6th Gen Good & Bad points of X/Y? *SPOILERS*

[Jimmyray]

I just finished the game (as in beat the Elite 4) and thought it was brilliant overall, but I just wondered what you think the good & bad points of it are?

Just a few I can think of at the moment

GOOD

ALL of the new features were brilliant and welcome.

- The online features were my favourite new addition, I loved the idea that along my journey I could battle people from all over the world and then save them as acquaintances, acquiring little rivalries with random trainers along the way. The battle rule customization is pretty good too, but the only slightly annoying thing is that you have to battle with your party Pokemon, I think they should let you pick from your boxes or a battle box so that when you get a random battle request you can always be good to go.

- Wonder trading, and trading in general is a very enjoyable new feature, and although we've seen it before, the fact you can trade directly from your boxes now is fantastic.

- The graphics upgrade was amazing, everything looks brilliant. I particularly enjoyed the Glittering Cave layout.

- The amount of Pokemon available. I think they got the balance perfectly right, and included a wide range of Pokemon and even character references from all of the old regions.

- Mega evolution.

BAD (OR CAN BE IMPROVED)

- I'm sure everyone found that the game became outrageously easy, towards the end I was literally just OHKOing everything to the extent where it actually started to become less enjoyabe. I think Z needs to be harder, or at least have a difficulty option. Also, why do the Elite 4 now only have 4 Pokemon each?

- Lumiose City. The only place I never enjoyed being. The layout I found pretty horrible, the camera angles were sometimes awkward and I never really understood how to move my character and rotate the camera effectively. I hear also there's a bug where your game gets wiped saving at certain places here? I explored it once and now try to avoid it unless necessary. I love the idea of a full 3D city as the center point, but I just don't think it was executed perfectly.

- I'm being picky but the animations were slightly limited. E.g. when Pangoro uses Crunch, he still swipes his fist in the animation.

- The story was a bit basic, and although I know the game is aimed at children, I'm pretty sure more teens/adults actually play than children, so I would like to see a slightly more mature development in the storyline, in an ideal world. I actually think that the Hoenn story was the best, because I felt it was the most dramatic and inclusive of the legendaries.


Even with the bad points, I thought the game was brilliant and I find it exciting with the direction the game is going. It's good that there's always things to improve for the next game. Definitely a HUGE step up from BW2. What did you think?

 

[Princess Diana]

I agree with every criticism of Lumiose City. It seems like such a waste of potential. They have the Eiffel Tower and waste it on a gym that doesn't even utilize the structure. They could've had it as a funky department store.

I miss department stores. :(

Also, levelling up becomes a chore, especially if you change your team late in the game.

+ 3 members and 49 guests viewing this, bloody hell

 

[abcde123456]

- I really did like the new online features and I loved the fact that I didn't have to go to a specific city or a Pokemon Centre to use the GTS. I found that kind of a hindrance in the previous games. And I completely agree with you on the battle thing. I had to say no to so many battle requests because the only pokemon I had were eggs and Fletchinder (Flame Body) :/

- Wonder trading, while it's a really good concept, is kinda bad because of all those players putting really bad Pokemon in them. I think that in the next Pokemkn game, they should ban certain Pokemon.

- Yeah the graphics were brilliant. You can finally see your character's limbs! :O

- The number of Pokemon was great. This is actually the first time I'm trying to actually complete the Pokedex. And what character references? I have only seen references to whole regions, not specific characters (except that Ranger that said he wishes he could hear what his Pokemon were saying)

- I like Mega Evolution in concept, but WHY did they have to Mega Evolve Pokemon that are already very good on their own? (E.g. Alakazam, Tyranitar, Charizard, Gengar). But that only makes up for half of the Mega roster, though. (Side note: Mega Banette and Medicam look fantastic)

- There technically IS a difficulty option (Exp share: Easy, No Exp Share: Hard). I've heard on other forums that the game is actually hard if you don't use it.

- Lumiose is a trillion times better than Castelia, glitch aside. Castelia had very little variation in buildings and there really wasn't anything to do. But yes, that bug really deters me from going there (although, there's a cool Easter egg that you may not wanna miss)

- I actually loved the battle animations. They were a little restricted, true, but it's such a huge jump from Gen 5 that I don't really care.

- Basic story? Not really. I just hated the fact that they didn't link up AZ's and Lysandre's story AT ALL. It felt like they were going in one direction wi Lysandre, fired that writer, and got a new one that added in AZ. I thought his story was kinda cheesy and that they could focus more on Lysandre. The poor dude didn't even get a back story.
Back to it being a basic story: it's all too familiar, but I kinda enjoyed it. its the ending that doesn't make this story basic. I loved the ending (how he apparently cursed the player with immortality and how he kills himself). Very creepy.

Side note: I always hated how EVERYONE in the ENTIRE GAME were indifferent to Team Flare. Sycamore did nothing. The gym leaders didn't nothing. Heck, the freaking CHAMPION did nothing. In fact, the only mention we get from NPCs about Team Flare is how their suits are outrageous. BUT, wasn't that Lysandre's point all along?

 

[The Doctor]

Well I think they could tone down the whole "France" aspect.

It's meant to be set in a Mythical land yet it's quite obviously set in France, and the second you forget you're in France, they remind you. It was quite immersion breaking at some points.

I bought Pokemon Y, not Pokemon France.

 

[Jimmyray]

- I really did like the new online features and I loved the fact that I didn't have to go to a specific city or a Pokemon Centre to use the GTS. I found that kind of a hindrance in the previous games. And I completely agree with you on the battle thing. I had to say no to so many battle requests because the only pokemon I had were eggs and Fletchinder (Flame Body) :/

- Wonder trading, while it's a really good concept, is kinda bad because of all those players putting really bad Pokemon in them. I think that in the next Pokemkn game, they should ban certain Pokemon.

- Yeah the graphics were brilliant. You can finally see your character's limbs! :O

- The number of Pokemon was great. This is actually the first time I'm trying to actually complete the Pokedex. And what character references? I have only seen references to whole regions, not specific characters (except that Ranger that said he wishes he could hear what his Pokemon were saying)

- I like Mega Evolution in concept, but WHY did they have to Mega Evolve Pokemon that are already very good on their own? (E.g. Alakazam, Tyranitar, Charizard, Gengar). But that only makes up for half of the Mega roster, though. (Side note: Mega Banette and Medicam look fantastic)

- There technically IS a difficulty option (Exp share: Easy, No Exp Share: Hard). I've heard on other forums that the game is actually hard if you don't use it.

- Lumiose is a trillion times better than Castelia, glitch aside. Castelia had very little variation in buildings and there really wasn't anything to do. But yes, that bug really deters me from going there (although, there's a cool Easter egg that you may not wanna miss)

- I actually loved the battle animations. They were a little restricted, true, but it's such a huge jump from Gen 5 that I don't really care.

- Basic story? Not really. I just hated the fact that they didn't link up AZ's and Lysandre's story AT ALL. It felt like they were going in one direction wi Lysandre, fired that writer, and got a new one that added in AZ. I thought his story was kinda cheesy and that they could focus more on Lysandre. The poor dude didn't even get a back story.
Back to it being a basic story: it's all too familiar, but I kinda enjoyed it. its the ending that doesn't make this story basic. I loved the ending (how he apparently cursed the player with immortality and how he kills himself). Very creepy.

Side note: I always hated how EVERYONE in the ENTIRE GAME were indifferent to Team Flare. Sycamore did nothing. The gym leaders didn't nothing. Heck, the freaking CHAMPION did nothing. In fact, the only mention we get from NPCs about Team Flare is how their suits are outrageous. BUT, wasn't that Lysandre's point all along?

You didn't think the story was basic? I disliked the simplicity of the fact that this guy just made an 'ultimate weapon', and the way it was referred to as such. There was no science or logic behind it at all, sure AZ had thousands of years to build it, but I think they could have utilized the legendary Pokemon into it better to fill a gap. I felt like this random cocoon thing was a bit strange, Yveltal just suddenly springs into the story as an energy source after being briefly referred to in tellings about the ancient war (please bare in mind I'm playing Y, I'm not aware of how Xerneas is molded into the story). The whole evil team using a legendary Pokemon as an energy source thing felt like a more complete story for me in R/S/E because Kyogre & Groudon have a more solid back story and you see them several times throughout before encountering them.

I actually disagree with you about Lumiose and Castelia. I think Castelia on the 3DS would have been better than Lumiose with the sewers and what not. As someone mentioned earlier, they don't utilize the Eiffel Tower, it would have been a lot better as a department store. I just find navigating the whole city awkward. I like what it contains just not how it plays out.

I do love the battle animations if you consider the step up, but I'm just being picky and there is room for improvement which is good for the future.

I never really considered the Exp Share activation as a difficulty option, but in hindsight I can see how that's true. If only I had thought of that when playing through!

 

[Y2A_Alkis]

I felt that this game was made for little children, too.

+ trading from boxes
+ 3D
+ background in battles
+ easier EV training
+ Post-E4 Looker storyline
+ pokemarts within centers
+ character customization

- rival is your friend
- too many gift pokemon (Torchic which gets boosted XP, Kanto Starters)
- Lumiose City (and no real town map)
- too many ways of robbing players of money (tips, cab rides)
- lack of story after Team Flare plot
- Exp.Share overpowered, the previous version was just fine
- lack of a legendary trio
- although you had pretty much stuff to do on your way to the E4, it felt kinda short
- I expected more from Team Flare
- dragon and electric type moves animations (they are horrible in my opinion)
- some move animations could've been done better. (Body Slam, Vice Grip)
- sky battles (they just felt randomly integrated)
- mega evolutions (they give a certain layer of strategy to the meta, but I don't buy it that it's "native to the Kalos' region uniqueness - they would've been better off with normal evolutions. Further, I think pokemon should not receive a 4th stage)
- Pokemon Amie and its effect to battles
- pokemon league soundtrack sounds more asian-esque to me than France-y
- O-powers
- some routes need to be more challgenging. they're sometimes too straight forward an linear

Certain aspects are steps into the right direction, but overall other aspects just felt rushed and were implemented to hasty to make a perfect game.

(Disclaimer: I skipped B2W2)

 

[HUF_DBC]

Good

I have to say I am in love with Lumiose city, I like how immersed you fell in it and that you can actually explore it, not like Castelia where you have like four streets to go down and that's it.

Bad

I did feel like they just threw AZ in there, he just felt out of place. It was weird.

 

[Troblems]

- Lumiose City. The only place I never enjoyed being. The layout I found pretty horrible, the camera angles were sometimes awkward and I never really understood how to move my character and rotate the camera effectively. I hear also there's a bug where your game gets wiped saving at certain places here? I explored it once and now try to avoid it unless necessary. I love the idea of a full 3D city as the center point, but I just don't think it was executed perfectly.

I agree the city was a little wonky.

I also thought it was a bit silly that it took more pokeballs to catch Snorlax than it did the legendary. I mean come on, the legendary is on the front of the box!

The story was a little silly, but I kind of expect that.

Over all, the game was enjoyable, although I wish it had been a bit longer. I know that there's tons of stuff to do beyond the main story line but...meh.

 

[abcde123456]

You didn't think the story was basic? I disliked the simplicity of the fact that this guy just made an 'ultimate weapon', and the way it was referred to as such. There was no science or logic behind it at all, sure AZ had thousands of years to build it, but I think they could have utilized the legendary Pokemon into it better to fill a gap. I felt like this random cocoon thing was a bit strange, Yveltal just suddenly springs into the story as an energy source after being briefly referred to in tellings about the ancient war (please bare in mind I'm playing Y, I'm not aware of how Xerneas is molded into the story). The whole evil team using a legendary Pokemon as an energy source thing felt like a more complete story for me in R/S/E because Kyogre & Groudon have a more solid back story and you see them several times throughout before encountering them.

Now that I think about it, I agree with you about everything you said in this post. The story really does seem like a mess (AZ + everything else you mentioned) and that it only relies on the ending for it to be good.

 

[Jimmyray]

Now that I think about it, I agree with you about everything you said in this post. The story really does seem like a mess (AZ + everything else you mentioned) and that it only relies on the ending for it to be good.

The ending and the flashback segments are pretty good. Also I meant to mention earlier, I did stumble across that easter egg in Lumiose although I didn't really understand it. A nice surprise though. I'm hoping it might progress somehow post-game.

 

[Decimosoma]

[Good Points]: Be aware of small spoilers

- Snow: I LOVE SNOW, SNOW EVERYWHERE. I WISH I COULD EAT SNOW. SNOW ARE LIKE X1000 SHINY POKÉMONS TO ME. OKAY?

- Mega Evolution: I love Gamefreak for giving weak Pokémons like Pinsir and Mawile another shot at being at least decent, directing to fairly good. I hope to see more underpowered or completely forgotten Pokémon getting a Mega Evolution in the near future to show us, the trainers that they are still alive and kickin'.

- Companions. Even though there isn't a regular bitter rival with a strong attitude and a iron will such as Hugh in B/W2 as the usual standard, this change was really refreshing. I love how you start out with them. A little training together in the early game was really fun to look out for.

- Wide-range of Pokémons to choose from. This was probably the most awesome feature , we haven't seen Pidgey for a lot of generations in the early game or main storyline and I'm glad that they haven't forgotten about them and gave them another appearance, same goes for a lot of other Pokémons. Pikachu being another one of them, you know what i'm getting at.

- Interface and the usage: It is yet the most friendly interface to me, it's easy to use, even using TMs is less of a drag now, you don't have to click the TM and see constantly who can learn what, now you can see it just by scrolling down and up, same like with other items, it's a nice change.

- Customization. Probably everyone loves this feature. It is nice and easy to use yet expensive but we'll manage. Nothing much needs to be said, it's just an awesome feature. What more do you want out of it?

- Pokémon Designs: Every generation got it's good and bad designs, but this generation haven't soon actual designs that makes my blood boil. The evolutionary lines with examples of Goomy, Honedge, Skrelp, Espurr, and Noibat are simple fulfilling lines and deserves a special mentioning and some love while we're at it. (After all, people like to chew on designs, overall. It's time for some love, don't ya' think so?)

- Fairy-type: Believe it or not, but I love the new type. It's not that I hate Dragons or something but it was about time that they get another worthy disadvantage and Dragon-type trainers really needed a challenge to fight against.

- The 3D aspect: It was a really nice change, even with the many flaws it turned out to be an amazing beginning of the Pokémon 3D world.

- Ending: It was and is the most beautiful ending of the the entire franchise. Nothing more need to be said.

- Sound Tracks: Gamefreak have done it again. Bringing us again the amazing soundtracks, even the Gym leaders had some of the best soundtracks in the game, eargasm for sure.

[Bad Points]

- Animations/visuals: I'm not saying it's overall bad but it felt a bit disappointing only the fast and important parts are really well done other than that was a bit cheap-made and visuals of the trainers felt and looks like a light novel game, I know this is just the beginning so i'm not that heavy disappointed as it looks to be.

- Overworld and it's use of reflection: When I hear Gamefreak that the game would be a succcesor to the B/W2 games. I felt highly disappointed on this part. The overworld felt unfinished and cranky, so to speak in a bold manner. There were a lot of serene and beautiful overworld views in B/W2 where I got a lot of good memories from, X and Y has proven to me to lack a lot of this. Underwater Marine, Skyarrow Bridge, Tubeline Bridge are all great examples of how amazing those overworld views were and are. I was hoping to be a lot more of these Overworld locations so naturally I had high expectations from Gamefreak on this part. I know that X/Y also got it's amazing and stunning views, but not yet surpassed B/W2.

- Post-game shortage: It felt like I was playing a 3D remake of Red and Blue after the story ended. There is so little to do after you finish the main story.

- Lack of side-features: There wasn't much to do during the entire game, no Pokéstar studio, no some sort of contest, no Pokémon World Tournament, not even a offline Safari zone and what about taking a small break and want to go aboard on a course ship like always?

- I don't need to say much about the story. It's basic, yes. But not bad. I was just expecting a little to be better than B/W1/2. Surpassing it would be a different matter. Maybe Pokémon Z could have a surprising new story, you never know.

-Additions: No season changes so it never felt like what month it was even if you change the date, no direct time clock on your screen, and so forth. It is just plain dull and annoying.

 

[Spinosaurus]

- There technically IS a difficulty option (Exp share: Easy, No Exp Share: Hard). I've heard on other forums that the game is actually hard if you don't use it.

Now, let's not get carried away here.

I actually thought this game was surprisingly ggreat overall. I had a pleasant experience

But the game isn't without its faults. I feel like all of these would have been fixed if the game had more time in the oven. (As clearly, it was rushed)

-The Frame Rate: Often times the framerate drops like crazy, whether it's in battle or overworld. Actually, the frame rate drops in battle a LOT, especially when it shows both models of the Pokemon in the front.

-Lack of more new Pokemon: This is a big deal as the main draw of Pokemon games are the new Pokemon. This game seemed to be a lot like gen 2 in where most of the pokemon you find are from the past gen anyway, and if you're like me, prefer not to use them at all. It was very disappointing seeing the number of new Pokemon that low. Still way better than JUST new Pokemon, though.

-Lysandre: I liked him. He was an interesting villain. But man he didn't have much going for him at all. There's barely any character development with him. I feel like they possibly could have took more time to flesh him out.

-Fan pandering: This links in with my problem with the lack of more Pokemon. As much as I love gen 1, I feel like there were TOO much reminiscence of it in the game, pretty much overshadowing most of the new feature. I feel like they took the time trying to add these small things over designing new Pokemon or new scenarios.

-Overworld: Overall there wasn't much variety. I feel like everything was sorta formulaic and basic. There's just no new settings that engross you or grabs your attention. There is an exception to that though. The route with the Haunted House and Lost Hotel? Less typical beach, forest, caves, etc and more of that please.

 

[Zet]

- rival is your friend
- too many gift pokemon (Torchic which gets boosted XP, Kanto Starters)
- Lumiose City (and no real town map)
- too many ways of robbing players of money (tips, cab rides)
- lack of a legendary trio

1. When hasn't the rival been your friend?
2. I can only think of two pokemon that you actually get given(I'm not counting the wonder card torchic). How many other pokemon were given to you for it to be too many?
3. I honestly do not understand the frustration about Lumiose City. I can navigate around it just fine.
4. Robbing? You can choose not to tip, and not to take cab rides. If you're having a hard time with 5. money, start abusing the amulet coin.
5. There isn't a lack of a legendary trio...



The only negative I found with X and Y is the problem with the previous games. Lack of post-game content.

 

[Jimmyray]

I wish there were more legendaries to hunt post-game, although we have the good old Kanto legendaries, I expected to see a couple more. The good thing about Pokemon being on the 3DS now though is the possibility of DLC. Whether they will do anything remains to be seen but I hope they do.

 

[Crystalanachrony]

My opinion of Y so far (I'm not completely done) is that it's a good game -- you would be hard-pressed to make a main Pokémon game 'bad' -- but it <i>really</i> suffered from the time crunch they had to work on it under. A universal release is all well and good, but almost none of the non-vital items had interesting flavor text, and I saw several graphical errors as well; in one place I had my Trainer stand behind a pole or something, and the Trainer's shadow showed in front of the pole while everything else was behind. I won't speak for the plot since, again, not finished. Overall I think they did make a step in the right direction, but it wasn't perfect. I hope they learn from their shortcomings here and make the next series of main games even better.

 

[Princess Diana]

1. When hasn't the rival been your friend?
2. I can only think of two pokemon that you actually get given(I'm not counting the wonder card torchic). How many other pokemon were given to you for it to be too many?
3. I honestly do not understand the frustration about Lumiose City. I can navigate around it just fine.
4. Robbing? You can choose not to tip, and not to take cab rides. If you're having a hard time with 5. money, start abusing the amulet coin.
5. There isn't a lack of a legendary trio...



The only negative I found with X and Y is the problem with the previous games. Lack of post-game content.

Wasn't the rival in Gen 2 (maybe just G/S) far from your friend?

 

[*Icecold*]

Please don't tell me I was the only one who was ticked off with all the nostalgia fan pandering...

You get the Kanto starters for free and they all mega evolve. The only other non-Gen. 1 starter that does get a mega stone to its name is Torchic, but its an event Pokemon and can't even be found in-game.

Guess which Gen. 1 starter gets two mega evolutions? Charmander. The starter that many Red/Blue players chose because it evolved into Charizard.

Only Kanto legendaries roam Kalos. Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno and Mewtwo. And guess what Mewtwo gets? Two mega evolutions.

Game Freak better get with the times. Tons of Pokemon fans despise Charizard because they feel it's overrated. I see more Charizard haters than "genwunners". I see Lugia and Darkrai getting more attention that Mewtwo nowadays anyway.

 

[unicorn]

in terms of graphics and things like that, i looooved this game.
and i really enjoy pokemon amie and the super training--and the friend safari.

but in terms of... actual challenge and the plot?
eeehh. :/

this game seemed to cater too much to little kids...
i felt like there was no actual challenge? everything felt spoon-fed...
especially with the exp. share? i mean, i know you can turn it off...
but i feel like they added it because so many people have the issue of "over-leveling" their starter.
but that's part of the challenge of the game! keeping things balanced!

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

and the plot really confused and startled me.
in b&w it was very well-done and here they kinda... fell on their face.
what the heck was with the 3,000 year old man.
what the heck was with the "pokemon war"
who kept records of pokemon and their owners
who sent him the box
who enlisted people
how did he make the machine
why did he go berserk and try to kill everyone
????????????????????????????????????????????
was i supposed to feel bad for him???
like, he over-reacted BIG time!
and then when it was all said and done everyone just kind of dusted their hands off and went
"okay. back to training"
?!!?!?!?

so many people... died tho........

EDIT: OH!!!
i feel like it was so hard to have a balanced team in this game.
fairy types really made everything topsy-turvy...
and all of the pokemon in the new gen kind of... were... not very good to make an entire team... i dunno...