6th Gen Pokemon X and Y Rival Battles - How it could be tough...

[She_Delphox]

Hey there, if there is already a thread for this, feel free to delete/move :P

So, the following just got me wondering. I just started my first adventure on my Pokemon Y game. I got to the point where I arrived in Lumiose City for the first time, just beat Sycamore and picked Squirtle as my (possible) Water-type Pokemon. Shauna and Calem (I play as a girl), were there too and had to make the "tough" choice to choose between Charmander and Bulbasaur.

Hm, what would it be? Will we ever know?! They got lucky, unlike Tierno and Trevor, to choose yet ANOTHER starter Pokemon, but I guess we will never know which one they choose or of they EVER actually will...

I never find rival battles that interesting as in... a tough battle (except for Gary sometimes in the good old days), but the rival battles in this Gen could have been SO much more...
I mean, we have Mega Evolution now, every single Pokemon ever known in existence AND we get to have not one, but 2 starter Pokemon! You don't see them actually ever use the Kanto starter Pokemon in their teams/ battles and not even a Mega Evolution (yes Calem does, but... it's an Absol and quite easy to KO).
And get this, Shauna was just like "aaaahw yeah I wanna get into Mega Evolution blahblah" (after you picked your Kanto starter) but guess what, she NEVER EVER has one single Pokemon that even has a Mega Evolution... (all five of us could have received the Mega Ring and everything right? Or the other characters would have gotten one later in-game) These things just make me go... "eah?!"

I just think there is so much more that they could have brought into the rival battles in this Gen. that could have been a serious challenge for once... Would have been nice at least if all 4 of your rivals/friends would have used a Mega Evolution and/or an additional starter Pokemon...

So, just sharing my opinion on things but I am curious what you guys might think :3

 

[AZ Jr]

As much as I agree (the games seem to become easier every gen... or is it just me?),

(all five of us have received the Mega Ring and everything right? Or the other characters would have gotten one later in-game)

The only five characters who own a mega evolver are: You, your rival and Lysandre (Mega Ring), Korrina (Mega Glove), and Diantha (Mega Charm). If you remember, possession of one Mega Ring is offered to the player and each of his or her friends, who have to pick the most deserving out of their group. The selection is quickly whittled down to two people, the player and Serena or Calem, depending on the gender of the player. Upon defeating Serena or Calem, the player has to defeat the Shalour Gym and then go to the top of the Tower of Mastery to retrieve the ring from Korrina. So, no mega ring for your other rivals. This plot point could have been changed, but the fact still stands.

Spoiler:

How does Serena/Calem even GET a Mega Ring? I tried looking it up, but couldn't find anything.

Although, noting explains the second starters not showing up. Branching on from which, Shauna didn't really care about battling, from what I can tell. Heck, she gave me her Chespin which was level thirty (I think) and my pokes were reaching mid nineties. I can't canonically check anything since my 3DS is missing. Tireno liked... pokemon dancing? I don't know, he's a weird kid. And the other one, whatshisface wanted to fill the dex. So none of them really battled, 'cept for Serena/Calem. That the best I've got. So, in short, they are most likely shoved in a box somewhere. I wish it wasn't though.

You know, after looking at all this, I agree, the casual player (i.e me 3 months ago) would have little to no challenge finishing the game. The rivals are half the game. Gary left me chasing after him to wipe that ♥♥♥♥♥ing smirk off his face and teach him some damn respect. The ones these days basically worship you. It isn't fun. This may be reaching out to a slightly younger demographic who are less good at video games, but the amount of nerfing they have given to the rivals to keep the (what, 3-6?) demographic on their side is a little excessive. You failed? Try again! That is a staple in all the games. 'You failed? S'okay, incompetent trainer! You win anyway!' Is the target that they seem to be enforcing these days.

 

[She_Delphox]

As much as I agree (the games seem to become easier every gen... or is it just me?),
The only five characters who own a mega evolver are: You, your rival and Lysandre (Mega Ring), Korrina (Mega Glove), and Diantha (Mega Charm). If you remember, possession of one Mega Ring is offered to the player and each of his or her friends, who have to pick the most deserving out of their group. The selection is quickly whittled down to two people, the player and Serena or Calem, depending on the gender of the player. Upon defeating Serena or Calem, the player has to defeat the Shalour Gym and then go to the top of the Tower of Mastery to retrieve the ring from Korrina. So, no mega ring for your other rivals. This plot point could have been changed, but the fact still stands.

Spoiler:

How does Serena/Calem even GET a Mega Ring? I tried looking it up, but couldn't find anything.

Although, noting explains the second starters not showing up. Branching on from which, Shauna didn't really care about battling, from what I can tell. Heck, she gave me her Chespin which was level thirty (I think) and my pokes were reaching mid nineties. I can't canonically check anything since my 3DS is missing. Tireno liked... pokemon dancing? I don't know, he's a weird kid. And the other one, whatshisface wanted to fill the dex. So none of them really battled, 'cept for Serena/Calem. That the best I've got. So, in short, they are most likely shoved in a box somewhere. I wish it wasn't though.

You know, after looking at all this, I agree, the casual player (i.e me 3 months ago) would have little to no challenge finishing the game. The rivals are half the game. Gary left me chasing after him to wipe that ♥♥♥♥♥ing smirk off his face and teach him some damn respect. The ones these days basically worship you. It isn't fun. This may be reaching out to a slightly younger demographic who are less good at video games, but the amount of nerfing they have given to the rivals to keep the (what, 3-6?) demographic on their side is a little excessive. You failed? Try again! That is a staple in all the games. 'You failed? S'okay, incompetent trainer! You win anyway!' Is the target that they seem to be enforcing these days.

Lol yeah that's true and all, what I meant to say was, they just COULD have given more players inside the game a Mega Ring and stuff... I know when you get to the point where it depends if you play as a boy or girl, you and Calem get one (in my case) but just in my opinion, they could have given the others a Mega Ring as well (or later in the game they would have received one). :P

And yes, the Kanto starter Pokemon are nowhere to be found... I am aware that they all aren't that into battling and stuff... But there just could have been more behind this... Would have been nice imo if they would've used them in battles and even with a Mega Evolution (but, same for some members in the Elite Four too I guess... or at least when you've beaten them the first time, the second will be harder to beat them and more members have mega evos?).

I totally agree on your part saying that today's rivals are kinda worshiping you as a trainer and all that... :\ I want the challenges back when you had to face Gary and actually had some hard times beating him :3

Anyway maybe my thouhgts are just "running away" here :P

 

[AZ Jr]

Oh, yeah. They could have given TONS of trainers a mega ring, including some, if not all of your rivals. But I return to the younger demographic. Despite older players (i.e yourself) wanting more of a challenge, younger player prefer to be excessively powerful compared to others around them (in this case, the rivals). If you don't believe me, play any CoD game online for ten minutes. Game Freak constantly during the game remind you: You are the best. No one can beat you. In doing so, keeping that same younger, less skilled demographic with them. Remember, at the end of the day, Pokemon IS a kids game, and should be treated as such. Many face the dilemma you express, and a simple solution is: making the game harder for yourself. For example, the Nuzlocke challenge.

I can see where you are coming from, and I COMPLETELY agree. The later Pokemon games are easier that it's predecessors, but, to understand why, you have to look at it from all angles.

 

[Gryph]

It's probably just because we're older. I mean, go play R/B/Y and tell me Gary isn't a pushover in every sense of the word for you now.

Then go back and think what it was like when you were 7-10 years old doing it. Least this one wasn't G/S/C easy. Aside from Winry that entire game was a pushover joke in every way shape and fashion difficulty wise

 

[Belldandy]

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I hate the rivals in X&Y. They honestly didn't seem to serve a purpose except as filler content. None of them were challenging, even after battling most of them one after the other on that bridge near the eighth gym. Honestly, I was OHKO'ing everything they brought my way. Their attitude and acceptance of loss was unrealistic, too. At the beginning, sure, keep the good character, but later on it would've been interesting to see one of them join with Lysandre or something after becoming convinced that it would make him or her stronger than you at the end of the day.

I dunno. Just an idea. I honestly hated even the bad guys in X&Y. I only play the games because it's the newest gen' and anything I breed should be KB now lol

 

[KillerTyphlosion]

It's probably just because we're older. I mean, go play R/B/Y and tell me Gary isn't a pushover in every sense of the word for you now.

Then go back and think what it was like when you were 7-10 years old doing it. Least this one wasn't G/S/C easy. Aside from Winry that entire game was a pushover joke in every way shape and fashion difficulty wise

I don't know, I have replayed R/B/Y many times and yes it is way easier now and still in my experience is that they are still more difficult than these newer gens. And how was G/S/C easy? In r/b/y and g/s/c when you reached the elite four for the first time. Your pokémon would be at the same lvl as the first elite four and the champion had like +10 lvl than the first elite four. I know as a kid I lost many many many times to the elite four and the champion. And now even my nephew who just started playing pokémon just got trough X like a breeze. I let him play my old yellow, well just to say he didn't get past brock and lost to the 2nd encouter with the rival.

 

[Gryph]

I don't know, I have replayed R/B/Y many times and yes it is way easier now and still in my experience is that they are still more difficult than these newer gens. And how was G/S/C easy? In r/b/y and g/s/c when you reached the elite four for the first time. Your pokémon would be at the same lvl as the first elite four and the champion had like +10 lvl than the first elite four. I know as a kid I lost many many many times to the elite four and the champion. And now even my nephew who just started playing pokémon just got trough X like a breeze. I let him play my old yellow, well just to say he didn't get past brock and lost to the 2nd encouter with the rival.

As a kid I lost many times as well, R/B/Y that is. Because they were difficult at the time, they still are a pain in the butt, but you have to admit now that you've grown up you understand full well what you have to do and what you should do.

But iirc wasn't the E4 in G/S/C like mid 40's / Low 50's? By the time I reached them I mowed them down with ease. Aside from small random moments there were difficulties, sure. There's small random moments in X/Y that are difficult as well, but the games as a whole were incredibly easy. But I mean, Lance was just Ice Beam, Ice Beam, Ice Beam, Ice Beam, Surf. Done.