I picked up Pokemon Moon last week and currently have logged 9 hours into it. First time playing a Pokemon game since Gen 2. It's been a mixed bag for me.
On the plus side, I love the 3d graphics over the sprites. It reminds me of the excitement of using my team in Pokemon Stadium as a kid. Also love how I can raise affection by petting it, but I do have some thoughts about the care thing I'll bring up in the cons. I have an owl for my starter, which is cool, and I can take pictures of Pokemon like it's Pokemon snap. Plus it still feels great when I capture one I want and I love how it shows what type of ball I used to capture a Pokemon with. And I freaking adore those juggalos from Team Skull and their theme.
On the negatives, it feels way too beginner friendly. I start off being given a huge wad of cash to start off with, while in the older games I started broke and had to make my early purchases count. My rival picks the start with a type disadvantage to mine, and I can use that right off the bat. EXP share is given to me shortly thereafter, is a key item rather than something held, and makes leveling up a party child's play if one doesn't turn it off. I can cure lingering status effects through the care option without cost. And the initial selection of Pokemon is so varied it's possible to have any type of Pokemon without much effort. Heck, there was a girl trading a Machop for a Spearow, which makes the first trail a breeze, and all I had to do was exit the Pokemon center to catch one. Not to mention how items are just given to me, TMs can be used without limit, and through the use of Ride partners I don't have to sacrifice a move for HMs to progress.
I'm enjoying myself, but at the same time it doesn't feel right to me. Part of me thinks I should have just swallowed my pride and bought an overpriced Gen 1 game off the eshop. And trust me, I feel like an asshole mentioning a lot of this stuff because it's a game for kids...
But you know what? Challenge makes things rewarding. I got further than I ever have in Mario 1 the other day, still lost but I felt better doing that than I did beating Mario 3 through exploiting the hell out of restore points. I'm not saying don't have fun with Pokemon, but the stuff they've done with it since the Game Boy Color era just makes me feel like the experience has been devalued. I feel with this game raising a Pokemon to level 100 or beating the main story isn't going to have the same impact it did in the old days. More like getting a participation trophy than anything.