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XY is seen by some of the fandom as being one of the easier main series Pokémon games, from what I have seen. What did you think of the game's difficulty? Did you struggle at any points? How difficult did you find the Elite Four and Champion to be? Where does XY's difficulty stand compared to other main series games for you?
I think that all of the games can be easy or difficult depending on how you choose to play. In X and Y, the introduction of the update for the Exp Share certainly made it easier but no-one ever said it had to be turned on... And then there's Pokemon selection - if you want to play through with 'mons like Delcatty, Furret, Swanna, Stunfisk to name a few then I think it would be more challenging than if you stick to the same old starters/dragons/mega evolvers etc.
When I first played, the game was for sure very easy but I had the Exp Share on. I remember finding Wikstrom the hardest of the E4 but that was a long time ago! When I played this game as a Nuzlocke without Exp Share I failed at Reflection Cave.
I think it's about as difficult as the main series games before it
This is mostly to say that it's of an ok difficulty. I don't particularly remember many (if at all) instances where I've gotten frustrated in the game, so that probably says something.
Then again, I'm the type that overly level-grinds their team to steamroll Gym Leaders, so there's that. :x
it was easy for me. i recently replayed it with exp. share on (since i dont have much time to grind too long) and i became overleved within a few hours of gameplay. was fun to build a team though. gym leaders are embarrassingly easy to beat. the only one that posed a challenge was that rock dude with the fossil pokemon (but maybe that's just on me since i was underleveled at the time). overall, can't complain though. it's still an awesome game in my opinion
The entire game is despicably easy even with the Exp Share turned off. There is just no challenge whatsoever, you have to go miles out of your way and prevent as many trainer battles as possible to keep yourself from being overleveled.
(Ultra) S/M and LGP/E have better (less awful) level curves, but different flaws that still make them too easy, including the abomination that is Gen 6+ Exp Share. But yeah, at least you can turn it off.
X/Y are one of my favourite games but I agree they are easier that previous games (and Alola games are even worse than that). I feel like player is pretty much given strong Pokémon without any effort - Kalos and Kanto starters with their mega, Lucario with its mega, Snorlax...
Gym leaders having only 3 average Pokémon and none of them using mega is another thing that makes games easy. I don't think E4 members are pushovers, there is always at least one of them that I have problem beating depending on my team (last time it was Wikstrom).
Last thing that I noticed is difficulty curve. The games are quite difficult at the start, but then, sometime between 3rd and 4th gym they have average difficulty and then it's just plain easy up until E4, where it can become harder.
This is my post from the last year on the same topic. I would also add something that I noticed during my current playthrough of X. Gym Leaders, E4 and Rival's Pokémon all have pretty bad movesets. No coverage moves or even 4 moves creates really weird situations. I play using only Pokémon used by Team Flair this time and because of that I have a lot of Dark-Types on my team. I was afraid of battle with Korrina and her Hawlucha. Even more after encountering random Hawlucha in Reflection Cave, that destroyed my team (consisting of Scraggy, Houndoom and Gyarados) with its Fighting-Type moves AND Rock Slide. I decided to skip the battle after losing twice. And so I challenged Korrina, prepared to be beaten over and over again. But then... Her Hawlucha did literally nothing to my team, because it only knew Flying Press, Power-Up Punch and Hone Claws. It was disappointing and sadly not the only time this happened.
This is my post from the last year on the same topic. I would also add something that I noticed during my current playthrough of X. Gym Leaders, E4 and Rival's Pokémon all have pretty bad movesets. No coverage moves or even 4 moves creates really weird situations. I play using only Pokémon used by Team Flair this time and because of that I have a lot of Dark-Types on my team. I was afraid of battle with Korrina and her Hawlucha. Even more after encountering random Hawlucha in Reflection Cave, that destroyed my team (consisting of Scraggy, Houndoom and Gyarados) with its Fighting-Type moves AND Rock Slide. I decided to skip the battle after losing twice. And so I challenged Korrina, prepared to be beaten over and over again. But then... Her Hawlucha did literally nothing to my team, because it only knew Flying Press, Power-Up Punch and Hone Claws. It was disappointing and sadly not the only time this happened.
Compare and contrast this with Emerald, where Winona has an Altaria with Dragon Dance and strong physical attacks, Tate and Liza have their infamous Earthquake + Levitate and Sunny Day double battle combos, and Juan has a Double Team + Rest Kingdra. Gym Leaders used to be challenging.
Although even in Emerald there were pushover leaders, namely Maxie and Archie. Gen 4 and 5 had easier Gym Leaders than Emerald (although Fantina was not that easy), but much tougher bad guys.
Even with the EXP Share off, X and Y were just too easy IMO. The only battle that ever gave me any trouble was Grant, even in my first playthrough of X, which was my first Pokemon game ever (I know, I'm young ). They were still fun and enjoyable games, but I feel like they would've been more fun if all of my Pokemon weren't 5 levels higher than Diantha's Pokemon even without level grinding.
). They were still fun and enjoyable games, but I feel like they would've been more fun if all of my Pokemon weren't 5 levels higher than Diantha's Pokemon even without level grinding.
