Pokémon Sun, first-timer.

[TheBestUserName]

According to the save screen, I've played seven hours and five minutes. Sun is the first Pokémon I've ever played. So far, I seem to be doing well (winning probably 99% of my battles) but I'm a bit bored by it. It seems to be, "Go over to this area and battle some Pokémon, and on your way, have random encounters with other Pokémon and battle them, too." Is that all there is here? Any mini games or anything? Howlongtobeat says the game is about 30 hours. Is it 30 hours of battle, level up, battle, level up...? I feel like I'm missing something. Or perhaps I'm not far enough in the game for the fun to have started. I'm looking in menus to try to find other stuff, but I might be doing something wrong.  

Thoughts?

[skywake]

You play through the story while battling Pokemon, catching them and leveling up. That's the first 30 hours or so. It does get progressively harder as you go along but that's not really the point. It's not supposed to be hard it's supposed to be more about the story. Once you've done that? That's when the game really starts. You take that team you built through the game and you battle other people online. You see what the weaknesses in your team up and you try to fill in those gaps. Rebuild your team, try again. That's the part of the game that most people who are huge fans get hooked into.

[TheBestUserName]

7 minutes ago, skywake said:

You play through the story while battling Pokemon, catching them and leveling up. That's the first 30 hours or so. It does get progressively harder as you go along but that's not really the point. It's not supposed to be hard it's supposed to be more about the story. Once you've done that? That's when the game really starts. You take that team you built through the game and you battle other people online. You see what the weaknesses in your team up and you try to fill in those gaps. Rebuild your team, try again. That's the part of the game that most people who are huge fans get hooked into.

Huh. Alright. I didn't realize online-play is only available after finishing the story. Or if that's wrong, I just haven't actively looked for it in the menus yet.  Now that it's mentioned, the story seems rather weak.  The natives on the island (trainers, teachers) are all psycholically obsessed with Pokémon and don't talk about anything else other than battling and how much they love Pokémon. I'm trying really hard to like it because I'm not playing for me, but I don't feel like the game is trying hard. 

[skywake]

It's available during the main game and pretty early on but you're not going to get as much out of it if you jump online without a decent team. Once you've beaten the game you have access to all of the Pokemon available in the game. Including the legendaries. You also have a chance to be able to get all of the best TMs in the game at that point. Plus you don't get the ability to fly from island to island until later in the game. So the online portion of the game? It begins after you've beaten the story.

[porina]

Different people have different play styles. I'm 37 hours in the game and only just reached the 4th island, so still some way to complete the main story. I try to do everything I can along the way. Gotta catch em all. I could rush the story and back fill afterwards, but that isn't my style. Personally I'm not interested in online battles. As for being repetitive... show me a game that isn't.

[Security]

Hehe, I am 13 hours in and still on the first island... I like to add extra challenges for myself, currently in Sun I am trying to catch them all and level them up so I could switch out to any Pokemon I own and them be useful straight away during the game. Pokemon Y I defeated while only using Gen 1 Pokemon and before that with Pokemon White I mimicked a Youtuber's Pokemon team in there playthrough.

 

I started challenging myself with whatever I could think of back with the original Pokemon Gold when I decided to complete the game using only 1 Pokemon (Geodude which I did let evolve in Graveler).

[TheBestUserName]

2 hours ago, Security said:

Hehe, I am 13 hours in and still on the first island... I like to add extra challenges for myself, currently in Sun I am trying to catch them all and level them up so I could switch out to any Pokemon I own and them be useful straight away during the game. Pokemon Y I defeated while only using Gen 1 Pokemon and before that with Pokemon White I mimicked a Youtuber's Pokemon team in there playthrough.

 

I started challenging myself with whatever I could think of back with the original Pokemon Gold when I decided to complete the game using only 1 Pokemon (Geodude which I did let evolve in Graveler).

I'm 12 hours into it now, and I've started seeing several different kinds of items that I'm finding or that people have given me. I need to figure out how to use them. Like the "Z Power" items. I've no clue about those things.  

 

Do you (or any one else reading this) know of any good instructional/summary videos?  I don't really want a strategy guide, because I want to develop my own strategy. But knowing how all these items work, and when they are able to be used, would be helpful. 

[Security]

The Z power stones need to be held by a Pokemon (like how you can have them hold a potion or antidote), during a fight you will then have the option to perform a Z-move once which simply put is a more powerful move than normal. It's kinda like the mega evolution thing form X and Y but way more limited.

[TheBestUserName]

12 minutes ago, Security said:

The Z power stones need to be held by a Pokemon (like how you can have them hold a potion or antidote), during a fight you will then have the option to perform a Z-move once which simply put is a more powerful move than normal. It's kinda like the mega evolution thing form X and Y but way more limited.

Are the stones one-time-use for the life of the stone, or just one-time-use per battle?   

 

I've been hesitant to try using them because I don't want to waste one. 

[Ithanul]

On 12/20/2016 at 6:12 PM, TheBestUserName said:

Are the stones one-time-use for the life of the stone, or just one-time-use per battle?   

 

I've been hesitant to try using them because I don't want to waste one. 

One time use per battle.  The stones don't go away.

[ConnorDahne]

Pokemon is one of the few games where everyone's end game is going to be a little different.
Some want to complete the pokedex and get the shiny charm to breed/chain for shiny pokemon.

Some want to build up the most competitive online team, and compete against other people.

You've got stat breeding, contests, battle tree, and surely there's more I'm missing.

I've always enjoyed just playing through and messing around while I complete the dex, can't get into the time investment of the other stuff.