u/JuiceJink

I haven't played S/M or US/UM and I plan to soon. I know the ultra games deviate from the og in terms of story so I want to experience both for the apparently better story and gameplay. Because of the exclusives, I've decided to play S/UM or M/US but I'm not sure which way it should be.

I'm thinking M/US since I like Blacephalon more than Stakataka but I really like some of the Moon exclusives and I don't know if the Ultra game should feel like the full/"definitive" version of my Gen 7 games (if you get what I mean?) since it's the last one. Doesn't help that I like the look of the Moon games more but prefer the Sun games Ultra beasts.

I know the island challenges change between games and versions but I'm less knowledgeable of those so opinions on those would be cool.

Guys, 2 games. Not 1, not 3. Just first release, then Ultra.

I wanna play Plat for the first time but not sure if I should actually play Renegade Platinum or Timeless Diamond and Spaceless Pearl instead. I heard they have some cool improvements like improving trade evolutions (which I wasn't a fan off) so that sounds nice and other stuff. But I'm not sure what I should play as I don't know how much the game changes.
I don't usually replay pokemon games but maybe I could. Not sure. I wanna hear people's opinions before finalizing my thoughts.

Playing for the first time and just got Articuno. My team is: Venusaur, Jolteon, Lapras, Ninetales, Dragonair and Sandslash.

I'm thinking it'd be good for fly and the ice for Elite Four maybe but I don't know what pokemon types future trainers have. I think my Ninetales is the worst on my team but I want to keep atleast 1 fire move for my team.

Should I keep my team or change it up a bit? Any advice would be cool thanks.