Pokemon X and Y review

Now that I’ve completed the main storyline on my copy of Pokemon X, as well as explored a number of the post-game quests and new features, it’s time for me to continue my now 7-year tradition of reviewing the main series Pokemon games here on the blog…

As I mentioned in my preview post for the games, Pokemon X and Y begin the franchise’s sixth generation and are the first to be released on the 3DS console. As such, they have a ton of new and updated gameplay features in addition to the usual premise for Pokemon games of catching and raising pokemon, making your way through the region’s various towns and getting gym badges while also stopping the plans of a shady organization before becoming the Pokemon League Champion.

One of the first things to note in XY is obviously the updated visuals and aesthetics thanks to being on the 3DS. The graphics in the game are amazing – in the architectural designs of the buildings and general overworld, from the gorgeous Shabboneau Castle, the relentless sandstorms of Route 13, to the intricate back allies of Lumiose City, you can see how much care was put into every inch of the Kalos region. Likewise, the pokemon battles themselves have a huge aesthetic upgrade with the shift from 2D sprites to 3D models. All the currently 718 pokemon now battle with full-on movement and color like in the GameCube and Wii games, with shifting camera angles, dynamic attack animations, and backgrounds that change depending on where the battles take place. Trainer sprites have an upgrade as well, with important characters having their own unique battle animations and other general NPCs like Ace Trainers and Lasses getting attractive new designs. And of course, we can’t forget the fact that this is the first Pokemon game where you can customize the design of your character. Throughout the various cities you can buy new clothing, accessories, and even get your hair color and style changed, allowing everyone to finally bring their own unique taste to their playable character in addition to their pokemon.

As far as new features go, I don’t even know where to begin! Looking at all of them holistically – Pokemon Amie, Super Training, the changes in breeding mechanics, the Player Search System, Mega Evolutions, the Friend Safari, the enormous variety of pokemon that can be found in Kalos – it’s like Game Freak did their absolute best to please everyone. For the first time the games fully acknowledge EVs as a part of the game rather than a “hidden” thing like they’ve been in previous games. Thus, new features like Super Training and the ability to more easily get pokemon with good IVs and hidden abilities thanks to updated breeding mechanics, are a godsend to fans of competitive pokemon battling. For those who can’t get enough of the cuteness of pokemon, Pokemon Amie is a joy, with all 718 pokemon having unique and utterly adorable animations as you pet, feed, and play games with them. It’s not only cute, but a pokemon with high affection in Pokemon Amie has advantages in battle too, such as gaining extra experience points or lasting longer in battle. Then there’s the Player Search System (PSS) which brings together all the multi-player online features the game has. By simply connecting your 3DS to the Internet, you’ll immediately connect with other players from all around the world, along with the ability to instantly trade or battle with them. As you befriend other players, their pokemon will appear in your Pokemon Amie, you’ll be able to exchange O-Powers with them, team up with them to have a 4-way battle against two other players, and every person you befriend opens up unique pokemon you can catch in their Friend Safari. And if you don’t have a particular player to connect with, you can randomly battle someone online or trade for a random pokemon via Wonder Trade. There’s just so much to do in XY that you could literally spend hours just having your character stand in one spot while you play around on Super Training, Pokemon Amie, and the PSS.

In addition to the aforementioned features, another big aspect of new Pokemon games is, of course, new pokemon. But what’s different about XY is that they feature the smallest amount of new pokemon – only 69 new species (all the other generations introduced over a 100 new pokemon each). This together with the fact that you can catch a ton of old pokemon in Kalos, gives the impression that the games are also trying to appeal to fans of the previous generations of Pokemon rather than make it seem completely new (like Black and White did). Instead of introducing a lot of new pokemon, XY emphasize the old pokemon by having them available as soon as you start the game, and of course, giving some of them upgrades with Mega Evolutions, better stats, or a new Fairy typing. Speaking of the new Fairy type, it serves a dual purpose in both changing the tides of competitive battling since Dragon types had previously been dominating, as well as making old pokemon such as Gardevoir and Mawile more viable in battle. Yet another way in which XY are addressing the wants of a variety of fans.

While XY excel in both visuals and gameplay features, the only thing I found them lacking in was story. The whole conflict with Team Flare and Lysandre just seemed like a rehash of the storylines from Platinum and Black/White, with the antagonists wanting to create a “perfect world.” XY do have a new additive to the story where the player has a group of friends they travel with, who pop up and interact now and then throughout the story as the player reaches new areas. It made things a tad more unpredictable, but since there’s only one of them that you battle a lot of the time, the others start to seem unnecessary. However, there was a very interesting part of the plot involving the mysterious Pokemon Trainer AZ and a war from 3,000 years, but it unfortunately wasn’t fully shown until later in the story and wasn’t explored as much as I was hoping. I would have liked AZ to be more of a featured character like N was in Black and White. But when he was in the spotlight, his story was extremely touching and probably the saddest I’ve seen in the Pokemon franchise to date.

But to be honest, because XY have so many features to explore, not having the most original storyline isn’t a huge deal. It almost seems like the storyline is there purely out of necessity, and often times you can ignore it in favor of doing your own thing with catching and breeding pokemon, Super Training, Pokemon Amie, and the PSS. Lumiose City alone is full of many mini quests and reoccurring battles you can partake in. Once you beat the Elite Four, all of the areas of Kalos open up to you as well as a few new features and side quests, such as finding all the Mega Stones, catching the remaining legendary pokemon, and the Looker Bureau missions. Actually, I just played through the Looker Bureau missions and I found their plot a lot more interesting than the main one!

She should have been a main character!

Having played all of the main series Pokemon games to date, I have to say that XY are the most innovative, and I may even say, ambitious, yet. Not just in terms of the work put into a simultaneous worldwide release, but the amount of new features they added thanks to the 3DS’s capabilities is staggering and I’ll admit that at first I was overwhelmed. Things like the new way Experience Share works, the lack of new pokemon species in favor of old ones, the emphasis on Mega Evolving pokemon…a lot of the new features threw me off when I first began playing through the game and I didn’t take advantage of a lot of them until later on. So while all the new features and game mechanics can be bombarding at first, once you can find the time to explore them all, it becomes clear just how much care and attention was put into these games. As I said before, more than any other Pokemon game, I feel like Game Freak gave it their all with XY in terms of trying to please all fans of Pokemon, from the competitive to the casual players, to the breeders and the online multi-player addicts, down to the finest detail, from a creepy Easter Egg in Lumiose City that will keep fans speculating, to all 718 pokemon having a unique way they like to be petted in Pokemon Amie. Fans who are into competitive battling, fans who love the cuteness of pokemon, fans who can’t get enough of online features and connecting with other players, fans nostalgic for the old pokemon and wanting to see them shine again – more than any previous game, there’s something in XY for all types of Pokemon fans. While I can’t say they excel plot-wise, it doesn’t matter in the end because they excel in gameplay features, which are the main beef of Pokemon games. XY feel like true upgrades to the franchise as opposed to just being “new games.” With so much to do and explore, I can’t wait to see how they carry this amazing game series in the years to come~!