Just beat Melemele Island! Thoughts after the break:

This would be the easiest Pokemon to Nuzlocke ever. They constantly heal your team for you, whether you like it or not.

So you introduce the berry farm in almost the same way as in XY, only to never use it? Why even bother then?

Nebby has transcended to a level beyond your mortal concepts such as duffel bags and zippers.

Remember when Pokemon had intimidating rivals? Me neither. Love you, Hau, but you’re really bad at this.

TAUROS RIDING IS AMAZING! I don’t even mind backtracking to break rocks I couldn’t before! This is awesome!

Wow, that scene in the cemetery was unexpected and soul-crushing. Way to suck the fun out.

I take it back. I didn’t notice going forward but this is Gen 1 level of random battles! My team is all 18! Everything is minimum five levels below me! And I turned EXP Share off as soon as I got it!

Loading up on Repels, I guess.

A lot of the presentation of this game, the way people stiltedly move/turn around, repeat specific animations, or the railroading explanations for why certain areas are locked off until they aren’t, reminds me of Megaman Legends. Which would be great, except Megaman Legends is twenty years old and I kinda expect better at this point.

Other than it not being voiced, I really liked the scene on Kukui’s boat as we head for the next island! That got me pumped back up!

We’re a strange group of travelers, but at least it feels like we’re traveling together. XY didn’t really capture that. Kudos where due!