Hey there.
I am NOT an experienced hacker, but this has been something I've had in the works for about 2 years, off and on.
So, basically everyone knows about how easy X/Y are, and while there are "challenge hacks" of X/Y, I personally wanted to find a more 'rebalanced/fixed' version of the games that makes the games harder,
without the brutal difficulty said challenge hacks are known for; basically something closer to say Platinum or B2/W2 Challenge Mode (or BD/SP without the baked-in Exp. Share and affection). Turns out, those types of hacks aren't as common; the closest I could find was an abandoned hack and many theory-crafting videos/threads. So, I decided to make a light hack of my own essentially "fixing" the major boss battles, as well as a few minor stuff.
In short, this is a small and light "fixed/adjusted difficulty" hack of X/Y; the game is meant to be harder, but it's not a "challenge hack" in the traditional sense.
The summary of the major changes can be found in the Google Drive, but in short, most major battles have been changed either slightly or significantly (with either new Pokémon, better movesets, and/or held items. Higher IVs as well). A decent handful of minor trainer battles have gotten minor buffs as well (many trainers with only 1-2 Pokémon have received 1-2 more, especially in the Gyms and Victory Road). All the patterns of Vivillon can also be found in the wild.
Wild Vivillon pattern locations:
NOTES:
- The game still isn't designed with keeping the Exp. Share on in mind. You may be a tad underleveled if you don't use it at all,
but leaving it on WILL make you very overleveled. I didn't want to give the game a huge level curve to balance out X/Y's non-scaling Exp. system. I recommend toggling it on and off when needed. If you want to impose level limits based on the Gym Leader's/Elite Four/Champion's aces, it goes as follows:
- The game still uses mechanics from Gen 6. I considered adding in Gen 7 onward mechanics (move changes, stat changes, ability changes, etc.), but ultimately decided against it.
- Don't bother using Writs in the Battle Chateau. As of update 1.9.8, I've increased the levels of the postgame Gym Leader/E4/Champion fights to match the Black Writ of Challenge; using any Writs messes up their movesets.
- Like many hacks/mods, you probably have to play on Version 1.0 of X/Y. Installing updates may make the game crash
, so just be wary of saving in Lumiose City; save in buildings rather than on the streets, just to be safe. If your game is updated and crashes occur, uninstall any updates (delete update files on your emulator or delete update data on your modded 3DS).
- The Mega Stone merchant in Coumarine only has his text altered
in English. If you're playing in another language, he'll still mention that he sells Incense rather than Mega Stones. English is my native language, and is the only language I speak fluently, so changing this would be difficult for me (I don't want to rely on Google Translate).
- While the difficulty of this hack is greater than vanilla X/Y, it's not nearly as hard as other well-known hacks, as stated before. Because of this and because I haven't changed any Pokemon's stats/moves/etc., some Pokemon are still overpowered,
ESPECIALLY Aegislash, which can easily solo the game after it's fully evolved. Just be mindful of that before playing.
Screenshots
Link to the files and documentation
Newest Update: Ver. 2.0.2 - (1/7/25)
Change: Skrelp now evolves at Level 37 instead of Level 48. This is to match Clauncher's evolution into Clawitzer,
and I also think Skrelp just evolves way too late to be useful (since the game's level curve isn't changed too much). Litleo now evolves at Level 30 rather than 35 (A minor adjustment, but I found that it evolved a little too late to be useful otherwise).
Credits:
Made entirely with pk3DS, kudos to Kaphotics and SciresM!
r/pokemonROMhacks and my Discord server for suggestions and allowing me to bounce off ideas!
Buffel Saft; many of my evolution changes, purchasable Mega Stones, and a few misc. changes were
taken from inspired by Eternal X/Wilting Y!
