Who has played Sun/Moon as well as UltraS/UltraM? What's the difference?

[PersonWithTime]

Yeah, so I never picked up Sun or Moon because reasons, they looked fine though. Now that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are out, I bought both and started playing Ultra Moon and I'm so curious as to how similar it is to the original? I've seen some people talking about the new stuff, but beside Mantine Surfing I haven't encountered anything else that appears to be new (I just got on island two by the way).

It is really like Emerald to Ruby and Sapphire, where it's basically the same thing but more refined and perfected?
I'll find out for myself one day, but Christmas is coming and I'm too broke to buy Sun or Moon at the moment...

Anyway, to those that have played both, ever better if you've beaten both Original and Ultra, what are some of the differences? And what are some changes that you've preferred or didn't like? Just say anything basically, I'm really curious how much of my play through of Ultra Moon is, in reality, just Moon.

[Fudo]

after playing both regular sun and ultra sun I can definitely say that there is pretty much no point in buying regular sun or moon if you only have the ultra. Pretty much all of the changes are late game and as you said its just a refined version of the original. One of the major things I noticed when comparing the two games was that ultra SM is much more streamlined and gets to the point faster than regular sun that kinda drags on and some island challenges have been improved to not be as boring as they were in regular SM. also ultra SM just has more content in general to enjoy.

[Emerson]

Just to list a few things...

• Slightly altered plot, not too different until Island 3's end however.
• New character interactions were added all over in USUM, as well as some general quality of life updates and just overall cool new stuff.
• More regional dex Pokemon in USUM, obviously.
• USUM is quite a bit harder than SM, although I'd say the difficulty fluctuates a bit more in USUM compared to SM. SM is overall challenging for a Pokemon game, but not too much, throughout the whole game, while USUM is extremely tough for most of the game (again, for a Pokemon game), but there's a certain point where that just fades off and the game gets a lot easier. It's some combination of most likely having a strong and well-rounded team by that point and the enemy levels not being pumped to the level that they should be, methinks.

They're very similar on most levels, although USUM is (mostly) considerably harder and more definitely content-filled. I personally think Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon is the better of the two, and people who skipped Sun and Moon such as yourself would be much better off playing it over SM, although Sun and Moon has the better plot overall and is still a fun experience none the less. All things considered, the only thing you're really missing out by not playing SM is it's plot, which not everyone plays for anyways.

hecking beat me to it gdi

Edited December 4, 2017 by Emerson

[bethany81707]

It's pretty much exactly DP-Platinum.

A few events, like the new Totem Pokemon, are pretty nifty at playing on your expectations, especially if you've played the originals. There are a few more events and stuff scattered here and there. Rainbow Rocket and Ultra Warp Ride, as terrible as the latter is, are both pretty great additions. If you've never played the originals, you're A-OK.

...Well, except for the part where they flubbed the Aether Foundation stuff in transition. If Lusamine's character arc confuses you, it made more sense in the originals. You're also not going to be disappointed they took out the most touching scene in the game.

[VincentASM]

Yeah, to echo what's already been said, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon are basically the definitive versions of Sun and Moon. At this point, there is no real reason to buy Sun and Moon, because of all the things they've added, big or small.

Honestly, I really liked USUM and all the new additions, but I wasn't exactly wowed. Most of the new things are nice, but not really "must have" nice IMHO. I did appreciate all the new sidequests and interactions, the way the story has been somewhat streamlined, and also the extra help for aspiring competitive players (like easier to get items).

Having all the Legendary Pokemon is cool, but it was already done in ORAS. Still, you can't complain about more stuff : P

If you're someone who appreciates the story in Pokemon games, they did write out some interesting cutscenes (mostly involving Lillie, presumably because some players complained about her screentime), but you could just watch them on Youtube I guess.

[Harvey]

Ok so then the question I have is, for someone like me who has already played Sun and Moon, is there any incentive to get this one?

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by Harvey

[Tamanoir]

2 hours ago, Harvey said:

Ok so then the question I have is, for someone like me who has already played Sun and Moon, is there any incentive to get this one?

 

If you really loved Sun and Moon, and can't wait to come back. Or if you really wants to try some of the added Pokémons (Old, like Zorua being the easiest to find since it was released. But also new, like all the UBs) There's tons of new little sidequests added that can be pretty fun (most notably the haunted school one.), but not obligatory by any means. 
It also offers a nice challenge (I'd say it's similar to B2W2 with the Exp Share on. The Exp Share being really considered in the game balance is a great thing honnestly.)

The story for a rather large part is mostly the same (I'm only on the 3rd Island yet, but it seems the largest changes won't be available before the endgame), but with the Ultra Recon Squad more or less awkwardly added in. There's also a few new zone available (the beaches), or changed slightly (you can get the Flyinium Z early), but nothing too drastic. Some quests are changed, and some Totems are differents, but nothing groundbreaking.

It's mostly a buffed up 3rd version. You may find many small incentives (new sidequests, altered scenario, new minigames, "new" pokémons, increased difficulty, shiny hunting (thanks to the Ultra Wormholes), competitive play...), but no really big ones. 

[Kazuya]

USUM changes: Not much till the end of the game, the region is prettier in some areas and the dex has a few new pokes that weren't in SM, but till the end of the game 90% is the same. 

Spoilers:

 

 

 

End game got changed completely, new events, and what not as well a lot of differences in the ending. Not gonna say them now, but that's it.

 

There is an actual post game now, but after that it's still just the battle tree. 

[PersonWithTime]

21 hours ago, Emerson said:

although Sun and Moon has the better plot overall and is still a fun experience none the less. All things considered, the only thing you're really missing out by not playing SM is it's plot, which not everyone plays for anyways.

Gr... I like to add a little role playing into my Pokemon games, so I do like the plot! That's okay though, I'm doing this play through of Ultra Moon for game play more than anything else. If I ever wanted a Pokemon marathon though... I may have to play the original instead...

21 hours ago, bethany81707 said:

...Well, except for the part where they flubbed the Aether Foundation stuff in transition. If Lusamine's character arc confuses you, it made more sense in the originals. You're also not going to be disappointed they took out the most touching scene in the game.

Okay, I did hear that one character's story arc was snuffed, I just didn't know who it was. That's upsetting.

5 hours ago, Tamanoir said:

There's tons of new little sidequests added that can be pretty fun (most notably the haunted school one.)

The haunted school wasn't in the original!? That sidequest was so much fun!!

5 hours ago, Kazuya said:

There is an actual post game now, but after that it's still just the battle tree. 

That's good, they were really dropping the ball with postgame for a while there. I'm never not gonna be bitter that there's no Hoenn Battle Frontier in the remakes. if they made DeltaEmerald for the sole purpose of a cash grab, but it had the Battle Frontier I would have bought it.

Basically I'm getting the sense that Sun and Moon are better plot and story, while USun and UMoon are better game play. Wish they could have just made the Ultra games one game called Pokemon Eclipse an improved game play as well as story version, just like Emerald and Platinum were. Either way, despite me kinda having some problems with the way Pokemon has been doing things lately, Ultra Moon is plenty charming and there's tons of lovely things in the game. I just wish Game Freak would look at the big picture and focus on the generation as a whole instead of focusing on individual games that don't really play off each other that well. But that may be a tad too off topic. In the meantime I'm having a blast with what I got!

[Punished Dayni]

So if I did decide to get it, as someone who has Moon, does it matter enough to get UM like with B/W with B2/W2 or is it more worthwhile to get US?

[Tamanoir]

9 minutes ago, Dayni said:

So if I did decide to get it, as someone who has Moon, does it matter enough to get UM like with B/W with B2/W2 or is it more worthwhile to get US?

I'd say US, since it allow you to have the version exclusive Pokémons. Unless you want some of the specific Totem Pokémons, maybe.

At least that's what I did.