XY Pokémon X / Y: A Review

RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

scuba steveE said:
If I'm going to be completely honest, this is a bad review. You never explained why you thought the story was a disappointment or even went into detail about the story. You didn't touch upon some of the redeeming aspects of the story like the history of Kalos and the war, the ultimate weapon, or one of the most important characters in the game: AZ. To be frank, you're not really reviewing the game, you're pretty much just ranting about how bad you think some of the characters are and then talk about the other aspects of the game very briefly to try to make this look like the review.
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Talking about going into detail sounds ironic to me, considering we're talking about XY.
The story doesn't even give you any deepness, so that you could go into detail.
It's not a perfect review, but it still hits the nail on the head. It's not like you didn't play the game and lack background information.

Az probably is supposed to be a key figure in the story, but does he get any kind of spotlight? It's just a giant ex-king hobo that randomly gets caught by Team Flare, while looking for his beloved Pokémon, so that he can activate the ultimate weapon. It hardly takes any more letters to describe his development in the plot.
He certainly didn't get the treatment he deserved/was supposed to get. His appearance can be added up to 4 minutes plottime.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

iDrake said:
Talking about going into detail sounds ironic to me, considering we're talking about XY.
The story doesn't even give you any deepness, so that you could go into detail.
It's not a perfect review, but it still hits the nail on the head. It's not like you didn't play the game and lack background information.

Az probably is supposed to be a key figure in the story, but does he get any kind of spotlight? It's just a giant ex-king hobo that randomly gets caught by Team Flare, while looking for his beloved Pokémon, so that he can activate the ultimate weapon. It hardly takes any more letters to describe his development in the plot.
He certainly didn't get the treatment he deserved/was supposed to get. His appearance can be added up to 4 minutes plottime.
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While I, for the most part, agree with AZ needing to be fleshed out more, there was actually a nice chunk of text with some backstory on him in one of the places you encounter Team Flare. Can't remember where exactly, but it certainly helped in making AZ not... Well, what most people are going to see in the game; a poorly made character.

Anyways, I can't say I agree with the review as a whole, I'm afraid. I'm having a ton of fun with X - a lot more than B/B2. And I thought that I liked those. In retrospect, I was sort of just pushing myself to enjoy them because, "Hey, it's Pokemon, you love this series!" I can actually say that I'm enjoying X. A lot. Between the easier entry to competitive play and the actually new fresh coat of paint on the game, it feels like a true new arc, not just a little step up.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

scuba steveE said:
If I'm going to be completely honest, this is a bad review. You never explained why you thought the story was a disappointment or even went into detail about the story. You didn't touch upon some of the redeeming aspects of the story like the history of Kalos and the war, the ultimate weapon, or one of the most important characters in the game: AZ. To be frank, you're not really reviewing the game, you're pretty much just ranting about how bad you think some of the characters are and then talk about the other aspects of the game very briefly to try to make this look like the review.
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Fair enough:

I don't believe that the story should always come as an afterthought in Pokemon. Black and White (and their sequels) proved that you can bring the story to the forefront and immerse the player in it. You're introduced to Team Plasma almost immediately after starting your adventure, their goals are made clear, and the majority of your adventure revolves around stopping them. I like N. He's a good antagonist. He wants to save the world in his own way, not realizing that he's being played. At the end of the game he realizes that he was going about his goals in the wrong way, disowns Team Plasma, and continues to pursue his goals in a less violent way. The one thing I didn't like was that the Shadow Triad's relationship to Ghetsis was never really explained; they claim he saved them and that was it. Like Team Flare's collection of Scientists, the purpose of the Seven Sages is likewise left unexplained (I can't really remember their names, either).

I don't like the story of X and Y because the game presents it as secondary. You have a few skirmishes with Team Flare early on in the story, but they come across as annoying. They care about being stylish. That's what I got from every grunt I fought. The ultimate weapon, the roles Xerneas and Yveltal play, the war in Kalos... all of it is absent for 90% of the story, only truly coming to light once you infiltrate Lysandre Labs, and even then you don't get the entire story.

I should have written about it earlier, but it's hard to enjoy the story when the main players are so god-awful.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

I still haven't finished the game, 67 freaking hours and just got to the power plant, but I feel I've seen enough to say this one thing with absolute certainty:

I WAS RIGHT!!!! I WAS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!!

Team fail flare really is the stupidest team in any pokemon game past, present or future! I mean, 4th gym already and all I know about those guys is that they have very bad taste in suits, and that their boss, lysandre (It's almost sweet how they try to make him seem like a good guy despite being so obvious... almost. C'mon, GF ,have some amount of subtlety, I'll share a little of mine if you want) couldn't be cheesier if he was made of gruyère; every word he says makes me want to yell "Yes, you are the bad guy and you like beauty and you are crazy! we GET IT!" at the screen.

PS: Okay, I just handed the scientist's ass on a platter... what. the. actual. f***. what the hell just happened? what were sycamore's stupid assistants wearing scarves and domino masks doing here? why were they...? what...? I don't even know if this game is purposely intended to be taken seriously anymore... team flare has competition now...
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

I like Team Flare as a concept. That they want to wipe out everyone else. Definitely better than any other team except Plasma. And their motive is actually somewhat understandable. The exection was just bad, making a bunch of weak idiots who pay 5 mil to join the team and do everything to give the player a chance to stop them instead of making them actually treathening.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

PMJ said:
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
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The funny thing about XY is that it felt like there was zero emphasis on points 1) and 4). I never really got the impression that my avatar actually aspired to be the strongest trainer. I was only beating gyms because eh... I couldn't progress otherwise. Actually, I don't even recall the E4 being mentioned at all during my playthrough until right at the very end.

Maybe beating Diantha would have been more meaningful if she played more of an active role in the story. You have no connection to her so she's ultimately just another trainer.

This is why Gary and Alder are my favourite champions. They are constantly involved throughout the game so beating them actually means something. Gary is an asshole you want to squash and prove your superiority to. Alder is a run down master and your fight is about reigniting his passion for battling. Two completely different setups but they both work as much as they need to for setting up a final battle.

Diantha and Cynthia are just Mary Sues. They are powerful trainers with no flaws and no personality, that's it. And that's kind of jarring when you think about it, because IRL the people who aspire to rise to the top are usually trying to compensate for something about themselves they see as flawed. Losing the title of champion would mean everything to them. That's an incredibly fine nitpick though lol.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

I really did think their focus on this game was the technology needed to transfer the game from the DS to the 3DS. We still really have to appreciate some of the effort done by the crew to fix certain Pokemon, rebuff their stats while having to remodel everything to 3D etc.. SOmething had to take a hit and it was the story. I'm sure Pokemon Z (if it would exist) would be miles better but saying that "don't buy this, wait for Z" is a tad bit too harsh for the game.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

I agree. The games are visually appealing, and the amount of behind-the-scenes work is impressive. I dont see why pokemon feels like it's always the story that needs ignoring, though.

It would be nice if we could delve deeper into Kalos's history in Z.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

Hmm, interesting review. I personally agree and had similar thoughts when I reviewed it elsewhere.

On a mechanic level this adds a whole new layer of complexity, both for competitive and casual gaming, but in terms of plot development and post game content, it is readily apparent that both are lacking, especially with the endgame being a Battle Tower and one tiny city. The only thing that I could see happening is DLC or event Pokemon at this point, but even so, it's no excuse to ship such an incomplete product. The hype DID NOT MATCH the completed product. I was finished with the Champion on October 12th. Yes. I cleared the game the first night. It was even shorter than Diamond and Pearl, which is disappointing.

I also find the Friend Safari, while fun, is very time consuming, and distracting if you add the maximum number of friends. My LED notifier has suddenly become a blink fest. I don't care that my new acquaintances are online when I'm playing Ace Attorney, for one. :p I think the whole friend code is seriously outdated, and we need an account based system, at the very least, for reasons that we should be aware of. ;)
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

bacon said:
PMJ said:
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
Click to expand...

The funny thing about XY is that it felt like there was zero emphasis on points 1) and 4). I never really got the impression that my avatar actually aspired to be the strongest trainer. I was only beating gyms because eh... I couldn't progress otherwise. Actually, I don't even recall the E4 being mentioned at all during my playthrough until right at the very end.

Maybe beating Diantha would have been more meaningful if she played more of an active role in the story. You have no connection to her so she's ultimately just another trainer.

This is why Gary and Alder are my favourite champions. They are constantly involved throughout the game so beating them actually means something. Gary is an asshole you want to squash and prove your superiority to. Alder is a run down master and your fight is about reigniting his passion for battling. Two completely different setups but they both work as much as they need to for setting up a final battle.

Diantha and Cynthia are just Mary Sues. They are powerful trainers with no flaws and no personality, that's it. And that's kind of jarring when you think about it, because IRL the people who aspire to rise to the top are usually trying to compensate for something about themselves they see as flawed. Losing the title of champion would mean everything to them. That's an incredibly fine nitpick though lol.
Click to expand...

I can't tell about diantha, really (besides that it gets a little grating and one-dimensional how she always rambles about her acting whenever she has the chance) but I always thought of cynthia as some sort of behind-the scenes figure or mentor, watching you and occasionally helping you in your journey; I think she assists you to defeat team galaxy in the climax too, right? and, in the same way as alder in BW2, she isn't bothered by losing the title, since she had already picked you to be her successor. Alder even willingly gives iris the position (the only way that could happen, champion iris is pathetic).

Steven and wallace are the worst, steven just appears a couple of times and you don't know he is the champion, and wallace is just the old water gym leader.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

Personally, I'm really disappointed that, after ten whole months of hype and excitement, everyone is criticizing this game so harshly and is disappointed with it. This is the game that we all thought would be the best to date, right from day we first saw it.

That's not to say I don't agree with any of this. In the beginning, I wasn't hoping for any evil team at all. When they did announce Team Flare, I thought to myself, "The least they could do is make an organization without 'Team' in their title..." So I played through the game, and as Team Flare continued to pop up, I can't deny that I did not like them. Learning about Lysandre's motive annoyed me even more because, as I previously said, it copied off of Gates to Infinity.

By the end of the game and after watching the final cut-scene, I reflected on the story. I realized that, although it could have been done better and Lysandre could have had a better goal, I accepted it and was satisfied with it. If this is truly what this group of people believes in, then so be it. What you as the protagonist have to do is stop them, regardless of what they want to achieve. Even when I was disappointed with Team Flare, AZ's back story and the history of the ultimate weapon was a great idea to implement. An even greater idea was having Lysandre become immortal in X and die in Y.

Besides the story and characters, there were other flaws such as the post-game and number of pokemon. You guys have to realize, however, that when they introduce and fix so many things, there will be areas that are lacking. I, for one, was happy with many things that they changed and added (Pokemon-Amie, Super Training, and the PSS come to mind), so why focus on what was bad when you can focus on the large steps they took to please the fans? Moving to the 3DS and making 3D models for every single pokemon alone is amazing.

Now that they do have these things out of the way, everything can be brought back together in Z, should they choose to make it. You could convince others to not buy X or Y, but I would never do so because, for me, these are the greatest Pokemon games to date (FireRed and LeafGreen are right behind!)

Still, this is a great review, and I think you hit everything that required a reviewer's attention.
 
RE: Pokemon X / Y: A Review

THere's also the possibility of DLCs instead of Pokemon Z due to stuff like Hoopa being in the game's code but who knows? It's the fact that the game still hasn't been hacked for data that makes us think if there's still more to X/Y than what is already presented.
 
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