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Pokemon X/Y: A Review
Hello, friends. PMJ here with a review for the newly released Pokemon X and Pokemon Y for the Nintendo 3DS. Gamers have been waiting for this game ever since it was announced in February 2013. With a leap to 3D graphics, a whole new region to explore, and new Pokemon to befriend, Nintendo was confident that this would be the game that Pokemon fans have been waiting for. Did it live up to its hype?
The following review contains major plot spoilers.
Story/Characters - 2/10
Pokemon has never been big on weaving a grand tale. The focus of each of the main series games, since day one, has literally been the same thing:
1) Acquire badges
2) Encounter villains
3) Defeat villains
4) Become champion
The best reason I can think of for this plan is that Pokemon's audience is constantly being renewed. The games are directed (mostly) at young children, so Pokemon can get away with having almost no story.
Or can it? The Pokemon trainers who started their journey when Pokemon first came out are all young adults; many of them are well into their twenties, even thirties. It's clear that Pokemon is trying to make previously hidden stats more accessible, which many young children could not care less about. The entire reason the Fairy type exists at all is because of the dominance of dragons in competitive play; likewise, the reason Steel no longer resists Dark and Ghost can be attributed to the competitive fanbase, which consists largely of adult players. Breeding has become easier than ever. All of these prove that Pokemon is, in part, catering to its adult players. They know we exist and are doing something to keep us interested.
So why, then, can't we get a decent story to go with our adventure? For all of this game's hype, this game utterly fails in the story department. Six generations in, Pokemon is still delivering the bog standard game. Like it or not, Pokemon is an RPG, and to see such a popular game all but ignore one of the best aspects of a genre--again--is sad. Black and White did decently in this area--certainly better than any other installment--but this game seems to step backwards in that regard. It's like they raised the bar, then crashed into it rather than surpassing it.
The characters in this game are largely forgettable. Lysandre's ambitions are completely ridiculous, even for Pokemon game villain standards. About 75% of the way through the game, Lysandre calls you and casually drops that he's the leader of Team Flare and oh, by the way, he's going to destroy the world. This is supposed to be a huge reveal, since Lysandre is lauded by Professor Sycamore for being such a great guy, and all throughout the game he's pretty cool to you. He is obsessed with beauty yet sports an out-of-control bright orange hairdo and a goatee. His scientists all have what I like to call Saturn Syndrome, or "get introduced far too late in the story to mean anything to anyone, and don't give the player a reason to want to defeat you other than the fact that they're part of the villain team" syndrome. Team Flare has so many higher-ups that it's hard to keep track of them all, let alone remember their names. Forget the tacky outfits, I just want to remember their names and assign them correctly to each person. Even gamers who haven't played Final Fantasy 7 know who Sephiroth is. Why? Because he's a memorable villain. He did things, huge things, to make the player want to defeat him. What does Team Flare do other than be a general nuisance? Nothing.
It was also painfully obvious that Diantha was the Champion. She had all the hallmarks of a Pokemon League champion: a name, no back story, met only once or twice throughout the game before the end; yep, she's the Champion, all right. BORING. If you're going to hide the identity of the Champion, then don't make it painfully obvious who it is from the very beginning.
And how could I forget your character's friends? Tierno may as well not exist. He does nothing for you or the story. Ditto for Trevor, who was cursed to be his tag-along partner. They don't even provide comic relief. Tierno is serious about his goals but we know nothing about how he goes about achieving them, or if he's even successful. The little girl whose name I can't remember is really no better, although at least she hangs out with you for a couple story elements. The only one who has any sort of real relationship with the player character is Calem. He's a good rival, and the only character I found myself caring about other than Serena in this game.
Graphics - 8/10
This was the game's largest selling point and a good source of hype for the eight months we had to wait for this game. The move to the Nintendo 3DS meant three-dimensional graphics, and it was a welcome change for sure. The Kalos region looks quite impressive; towns are lively, the colors are bright, and the people are numerous and unique.
That said, while the game looks stellar rendered in 3D, the actual 3D was restricted to Single Battles and a few maps. It's a shame it isn't used more often; I don't feel like these games are really pushing the 3DS to its limits. Go big or go home, right?
Sound: 10/10
The music in this game is nothing short of wonderful. Each track is like joy in my ears; I love playing with headphones in. I have heard mixed feelings about the soundtracks for the important battles in this game. I rather like all of them. Diantha's theme is a remix of Iris's theme from Black 2 and White 2, but it still sounds great.
Gameplay: 6/10
Great music and great graphics are all well and good, but what good are they if the game is rubbish? Pokemon X and Y are surprisingly lacking in things to do if you're not trying to progress the main story. The main draw is the new Pokemon-Amie, where you can play mini-games with your Pokemon in order to gain beneficial effects in battle, such as boosted experience, the ability to evade some attacks, and even survive a fatal attack with 1 HP. The higher your Pokemon's affection stat in Pokemon-Amie, the higher chances these effects will occur, and that brings me to one of the biggest gripes I have about this game:
It's too easy.
As bacon put it, "There is no difficulty." The new Mega Evolution mechanic makes battles hugely easy, especially if you use the Mega Lucario that is given to you as part of the main story. And because of the change to how Exp. Share works, I don't even have to switch my team around to raise them because Exp. Share will do it for me. I feel like the game is trying to get me to get done as fast as I can so I can take advantage of all the fun things Kalos has to offer me once I've completed the main story. A rich, fulfilling postgame is all well and good, but that doesn't mean we have to have our hands held the whole time with the difficulty setting to Beyond Easy.
Pokemon X and Y also don't have a postgame to speak of. The only things you can do in-game after you've trounced Diantha are the Battle Maison and Battle Safari. The whole game is a weak setup for an even weaker payoff. I hardly feel motivated to continue playing this game because, with only 70 Pokemon to capture, I feel like I can just wait for Pokemon Bank and then mass-transfer my Pokedex from Unova in order to fill the pages up.
Overall: 26/40
For all its hype, I feel this game did not deliver, but in all fairness, flagship games in a generation usually don't. They introduce many new things, but they leave the really fun stuff out for the third game. This generation, the third game will no doubt focus on Zygarde, and I feel that it will give us everything that X and Y are lacking; a [better] story, a [higher] difficulty, and, dare I say it, more Pokemon? Diancie, Volcanion, and Hoopa have been proven to be in the game's code, but they're nowhere to be found in X or Y...
If you haven't gotten this game yet, then wait for Z. I have faith that it will be leaps and bounds better than what these games have brought to the table.
tl;dr Wait for Z.
Hello, friends. PMJ here with a review for the newly released Pokemon X and Pokemon Y for the Nintendo 3DS. Gamers have been waiting for this game ever since it was announced in February 2013. With a leap to 3D graphics, a whole new region to explore, and new Pokemon to befriend, Nintendo was confident that this would be the game that Pokemon fans have been waiting for. Did it live up to its hype?
The following review contains major plot spoilers.
Story/Characters - 2/10
Pokemon has never been big on weaving a grand tale. The focus of each of the main series games, since day one, has literally been the same thing:
1) Acquire badges
2) Encounter villains
3) Defeat villains
4) Become champion
The best reason I can think of for this plan is that Pokemon's audience is constantly being renewed. The games are directed (mostly) at young children, so Pokemon can get away with having almost no story.
Or can it? The Pokemon trainers who started their journey when Pokemon first came out are all young adults; many of them are well into their twenties, even thirties. It's clear that Pokemon is trying to make previously hidden stats more accessible, which many young children could not care less about. The entire reason the Fairy type exists at all is because of the dominance of dragons in competitive play; likewise, the reason Steel no longer resists Dark and Ghost can be attributed to the competitive fanbase, which consists largely of adult players. Breeding has become easier than ever. All of these prove that Pokemon is, in part, catering to its adult players. They know we exist and are doing something to keep us interested.
So why, then, can't we get a decent story to go with our adventure? For all of this game's hype, this game utterly fails in the story department. Six generations in, Pokemon is still delivering the bog standard game. Like it or not, Pokemon is an RPG, and to see such a popular game all but ignore one of the best aspects of a genre--again--is sad. Black and White did decently in this area--certainly better than any other installment--but this game seems to step backwards in that regard. It's like they raised the bar, then crashed into it rather than surpassing it.
The characters in this game are largely forgettable. Lysandre's ambitions are completely ridiculous, even for Pokemon game villain standards. About 75% of the way through the game, Lysandre calls you and casually drops that he's the leader of Team Flare and oh, by the way, he's going to destroy the world. This is supposed to be a huge reveal, since Lysandre is lauded by Professor Sycamore for being such a great guy, and all throughout the game he's pretty cool to you. He is obsessed with beauty yet sports an out-of-control bright orange hairdo and a goatee. His scientists all have what I like to call Saturn Syndrome, or "get introduced far too late in the story to mean anything to anyone, and don't give the player a reason to want to defeat you other than the fact that they're part of the villain team" syndrome. Team Flare has so many higher-ups that it's hard to keep track of them all, let alone remember their names. Forget the tacky outfits, I just want to remember their names and assign them correctly to each person. Even gamers who haven't played Final Fantasy 7 know who Sephiroth is. Why? Because he's a memorable villain. He did things, huge things, to make the player want to defeat him. What does Team Flare do other than be a general nuisance? Nothing.
It was also painfully obvious that Diantha was the Champion. She had all the hallmarks of a Pokemon League champion: a name, no back story, met only once or twice throughout the game before the end; yep, she's the Champion, all right. BORING. If you're going to hide the identity of the Champion, then don't make it painfully obvious who it is from the very beginning.
And how could I forget your character's friends? Tierno may as well not exist. He does nothing for you or the story. Ditto for Trevor, who was cursed to be his tag-along partner. They don't even provide comic relief. Tierno is serious about his goals but we know nothing about how he goes about achieving them, or if he's even successful. The little girl whose name I can't remember is really no better, although at least she hangs out with you for a couple story elements. The only one who has any sort of real relationship with the player character is Calem. He's a good rival, and the only character I found myself caring about other than Serena in this game.
Graphics - 8/10
This was the game's largest selling point and a good source of hype for the eight months we had to wait for this game. The move to the Nintendo 3DS meant three-dimensional graphics, and it was a welcome change for sure. The Kalos region looks quite impressive; towns are lively, the colors are bright, and the people are numerous and unique.
That said, while the game looks stellar rendered in 3D, the actual 3D was restricted to Single Battles and a few maps. It's a shame it isn't used more often; I don't feel like these games are really pushing the 3DS to its limits. Go big or go home, right?
Sound: 10/10
The music in this game is nothing short of wonderful. Each track is like joy in my ears; I love playing with headphones in. I have heard mixed feelings about the soundtracks for the important battles in this game. I rather like all of them. Diantha's theme is a remix of Iris's theme from Black 2 and White 2, but it still sounds great.
Gameplay: 6/10
Great music and great graphics are all well and good, but what good are they if the game is rubbish? Pokemon X and Y are surprisingly lacking in things to do if you're not trying to progress the main story. The main draw is the new Pokemon-Amie, where you can play mini-games with your Pokemon in order to gain beneficial effects in battle, such as boosted experience, the ability to evade some attacks, and even survive a fatal attack with 1 HP. The higher your Pokemon's affection stat in Pokemon-Amie, the higher chances these effects will occur, and that brings me to one of the biggest gripes I have about this game:
It's too easy.
As bacon put it, "There is no difficulty." The new Mega Evolution mechanic makes battles hugely easy, especially if you use the Mega Lucario that is given to you as part of the main story. And because of the change to how Exp. Share works, I don't even have to switch my team around to raise them because Exp. Share will do it for me. I feel like the game is trying to get me to get done as fast as I can so I can take advantage of all the fun things Kalos has to offer me once I've completed the main story. A rich, fulfilling postgame is all well and good, but that doesn't mean we have to have our hands held the whole time with the difficulty setting to Beyond Easy.
Pokemon X and Y also don't have a postgame to speak of. The only things you can do in-game after you've trounced Diantha are the Battle Maison and Battle Safari. The whole game is a weak setup for an even weaker payoff. I hardly feel motivated to continue playing this game because, with only 70 Pokemon to capture, I feel like I can just wait for Pokemon Bank and then mass-transfer my Pokedex from Unova in order to fill the pages up.
Overall: 26/40
For all its hype, I feel this game did not deliver, but in all fairness, flagship games in a generation usually don't. They introduce many new things, but they leave the really fun stuff out for the third game. This generation, the third game will no doubt focus on Zygarde, and I feel that it will give us everything that X and Y are lacking; a [better] story, a [higher] difficulty, and, dare I say it, more Pokemon? Diancie, Volcanion, and Hoopa have been proven to be in the game's code, but they're nowhere to be found in X or Y...
If you haven't gotten this game yet, then wait for Z. I have faith that it will be leaps and bounds better than what these games have brought to the table.
tl;dr Wait for Z.
