[Tom4784]

I completed the story.

Spoiler:

They certainly packed a lot into the end, didn't they? The story feels really spare up until you reach Wynden and then it really kicks into high gear. I think presentation wise it's definitely the best ending they've ever done although the whole 'interrupting the championship match' thing was done better in Black/White, I think (I remember being SHOOK when it happened in that game). I liked the whole tournament format (although Bea taking up a potential rematch against one of the more interesting gym leaders felt a bit crap) and thought it made for a nice twist on things.

Leon caught me off guard when I fought him as his Axew managed to take out two of my Dragon slayer pokemon and I didn't pack any healing supplies as I didn't think I'd need them. In the end it came down to my Drednaw vs Charizard (I had to sacrifice the others to survive Char's Gigantamax as he took out my Dynamax Drednaw with a Max Grass attack and so I had to revive him and throw him out when Gigantamax came to an end. He died as soon as he came out of it though since I hit him with a Rock Tomb for the on hit KO. It was mostly because I was caught unaware but I'd say that he's definitely the hardest champion since Cynthia. That being said, if I wasn't so cocky, I'd have probably not messed up and made that battle harder then it had to be.

I really enjoyed the game overall and I will likely play through Shield quite soon to see the differences. I think I've only really got three big issues with the game and those are:

Online features - The system they have in place is super clunky and the lack of GTS is downright CRIMINAL.
Level cap for capturing pokemon - This was aggravating and unneeded. Having high level pokemon in the Wild Area was pointless if we couldn't even try to capture them until all the gyms were beaten.
Weather in the Wild Area - They really needed to come up with a way to control the weather in the Wild Area, it's frustrating because there's a lot of pokemon that you are completely locked out on until luck favours you.

I do really hope the Wild Area becomes a feature in games going forward though, it's got a few issues but it's by far my favourite part of the game. Raids are addictive as hell and it's so easy to waste time in there.

My other favourite thing about this game is how they took the grinding out of it, EV training is downright instant (as long as you have the money, which considering the Wild Area, is not hard), the EXP candies are a lifesaver for levelling new pokemon and being able to change natures is fantastic.

I really enjoyed this game, I'm not sure if it's better than Sun/Moon but I'd place it ahead of X/Y.