SM vs. USUM | Bulbagarden
I was one of those left substantially disappointed bu USUM's story, replacing the most sincere human drama to date with cheesy 50s spacemen and another plot revolving around the unfocused anger of what is ultimately a non-sapient animal. Lusamine went from a terrifyingly unhinged antagonist to legendary-fodder on par with Maxie and Archie. The story was SM's USP for me; these days a playthrough has to be significantly underwhelming for it to sink below my brainmeat containing decades of fairly similar route exploration and levelling grind, so I wasn't particularly phased by anything SM was lacking in this respect.
I think the key for me is that I don't really see it as a "replacement," as I suspect a lot of fans do. In my eyes, it's just an alternative scenario - I don't think it necessarily needs to be "as good" as the first, or at least not in the same ways. I definitely prefer the trajectory and tone and intimate scope of the original SM storyline, but by shifting a few elements, USUM are able to provide some additional character commentary and resolution that I think is worthwhile. Not worthwhile enough on its own to warrant a $40 pricetag, of course, so thank heavens the gameplay additions are also there, but still.
It's interesting to me, because when I think about the "storyline" of games like Ruby & Sapphire or Diamond & Pearl, I would say that did not find those stories to be particularly gripping, emotionally. They were already a sort of disposable, perfunctory narrative, and while Emerald and Platinum both retain those storylines with merely a coat of polish applied, the repetition does not lead to a sense of diminishing returns for me, because I wasn't really invested in those stories anyway. Whereas I kind of think that if USUM had tried to recreate the same emotional arc and apex that SM put forth, it would have felt distinctly hollow. I think SM's ability to invest the player and its emotional payoff are simply too good (at least by Pokémon's standards) to just be reiterated verbatim one year later and still prove as effective the second time around - like trying to catch a second bolt of lightning in a bottle.
To put it another way, SM's storyline was not merely sufficient for a Pokémon game like the stories of earlier entries that went on to be "upgraded" were, but rather, it was exceptional for a Pokémon game - leaving me to ask, what even is there to improve about it? Like, sure, you could probably make small adjustments, clarifications, etc. here and there, but at the end of the day, I think SM came in, told the story it wanted to tell and told it well, and got out. It just doesn't really need repeating.
In that regard, I believe that USUM are comparable to B2W2. The sequels to Black & White don't really try to replicate what was so beloved about the story of the first games - in general, they actually revert to a far more typical formula for the series, which in this case serves as a functional-if-unremarkable stage upon which the characters and ideas that we are now invested in (thanks to the efficacy of the first games' storytelling) can enjoy a little more space to express themselves. (Although it is easy to forget in this current era of nostalgic Gen 4 and 5 adoration and reevaluation that B2W2's changes were themselves actually fairly controversial and disliked back when those games originally came out.)
Lusamine's portrayal in the original SM was absolutely, definitely more incisive and substantial in terms of what it had to say. But those games got the point across loud and clear, so do I really want or need it spelled out for me again? Or would I rather have the sequences rearranged so that she pursues a different endgame, which is, sure, less personally investing but still ultimately in-character, and which can now leave her in a position to actually claim for herself the personality development and closure that her off-screen, comatose fate in SM rendered out of reach? To me, the latter seems like a better deal, because overall, there were many things about SM that stood to be revised, but the story wasn't one of them, so if I'm going to pay for another round of Alola games, I'm going to be more interested in the needed gameplay improvements plus new insights about the characters that won me over in the originals, than I am in just a straightforwardly better version of the game that I already played.
Also, I think the Ultra Recon Squad are rather endearing. I remember back when people first saw them in promotional imagery, that they were expected to be a sinister group, so I was pleasantly surprised by how cordial, sympathetic, and innocently naive they turned out to be. And while I will grant that Ultra Megalopolis is pretty underwhelming in execution, I find the concept pretty novel for the series. It's intriguing to me that for the first real exploration of a parallel world with an actual alien civilization, we get this sort of grim, stark, Blade Runner-lite world that's left dangling at the end of its rope as punishment for its history of exploiting a benevolent creature for personal gain. It's (very, very soft) cyberpunk, which makes for a bold counterpoint to the warm, harmonious, eco-friendly culture and tone of the Alola region.
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