Alola

I wanted to take a moment and gush about the new region, and how amazingly well-crafted it appears to be.

Let's start with the ecosystem. With plenty of new Pokemon being based around actual flora and fauna (and plenty specifically around the life of Hawaii itself), and the Alola variants being adaptations to the region's life and climate, Alola's Pokemon feel like they fit a complete ecosystem. There's a huge variety in Typing (we've gotten so many new type combos, like Fire/Poison or Electric/Bug), but they all still are so well designed that when you spot them, you can immediately say "yes, that's where we'll find them".

But even the odder designs still fit into the region incredibly well. Take Sandygast, for example. Finding a pile of sand in the grass, or pulling it up from fishing would be weird. Really, the only thing that makes sense is encountering them on the beach. And, hey, what do we see in a new gameplay segment?

Dark swirly patches of sand which I think are fairly likely to contain our Ghost/Ground sand traps.
Similarly, Stufful and Mimikyu are both really closely tied to people, and wouldn't make a lot of sense in a natural route. ...But, an abandoned or run down building (like the Lost Hotel in Kalos) is a perfect fit for them. And would also fit as a Team Skull hideout due to their punk/outcast design.

But this video shows a couple of other details as well.

Do you notice the NPC riding the Stoutland? If my previous speculation was right, and PokeRide is taking the place of HMs, that means that you aren't going to be the only one who can use them from now on! No more wondering how a trainer with just a Magikarp managed to get up a cliff that requires Rock Climb. No more wondering why every other person on the planet knows how to swim, but you are the only person who knows how to use Surf (maybe they just didn't have the Gym Badges?).

Then too, there's the minigame that is the highlight of the video. Throwing the sea cucumbers back into the water. This is an aspect of Pyukumuku's Pokedex entry, and it's rare to see it highlighted like that by a game element. Will we see other Pokedex entries having some reflection in the Alola region? Will we have to knock Crabrawlers off high areas, tall people, or Exeggutors? Will there be a test of courage involving sticking your hand in the mouth of a Sandygast?

Who knows. But everything I've seen so far has shown me that Alola is probably the most well-crafted region they've ever made. It's filled with small details that give it an air of vitality and authentecity greater than that of any other region.

And I, for one, am very much looking forward to exploring it in full!

I am also excited to explore a region like Alola! Things like the Alolan Forms should definitely help to give the region its own strong flavor, and I like the idea of other people doing things like using PokeRide to help flesh things out. Plus, having Pokemon more integrated into the world at large and actually doing the things they're said to do will be really neat and I hope you're right when you hypothesize it being widespread.

My one concern with Alola is that with so much of it being ocean, constantly boarding/leaving your sea transport could be a pain, but honestly that's a concern that doesn't carry much weight given Game Freak's increasing willingness to innovate and experiment.

http://i.imgur.com/IwOgI5M.jpg

The best part about this is the memes. The new types actually seem pretty cool, and I'm interested in seeing what direction they take with the Pokemon.

For example, Ninetales as an Ice/Fairy, would it keep the original moveset as if it were Fire? That would create unique Pokemon for the competitive scene, and would offer quite the choice: do I go for a Pokemon that gets a radically different moveset compared to others of its type at the cost of STAB? Are the new types even beneficial? What are the new abilities, and do they have new hidden abilities? Are Pokemon traded into Generation VII automatically converted? Are the forms hidden before the fight? Are all of their movesets get replaced by move-clones when applicable, such as Flamethrower --> Ice Beam? Do I still use a Fire Stone to evolve my Ice-Vulpix?

Truth be told, this is pretty hyphy time for both casuals and competitive players. I don't even care to debate the design decisions until I get my gameplay questions answered. Real talk.