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6th Gen Thoughts on XY's story and characters?

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    • Age 122
    • Seen Jan 27, 2019
    It's a step down from Gen 5 story and characters, the villainous team was one dimensional with their motive being fashion > everything else which is pretty comical tbh. The rival characters were also a step down from Cheren, Bianca and Hugh. The XY rivals were not fleshed out enough to be interesting characters. Shauna was like Bianca that they both couldn't keep up with the skilled trainers (the players, Cheren and Serena) but Shauna didn't really develop substantially. Serena was a knowledgeable rival like Cheren except she too wasn't developed much except wanting to challenge the player. Tierno and Trevor didn't have much character to talk of, Tierno is a dude who obsesses over dancing in every scene he's in and Trevor is a nerd.
     
    I played Gen 6 before Gen 5 and I hardly ever focus on the characters when it came to the pokemon games. I actually really liked the bald Team Flare Admins. They made me laugh when one of them chased after Shauna. I didn't have any problems with the characters in Gen 6.
     
    I just mostly ignored characters from gen 6, they all seemed bland to me. All rival battles where like "Oh, you came to get beaten up again. Okay." instead "Oh no! I am not ready to battle you!" like it should be with rivals.
    In other games I got attached to great trainers like Steven who supports your through your journey or N who seems so conflicted about what's wrong and what's right. Kalos rivals don't have any backstory at all. I just know that either Tierno or Trevor likes dancing very much (I didn't even bother to remember which one is which).
     
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    When it comes to Gen 6 I see it as less of a story in and more of a story clinching point. AZ and the lore behind it was what really stood out to me in this gen (the concept of life and death cycle in Pokémon). While I did find all the rivals bland I will say Serena was the only one I actually liked.

    Team Flare was meh, but Lysandre was in my opinion a wasted chance. He was one-dimensional yes, but he tackled issues that haven't really been told of in a Pokémon game yet. The concept of running out of things and fights happening. I did like his narcissism and while he is one of the weaker Pokémon villains to me he isn't weak due to just his own character, just the execution.

    Professor Sycamore was a nice treat and having a unique character Malva was interesting (even if they never played off of her sadly). XY I wouldn't say had overall bad characters, but poorly executed ones.
    Serena would have been interesting if they focused more on a goal or trait of hers instead of constantly focusing her on just fighting you.
    Shauna was eh, but if you just pursued her dynamic maybe we would have something.
    Tierno would be good if you gave him more light and something else besides just dancing.
    Trevor I wanna like, but they didn't pull his character enough. Give him more than just a pokedex and a intellect.
    Lysandre was poorly executed as well, though I love his concept for a villain. Perhaps limit the world destruction and focus it on his own convictions as a means of "beautifying the world again". Emphasize the master race he talks about and make him not easy/simplistic.
    Sycamore is fine
    Diantha (give more focus or don't show her at all)
    Elite four: The only 2 that were remotely memorable were Malva and Siebold. The other two had nothing to them.

    And one more thing. Please make goons a bit more competent. I get it it's for everyone, but no one would mind a goon that doesn't drop some keycard allowing you access. Also make the 4 girls scientists and Xerosic have more personality cause they all seemed discount Team Galatic Admins.
     
    I love XY for a variety of reasons.

    First of all, I love the layout of the region, I admire the French and European feel and a lot of the city designs are stunning. Anistar city is gorgeous, Laverre city is unique, etc. However, Lumiose city stands out the most, I appreciate it's design being based on the lovely, romantic city of Paris, and I love it's gargantuan size and all that there is to do in the city. A lot of the routes are very detailed and beautiful, such as Brun Way. The Pokemon Gyms were also very unique and heavily detailed which I absolutely adore as well. I think the design of the region alone makes it stand out a lot compared to other regions with more bland, simplistic layouts (aka Kanto and Johto).

    The soundtrack is excellent. Maybe not as good in DP, but good nonetheless.

    Some of Pokemon introduced had great designs, although there were far too few new pokemon which was a disappointing. Mega evolution is a fabulous idea, and I really liked its tie into the storyline, I also loved the introduction of Fairy types, and all of the numerous new Fairy types.

    It's not totally perfect though, a lot of the characters were quite bland and didn't leave much of a lasting impression. Tierno's character seemed a little random, Shauna is cute and I like her, but she lacks depth. Calem is decent, he's rather boring and lacks any backstory as all he cares about is battling the protagonist, which gets a little repetitive, even annoying at times. He's also too easy to beat, I just feel like he's lacking, he's not a rival that really excites me in any way, shape, or form. Lastly, Trevor is sweet, but again, he has absolutely no depth.

    Team Flare is quite forgettable, I'm not even sure what their goals are other than the fact that they intended to wipe out all non-members of their ridiculously dressed group? Lysandre was interesting, but lacked the cool designs that Cyrus, Ghetsis, and N had. His goals weren't clear to me and there wasn't enough storyline involving him or his followers to allow me to fully grasp his desires.

    Not all of the characters were dull, Professor Sycamore was phenomenal in my opinion. I love his constant involvement in the storyline, and his youthful spirit and vitality. He genuinely cares for his pupils and I think he was executed really well. I also quite like Diantha, she is significantly less involved in the story, but I just love her design and the concept of her being a high-regared, famed actress. Also, girl power!

    The storyline itself is good, a bit more enticing than Black and White, it may have overall lackluster characters but the design is superb and the game itself was very enjoyable. The anime, in particular, was a HUGE recovery from the poorly executed and laughable Best Wishes Series.
     
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    Yeah, tbh playing X felt like playing the simplified glittery kiddo version of Platinum. I didn't have high hopes to begin with since others had told me the plot was terrible, so I wasn't enormously disappointed, I guess.
     
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