but this is one of the most annoying things I have had to experience in several years, and that is not a good development at all.

While I like the Rotom Powers from the Roto loto, I dislike how you receive them randomly. According to Serebii, some are also more common than others, which I'm not so happy about. Especially since the objectively best one my favorite, the Exp. Power, is listed as rare. I prefer the way O-Powers and Pass Powers were handled as you could choose exactly which one you wanted at any time, as long as you had unlocked it. Still, having these Rotom Powers is better than not having them at all, I'll give the game that.

SOS chains existed in S/M as well, but playing through Ultra Moon now made me realize how awful this feature actually is. I honestly don't like it anymore. Will probably make a longer post about this in the annoyances thread sometime soon if I can get around to it.

From what I have understood, there is still no National Dex within the actual games. I have always liked completing the Pokedex so not having the National Dex in the games anymore is disappointing for me. Though there are at least 100 more Pokemon that contribute to the Alola Dex this time around, so that's something.

Ultra Megalopolis was a giant disappointment for me. They hyped it up quite a bit during the pre-release period, and it has such a great design, like a future Black City or something. Then when you get there, it is just a short corridor leading to an elevator which takes you up to the Necrozma battle. There's nothing else to do there during the post-game either, from what I have understood. I guess I shouldn't have expected much but I was really disappointed with it.

Continuing on a similar note. I did not like the Ultra Necrozma battle. I think it is a perfect example of an "unfair" boss battle which is common in many other RPGs but which Pokemon has thankfully been able to live without. Until now. Though the Totem Pokemon are similar but they are not quite that bad. Anyway, I did not enjoy being forced to battle an Uber Legend with a 754 BST and a +1 to all stats boost on the first turn. My own team was at level 53-ish at that point and I had no way of winning easily unless I wanted to grind for an eternity. I only managed to win by sacrificing my Focus Sash and getting lucky with some Pokemon Refresh battle bonuses two or three times. Not sure how they expect you to win here unless you grind a lot or catch some legendaries in the Ultra Space. Don't know about everyone else but this was something I did not like and I hope they never make something like this again in a future game. Though I would be okay with it if it was optional and not a mandatory part of the story.

Similar to S/M, the level curve and difficulty curve of the game felt rather unbalanced. There are some big jumps in level curve which makes it harder. The games doesn't really give you any good chances to grind against wild Pokemon, and trainers cannot be rebattld. I don't really like this. I prefer more balanced games. Though it is partly my own fault because I played with the Exp. Share off, but I think that if I had played with it on I would just get extremely overleveled instead. Like in X where my team was at above level 80 when I beat the Champion. I don't think there's any good solution here, sadly.

Like S/M, the game had quite a bit of fan pandering to Kanto and Gen 1. I had hoped Game Freak would move on from this by now, but nope. Which is a shame. I really hope they will stop with this in the next main series game, but given recent developments, I'm not expecting it.

I think that was it about the things I liked and was less fond of for the main game. Can't really say anything about the post-game since I have just started on it. I do have some hopes and expectations though. Before the release, I remember that it was said somewhere that the post-game of US/UM would rival that of Platinum. I don't recall the exact words though. I also remember that it was said that it would be much easier to train Pokemon here compared to in S/M. While I hope both of these statements are true, especially the part about easier training, I'm not expecting them to be. Years of being a fan of this franchise have taught me to take statements like this with a huge grain of salt since they have said things like this before without it living up to the statements in question. That said, it does feel like there is quite a bit more content and post-game compared to S/M, but the question is: how much? Though if I am going to be honest, it doesn't matter much to me since I will do my best to enjoy it. There is a lot I actually want to do and I'm not really sure where I should start! Fortunately, I won't have to rush anything since it was confirmed that these are the last main series Pokemon games for the 3DS which means I don't need to be done with them before the next games are out. Which I had to do with X/Y, OR/AS and S/M to various degrees. While playing through the game, I have done quite a bit of miniquests/sidequests and worked on other things. For instance, my Festival Plaza is already at rank 90 (though the two Global Missions we have had so far helped quite a lot with that). As for the actual post-game stuff... so far, I caught the two Stakataka and then got started on the Rainbow Rocket episode... guess I will play through the rest of it before doing anything else.

I think is it so far. There was actually probably a lot more I wanted to say but forgot about, though it doesn't really matter. This post also became much longer than I wanted it to be, guess there just was a lot I wanted to say about my experiences with the game so far.
You can SOS chain Blissey in Poni Plains, and Mantine Surf makes it ridiculously easy to earn BP for tutor moves or Rare Candy.
 
Necrozma is total bullshit as a boss fight, but my Incineroar held on TWICE thanks to Refresh so I could KO it with Darkest Lariat. That was extremely satisfying.
 
For knowledge, if you have Exp Share on, you don't really overlevel anything unless you purposely go off your path to grind.

I had exp share on the entire time on my playthrough, and ended up generally same level as the enemy trainers, and significantly below Necrozma.

Necrozma is kind of meant to be beaten with "clever used of game mechanics", since unless you are using traded pokemon or purposely overgrinding, your team will generally be demolished.

There's a few Steel types who manage to wall it and can hit him if you throw rotoboosts at him, though.
 
So, I just beat the E4 and the credits rolled. What nonsense do i have to go through before I can start my competitive breeding/SRing? Any major post game stories that aren't TRR?

...also, I seem to have missed the in-game Everstone. I got the Destiny Knot though.
 

Merritt

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So, I just beat the E4 and the credits rolled. What nonsense do i have to go through before I can start my competitive breeding/SRing? Any major post game stories that aren't TRR?

...also, I seem to have missed the in-game Everstone. I got the Destiny Knot though.
Ingame guaranteed everstone is postgame only too actually, so you didn't miss it yet!

Watch out when going over to the very first postgame plot thread - you're given a gift Type: Null with essentially no warning if you wanted to SR for it. Also worth noting that you can 100% KO the ultra beasts you run into first and they'll still be in that area later, but KOing them will still move the plot along if you wanted to SR for them later on.
 
So, I just beat the E4 and the credits rolled. What nonsense do i have to go through before I can start my competitive breeding/SRing? Any major post game stories that aren't TRR?

...also, I seem to have missed the in-game Everstone. I got the Destiny Knot though.
Well, you do have to "help" the URS by talking to them outside your house and then heading to Ancient Poni Path and then Poni Grove to encounter two Blacephalon/Stakataka. Wicke will be waiting by the entrance to Poni Grove to give you Type: Null which you can't refuse, and afterwards you'll return home to help Sophocles regain control of Festival Plaza from TRR and start the TRR story. Beyond that, it's the same "reach the Battle Tree, beat Red or Blue, and breed a bunch of eggs to get the IV judge function" from Sun and Moon.

While you technically don't have to do any of this, you do if you want the judge function.
Ingame guaranteed everstone is postgame only too actually, so you didn't miss it yet!

Watch out when going over to the very first postgame plot thread - you're given a gift Type: Null with essentially no warning if you wanted to SR for it. Also worth noting that you can 100% KO the ultra beasts you run into first and they'll still be in that area later, but KOing them will still move the plot along if you wanted to SR for them later on.
You don't even have to KO them. I ran from the second Stakataka and the plot moved along just fine, so I imagine just running into the beasts twice is sufficient regardless of what happens afterward.
 
Well, you do have to "help" the URS by talking to them outside your house and then heading to Ancient Poni Path and then Poni Grove to encounter two Blacephalon/Stakataka. Wicke will be waiting by the entrance to Poni Grove to give you Type: Null which you can't refuse, and afterwards you'll return home to help Sophocles regain control of Festival Plaza from TRR and start the TRR story. Beyond that, it's the same "reach the Battle Tree, beat Red or Blue, and breed a bunch of eggs to get the IV judge function" from Sun and Moon.

While you technically don't have to do any of this, you do if you want the judge function.

You don't even have to KO them. I ran from the second Stakataka and the plot moved along just fine, so I imagine just running into the beasts twice is sufficient regardless of what happens afterward.
Oh, whew. I just tried to get to the battle tree so as to unluck IV judging before catching my Stakata, and was annoyed to find Looker and Anabel blocking the way. Nice to know I can get around this.

Also, while it's a bit luck-based, I just thought I'd point out that the evasion boosts from pokemon refresh can make Ultra Necrozma a lot easier. I took Ultra Necrozma down in 3 turns thanks to two lucky misses from Necrozma's normally 100% accurate attacks. That being said, choice specs+Thick Club also helped a ton.

EDIT: Uh, woah. Red and Blue jumped up 5 levels this time around. Nasty surprise if you make a beeline to the battle tree with your championship team at low 60's.
 
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... has anyone mentioned that all the Ultra Wormhole Pokemon are guaranteed three flawless IV's, not just the legendaries/UB's? I thought I'd gotten stupidly lucky with my shiny Stunfisk for it to be 4IV, but looking over some of the other Pokemon I caught I noticed they all had characteristics that pointed to a flawless IV, and sure enough, a Floatzel I'd caught awhile ago had three. (hooray for damage calc when trying to see what won't OHKO the thing I'm trying to catch!) So... yeah. Not only are the regular Pokemon's shinies set upon entering and the odds can get stupidly high the farther you go, (even the flat 1% chance in the rarity 1 wormholes is still far higher than the normal) soft resetting for flawless stats is actually feasible with them.
 
That was actually known since the start I believe :)

The only "meh" part is that you are not able to obtain HAs for the pokes in the Wormholes
 

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For various reasons I haven't read this thread until now. I was a little busy before the holidays, played USUM alongside other games during the holidays, and kind of forgot about coming here in the weeks since then. Been chatting a lot about USUM on the OI Discord, though!

Anyway, regarding the Necrozma battle, I decided to use a tried-and-true strategy I'm surprised that nobody have mentioned here yet. I faced the standard team wipe on the first try, just to see how crazy that fight was, then I started preparing. The silver bullet was good ol' Rattata, or at least its Alolan cousin. I first found one that knew Quick Attack, and trained it to level 34 (holding an Everstone), when it learned Endeavor. Then I swapped the Everstone for a Focus Sash, and the classic F.E.A.R. setup was complete. Ultra Necrozma has no status moves and no multi-hit-moves, so the match was completely trivial. Much easier than the standard Toxic shenanigans, although it does consume the Focus Sash. Perhaps I could have gone for a Tyranitar + Endeavor Aron combo instead, but that would have required trading and breeding.

I found USUM quite well suited for a two-team, 12-Pokémon run, although I did use the Exp. Share this time. If I ever get the other game (UM), I think I'll play without it. I want to keep my team(s) somewhat even-levelled, and doing that with the Exp. Share means putting my slowest-levelling Pokémon at the front of the party most of the time - where it will often be KO'd and thus need even more time at the front to catch up with the others. In addition, my fastest-levelling Pokémon didn't see much usage at all, they just sat in the back and accumulated experience.
 

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