Geekscape Games Reviews: Pokemon X and Y

Growing up in 1998, there was absolutely no way to avoid being swept up in the Pokemon craze. The wildly successful competitive RPG title spawned numerous spinoffs, a cartoon, movies, card games, and clothing that brought true meaning to the phrase, “Gotta Catch ’em All.” In retrospect, no one could have imagined that the series would become as big as it did, crossing borders to become a worldwide phenomenon. Although it was deemed as a fad by some, when we fast forward to October 2013, almost exactly 15 years since Pokemon Red and Blue were released so long ago, the monster catching series is as strong as ever. With Pokemon X and Y, 3DS owners around the world will have their hands on the latest instalments simultaneously for the first time in series history. After an extensive play through, the sixth generation of games prove to be the best ones yet, streamlining most of the tedium of training with the largest roster to date and a visual overhaul that will surely excite even the oldest of trainers.

As with the previous games, X and Y puts you in the role of a Pokemon trainer who must travel the world in order to collect wild monsters to join your party and battle rival trainers in order to become the very best, (like no one ever was.) While there was a time when catching 150 creatures seemed like an impossible goal, these games aren’t shy with distributing the daunting amount of over 700 total party members throughout the game. Each section of the map can contain close to a dozen unique Pokemon that span all six generations, giving players an absurd amount of variety to choose from when forming a balanced team. Imagine my shock when the first Pokemon I ever caught when I was 12 was the first Pokemon I caught now, when a wild Pidgey challenged me to a battle. Are you a fan of Fearow? How about Zangoose? Or the two people who liked Sawk and Throh? They’re all here in the wild. In addition to the 70 plus newbies introduced to the games, you’re sure to find plenty of old and new surprises every time you step into the tall grass.

Sprawling cities like Lumiose City show off the larger environments.

With so many Pokemon making their return within the Kalos region, they stand out even more thanks to the huge visual leap that this generation takes. The additional power of the 3DS allowed Game Freak to finally make a Pokemon game in full 3D, with all 700-ish monsters being modeled instead of being sprite based. Everything from the environments to the attacks look incredible, and watching classic attacks like Fly and Surf in action is sure to put a smile on the faces of veterans. This has to be the first game in years that I didn’t try to turn battle animations off since they’re so much fun to watch. Outside of battles, the characters and cities are much bigger. Traveling is way faster now that roller skates, grind rails and cabs can be used to move around in addition to the running shoes and bikes of the past. Trainers can also add their own personal touch to their character with new clothes that can be purchased for customization.

3D visuals don’t come without their share of problems though. The 3D on the 3DS drops in and out at certain points. It seems as if 3D isn’t possible in busy or big environments, potentially to prevent slowdown. During battles, 3D is almost always available, but not without the game slowing down to a chug. Even without 3D on, if large attacks or weather effects are taking place, or if fights are being settled in environments that feature background animations, the game’s frame rate takes a noticeable dive. Even then, some of the 3D looks incredible, especially during evolutions or certain animations such as sparks. Let’s just hope the developers can get the visuals down as the series continues to evolve, (no pun intended, but very, very wanted.)

Outside of this graphics renaissance, X and Y also refines the in-game mechanics to near perfection, and special attention must be paid how Game Freak has streamlined the entire experience. Longtime trainers will notice that the experience system has been revamped in a variety of helpful ways. For example, catching Pokemon nets experience the same way winning a battle would. Any Pokemon that participates in the battle gets full experience, instead of splitting it amongst the fighters. Oh, and remember EXP. Share? The hold item that split experience with the Pokemon who holds it, even if it doesn’t battle? Well, now it’s a Key Item that distributes half of the EXP to ALL party members regardless of participation. This nearly makes grinding a thing of the past, so while this system does run the risk of making the game much easier, (as if the old games were hard to begin with,) it also eliminates hours of farming, especially when maxing out levels. If players want more of a challenge, they can always turn it off, but it’s too bad that the option to give it to only one party member wasn’t included like before.

Super Training makes stat boosting easier, but it’s not much fun.

In addition to these improvements, EV training has also been simplified for our convenience. Previously a hidden feature of the game, EV training was the method used for giving your party specific stat boosts by fighting certain opponents with a strength in a particular area. For example, if you fight nothing but Zubats, (who specialize in speed,) the monster responsible for wiping out the world’s bat population would gain a higher speed boost than normal. If searching for specific monsters sounds like too much of a hassle, X and Y has added an active and passive form of raising these stats. Players can partake in different mini games that help boost the areas of your choice, or they can select specific punching bags that can either raise stats, improve mini game performance or unlock new bags while you play normally. If you’re impatient, you can also tap the bag on the touch screen to break it faster, which helps since you can only carry so many bags.

These training sections are also complimented by the much touted Pokemon-Amie mode, a separate mini game that lets one of your party members get all pampered up Nintendogs style. Petting, feeding and playing games with your partner can give it boosts for battle and raise its friendship level, another unseen stat that affected the power of certain moves, evolution in some species and in game rewards. I can’t emphasize enough how great it is to have an alternative way to raise these stats aside from mindlessly mashing A while you repeatedly battle randoms, but apparently beggars can be choosers, because these sections are where the game can use some improvement. For being new features, the game does a horrible job of introducing you to the modes, and most of what I learned about them was through trial and error. The mini games themselves are rather shallow, especially the training ones where each stat boost game is exactly the same with a different shaped balloon. Still, it beats hours of finding Machokes to boost attack with, and like the EXP Share, it’s completely optional, so the classic way of doing things is still just as viable.

With training and graphics getting such a huge do-over, don’t think the battles didn’t go through some changes as well. If you’ve been following the game at all, then you’re sure to have learned about the new Fairy type and Mega Evolutions. Starting with the new element, many of the old Normal types, (along with a few other creatures,) have been converted to this new type, bringing the total up to 18 unique elements. Much like Rock Paper Scissors, certain types are strong and weak to others, with each Pokemon and attack being labeled with at least one such type. Some have been rebalanced, (like Steel losing some resistances, Electric becoming immune to paralysis and Dragons being unable to hurt retroactive Fairies like Jigglypuff,) but the biggest game changer that Fairy brings has nothing to do with its own type at all. With Fairies having only a handful of weaknesses, the Poison type has gone from virtually useless to a vital part of the main game’s strategy since they’re one of the best ways to take these new guys down. Sadly, Bug still sucks.

Got a dragon problem? Throw pink at it!

As powerful as the Fairy type is, the biggest boost of strength comes from Mega Evolutions, a new, temporary transformation that only affects certain Pokemon. Essentially a new evolution that doesn’t take up space on the Pokedex, these forms can give the user appearance changes, power boosts, new abilities, or new typing. The catch? Mega Evolution can only be achieved during battle by having the Pokemon hold a certain item, taking up that oh-so-important item slot. Transforming can only be done once per battle, so if said Pokemon faints and is revived, or more than one party member has the ability to change into their mega form, the ability can’t be used again during that battle, even if the second one never transformed itself. How useful losing the item slot will be in competitive play in exchange for transforming is yet to be seen, but at the very least, it adds a new layer of depth to an already deep system while giving us new forms to old favorites that we never thought we’d see.

Meet Mega Mewtwo Y, one of the many new Mega Evolutions.

With all of these improvements, it’s easy to look over some of the smaller shortcomings, (like the new Sky Battles being pointless with useless restrictions, Horde Battles taking far too long when they cycle through five low level opponents and Pikachu being the only Pokemon to get a spoken voice, the attention whore…) but the game’s only major flaw is its story. When Pokemon Black and White released, it was a huge step in the right direction, with a strong narrative in a series that was known for being sadly shallow. After spoiling us with interesting and charismatic characters like N, Ghetsis, Team Plasma, and gym leaders who actually stepped out of their gyms and helped when the world was threatened, X and Y almost does a complete U-Turn.

Like generations 3 and 4, these games take a basic approach that gives you the bare minimum of motivation to continue story wise. That means going to the gym, fighting the leader, maybe fighting the new evil team, Team Flare, rinse, and repeat. Having a group of four friends that aid you throughout your journey instead of the usual rival is far from enough to make this feel like the same old song and dance. The worst part is that the game has a ton of interesting lore found through NPC’s, a fun side plot surrounding the origins of Mega Evolutions, and an ending that almost brought a tear to my eye, (all while giving off a Return of the Jedi vibe.) But yet, rather than spreading out the story throughout the game, the main conflict isn’t directly addressed until very late in the game and is essentially resolved all in one sequence, which is a real shame since Team Flare’s leader seems to have a ton of untapped potential. Unfortunately, he barely gets any screen time aside from some vague, passive aggressive threats until moments before his final defeat. Even the basic badge collecting plot takes awhile to get started, with hours between the first, second and third badges before rapidly firing off the next four. More elaboration, better pacing, and important characters playing a more active role was sorely needed, which is apparent when set side by side with the huge step forward Black and White was. Oh well, let’s hope this is addressed in the inevitable Z version.

Your group of friends is one of the few highlights of the story.

It would have been easy for Game Freak to rest on their laurels and release something more familiar, sell another 10 million copies and call it a day, but it’s clear that they wanted to make a huge impression to take the series into the new generation. Even with the narrative flaws, Pokemon X and Y feels like not only the best Pokemon game on the market, but one of the best games of the year. By eliminating the tedious grinding of the past while adding tons of features, abilities and rearranging the game’s balance, what we’re left with is a game that does as much as possible to perfect the game play we’ve known and loved for a decade and a half, all to an impressive soundtrack. With a story lasting about 25 hours and a post game including the returning Battle Tower, (now the Battle Mansion,) new areas to explore and tons of Mega Stones that unlock new Mega Evolutions, there’s plenty to do after the credits roll, (and that’s not even counting filling the Pokedex!) While the story needs work and the graphics run into some technical snags, these flaws are miniscule in the face of everything that these games do right.

Whether you’re a long time trainer, a newcomer or looking to come out of retirement, it would be impossible to find a reason not to catch ’em all one more time. On a system with so many great games, Pokemon X and Y manages to stand tall as one of the greatest offerings that the 3DS has to offer, and is one of the most polished role playing games on the market bar none. In other words, this is a game that absolutely cannot be missed!

TL;DR:

+ The largest roster in series history, with more wild Pokemon than you’ll know what to do with.

+ Refined, streamlined training methods.

+ Graphics that bring the Pokemon world alive like never before.

+ Mega Evolutions and Fairy’s turns strategies on their heads.

– The story takes a huge step back, even with plenty of good ideas sprinkled in.

– Massive slowdown with the inconsistent 3D on and occasional slowdown without.

– Training and Pokemon-Amie mini games could be explained much better… or at all.

Final score: 4.75 out of 5.