I hate winter. I hate winter with all the power of my soul and then some, a feature made worse by the four winters I spent as a California girl (with a New England upbringing and a New York City future). I have a nasty case of Seasonal Affective Disorder, the hilariously aptly acronymed SAD, which basically makes me feel like shit during the long, cold, dark winter months.
I’m really looking forward to this game. Pokemon games have always been my comfort games; they’re reliably the same, but the updated mechanics and features keep things interesting. And as someone with SAD, they provide a lot of cheer.
I started with Rowlet in Sun, but I think I’ll go with Popplio in Ultra Moon.
I have also started crashing out surprisingly fast since the clocks went back here. I like the fresh, bright cool days but the long nights just do me in…
I don’t have a 3DS so I’ll be sitting these games out, but I can totally see Pokemon as the perfect game for SAD. For me, I think Stardew on Switch is going to be playing that role this year. It’s cosy, rewarding, and always there.
A new member of my family was born at the end of 2015 and the growing pains weren’t really felt until early 2016. Later in the spring I moved my family across the country to be closer to family but lost all my friends in the process. To make up for the loss of friends I threw myself into political volunteer work with whatever free time I could scrounge up between full time work and spending time with my kids and partner.
It might not have been a great idea to invest myself in light of my emotional state, but I have no regrets. The frantic pace had taken its toll on me and I found myself in a dark place by the end the month.
I’m not exactly sure how I stumbled across Pokemon again. I played Blue when it first game out, dabbled with Silver, got a few badges with White but otherwise hadn’t thought about the series much. Maybe it was a Clefairy calling to me in my dreams. Either way, I left Gamestop with a copy of Pokemon Sun some times near the end of November.
Pokemon, it turns out, was exactly what I needed at that time in my life. Winter had set in before I’d realized it and I needed to escape to some place sunny. I needed a goofy sidekick to make me smile, I needed to win something, I needed to go somewhere to forget for a little while.
Besides the lovely setting and charming premise of Pokemon, I found that Pokemon Sun had changed a lot of things about the games that driven me away the last time I had played. My team leveled up faster, the game put relevant information front and center, and there were no more HMs to worry about! Every time I popped on my GB I felt like I was hopping into a game that had been made just for me.
My real life didn’t go away. I had to make new friends, I had to adjust to a a new job, I had to figure out how to integrate my littlest family member into my life. Pokemon Sun didn’t create a space that made me want to ignore those issues forever. It created a space where I could escape, recharge, and return to confront them head on.
PS: Popplio rules and all other starters drool. The end.
Spoke to this on the favourite single player topic but I am so happy with the new Pokemon games and am really looking forward to this new on. I originally bought Sun so I am very much looking forward to Ultra Moon.
The level design and narrative of these new games are surprisingly immersive and for a guy who has been raising pokemon since 1st Gen the vacation location is a really nice twist. Hope you are able to enjoy your experience again @Danika
This winter hasn’t begun for real where I live (Sweden) but when it’s at it’s worst it’s like -4 f or below and sun sets at noon then it becomes pitch black outside :-[. I suffer from seasonal depression and last year sun and moon helped me a lot by distracting me! Probably not getting the ultra ones but if you haven’t played them I strongly recommend them! This year I am going to California on vacation, and if I get sad later I’ll probably get Mario and a switch
