Is USUM worth it?

The game is relatively similar up until Poni Island, but there are enough differences to keep it standing on its own. Once you reach Poni, hoooo boy, it diverges a ton, and it becomes HUGELY entertaining. Post game gets even crazier, and with the new Wormhole Ride game, you have the chance to hunt a ton of new and previously very limited Pokémon. I highly recommend getting at least one version of the game to try it out (I only have Ultra Sun at the moment) but if you like it enough, I recommend getting the second later on!

 

USUM is very similar to SM in terms of plot. It has a lot of improvements and new features, though. You can catch a wide variety of Pokémon and you get two sets of Apricorn Balls. There are some significant plot differences and it's overall much better; however, the plot still has some issues.

Honestly though, for Mantine Surf and the Ultra Wormholes alone, this game is worth getting.

 

I haven't progressed far enough in the game to fully judge, but I honestly haven't fallen in love with it. I am on the second island and have found such little different that I am not motivated to play for long bouts like the first one. I mean when I get to the next island it may change my opinion but for now, I am not convinced it was worth the 40 bucks.

 

Well, I'm Australian and I say that it is worth it. I haven't played a lot of it, but from all of the extra Pokémon you can get, it's pretty worth it.

 

Ouch, that is a lot of money, I would say no personally, it isn't worth it as of now. You can trade for most of the Pokémon anyway, so it isn't as interesting yet.

 

I dunno, I don't think you can really discourage someone from buying the game if you haven't progressed to the good part. Give it more of a chance before you dismiss it - it improves a lot! I disagree about trading for the Pokémon, it doesn't give the same feeling as catching it and using it on your journey.

The move tutors are also a big addition, and there are new egg moves as well. Any Pokémon that learns a move exclusive to its USUM learnset can't be traded back to SM, so you're locking yourself out of new moves.

Plus, Ultra Wormholes and Mantine Surf.

 

There's also a brand new (extensive) trial, some cool post game content, new locations throughout the story (many, actually!), tons and tons of new sidequests and more. I would agree with the millions of people who bought it within the first few days (an actual statistic) and say buy it.

 

I hope you come back here after playing it a bit more since you're the only person so far who's saying it's not worth it.

I'm personally leaning that I don't want to buy it - Moon didn't hold my attention long enough to even finish in the first place (it now beats Black/White as my least favorite Pokémon game). I think I'm mostly just jaded since Nintendo has been just cranking these games out despite not having a lot of differences. At least with X & Y we had a huge jump due to the 3D aspect and customizing our characters.

 

I'd say it's worth it if you haven't played the original Sun or Moon at all, or very little. The beginning is quite a bit faster, which is a massive improvement given how stop-and-start Melemele is in the originals, and while I haven't gotten much further than that yet (I've been training some eggs for my team), I'm having a lot more fun actually wandering around and exploring Alola. Part of that might be because I'm playing on a New 3DS now, but the games seem to run better and look more detailed to boot, so yeah.

If you've already bought the original versions and beat them and everything, then I can't really say for sure whether the new stuff would really be enough to justify the purchase. If you bought the original versions and couldn't get into it, though (which is what happened with me), then it's probably worth it to just get USUM instead. It isn't like BW2 where it's a significantly different story/sequel and all that, it really is just a Crystal/Emerald/Platinum situation.

(If you ask me, I get the feeling that it's been so long since we last got a third version of any Pokémon game that people are kind of unenthusiastic about it, hah)

 

Yes there are tons of similarities, but I already have fallen in love with the game. I literally was that willing to waste my Christmas at my father's for it and I say my earl Christmas present is worth it. So far on island 1 and the changes sort of make it a little more entertaining.

 

I've gotta say, after reading the comments here and just now looking up the release dates of these two games (almost exactly one year after releasing Sun and Moon) I don't think I'll buy this for the principle of the whole matter. I know this probably doesn't apply to a lot of you, but I have a job and bills to pay, and while I love gaming, I hate when companies try to push out games just to make some extra money. At least with Black and White 2 there was almost 2 years between the previous installment, and while I never played Black and White 2, I understand there were some pretty major changes between the games that made Black and White 2 a true sequel to Black and White.

This definitely seems like a case of a company trying to make extra money. From the few changes that are being discussed (and the few changes I looked up) it seems like this very easily could've been an update (similar to Animal Crossing New Leaf and their Welcome Amiibo update) or even DLC that could've been available for Sun and Moon. But they decided to make a completely new, full priced game and that just doesn't sit well with me.

 

I think whether it's worth it or not really depends on what your standards are for buying a new game, it's true that the game is at least 80% the same.

It's worth it to me personally, but I need to own and play the latest instalment in the series on day 1, I love these games way too much lol.
I honestly was expecting more of a BW2 experience, but was sadly met with an expansion, I'm not sure why I thought this was going to be an entirely new story, maybe because it was released in two versions like BW2?
But it's all worth it to me for the remixed music, story changes, new areas, new Pokémon/forms, move tutors, and the additional post game chapter which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would.

 

I agree with some of the points you made, @Furie, but this isn't anything new to Pokémon. It's a bit weird to me how many people are getting upset about this only with Ultra Sun and Moon. It's just as much of a cash grab as Crystal, Emerald, and Platinum were - I'd actually say less, because the changes are vastly different than the other third installments. I suppose the difference now is that we're older and catching on to when Nintendo is pulling a cash grab move, but these games really don't feel like that much of one to me. It's important to acknowledge and criticize Crystal, Emerald and Platinum for the same things this game is being criticized for. I will admit, though, that this could have been one game instead of two (Pokémon Eclipse) and that rubs me the wrong way.

To me, the plot differentiates enough after the third island... But Pokémon games aren't exactly ones I play for the plot. I don't like the "third game cash grab" model much either, but I do enjoy USUM. There are quite a lot of changes (not all good):

• Many more sidequests; some are just fetch quests (show me this Pokémon for a reward), but there are a lot with plot that has depth to them.
• Mantine Surf (I would pay maybe $5 for this as a separate game because I love it)
• Ultra Space exploring (reminds me of Sonic a bit)
• Move tutors - Can't claim this one as a unique change though!
• More Pokémon available throughout the game, meaning more Apricorn/Beast Ball Pokémon and varied in-game teams (you can now catch all starters beside Alolan ones in Alola)
• New moves for some Pokémon
• New Pokémon - This is a first for a third installment
• Most past Legendaries available
• New and real postgame
• Easier money grinding, thanks to Mantine Surf
• Much easier level grinding
• Roto-powers/O-powers; really speeds everything up
• Power items (EV training items) are available as a freebie postgame - 1 of each
• Hau sucks less
• Lillie's character was worsened, in my opinion
• Lusamine's story arc is rushed
• Rotomdex is actually useful this time around, but it does get annoying
• Easier Festival Plaza leveling
• Battle Agency (similar to the Battle Frontier battle style where you use other people's Pokémon)
• Wonder Trade no longer takes you back to the overworld, you can keep Wonder Trading
• Normal trading with friends still sucks
• You get two sets of Apricorn Balls this time
• Hyper training is easier due to leveling being easier
• Items/move tutors for all legendaries are available
• There's a real Victory Road this time
• Your mom still doesn't unpack but kind of acknowledges that she's a lazy procrastinator (What the fuck, Mom? I literally became the reigning champion of Alola while you did did nothing but stand in the same spot and stare at Meowth)
• Kanto style gym
• Many small postgame story events that I haven't fully uncovered yet
• Infinite Beast Balls
• Infinite Ultra Beasts (from the original Sun and Moon only)

Unfortunately, I don't see how an update or DLC would work, as Gamefreak has proved to be unwilling to give us more than one save file (one save file in 2017 lol). Erasing your file would be necessary to experience the full plot again, and if they just had you resume with all the new features, it would feel rushed and out of place. While the story is overwhelmingly similar to the first games, it does differ around the third island with some crucial information.

Could it be better? Definitely - I hate that the first chunk of the game is so similar... but once I powered through that, I loved it. I'm travelling the (real) world on an extreme budget and found the game worth the money, but your mileage may vary for sure.

 

I feel like SM (and especially USUM) are kind of going to be the direction Game Freak is going to take from Gen 8 onwards, so any experiences with USUM in particular are probably going to be indicative of what you would feel when Gen 8 is released. Just a hunch, really.

At any rate...

I'd say USUM are a pretty solid pair of games on their own right. There is an argument to be made that there's really no reason to buy USUM if you haven't enjoyed SM, and in that I have to agree. There's nothing groundbreaking about USUM that would make you change your mind if you weren't a fan of Alola to begin with, but I think that has always rung true for every third game in the past.

In short, USUM is really your typical third game, and I don't think that's really a bad thing in my eyes. Most of it is the same bar extra features and fun things added here and there which is the intention. Third games have always been more of the finished, enjoyable product than the games before them and I think that in itself makes them inherently more worth the purchase in my eyes.

 

While it's not my favorite Pokémon game, I'd say that it is completely worth it. With all the changes both in and between gens, it is a nice new approach to Pokémon for me. If you haven't played any of gen 7, I'd go straight to the ultra games and skip the originals.