There was a guy named Marik Ishtar who specifically requested a trade with me in the middle of my playthrough. I had a lot of good 'mons transferred from the older games, so I thought I'd give him something nice.

He flashed a shiny Genesect, so I tried to give him something of equal value, but he rejected the trade. I couldn't figure out if there was anything specific he wanted, so I just quickly ran through 3 of my best pokemon and got them all rejected before realizing he was fucking with me.

I backed out and saw that his profile said "suck my d!ck", then he requested four more trades with me that I had to keep declining. He kept interrupting cutscenes.


Because of him, I give this game an extra star, because that is the closest thing to difficulty I experienced in the entire run.

In retrospect, the art/modelling is kinda cute for what it is but at the time of playing I found it awful. The music is nice and suits the region pleasingly. The PSS was really cool and useful- the touch screen utilisation in general was effective and fun. I found it quite easy and never lost a plot entwined battle though whose fault that is I could not say. Mega evolution was perfect; it felt special and the designs were awesome, I think instead of new gimmick p/new gen they should have kept mega ev and given it regional twists or lore or plot relevance. New mon designs mostly mid. Fairy type cool. Story/characters lacked depth I did not really care for any of them, Looker missions post story were good.

Simplesmente meu Pokemon favorito, além de ter um grande apego emocional com ele, acho o mesmo extremamente divertido, e mesmo rejogando anos depois, ele ainda se mantém muito bem.
Primeiramente, eu gosto bastante da Pokedex dessa região, além de ter muitos dos meus pokemon favoritos, trás outros bons de antigas regiões, então isso já me prende bastante no game.
Também acho um jogo bem bonito artisticamente, claro que graficamente é limitado por conta de seu console, mas a direção de arte é muito bem usada, e isso fica visível nos ginásios.
Em falar em ginásios, todos são INCRÍVEIS, sério, por mais que sigam a mesma fórmula de jogos anteriores, continuam muito legais, porque alguns tem puzzles simples porém divertidos, e TODOS tem um design muito massa, são bem diferentes uns dos outros, e isso tira aquela sensação de jogo repetitivo que a franquia sofre em jogos anteriores.
Agora falando do prato principal nesse game, as Mega Evoluções, e pra ser sincero eu acho que ela deveria entregar mais, mas não entenda errado, é uma mecânica incrível e que todo mundo conhece e eu mesmo acho ela uma das melhores coisas que os jogos recentes da franquia criaram, mas ainda sim é muito limitado, são poucos os Pokemon que podem mega evoluir, então acaba sendo bem mal aproveitado.
Pra finalizar eu diria que esse jogo é incrivelmente subestimado, talvez por ser o primeiro pokemon 3d as pessoas sejam mais criticas e tendem a olhar mais torto pra esse game, mas ele é fenomenal, e dificilmente outro vai substituí-lo entre os meus favoritos.

Pokemon X&Y is often considered one of the worst pokemon titles, and I honeslty can't see myself hating on it as much as other.

Yes, they are not perfect games and a potential pokemon Z would have fixed a LOT of issues.
But honestly I can justify a lot of the choices they went for: this game came out as a response to the fifth generations, that even if today is considered on of the best in the series, at the time wasn't financially successful, since most of the past fans where turned off by most of the bolder choices Black&White presented.

In a way, the decisions behind X&Y are not different to what other series did when they crumbled financially: Street fighter 4 was designed as a way to appeal to the "golden age" of SF after third strike went on its own hardcore direction; Fire emblem tried to capitalize on the nostalgia for the first game with the Shadow dragons remakes on DS and even with Awakening after the series was selling almost zero copies....

And similarly, the sixth generation focused more on the nostalgia for past titles: the new pokedex of Kalos is shorter, in favor 0f bringing back every past mons with new stunning 3D models instead of the spriteworks of past titles; you get your starters only to receive the Kanto trio after the first gym, alongside their NEW COOL MEGA FORMS; you even get plent of references to Kanto to say to older fans that "pokemon is back to its routes": the sleeping snorlax blocking the route, a cave literally called after Zubats, popular past mons like Lucario or Lapras given for free, and even a cave where Mewtwo resides.... today the appeal to Kant can feel saturated, but at the time it was apparaised adn accepted as a response to past games.

X&Y didn't just stopped to "just fanservice": the game was full of new gimmicks that while not incredibly developed, felt experiemntal and new: Horde encounters, Sky battles, the introduction of a literal new type after decades, character customization, and new ways to interact with the overworld... and this without even metioning mega evolutions, an incredible way to resurrect more underrated pokemon in the roster like Mawile, Medicham, Houndoom, Pinsir or Manectric. And the ability to find new encounters in every route was honestly pretty cool.

THe issue is that all of this new mechanics... weren't really mashed together well: Megas are cool but you can only obtain most of them in the almost non-existing post game (meaning that I made a team with Absol only to be able to try its new form after I beat Diantha), the game gives you a mega lucario and a mega charizard for free after the third gym, meaning that the game becaomes incredibly easy even if you nuzlock it, and most of the more creative mechanics are not implemented well and result more like a novelty that a fun experience.

Not to mention that the game is filled with mkre nauseating and slow pacing, due to the less interesting story that is shoved into your mouth, the least interesting rivals and villains, and the overall just inenteresting set pieces... only exception being AZ and the story of the giant Kalos war.

Overall it is still a decent time, I can respect a lot of the things X&Y does.... but really we needed a Pokemon Z. I can't get why the holy deer, the bird of death and the funny green snake are either just there to be used as battery or just chilling in a cave (seriously, Mewtwo gets a cool cutscene but not Zygarde?)

I’ve long maintained that X and Y are my least favorite Pokémon games. This is different than thinking they’re the worst Pokémon games, which I don’t believe they are, at least not anymore. Unlike Sun and Moon which seemed terrified to ever let you experience the game without a new cutscene or tutorial every 5 steps, X and Y still more or less maintain an illusion of player-driven adventure. The ever-satisfying core gameplay loop that made these games such a sensation (exploring towns and routes, catching Pokémon, engaging in battles) still feels largely intact, especially when compared to projects like Sword and Shield or Legends: Arceus which ventured to break that formula apart without replacing it with anything interesting. X and Y still undeniably feel like Pokémon: not a glorified cutscene compilation, not a shitty MMO, not a half-baked BOTW clone, just Pokémon. As jaded as this series makes me, that’s always a feeling I’m willing to chase.

And while yes the games certainly feel a bit undercooked, it’s not from a lack of love and care. Additions like the fairy type, super training, and the PSS all strike me as the handiwork of a studio that on some level still gave a shit. For fuck’s sake, they 3D modeled all 700+ Pokémon and let you pet every last one of them! In retrospect, a lot of the stranger design decisions here seem to be motivated less by apathy or incompetence and more by a desire to show off what “the first 3D Pokémon game” was capable of. Areas like Route 1 or Glittering Cave are functionally glorified hallways, but they show off an over-the-shoulder angle the DS could never do. Rideable Pokémon are a momentum-breaking slog, but they provide a golden opportunity for the camera to whip around as you bask in the glory of the beautifully-rendered Rhyhorn model. Santalune Forest has the same exact layout as Virdian Forest, likely to inspire some feeling of “wow, look how far we’ve come since the Gameboy”, potentially explaining the rest of the Gen 1 nostalgia on some level as well. Lumiose City may be hell to navigate, but if you’re focused on just how much bigger it is than the metropolises of old, you may not even notice. Hell, even the baffling Parfum Palace side-mission makes a lot more sense when you consider all the fancy new textures it flaunts along the way. Playing X and Y, you get the sense GameFreak was really proud of what they managed to accomplish graphically, and wanted to show it off at every turn. The theme of the game IS “beauty” after all.

But, over ten years after the fact, (God I feel old…) a graphical showcase for the Nintendo 3Ds isn’t especially enticing. And I mean, the console wasn’t exactly a visual powerhouse back in the day, either. There is an appealing artstyle in here—I generally like the Pokémon models for what they are, and I think retaining a chibi aesthetic in the overworld was a smart move—but the muted colors and blandness of the locales really hurt it. Sure these environments aren’t nearly as barren as what we’d see in the games to come, but they’re certainly not as lively as anything we got on the DS or even the GBA. And it’s not like we haven’t seen areas built for spectacle before—Black 2 and White 2 were full of ‘em, but they never let it compromise their level design in the same way X and Y does. I mentioned Lumiose City’s size earlier, but what I didn’t recall is just how much less there is to actually do there than in the much smaller Castelia of old. A lot of Kalos is like that—impressive for the time, but lacking in real substance. Just about the only place where I think this show-off mentality really does hold up is in the gyms. Each one of them has a unique puzzle that could only make sense in a 3D space. They’re fun, they’re creative, they have great art direction, it’s honestly my favorite aspect of the whole game. It’s a shame the rest of the region can’t compare.

And with that new hardware sheen having long worn off, it brings into greater focus just how much of X and Y feel unfinished. Areas like the Power Plant or the Haunted House that once struck me as odd, pointless excursions feel a lot more telling as an adult who knows what “cut content” is. The gap between the first and second badges is one of the longest in the series, a pacing choice I’d actually quite like if the remaining 6 badges didn’t arrive in such a mad dash one after the other. I don’t play these games for the story or the postgame, but both are noticeably more barebones than usual. I mean come on man, why does every Team Flare member, from leader to grunt, get a fully-rendered 3D model for their battle intro, while the elite four, gym leaders and champion are stuck with PNGs? Does that seem like an intentional choice, or as a shift in priorities to better accommodate a looming deadline?

The difficulty curve is the area that feels the most neglected in my eyes. The EXP Share—a quality of life feature I actually really appreciate—seems to have been implemented without regard for an already-existing level curve. Kalos has evidently outlawed carrying a full team of 6, as the only trainer you’ll be facing with as many is the champion. Plenty of trainers carry strong Pokémon with interesting movesets, but when you’re gifted so many free Pokémon along the way, finding a method to cheese them is really a matter of “when”, not “if”. I was playing X under a particularly restrictive set of nuzlocke rules, and even still I found the majority of gameplay save for the absolute finale to be pretty close to mindless. I don’t think a harder game is necessarily a better one of course—but the seeming disinterest in creating opportunities for a player to strategize in your JRPG feels like a pretty major oversight to me.

And speaking of difficulty, I guess I have to talk about Mega Evolution. I’ve already stated in my ORAS review that I’m not a fan, but I haven’t articulated why. For one, they’re barely utilized in their debut game: 25 out of 30 mega stones are locked behind the postgame, with only two trainers in the campaign actually using them in battle. I’d be more mad they hardly see use in casual play, if it wasn’t so obvious why: they completely break the game. What could have been a way to revitalize some old Pokémon and address power creep along the way only exacerbated it. Megas completely overpower a normal playthrough, which makes the fact that so many of them were given to already-strong Pokémon even more frustrating. I think just about the only Mega that isn’t insanely broken, was given to a Pokémon that actually needed one, and doesn’t completely ruin their design (because oh yeah most Megas look really, really dumb) is Mega Beedrill. And he’s not even available until ORAS.

You also can’t discuss Mega Evolution without addressing the domino effect it’s had on the series. Z-Moves, Dynamax, Gigantamax, Battle Styles— Mega Evolution and it’s consequences have been a disaster for the Pokémon franchise. These are not interesting new additions, they’re glorified win buttons that never get the space to be fleshed out since they’re gone by the next installment. I haven’t even played Scarlet and Violet because the idea of learning an entirely new gimmick I know won’t last just seemed so exhausting. Remember when a new Pokémon game brought sizable structural changes: held items, abilities, the physical/special split, reusable TMs, real, substantial mechanical shake-ups that changed the way the game is played? I wish Gamefreak did.

That’s, in so many words, my issue with X and Y. It’s the last Pokémon game that got the fundamentals, but it’s really JUST fundamentals. Kalos is a flavorless region, the battles are a total afterthought, and it’s adherence to spectacle rings hollow a decade plus after release. The games that came after may be worse, but they’re worse in more interesting ways. And in the absence of genuine innovation, I can’t help but focus on all the things X and Y introduced to the series I wish would go away: stupid generational gimmicks, a suffocating yearly release schedule, and a precedent for cut corners selling games. It’s hard not to look at Black 2 and White 2, games bursting at the seams with content and polish and smart, fully-developed design that nonetheless underperformed, and compare them to X and Y, the unfinished, nostalgic tech demos that sold like hotcakes. I can’t be surprised at the direction Gamefreak chose to move in, but man if I’m not disappointed.

Well, Pokemon X sure was… a game. X was better than I remembered, because the Kalos games have always been kind of boring for me, but it really wasn’t anything special.

I respect X and Y for what they introduced to the games - 3D models, character customization, mega evolutions, the fairy type, and other details. But a lot of what I like about X and Y are more just the steps forward for the series that X and Y introduced. That said, XY’s soundtrack rocks, Kalos feels like it has its own culture and really touches on its French influences, and XY’s trainers are overall the most stylish with their clothing options imo, even though customization is more limited in these games.

However, details like the writing being poor (which I understand is an issue with Pokemon as a whole but still), the games being COMICALLY easy, the beginning of the problem of heavy pandering to gen 1,
hell even the roller skates and how awkward they felt to use especially in a game still practically functioning with a tile system make it hard for me to get INVESTED in most runs I start. This is the first time I’ve beaten XY in years because I’ve consistently had a hard time keeping with a playthrough. And I definitely could feel that drag in this run, where I just… wasn’t feeling the game at all at certain points, less in a burnout way and more in a “this game just doesn’t work for me” way. Hell, I dropped this run for a few months because of how XY can struggle to hook me.

Overall, not bad but not spectacular either. X and Y were important for Pokemon as a whole and I respect the games for the steps forward it took, but the game itself feels weak for me personally.

Much more of a fun nostalgia trip right before the servers go down rather than me really enjoying the game. I remember loving this game as a kid, a big reason was just because of all the random ass mysteries and secrets here, I think the ghost girl alone was the source of me watching about 50 pokemon xy secrets videos in a row back then. I never get excited for new pokemon games nowadays, but I hope Legends Z-A is a good game purely because of how much 12 year old me would be freaking out that pokemon Z is a real video game.

SUMMARY:
An excellent region with creative new Pokémon designs and memorable locations. The wealth of Pokémon to choose from makes this a particularly replayable entry. But there are some deep flaws with the game - a weak plot (even for a Pokémon game), a bad cast of characters, and low difficulty (again, even for a Pokémon game).

It's obvious it could have been a better game. But if you like the series as a whole, there's good to be found in here.

--------------------

Kalos is one of the best regions we've ever gotten. The towns are very memorable - Laverre, Anistar, Lumiose, and Shalour stand out. There are a few really nice routes, with Route 14 and Route 20 coming to mind. There are some absolutely gorgeous music tracks, like Anistar City and Shalour City (although I'm not a big fan of the game's soundfont as a whole).

The new Pokémon are very good, and there's such a wide selection on all the routes that I could probably spend hours building teams for replays. Updated movesets make many previous-generation Pokémon much more usable than when they debuted.

---

The pacing is pretty weird - the gap between the first and second gyms is so wide that I usually pick up several team members in it. And it suffers the typical Pokémon problem of having virtually no plot until somewhere between the 7th and 8th gym. Also, you fight one particular gym leader three times in quick succession, which gets old very quickly.

The plot itself is bad, even for a Pokémon game. There's lots of potential in it, but it largely goes unused. I wish they did more with AZ. It makes me supremely sad that Kalos never got another game - it feels like they were planning on it, but then ran out of time & included little elements of it in ORAS and Sun/Moon.

---

Seeing a main Pokémon game in 3D for the first time was fascinating when the game came out, but I do miss the sprite era. The 3D in this game has already not aged well, while Black & White feels like it looks better every year. The 3DS games in general also suffer from framerate issues during battles. This game gets it particularly bad, being the first 3D game; it tanks the hardest during horde battles and double battles.

The models are largely lifeless, with Flying-type Pokémon getting particularly shafted. (Although I do thank them for making Eelektross look legitimately badass, and making sure its Levitate ability made visual sense, instead of waddling on the ground like a seal.)

---

Even for a Pokémon game, this one was easy. You'll one-shot virtually everything before long. Even with the EXP Share off, I beat the champion in 6 turns. Could make using some less-powerful Pokémon more fun, though.

The rivals are the worst in the entire series. I do not say that lightly. I'm not one of those people who says anyone less antagonistic than Silver is bad. I like friendly rivals. But with the very brief exception of Shauna, the rivals in this game are asinine, and every scene with them is a waste of time. Especially Tierno. Jesus Christ, Tierno.

---

I'm definitely in the minority on this, but I heavily dislike Mega Evolutions. It feels like they just gave normal-ass Pokémon a bunch of spikes and called it a day. The designs are largely uninspired, and the kinds of Pokémon they gave Megas to was very scattershot. I would've preferred if they spent more time heavily rebalancing previous generation Pokémon that needed buffing, or developing new evolutions with new design influences. (Remember Ledian? I like Ledian. I wish it wasn't so unplayably awful.)

The Fairy type was a fantastic addition. It's genuinely impressive how they managed to fix several type-balancing issues at once with just one new type - a type that fits in conceptually with previous types, and could apply to numerous already-designed Pokémon & moves - all while also ensuring that the type's strengths & weaknesses made logical sense.

I think I'm in the minority on this as well, but I loved Super Training. I don't care if there were more efficient ways to EV train, the mini games were fun. Even better, they made the world of competitive battling a little easier to get into for a newcomer, and that's always a good thing. It's a shame they got rid of it in the same generation where they introduced Bottle Caps to streamline IVs as well - a game with both in it could have introduced so many people to the world of competitive battling. I hope they bring back something similar someday.

This game has Sky Battles. Remember Sky Battles? Me neither.

--------------------

(P.S. - If you like the anime, please check out the Kalos series. It's one of the best.)

✔
This game was unfinished, so I will also be leaving this review unfinished.

French Pokémon needed a few more years to cook. After all, there are a lot of things in this game that seem unfinished. Barely anybody in Kalos has 6 Pokémon in their party, I hardly had to use any HMs (though that's probably a good thing), and the game is so easy. You have to jump through hoops to challenge yourself. There's no sauce in these games at all. None. A lot of people might point to Red and Blue when looking for the most basic Pokémon game, and you can hold that, but X and Y are the most basic Pokémon games overall. Even Mega Evolutions don't spice things up (they're a cool idea executed badly).

I have a theory as to why that is. Game Freak decided to release the game in an unfinished state because

Yeah this game is easy as hell. But if you wanted a hard JRPG then why are you playing a children’s game? Just go play SMT.

Man the art style for this game is gorgeous.

I absolutely adore Kalos itself. The fact that the region has the player exploring through the four seasons is such great level design that hardly anyone notices.

God I love this game.