How do the current generation Pokemon games hold up?

08-18-14 07:58 PM

Zlinqx is Offline

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Zlinqx
Zlinqx

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Before I proceed with this review no this is not the other review I've been working on either... It's been taking a bit longer then I first thought (mainly because I've been too lazy from being busy doing other stuff) but I will get the review out this week as I'm about 2 thirds done with the game.

Yes another Pokemon game... You know I almost started to feel cold when my 3 latest reviews haven't been about Pokemon nor was this going to be either but since the review I planned for now is taking a bit longer then it should and I had a reviewing itch ~~(is that a thing now)~~
I figured why not review the Pokemon game I knew would be the hardest for me to review!.. As you might know if you read my Pokemon White 2 review, I completely adored it and called it the best game in the main series and I still stand by that statement. So some of you might wonder what exactly I think about Pokemon X and Y and you're about to find out.

-Insert witty joke about how I've said let's get into it too many times-

Graphics: 9

So perhaps the most anticipated thing for many once this game was first revealed was that this would be the first main series game to make the jump to 3d and it did so quite nicely. The Pokemon, environments and characters all look nice and I feel that the graphics style they went for fits the Pokemon universe very well. I have no major complaints really only a few nitpicks such as the camera being a bit awkward at times and while I don't use the 3d effect too much I do still think they could've tried utilising it a bit more. Still the graphics in this game are great and I'd definitely call it the best main series game graphics wise. Also a few other cool features that I thought I would mention is that you are now actually able to ~~pimp out~~ customize your trainer!... Well to some degree as there are clothing shops in many of the towns which you can buy clothes for your trainer from, there's also a few different hair styles/colours and eye colours to choose from. It's not the most in depth system but it's still a nice feature and allows you to personalize your trainer a bit more. Speaking of which you can also make your own little intro that will play before a battle starts when battling against others, like customizing your trainer it also gives you a bit more room to personalize your character and make you stand out a bit more.

Sound: 8

Now firstly let me get this straight, I don't think the soundtrack in this game is bad by any means but compared to generation 5 games I do actually think it's a step down, the soundtracks felt a bit bland to me and repetitive at times (some also feeling a tad to similar to soundtracks from previous games) and there wasn't as many nor as much variety as there were in the previous games (like how each gym no longer has it's own soundtrack). And while there were still some soundtracks I liked I was left wanting more after hearing the excellent soundtrack from the previous games. So simply put while not a bad soundtrack it just failed to live up to it's predecessors in my opinion. As for the sound effects I didn't notice too much of a difference here compared to previous games. They were done well and usually fit the situation nicely and I don't really have any gripes with them.

Addictiveness: 9

The region had pretty diverse environments to explore which looked great with the excellent graphics, not to mention that I felt this game also offered a bit more variety in battles due to adding a lot of smaller features such as sky battles, horde battles, changing the exp share, pokemon amie, the new fairy type (which also helps balance in the metagame a bit) and of course the new pokemon and moves in the game (which by the way while not as many new Pokemon were introduced as in previous generations I thought they were all great and this is the one generation where I haven't found a single Pokemon I disliked). Safe to say this game kept me addicted throughout and if you're a fan of playing Pokemon competitively then this is definitely the definitive Pokemon game to do so. Which also brings me to super training a nice addition for those looking to get into the metagame which offers an alternative to train up your pokemons evs (if you don't know what that is I suggest googling it and thank me later) through minigames which while not as effective as simply battling Pokemon can be more fun and offer some variety but why gamefreak can't just show the evs somewhere on the stat screen of each Pokemon I'll never know. I also thought that the new mega evolutions were a great addition and added a bit of a spin on old Pokemon (but seriously I can't think of charizard x being made for any other reason then fanservice). However I do find it kind of strange that their supposed to be related to the bond between a Pokemon and a trainer yet anyone with a mega ring will be able to mega evolve a Pokemon. Seems like it should've been based on the happiness of the Pokemon or something like that but they didn't do it because players would think it would be too tedious to level up a pokemons happiness just to get it to mega evolve, got a little off topic but there but just something I thought about.

Story: 7

This game is a lot like games before generation 5 as in the story sort of takes a back seat and there's more of a focus on trying to catch, train and battle with your Pokemon instead. The evil team called Team Flare honestly just wasn't that interesting to me and unlike in previous games where they evil teams always felt like somewhat of threat I didn't feel that here since they always seemed to be 1 step behind me. Most of the characters also just didn't seem as interesting as in White 2 to me either, though that could also be because they're simply not expanded very much upon (the champion in this game was the most boring one in the series in my opinion). With that said this game storyline wasn't horrible or anything compared to other Pokemon games and it still fits the game pretty well and had some interesting parts but I just feel that there was a lot of potential that was wasted and that it wouldn't have hurt to go a little bit more in depth especially when it came to the characters. However one thing I will praise the game for is the side quest that you can complete after beating the game involving Looker (a recurring character in the Pokemon games). Now I wont really delve into it since I don't want to spoil it but the first time playing it you're in for a treat. And I certainly wouldn't mind if these kinds of side quests would be something we saw more of in future Pokemon games.

Depth: 8

I'd say that this game could arguably be the shortest in the series besides the original red, blue and yellow. There's not that much to do after beating the champion except the previously mentioned side mission, battling in the battle maison (which is more or less the battle tower/ battle subway of this game) and the battle chateau (a building where you can take on trainers earning higher ranks as you defeat several of them which in turns makes it so you can face stronger trainers even featuring some of the gym leaders and the champion).
There's also a few areas to explore in search for legendary Pokemon and you can also try finding all the mega stones but beside that there's not too much to do in terms of the single player game. However assuming you do complete all this you're still most likely going to be sinking a lot of hours into it possibly replaying it, trying to catch all pokemon, making teams and battling competitively and such (basically like you would in any other Pokemon game). So while this might not be quite as big of a package as say White 2 and Black 2 or Heartgold and Soulsilver, it will still keep you busy.

Difficulty: 5

I'd say this game was a tad bit easier then the average Pokemon game (with the exception of the original red and blue of course) partly due to the exp share (awards 50% of the exp gained to all Pokemon in the party instead of just one Pokemon while also has to hold it). However I don't think it's as overpowered as some people make it out to be, gamefreak did a pretty good job of adjusting levels to not make it game breakingly easy and the exp share does eliminate a lot of grind. Not to mention you can turn it off thankfully if you feel it's too cheap and do a nuzlocke or come up with other rules to make the game harder. Or you can do what I did since the exp share does eliminate a lot of grind I decided to train more then 6 pokemon and rotate between them which I found pretty fun as it also added variety due to having a larger selection of Pokemon to use (although the game was still pretty easy). If anything what made the game a bit easier for me was that the trainers, especially the gym leaders felt a bit easier here then they did in previous games.

Overall: 8.3

I honestly have a really hard time giving this game an overall score. It's not bad by any means and is really great in some areas like the gameplay and graphics but it also left me a bit disappointed in some areas (mainly the soundtrack, story and post game content). So I'd say this game is somewhere in the middle for me when it comes to ranking it with the other Pokemon games. It's definitely the Pokemon game I think was the hardest to review for me due to having very mixed opinions on it so I settled for giving it a 8.6 which I feel is a pretty fair score.

And as for who I recommend this game to I'd say anyone who's interested in Pokemon really especially newcomers to the franchise as I'd say this is definitely the most accessible out of all the Pokemon games and is a great starting point. Though it's not the best in my opinion it's still a great addition to the series and while it has it's fair share of flaws it also made some great additions to the franchise. ~~Now if only they would combine the best parts of this game with the best parts of White 2 and Black 2...~~

Anyways I'm pretty satisfied with how this review turned out but as always please leave some feedback telling me how I can improve my review and also things I did well. The other review I've been working on is coming sometime this week which I'm almost 100% sure of but until then there's this. Oh and also don't forget to rate it :3 ~~I'd say fairly but you probably get it by now.~~

And I almost forgot summons! (If you want me to stop summoning you or want me to add you to my summon list don't hesitate to tell me

).

A user of this :
Cradily is love :
sonicthehedgehog57 :
juuldude :
Pokefreak219 :
Swiftwynd :

And with that I hope you'll read my next review!

Before I proceed with this review no this is not the other review I've been working on either... It's been taking a bit longer then I first thought (mainly because I've been too lazy from being busy doing other stuff) but I will get the review out this week as I'm about 2 thirds done with the game.

Yes another Pokemon game... You know I almost started to feel cold when my 3 latest reviews haven't been about Pokemon nor was this going to be either but since the review I planned for now is taking a bit longer then it should and I had a reviewing itch ~~(is that a thing now)~~
I figured why not review the Pokemon game I knew would be the hardest for me to review!.. As you might know if you read my Pokemon White 2 review, I completely adored it and called it the best game in the main series and I still stand by that statement. So some of you might wonder what exactly I think about Pokemon X and Y and you're about to find out.

-Insert witty joke about how I've said let's get into it too many times-

Graphics: 9

So perhaps the most anticipated thing for many once this game was first revealed was that this would be the first main series game to make the jump to 3d and it did so quite nicely. The Pokemon, environments and characters all look nice and I feel that the graphics style they went for fits the Pokemon universe very well. I have no major complaints really only a few nitpicks such as the camera being a bit awkward at times and while I don't use the 3d effect too much I do still think they could've tried utilising it a bit more. Still the graphics in this game are great and I'd definitely call it the best main series game graphics wise. Also a few other cool features that I thought I would mention is that you are now actually able to ~~pimp out~~ customize your trainer!... Well to some degree as there are clothing shops in many of the towns which you can buy clothes for your trainer from, there's also a few different hair styles/colours and eye colours to choose from. It's not the most in depth system but it's still a nice feature and allows you to personalize your trainer a bit more. Speaking of which you can also make your own little intro that will play before a battle starts when battling against others, like customizing your trainer it also gives you a bit more room to personalize your character and make you stand out a bit more.

Sound: 8

Now firstly let me get this straight, I don't think the soundtrack in this game is bad by any means but compared to generation 5 games I do actually think it's a step down, the soundtracks felt a bit bland to me and repetitive at times (some also feeling a tad to similar to soundtracks from previous games) and there wasn't as many nor as much variety as there were in the previous games (like how each gym no longer has it's own soundtrack). And while there were still some soundtracks I liked I was left wanting more after hearing the excellent soundtrack from the previous games. So simply put while not a bad soundtrack it just failed to live up to it's predecessors in my opinion. As for the sound effects I didn't notice too much of a difference here compared to previous games. They were done well and usually fit the situation nicely and I don't really have any gripes with them.

Addictiveness: 9

The region had pretty diverse environments to explore which looked great with the excellent graphics, not to mention that I felt this game also offered a bit more variety in battles due to adding a lot of smaller features such as sky battles, horde battles, changing the exp share, pokemon amie, the new fairy type (which also helps balance in the metagame a bit) and of course the new pokemon and moves in the game (which by the way while not as many new Pokemon were introduced as in previous generations I thought they were all great and this is the one generation where I haven't found a single Pokemon I disliked). Safe to say this game kept me addicted throughout and if you're a fan of playing Pokemon competitively then this is definitely the definitive Pokemon game to do so. Which also brings me to super training a nice addition for those looking to get into the metagame which offers an alternative to train up your pokemons evs (if you don't know what that is I suggest googling it and thank me later) through minigames which while not as effective as simply battling Pokemon can be more fun and offer some variety but why gamefreak can't just show the evs somewhere on the stat screen of each Pokemon I'll never know. I also thought that the new mega evolutions were a great addition and added a bit of a spin on old Pokemon (but seriously I can't think of charizard x being made for any other reason then fanservice). However I do find it kind of strange that their supposed to be related to the bond between a Pokemon and a trainer yet anyone with a mega ring will be able to mega evolve a Pokemon. Seems like it should've been based on the happiness of the Pokemon or something like that but they didn't do it because players would think it would be too tedious to level up a pokemons happiness just to get it to mega evolve, got a little off topic but there but just something I thought about.

Story: 7

This game is a lot like games before generation 5 as in the story sort of takes a back seat and there's more of a focus on trying to catch, train and battle with your Pokemon instead. The evil team called Team Flare honestly just wasn't that interesting to me and unlike in previous games where they evil teams always felt like somewhat of threat I didn't feel that here since they always seemed to be 1 step behind me. Most of the characters also just didn't seem as interesting as in White 2 to me either, though that could also be because they're simply not expanded very much upon (the champion in this game was the most boring one in the series in my opinion). With that said this game storyline wasn't horrible or anything compared to other Pokemon games and it still fits the game pretty well and had some interesting parts but I just feel that there was a lot of potential that was wasted and that it wouldn't have hurt to go a little bit more in depth especially when it came to the characters. However one thing I will praise the game for is the side quest that you can complete after beating the game involving Looker (a recurring character in the Pokemon games). Now I wont really delve into it since I don't want to spoil it but the first time playing it you're in for a treat. And I certainly wouldn't mind if these kinds of side quests would be something we saw more of in future Pokemon games.

Depth: 8

I'd say that this game could arguably be the shortest in the series besides the original red, blue and yellow. There's not that much to do after beating the champion except the previously mentioned side mission, battling in the battle maison (which is more or less the battle tower/ battle subway of this game) and the battle chateau (a building where you can take on trainers earning higher ranks as you defeat several of them which in turns makes it so you can face stronger trainers even featuring some of the gym leaders and the champion).
There's also a few areas to explore in search for legendary Pokemon and you can also try finding all the mega stones but beside that there's not too much to do in terms of the single player game. However assuming you do complete all this you're still most likely going to be sinking a lot of hours into it possibly replaying it, trying to catch all pokemon, making teams and battling competitively and such (basically like you would in any other Pokemon game). So while this might not be quite as big of a package as say White 2 and Black 2 or Heartgold and Soulsilver, it will still keep you busy.

Difficulty: 5

I'd say this game was a tad bit easier then the average Pokemon game (with the exception of the original red and blue of course) partly due to the exp share (awards 50% of the exp gained to all Pokemon in the party instead of just one Pokemon while also has to hold it). However I don't think it's as overpowered as some people make it out to be, gamefreak did a pretty good job of adjusting levels to not make it game breakingly easy and the exp share does eliminate a lot of grind. Not to mention you can turn it off thankfully if you feel it's too cheap and do a nuzlocke or come up with other rules to make the game harder. Or you can do what I did since the exp share does eliminate a lot of grind I decided to train more then 6 pokemon and rotate between them which I found pretty fun as it also added variety due to having a larger selection of Pokemon to use (although the game was still pretty easy). If anything what made the game a bit easier for me was that the trainers, especially the gym leaders felt a bit easier here then they did in previous games.

Overall: 8.3

I honestly have a really hard time giving this game an overall score. It's not bad by any means and is really great in some areas like the gameplay and graphics but it also left me a bit disappointed in some areas (mainly the soundtrack, story and post game content). So I'd say this game is somewhere in the middle for me when it comes to ranking it with the other Pokemon games. It's definitely the Pokemon game I think was the hardest to review for me due to having very mixed opinions on it so I settled for giving it a 8.6 which I feel is a pretty fair score.

And as for who I recommend this game to I'd say anyone who's interested in Pokemon really especially newcomers to the franchise as I'd say this is definitely the most accessible out of all the Pokemon games and is a great starting point. Though it's not the best in my opinion it's still a great addition to the series and while it has it's fair share of flaws it also made some great additions to the franchise. ~~Now if only they would combine the best parts of this game with the best parts of White 2 and Black 2...~~

Anyways I'm pretty satisfied with how this review turned out but as always please leave some feedback telling me how I can improve my review and also things I did well. The other review I've been working on is coming sometime this week which I'm almost 100% sure of but until then there's this. Oh and also don't forget to rate it :3 ~~I'd say fairly but you probably get it by now.~~

And I almost forgot summons! (If you want me to stop summoning you or want me to add you to my summon list don't hesitate to tell me

).

A user of this :
Cradily is love :
sonicthehedgehog57 :
juuldude :
Pokefreak219 :
Swiftwynd :

And with that I hope you'll read my next review!

Vizzed Elite

Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

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08-19-14 03:32 AM

juuldude is Offline

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juuldude

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Please keep summoning me. I like to read reviews, especially reviews about Pokémon (and Mario) and you do a good job on them. You went so much into detail, you compared to previous titles and so on. The only thing I miss here are the differences between X and Y. Is it just Pokémon or is there more? But the rest of the review is great

Keep up the good work!

Please keep summoning me. I like to read reviews, especially reviews about Pokémon (and Mario) and you do a good job on them. You went so much into detail, you compared to previous titles and so on. The only thing I miss here are the differences between X and Y. Is it just Pokémon or is there more? But the rest of the review is great

Keep up the good work!

Vizzed Elite

Dutch vizzedeer and Professor Layton fan

Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 02-26-11
Location: Holland, The Netherlands, which you prefer
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08-19-14 07:37 AM

Zlinqx is Offline

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Zlinqx
Zlinqx

Level: 121

POSTS: 666/4673
POST EXP: 657361
LVL EXP: 20025981
CP: 52729.9
VIZ: 618384

Likes: 0 Dislikes: 0

juuldude : Thanks I mainly summoned you since you read my last review and said you liked it and I know you're a Pokemon fan

As for Mario games I'm not as knowledgeable on them as some other people but I'll probably do one eventually (after all what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn't cover at least one game in the most popular gaming franchise to date

).

I didn't really cover the differences since there isn't any significant differences as far as I know besides a few Pokemon and mega stones being exclusive to each version though I might add that in somewhere (but it isn't really too hard to find out through a short Google search).

Anyways thanks for the feedback I'll make sure to summon you for my next review

juuldude : Thanks I mainly summoned you since you read my last review and said you liked it and I know you're a Pokemon fan

As for Mario games I'm not as knowledgeable on them as some other people but I'll probably do one eventually (after all what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn't cover at least one game in the most popular gaming franchise to date

).

I didn't really cover the differences since there isn't any significant differences as far as I know besides a few Pokemon and mega stones being exclusive to each version though I might add that in somewhere (but it isn't really too hard to find out through a short Google search).

Anyways thanks for the feedback I'll make sure to summon you for my next review

Vizzed Elite

Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 07-21-13
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08-19-14 10:27 AM

juuldude is Offline

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juuldude

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Yeah, Pokémon was something I started with as I had never played the games but I had seen the anime. Haha, you would be a very special reviewer I guess

If that's the case it isn't so bad, I wanted to make sure that there aren't any big differences. I know it's easy to find for most people but it's not for everybody so I thought it would be important to add.

You're welcome, and keep doing that!

Yeah, Pokémon was something I started with as I had never played the games but I had seen the anime. Haha, you would be a very special reviewer I guess

If that's the case it isn't so bad, I wanted to make sure that there aren't any big differences. I know it's easy to find for most people but it's not for everybody so I thought it would be important to add.

You're welcome, and keep doing that!

Vizzed Elite

Dutch vizzedeer and Professor Layton fan

Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 02-26-11
Location: Holland, The Netherlands, which you prefer
Last Post: 2070 days
Last Active: 1300 days

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08-23-14 04:33 PM

Mega Mewtwo X is Offline

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Mega Mewtwo X

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if u ask me, the 6th gen has held up quite well, but not as well as the 5th gen. idk about it, i just dont like the 6th gen as much. they messed up the shiny thing by making it too easy, the game sync really doesnt work (for me at least) and the battle maison can go die. the battle subway is the same, so i wont really get THAT mad at the battle maison, but overall. i really think the 6th gen has held up by some margin.

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