Topic: Least Favourite Things About X/Y

[Hazel Grace]

Post some of your niggles with X and Y! I'll start

I think the Gym Leaders, E4 and Champion were rather easy, they should've added a 'Hard Mode/Challenge Mode' like they did in BW/BW2.

[Awkward Squirtle]

The almost complete lack of a postgame. There's no reliable rematch system, and idk, I want like an island like from DPP with another legend like Heatran and decent wilds on it. Kiloude city isn't enough for me.

[Turner]

-The fact it's so obvious about the fact it's based in France. Yes I know we had Kanto before, but it felt like its own separate place. Sinnoh, Hoenn and Johto are based on areas in Japan but it always just felt established as being 'the pokemon world'. I always get the feeling with both Unova (less so in S2) and Kalos there was a really strong attempt to outright mimic America and France - The Kalos Pokedex even has a French flag on it. I hope in future we get a more 'generic' region. Something that isn't limited by the geography of real-world locations.

-The lack of new Pokemon. I felt this was disappointing. I know everyone chimes in with 'Too many would be difficult to memorize' and yeah, that is a problem. But I like that, I like the fact that even now most people forget Pokemon like Lumineon even exists. I think the idea that there are so many Pokemon that it's difficult to really remember all of them is a great thing, it really makes me feel like Pokemon are really part of this huge world like animals are instead of just being characters in a franchise.

-Lack of Postgame. The Looker missions are good but it's not really enough. I'm sure there will be more to come, so I'm not complaining just yet but I still think some extra stuff would be nice. I think they relied on Bank too much to carry the legendaries. Coupled with the low number of Pokemon, it didn't really feel like catching Pokemon was much of a feature in X/Y - just something to build a team from. I think this is also where a small linear region gets to be a problem, you have to literally fill routes up with Pokemon to the point where it seems unrealistic that there would be say, 10 Pokemon in one small route.

-Story was kinda weak. Masuda recently admitted in an interview that Team Flare were supposed to be Goofy and it shows, I couldn't really get behind the AZ/Lysandre plot and it felt weak and like a bad copy of Team Rocket.

-Nostalgia pandering. Honestly, this isn't a bad thing in of itself - I liked the GB Sounds item on HG/SS but I felt that there was a little too much in X/Y, Snorlax blocking the route would have been cool if it had been a staple in every Pokemon game but instead felt more like a 'hey remember this?' homage. Sycamore giving you a choice of the Kanto starters...hmm, it was good in some ways but I felt like it didn't show much confidence in the new Pokemon. Santalune Forest for example seemed like a copy of Viridian Forest and an attempt to remain as familiar as possible. I don't think Nostalgia pandering in itself is bad, I just think there are less obvious ways to do it without losing the believability of the Pokemon World.

-The font. This sounds like a really stupid complaint, but I still haven't warmed to it. It feels like a Nintendo Default 'family friendly' font for Wii configuration or something which is even worse when you have to read...

-Nintendo Memes. Yeah, over 9000, my body is ready...they might be funny every now and again, but I don't feel like Pokemon is the right series to do this in. Pokemon's selling point IMO has always been that it's a complete world that doesn't try to live off it's fame as a videogame, it tries to make itself believable. When you've got trainers saying things like 'CAN HAZ BATTLE?' I just sigh in my head because it breaks the suspension of belief.

-Mega evolution choices. Mega evos in themselves aren't bad, I think it's a neat idea but the choices of mega evolutions are ridiculous. Did Scizor, Blaziken or Garchomp REALLY need a mega evolution? They were already ridiculously strong. I feel like the game should have gone into more detail on mega evolution and used that as the criteria for deciding who gets one. Imagine if the only Pokemon to get mega evolutions were the manmade ones, they could treat the stones like some kind of technology. Some of them don't really make sense either. I mean, Mega Magnetric...what exactly happened here? Why does it look the way it does?

Anyway, I probably sound like I hate the games but I really enjoy them. I believe a lot of the nostalgia pandering is a safeguard to change. Pokemon as a franchise has taken 2 huge risks with X/Y - 3D and a new type. I think a lot of the nostalgia pandering comes from not trying to alienate the fans.

[Hazel Grace]

-The fact it's so obvious about the fact it's based in France. Yes I know we had Kanto before, but it felt like its own separate place. Sinnoh, Hoenn and Johto are based on areas in Japan but it always just felt established as being 'the pokemon world'. I always get the feeling with both Unova (less so in S2) and Kalos there was a really strong attempt to outright mimic America and France - The Kalos Pokedex even has a French flag on it. I hope in future we get a more 'generic' region. Something that isn't limited by the geography of real-world locations.

-The lack of new Pokemon. I felt this was disappointing. I know everyone chimes in with 'Too many would be difficult to memorize' and yeah, that is a problem. But I like that, I like the fact that even now most people forget Pokemon like Lumineon even exists. I think the idea that there are so many Pokemon that it's difficult to really remember all of them is a great thing, it really makes me feel like Pokemon are really part of this huge world like animals are instead of just being characters in a franchise.

-Lack of Postgame. The Looker missions are good but it's not really enough. I'm sure there will be more to come, so I'm not complaining just yet but I still think some extra stuff would be nice. I think they relied on Bank too much to carry the legendaries. Coupled with the low number of Pokemon, it didn't really feel like catching Pokemon was much of a feature in X/Y - just something to build a team from. I think this is also where a small linear region gets to be a problem, you have to literally fill routes up with Pokemon to the point where it seems unrealistic that there would be say, 10 Pokemon in one small route.

-Story was kinda weak. Masuda recently admitted in an interview that Team Flare were supposed to be Goofy and it shows, I couldn't really get behind the AZ/Lysandre plot and it felt weak and like a bad copy of Team Rocket.

-Nostalgia pandering. Honestly, this isn't a bad thing in of itself - I liked the GB Sounds item on HG/SS but I felt that there was a little too much in X/Y, Snorlax blocking the route would have been cool if it had been a staple in every Pokemon game but instead felt more like a 'hey remember this?' homage. Sycamore giving you a choice of the Kanto starters...hmm, it was good in some ways but I felt like it didn't show much confidence in the new Pokemon. Santalune Forest for example seemed like a copy of Viridian Forest and an attempt to remain as familiar as possible. I don't think Nostalgia pandering in itself is bad, I just think there are less obvious ways to do it without losing the believability of the Pokemon World.

-The font. This sounds like a really stupid complaint, but I still haven't warmed to it. It feels like a Nintendo Default 'family friendly' font for Wii configuration or something which is even worse when you have to read...

-Nintendo Memes. Yeah, over 9000, my body is ready...they might be funny every now and again, but I don't feel like Pokemon is the right series to do this in. Pokemon's selling point IMO has always been that it's a complete world that doesn't try to live off it's fame as a videogame, it tries to make itself believable. When you've got trainers saying things like 'CAN HAZ BATTLE?' I just sigh in my head because it breaks the suspension of belief.

-Mega evolution choices. Mega evos in themselves aren't bad, I think it's a neat idea but the choices of mega evolutions are ridiculous. Did Scizor, Blaziken or Garchomp REALLY need a mega evolution? They were already ridiculously strong. I feel like the game should have gone into more detail on mega evolution and used that as the criteria for deciding who gets one. Imagine if the only Pokemon to get mega evolutions were the manmade ones, they could treat the stones like some kind of technology. Some of them don't really make sense either. I mean, Mega Magnetric...what exactly happened here? Why does it look the way it does?

Anyway, I probably sound like I hate the games but I really enjoy them. I believe a lot of the nostalgia pandering is a safeguard to change. Pokemon as a franchise has taken 2 huge risks with X/Y - 3D and a new type. I think a lot of the nostalgia pandering comes from not trying to alienate the fans.

Obviously they've made a huge leap to 3D and I think that they were focusing more on getting the mechanics and graphics of the game right so that they had a platform to build on for next game. Hopefully they'll be able to work on the story in the next games and improve the bits of the game that need improving.

[Mew King]

-The lack of new Pokemon. I felt this was disappointing. I know everyone chimes in with 'Too many would be difficult to memorize' and yeah, that is a problem. But I like that, I like the fact that even now most people forget Pokemon like Lumineon even exists. I think the idea that there are so many Pokemon that it's difficult to really remember all of them is a great thing, it really makes me feel like Pokemon are really part of this huge world like animals are instead of just being characters in a franchise.

I only wanted to say one thing.  By the way the TCG is going, not even The Pokemon Company remembers Lumineon.  It only has two cards with the latest one being from 2008.  At least the Abra family has a reasoning why it hasn't appeared (blame Uri Geller for that)

[MonsterMon64]

I really only have one complaint, and it's this: compared to last gen's gym leaders, X and Y's leaders lack in substance. I mean, we've got Korrina, Clemont and Wulfric, who at the very least contribute to the plot/worldbuilding in some way or another, but other than that, everyone else is just kinda... there. That said, I still think Ramos is a pretty cool dude.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

Two very minor things that are ruining the game for me atm:

-> Only one leftovrrs means I need to trade
-> Only one Eviolite means I can't use Dusclops and P2

[Mew King]

I really only have one complaint, and it's this: compared to last gen's gym leaders, X and Y's leaders lack in substance. I mean, we've got Korrina, Clemont and Wulfric, who at the very least contribute to the plot/worldbuilding in some way or another, but other than that, everyone else is just kinda... there. That said, I still think Ramos is a pretty cool dude.

To me, the worst of these gym leaders is Olympia who I didn't even really expect at all when I entered her gym.  I was playing it blind so I was thinking an Ice typed gym leader would follow that snow route...but then I'm left with a trippy gym run by Olympia that comes completely out of the blue. 

[MonsterMon64]

^I actually kinda liked her gym, but Olympia herself is probably my least favorite out of 'em. Just... nothing really stand-out about her.

Kudos to Wulfric for totally trolling me with his silhouette, I thought we were gonna get yet another Water-type gym leader-- a ship's captain with a ship's wheel for a badge. Though we have plenty of Ice-type gym leaders too. Eh.

[Mew King]

^I actually kinda liked her gym, but Olympia herself is probably my least favorite out of 'em. Just... nothing really stand-out about her.

Kudos to Wulfric for totally trolling me with his silhouette, I thought we were gonna get yet another Water-type gym leader-- a ship's captain with a ship's wheel for a badge. Though we have plenty of Ice-type gym leaders too. Eh.

I do like her gym, but it's more of her out of the blue when it's obvious that it really should have been an ice type gym.  I mean it's like...what were they thinking putting the ice type gym so far away from the coldest routes in the game.

[Awkward Squirtle]

Olympia's kind of cool I think, with the whole talking only in haiku thing, but I thought the best one was Wulfric, just for saying "screw friendship with your pokémon, I battle cos it's fun."

[MonsterMon64]

^I think his point was less "Screw friendship" and more like he doesn't really overthink the meaning of Pokemon battles, and that's by no means a bad mindset to have. I do think it's fun to learn about people through the Pokemon they use, etc., but in the end, the battle speaks for itself.

Also, I didn't notice Olympia only spoke in haiku. I'll have to check out her dialogue some time.

[Awkward Squirtle]

I'm pretty sure it was her, I remember noticing all one of the gym leader's lines were strangely short and arranged oddly, so I checked syllable count and it was haiku lengths.

I didn't mean screw friendship exactly, just like that's not what it's about for him, but rather about having a good time.

[Captain Jigglypuff]

What I didn't like are the lack of more color choices for hair such as blue, green, yellow, white, and purple and the option of giving yourself highlights and a mohawk. Also disappointed that there is STILL no Dark type Gym Leader and the Cosmic Flip was very disappointing. I mean I worked so hard to learn the trick from the Master and all it does is make you do a boring backflip with a magical sound effect. I was expecting something more flashy like sparkly stars coming out of your skates or a triple flip jump where you can jump over trees or something.

[Delicious_Scout]

Two very minor things that are ruining the game for me atm:

-> Only one leftovrrs means I need to trade
-> Only one Eviolite means I can't use Dusclops and P2

Although I agree with the "Eviolite", "Leftovrrs" can be found in-game again. How? http://www.blocked.net/xy/inverse.shtml

And now I notice I have wasted many BP getting those objects... ;_;

EDIT: I tried to "borrow" them via TM46, but after the battle none of those objects were kept. Dang it. At least now I know I spent my BP wisely.