6th Gen No Exp. Share: How does it change the game for you?

[Pendraflare]

Well I haven't had my say on this so I guess I should.

As one who has played through the game without the Exp. Share at all several times (although all of them were challenges), in just about all those plays I have found myself significantly lower leveled than even the normal trainers, and I would find myself taking on Gym Leaders with a team that's around 2-3 levels below their lowest level. Marriland commented before on how without the Exp. Share on it makes leveling up a chore, and while I wouldn't completely agree because there are such high level wild Pokémon (and especially the Lucky Egg), I will say it does make it difficult to keep up with your opposition. With those I don't find it to make grinding completely unbearable, except before entering Team Flare's HQ in Geosenge Town before the legendary and final fight against Lysandre, and before the Elite Four (where I tend to enter with my team at Level 59 or 61). Even at that, the normal trainers are what tend to give me the biggest time with their variety (especially those brutes in caves like Frost Cavern and Victory Road), that and Lysandre's final team. So yes, I would say it really shakes things up for me.

 

[Cerberus87]

Since I absolutely hate training low level Pokémon to the same level as my ace, I don't even consider turning the Exp. Share off. I wish they had created something else, though, because it boosts your levels much quicker than the opponent's levels increase.

The games tend to have something that breaks them if you look hard enough. 5th gen had Audino and the Sinnoh games had the Vs. Seeker. In my halted Platinum run I was way overleveled because I found a trainer with a trio of Eeveelutions south of Veilstone who was ideal for training my Pokémon.

If you take away the Exp. Share from X and Y, it's back to 1st and 2nd gen style grinding, which was HORRIBLE. But you didn't need to grind back then, as even with a team of level 50s you could beat Blue. This is something that, among the recent games, only Diamond and Pearl have, which is an overleveled E4 and Champion. However, since you have the Vs. Seeker in those games, I imagine you can make your Pokémon reach high enough levels to beat the game.

 

[Morgnarok]

I used exp share on both games. Really didn't effect much for me. I mean my Pokemon were about 10 levels higher than what I was always facing but it didn't make it much easier or faster gameplay really.