I, uh, finished this some time in April and just sorta forgot to log it I suppose. Ironically, something I think sums-up X/Y pretty well; overall skippable.
Now don't get me wrong, the games are well-made and function as they should. The graphics are great for the 3DS standards, the soundtrack is a bop, and the number of Pokemon available gives you a lot of potential teambuilding options. But just about everything else does not hold up... the story has interesting moments and lots of cool ideas (a fucking war happened and we're just not gonna talk about it for more than two cutscenes?) but is overall a huge nothingburger. It somehow feels both rushed and yet sluggishly paced at the same time, with events just sorta happening because... because. But hey, story is rarely (if ever) the main draw for a Pokemon game! So how about the gameplay? Shockingly enough, it's Pokemon. Big surprise I'm sure. But with all the species available to catch, there must be a lot of ways to build your team and be challenged by the game, right? ...right?
...the game is balanced about as well as a dysfunctional wooden beam in the middle of a hurricane; it's not very balanced. Whilst on paper the sheer variety of Pokemon you can use is great, you're given so many gift Pokemon that it won't matter to much of the casual audience. But even for someone like me who caught a number of Pokemon for my team, even rotating some out, the game's difficulty is a joke. I had overlapping weaknesses to a good number of types, no mega evolutions, my fastest Pokemon was a Tyrantrum (base 71 speed btw), was using limited battle items, and I went into the league with an underleveled team... the only battle I really struggled with was Drasna, more specifically her Dragalge. Not just in the league but for the whole game. This was the one time I felt like I was actually at a proper disadvantage, and even then I did it to myself by not accounting for poison-types too well. But my point is the game's balance is shit; the first battle against Lysandre, the BIG BAD EVIL MAN who is BIG and EVIL and WANTS DESTRUCTION gives him two NFE Pokemon. Murkrow is good enough unevolved, fair enough, but Meinfoo? In the endgame portion? Actually laughable. And it's not even consistent given the second battle with him barely twenty minutes later has both of those Pokemon evolved.
The difficulty is made even more pathetic by the introduction of megas. These behemoths either snap the game in two or are worth ignoring. Lucky for players, the game hands out broken megas like candy which does include one of the best ones; Mega Lucario. This stupid thing is already really strong in competitive, but in casual the game just becomes an absolute cakewalk unless you do stupid shit like try to hit ghosts with fighting moves. Mega Lucario shows my general issue with the design of mega evolutions as they were implemented; making already strong Pokemon batshit broken. Fuck, I love Tyranitar but even it isn't safe from this syndrome. Yes there are still other powerful megas such as Mawile and Lopunny but these Pokemon were aching for anything good for the longest time. Kangaskhan is the queen of this trope in fact, going from a decent Pokemon to batshit broken because of mega evolution. But these broken megas are the ones you only really hear about... because the rest of them are just sad. I don't know why we live in a world where someone approved mega Lucario, mega Sableye, and mega Kanga yet also decided mega Ampharos having 55 speed just wasn't allowed. Or mega Abomasnow being a slow fat fuck whilst still keeping its dogshit defensive typing... you get the picture. Megas are a cool idea, but very heavily flawed as it comes down to picking the ones that break the game in two whilst the rest of them sit crying in a corner.
So, I've been complaining for a lot of this review. Yet I did honestly still enjoy this game for what it's worth; it's the most standard Pokemon adventure you can get with lots of creatures to catch, battles to be had (however easy they may be), and a story-ish of some description in there to keep you moving forward. There's no doubt that this game did a lot of good for the franchise with it's re-balancing of certain moves and mechanics, making competitive training easier as well. There are good steps here... but the whole of this game is merely fine. It was a start to bringing Pokemon to the new generation, and a good start at that. But replaying it with a critical eye (as well as experiencing Gen.7/8/9 which all built on it so much) I can see how mediocre and flawed it is. It's a great point for newcomers to the series to start, because in spite of being flawed it isn't genuinely broken like OG Red/Blue are. It's just a decently enjoyable game with a lack of substance for veterans or returning players.
Now don't get me wrong, the games are well-made and function as they should. The graphics are great for the 3DS standards, the soundtrack is a bop, and the number of Pokemon available gives you a lot of potential teambuilding options. But just about everything else does not hold up... the story has interesting moments and lots of cool ideas (a fucking war happened and we're just not gonna talk about it for more than two cutscenes?) but is overall a huge nothingburger. It somehow feels both rushed and yet sluggishly paced at the same time, with events just sorta happening because... because. But hey, story is rarely (if ever) the main draw for a Pokemon game! So how about the gameplay? Shockingly enough, it's Pokemon. Big surprise I'm sure. But with all the species available to catch, there must be a lot of ways to build your team and be challenged by the game, right? ...right?
...the game is balanced about as well as a dysfunctional wooden beam in the middle of a hurricane; it's not very balanced. Whilst on paper the sheer variety of Pokemon you can use is great, you're given so many gift Pokemon that it won't matter to much of the casual audience. But even for someone like me who caught a number of Pokemon for my team, even rotating some out, the game's difficulty is a joke. I had overlapping weaknesses to a good number of types, no mega evolutions, my fastest Pokemon was a Tyrantrum (base 71 speed btw), was using limited battle items, and I went into the league with an underleveled team... the only battle I really struggled with was Drasna, more specifically her Dragalge. Not just in the league but for the whole game. This was the one time I felt like I was actually at a proper disadvantage, and even then I did it to myself by not accounting for poison-types too well. But my point is the game's balance is shit; the first battle against Lysandre, the BIG BAD EVIL MAN who is BIG and EVIL and WANTS DESTRUCTION gives him two NFE Pokemon. Murkrow is good enough unevolved, fair enough, but Meinfoo? In the endgame portion? Actually laughable. And it's not even consistent given the second battle with him barely twenty minutes later has both of those Pokemon evolved.
The difficulty is made even more pathetic by the introduction of megas. These behemoths either snap the game in two or are worth ignoring. Lucky for players, the game hands out broken megas like candy which does include one of the best ones; Mega Lucario. This stupid thing is already really strong in competitive, but in casual the game just becomes an absolute cakewalk unless you do stupid shit like try to hit ghosts with fighting moves. Mega Lucario shows my general issue with the design of mega evolutions as they were implemented; making already strong Pokemon batshit broken. Fuck, I love Tyranitar but even it isn't safe from this syndrome. Yes there are still other powerful megas such as Mawile and Lopunny but these Pokemon were aching for anything good for the longest time. Kangaskhan is the queen of this trope in fact, going from a decent Pokemon to batshit broken because of mega evolution. But these broken megas are the ones you only really hear about... because the rest of them are just sad. I don't know why we live in a world where someone approved mega Lucario, mega Sableye, and mega Kanga yet also decided mega Ampharos having 55 speed just wasn't allowed. Or mega Abomasnow being a slow fat fuck whilst still keeping its dogshit defensive typing... you get the picture. Megas are a cool idea, but very heavily flawed as it comes down to picking the ones that break the game in two whilst the rest of them sit crying in a corner.
So, I've been complaining for a lot of this review. Yet I did honestly still enjoy this game for what it's worth; it's the most standard Pokemon adventure you can get with lots of creatures to catch, battles to be had (however easy they may be), and a story-ish of some description in there to keep you moving forward. There's no doubt that this game did a lot of good for the franchise with it's re-balancing of certain moves and mechanics, making competitive training easier as well. There are good steps here... but the whole of this game is merely fine. It was a start to bringing Pokemon to the new generation, and a good start at that. But replaying it with a critical eye (as well as experiencing Gen.7/8/9 which all built on it so much) I can see how mediocre and flawed it is. It's a great point for newcomers to the series to start, because in spite of being flawed it isn't genuinely broken like OG Red/Blue are. It's just a decently enjoyable game with a lack of substance for veterans or returning players.