Island Trials

One of the major differences between past Pokémon titles and Pokémon Sun and Moon is how you advance the story. In the past, the way you knew you were moving forward with the story was to complete Pokémon gyms. Sure, there was the crap with Team Rocket or whomever, but every 'area' of the map - typically a city with surrounding routes - was sectioned off by gyms.

It's only been a few hours of in game time for me - just completed my first Island Trial - but it is obvious already that Pokémon Sun and Moon have elevated the franchise and taken it places I wasn't sure they would ever get. Even after 20 years of Pokémon video games, Nintendo and Game Freak have found a way to establish new ideas and fresh approaches that even have the most hard core of Pokémon game fans excited.