6th Gen What are your thoughts on X/Y, based on the story?

Zeostar

Zeostar

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    I'm posting this early, as I'm only 6 badges into the game. I'll probably finish it very soon anyways.

    I was immediately turned off from this game. Not even 5 minutes in, and about 4 major characters are thrown in at the same time. I had the wrong attitude when starting this, because I immediately wanted to build my team. Then I realize these characters follow you, everywhere. I couldn't even remember most of the names. I restarted my file, deciding I would take my time learning the characters.

    There still wasn't much reason to care. Then it goes more and more into the different "motivations". One wants to complete the Pokedex, another wants to learn about Mega Evolution, another wants to create "memories", but I'm not even sure if she's a trainer. I don't even remember battling her. Then the last one likes dancing.

    Since they were all introduced at the exact same time in the beginning, with little background, there wasn't any reason I cared about them. At first, they felt like a hindrance. Always stopped by them, confused if they were actually supposed to be rivals. Then they started to grow on me, but not by much.

    Then there's Team Flare. It's so obvious who leads them it caused me to laugh. Lysandre's hair immediately connects to Team Flare. Same as his entire outfit. Nobody even questions the strange rants because he owns a café.

    I do like the team though. I immediately expect all fire types, then they throw out something else. As far as the plot, they sort of just show up in areas, get driven out. Once again, little background right now, even 6 badges in. I can see how the attacks on different areas are starting to connect.

    I think if the group in the beginning had been given more background, it would give much more reason to care about them. Sun and Moon fixed that, and while they have similar interruptions, it was a much more story driven game.

    I've still enjoyed the game, it took way more time than it should have for me to enjoy the characters.
     
    They are not for me the best thing about the scenario on X/Y, since i'm thinking that version has one of the most immersive scenario (but after Black and White and Black 2, White 2). Lysandre is very interesting, such as A.Z.

    For Team Flare, although, i think they are not the best team i found, i prefer Team Rocket (who are really bad and didn't play clowns such as Flare's one) or Team Plasma.
     
    In as few words as possible, it was imo a lot of wasted potential given the immense lack of character development and stuff.

    There was a good PC Daily article written some time ago that goes into great detail on the good and bad of X/Y's story that I could try to dig up if people are interested
     
    I finished up the Team Flare Story.

    The entire part after gym 7 was great. I liked hearing about the region history, and I really wasn't expecting to suddenly battle Xerneas. Although the entire "Your catching this as the chosen one" was extremely tacked on. It's too bad this entire sequence was all put into one part of the game. It was much more interesting than the other Team Flare hideouts. I can see how it was all meant to build up, but it wasn't very exciting.

    I usually end up sympathizing with the villain in someway, when they end up going out violently like in this game. (Which was another surprise). But for the most part, he was completely emotionless. I didn't feel anything when he was buried under the hideout.
     
    It was an alright story.

    I loved the history about the Pokémon war and also AZ as a character. Since they actually stripped down the amount of legendaries the mythology felt much more centred.

    Lysandre was interesting although his goals and motives needed to be fleshed out more. The Team itself was one of the more average ones.

    Diantha (as a character) is probably the worst champion we've had which is down to a lack of presence or appearances in the story more than anything else, so not necessarily her fault.

    I have no problem with the friend group actually and found them a lot less annoying than Bianca and especially Cheren in BW. As I played as the male character I got Serena as the rival and thought she was probably the best rival since Wally. A friend, but not in your face about the power of friendship etc all the time, and she has a goal to become an amazing trainer, and I really do believe she is striving for it.

    A subtle thing I really enjoyed was how as you progress through the region the environments you experience are in a seasonal order starting in a spring type environment, progressing into summer then autumn style environments and then finally winter to give the player the feel that a year has passed since the journey began.
     
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    I don't like dark, scary stories much. I love kalos, but the fact that the evil team wants to kill all people....ehhh.....>_<;;; Although, the kanto elite 4 has a similar story in the manga, and I admit I didn't mind so much with them xD; I suppose darker stories are just more fun for me in manga books than in games *shrug*

    But I really would rather just win the game going through a pretty region with fairy types :3 and low drama ...aaannnnnd a good amount of rebattles with the sexiest gym leader of gen 6 AKA korrina. which probably won't lead to me dating her LIKE I WOULD LIKE IN THE END...but, ahh, i could always dream and daydream that outcome lololol :P
     
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    It was a standard story, but made a little more obnoxious by the "ensemble" cast of friends you were stuck with.

    But I know I don't play Pokemon for its story; I never would be able to get through them if that were the case. At least the game itself was enjoyable.
     
    Short but sweet, that sums up my thoughts on XY.

    I loved the concept for Kalos a region that is futuristic but inspired by Medieval France, and think the backstory of the world war and the wandering king AZ was fascinating. I just wish it was longer, and got a Pokemon Z game to give the story the finishing touches, but I think the games need more credit because it has a really nice idea, and has legendaries based on Norse mythology at the root of the story. I also love the idea of mega evolution and hope it is not cast aside, but rather expanded on in future generations.

    As characters I actually thought the rivals were okay, I had no problem with Calem/ Serena. i wanted to be Serena, and had something of a crush on Calem. I found Shauna in particular to be cute figure to take under my wing. I loved Professor Sycamore, and think he might offer the most intimate and involved relationships between the player and the professor. He is my favorite teacher after Juniper.

    I think the weakest link is Diantha as champion, we see so little of her, great music and design elements, but I think they got a bit carried away with making eye candy here rather than letting us get to know her. But I thought Lysander on the other hand held his own as an evil Team Leader and I would put him up there near Giovanni and Ghetsis.

    Overall I think XY is an entertaining game, and I like replaying it.
     
    Eh i dont really pay much attention to the story in these games, i always feel the cut scenes and what not take away from the fun
    Like you said i wanted to focus on building a teamand it was just a distraction from that you know

    But all in all x and y are among my favourite pokemon games
     
    Most of all, I wish it had doubled down on its new ideas and put them center-stage rather than relegating them to playing second fiddle to essentially the same plot formula Hoenn and Sinnoh used. They have all the material for a really interesting setup; the ancient ultimate weapon, AZ, and Lysandre as his descendant. Tweaking both AZ's and Lysandre's motivations for using the ultimate weapon to make them more similar and, in so doing, giving Lysandre's aspirations more of a "repeating history" vibe would be a great start, and, from there, give AZ a bigger role and more screen time, since him being relegated to being an exposition bot until after beating Diantha, where we see the end—and only the end—of his arc is criminal considering his potential.

    ...and, for goodness' sake, condense that huge clutter of four rivals into just one or two. Seriously.

    There are other interesting directions you could take it in, too; left more or less alone, Lysandre's motivations could've been great for a theme of class warfare and the horrid sense of entitlement and natural superiority many rich people subscribe to. His motivations could also be explained by intense gerascophobia and perhaps hypochondria as well, maybe resulting from a past experience of him having to watch a beloved older relative die a terrible, agonizing death from some disease that's tied to aging and/or that visibly physically-degrades the body. As a result of the trauma from this experience, the mere thought of aging or any sort of disfigurement would cause him to feel intense panic and anxiety, eventually bringing him to a twisted, extreme desire to erase all traces of these things from the world. Perhaps his part of the story could end with him actually getting treatment for his mental illness instead of just dying, to put a more optimistic spin on it? I dunno, this is just a thought I had. Admittedly, it's me working backwards to justify what GameFreak gave us, so it's really not great.
     
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    To put it as succinctly as possible, it was a convoluted mess. Team Flare was an absolute joke of an evil team, and it was hard to take them seriously when they had that ridiculous getup. you'd think a group organized for the sole purpose of a mass genocide would look a bit more menacing, but I guess the trope here is that evil teams in Pokemon will always look goofy one way or the other. Still, a disappointment all the same.

    The four rivals are pretty much a laughable point of XY to the point where it's mostly agreed upon tha they're essentially unnecessary and they don't really add anything significant. I'm even fairly sure the game even attempts to ship your protagonist with Shauna to some degree which strikes me as really strange. ._.
     
    I was hoping that I just disliked it because it was new (when I played it) however playing it a few years later.... not much better.
     
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