This is a great game. Really enjoyed the QoL aspects that it brought to the table, like the essence fusions mechanics, which led me to experimentate more with demon fusions, the warp points, easy access to HP/MP recovery, made it all less frustating and a more comfortable experience. Miracles are kind of the Magatamas in this game and they work differently, more like purchasable attributes with in-game currency (obtained through side quests, events and some special chests). This improved the MC's customization a lot and I really enjoy it.

It was also really nice to see the demons on their "natural habitats", truly belonging to the envinroments they were found on, like Mermaids near lakes and Jack Frosts near big refrigerators. The demons also frequently behave accordingly to their species, Bicorns, as an example, run around in high speed on wide, open spaces. This is how you'd expect a horse to behave, right? This was a neat addition that made enemies in the overworld not just a bunch of simple walking cycles just waiting for the player to engage into battle.

The story is nothing amazing, but it is decent enough, we've also got some cool characters here and there, but the narrative in SMT games never was the main focus for me at least, so it didn't bother me enough for it to be detrimental to the overall experience. Most of SMT's narrative appeal comes from its themes and setting for me, and these aspects are done very competently by SMT V. We got some cool songs too,
very reminiscent of SMT IV's soundtrack (they were done by the same composer), which can be positive and negative if you did enjoy it. I think it was nice enough.

But yeah, what makes this game a 4.5/5 for me is obviously its battle system, it's so addicting. Say all you want, but I just enjoy the "matching game" of weaknesses and resistances a lot (+ press turn), it's such a fun mechanic and it never gets old to me. We got some mostly appreciated new balancing in this game such as making light and dark spells more than RNG instakill spells, transforming then into regular elements, which personally made me very inclined to try out demons that specialize on those; Buffs and debuffs are nerfed, things like abusing Tetrakarn and Makarakarn like I used to in SMT IV didn't work as well because they don't cover the whole party anymore, protecting only 1 party member per turn. The buffs and debuffs that cover all party members are still present, but they're only made available later in the game, which was a nice balancing touch.

Aside from that, allied with the usual Press Turn system, I found that the new Magatsuhi system, which mechanically translates to a special attack that you and your enemies can use once a certain quantity of Magatsuhi (a special "energy" measured by a bar on the player side) is acquired. This what dictated most of the boss battles, because failing to manage your party members to adequately respond to a boss' Magatsuhi turn WILL most likely wipe out your entire party, but abusing the Magatushi system can make your party unstoppable too: I could easily kill bosses just using the MC's regular Magatsuhi skill, that made every attack a critical, which means that I could attack 8 times before my opponent did.

This is overall a great game, with lots of customization, flexible party building and an addicting combat system. Recommended to any RPG fan.

This is a really beautiful game that pushes the 3DS' hardware to its limits and bring some welcome changes like getting rid of minor annoyances such as the double confirmation required to learn any new move. I also really like the new Pokémon designs, like Rockruff, Mudsdale and the introduction of Region Forms. It is great that HMs are finally gone, too. Gone are the times where you need to catch an HM slave so that you can progress in the game.

Nonetheless, the graphical and QoL improvements are not enough to make a good game, unfortunately. The trial systems, while harboring good intentions, are not as iconic as the gym battles, and they don't actually serve as good pacing tools like gyms do. This game's story drags and drags a LOT, and most of the time I felt that it wasn't even about the MC: you're just watching the story of Lillie and her family while battling some dudes and Pokémon here and there. The environments lack variety, mostly relying on grassy plains, cave variations and rocky/sandy beaches. The new gimmick, Z Moves, is a fun new addition with new, amazing animation sequences... that is, if you can handle seeing unskippable cutscenes every time you use them (trust me, they get boring after a couple times).

It is also clear that Game Freak was getting used to a new way of making the level design of Pokémon, different from the top down-ish pattern of the 2D games and XY, which despite being 3D games also followed it. The world is now fully designed with full 3D movement in mind, removing the "blocky" movement from the previous 8-direction limited generation. Movement is great in Ultra Sun, but the level design doesn't follow it quite yet, as the developers did not figure how to translate the route-to-route progress quite that well yet to this new dynamic.

TL;DR - Beautiful game that drags and really shouldn't be telling the kind of story it tells; many long requested QoL improvements accompanied by poor map/level design, frame drops, and interesting but problematic inclusions such as Z Moves and the Trial system.

Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu is a really good game. Graphically, it goes for a pretty and cutesy aesthetic, adding a lot to the original game in terms of charm and personality. The gyms are prettier than ever, and even revamped in some cases. I could feel that the redesign of the gyms reflected the town they were located and also the character of the gym leaders, whom are also in their best form here.

It is good to see that the QoL changes present in SM are still here, like getting rid of HMs. Getting the "exp share" from the get-go is a welcome addition in my opinion, as it can get quite boring to train all new Pokémon individually, but I
also think that an option to turn it off should've been included for people who prefer it that way. The removal of random encounters is a huge plus, making some
tiresome sections of the original games like exploring caves and the sea much more comfortable and smooth. The addition of the Pokémon GO catching mechanic is a welcome one, because it turns the whole catching into a mechanic in itself, making the process much more interesting than it was before. They should've kept the wild
Pokémon battles, though.

This is nostalgic for those who played the original Kanto games or even the GBA remakes, but it is still Kanto, so I think this is nothing more than a 3.5/5. It is one of the most acessible and pretty ways one can experience the region, so I recommend it for newcomers and old fans alike.

I appreciate the changes in Pokémon catching and in battles, but this new open world structure of the main series lacks polish. This is an ugly and empty open world, filled with nothing but repetitive Pokémon catching and battling, both of which get old real quick. While the boss encounters are a fresh addition to the series, it is nothing new if you've been playing action games for the past 15 years or so. It is still Pokémon though, so the battling and leveling up is still fun, even if they're not accompanied by a solid progression system such as the gyms, which Game Freak never surpassed in my opinion. Moreover, the absolute state of this series currently seems to be this tired celebration of minor additions, even if they aren't new in the industry or even the genre as a whole. This isn't what a series with the size of Pokémon should strive for or deliver to its users.
Volo's theme rocks tho.