It’s 2013 and the first Pokemon titles for the 3DS have just released. They promise a new era for the franchise, utilising 3d graphics and more powerful hardware. It’s a shame that they suck. Game Freak clearly put some love into these games. Locations, such as the Anistar Sundial, show art direction that makes the most of the 3DS to make something visually appealing. Kalos also brought with it a much larger regional Pokedex than any previous game. Unfortunately, glossy features weren’t enough to paint over the rough edges. Here’s all the problems that make Pokemon X and Y the worst entry in the series.
1. What is up with the Gym Leaders?!
Exploring a new region and battling gym leaders marks the core of any Pokemon game. The badges you earn forming the milestones in the journey to be the very best. These are supposedly best the trainers Kalos has to offer, so why, in X and Y, are they so weak? They use high levelled pokemon – Wulfric has the highest of any gym leader, but levels are only part of the challenge. Strategic movesets, a well rounded team, these are equally as important and Wulfric fails in this regard. His Abomasnow has an incomplete moveset and his team consists of only three pokemon. Levels don’t help much when you’re outnumbered two to one. In fact, the only person in the entire game that uses a full team, each with a full moveset, is the champion Diantha.
2. Diantha Who?
Before you face her as the champion, you only meet Diantha twice. Once where her and Lysandre wax philosophically about the nature of beauty, and again where you chat in a train station. These interactions are so insignificant that, when you challenge her at the end of the game, there’s a moment before she recognises you. Lets compared this with some of the other Champions:
- Lance – Teams up with you to take down Team Rocket’s hidden HQ
- Kukui – The professor of the Alola region, the man who gives you your first pokemon and embodies both the start and the end of your journey.
- Leon – Introduced as the unbeatable champion, endorses your gym challenge, and is one of the first characters you see in game screen.
These characters all have some integration with the main plot of their games. Diantha is just there. This completely destroys the drama behind your final battle. For you it’s the culmination of your journey but for Diantha it’s just another day at the office.
3. The Plot (An A-Z of Bad Writing).
The writing is a mess – just look at Lysandre. He thinks the world is impure (why?) and wants to wipe the slate clean. Yet his organisation, Team Flare, is filled with selfish people who only care about being better than you. Then there’s the historical context to the plot. The character AZ is an *immortal* king who introduced randomly in the desert and you don’t see him again until he’s in a cage at the stories climax. None of this is properly explained which is baffling as it’s such an extraordinary plot element. There are countless examples where the writing is similarly handled, which makes it very difficult to get invested in the story.
4. Who Needs New Pokemon?
Kalos brought the biggest regional Pokedex the series had ever seen. Playing these games for the first time, the number of pokemon available on each route felt larger than anything that had come before. While there are many pokemon to chose from, they are mostly Pokemon from older generations as Gen 6 made the smallest addition to the roster, with only 72 new pokemon. Half of the fun of a new Pokemon game is discovering new Pokemon to catch, which just makes X and Y lackluster compared to other entries in the series.
5. Navigating Through Lumiose City.
The outer ring of Lumiose City is easily the worst navigational experience in any pokemon game. The controls simply don’t match up with the way you expect your character to move. Stemming from how the camera is position, movement controls don’t align up in an intuitive way, so it’s a guess as to which direction your character will move in. This may have been Game Freak’s first foray into having a moving camera but the levels of jank are something else.
6. The Rivals Are A Mixed Bag.
Generation 6 followed on from Black and White by having multiple rival characters. Whilst opinions are divided on Bianca, Cheren and N, each has their own arc and story beats. In contrast, Kalos has Tierno. For those who don’t know, Tierno likes to dance; he really really likes to dance. Take your favourite pastime, times that by ten, and you will have a fraction of the love this guy holds for dance-based moves (of which there were only eight). Trevor isn’t much better as his sole personality trait is filling his pokedex. There are theories that each of the rival characters is supposed to represent a different way of playing a Pokemon. Trevor represents Pokedex fillers, whilst Shauna stands in for those who just want to have fun. This is an interesting design choice if this theory is true, but one that was poorly executed.
7. Limited Megas Until Post Game.
Mega Evolution was introduced to spice up Generation 6, and yet, before watching the end credits, only six evolutionary lines are capable of using the gimmick. These six include: the Kanto starters, of which you only get one, Gengar, which is a evolution accessable via trading, Lucario, and Ampharos… for some reason. There are around 218 unique evolutionary lines available before the post game, meaning only 3% of pokemon can use one of the main features of the game. You get access to lots of different Mega Evolutions after the credits roll but, by this point, many people have stopped playing.
8. Lysandre Is Obviously The Villain.
From the moment he is introduced there is know doubt as to who Lysandre is. Team Flare haven’t made an appearance yet but a villainous team is a well established part of the formula and Lysandre is clearly going to be their leader. From his dark outfit, to the level of detail in his character design, to his cryptic musings, he just screams villain. This means that, when he inevitably reveals his plan to destroy the world, it creates very little dramatic tension.
9. The Scary House.
Whatever Game Freak were intending by including this, it didn’t work. Were they trying to inject a little humour into the game with a bait and switch? The reason has been forever lost to time. It wouldn’t be so bad, but this section is completely mandatory and adds absolutely nothing to the plot. It could have been a cool opportunity to hint at some secret lore of the world, leading to a cool sense of discovery once you pieced together the clues. Instead this whole section feels like a complete waste of the player’s time.
10. Zygarde Hiding Away In Some Cave.
Criticism of Zygarde is mainly based on its comparison to the games that came before. Rayquaza, Giratina and Kyruem were all active participants in the third versions of their games, making them more than just powerful pokemon. Without a Pokemon Z, all Zygarde gets is a pokedex hinting at its role as a balancing force between life and death. Outside of that it is just a big snake chilling in a cave. Mewtwo can be found doing exaclty the same, but Mewtwo already has a history and Gen 6 gave it not one but two Mega Evolutions. Game Freak clearly new that they’d dropped the ball as Zygarde and it’s multiple forms were reintroduced in Sun and Moon. Having a powerful legendary Pokemon as a reward for a game-wide treasure hunt was a nice touch, but it lacked the narrative punch the other legendaries recieved. Zygarde deserved better.
11. So Much Wasted Potential.
From Zygarde to Lysander’s plot, so many areas just needed a little extra care and attention to allow them to thrive. It is a shame, the Kalos region has intriguing aspects that could have made these games outstanding. People criticise modern pokemon games for being rushed, but nowhere in the franchise does this feel more appropriate than here. With little bit of polish, its easy to imagine a world were X and Y made Pokemon’s jump to 3D a truly memorable experience. Instead we got stilted writing and Tierno.
(header image curtesy of pokemon.com)
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