Pokémon Generation VI (X/Y and Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire)

[Vi Deo]

I just realized I could make a team with additions from each generation. I totally want to do that. What a tough decision that'll be though. Pick a favorite from each gen and plop them into a team. Hrm...

[Will T.]

As I'm sure most everyone is aware, X and Y hit the eShop for North America at midnight Eastern time, which was almost 3 hours ago now. I'm a little over an hour into X; here are my thoughts so far (spoilers abound!):

VIEW CONTENT:

- I just had to pick Chespin as my starter. It's too adorable!
- The first wild 'mon I encountered was a Pidgey, which tipped me off to the fact that the concept of the national Dex is not present here. It's just as well - with over 600 older 'mons to pick from, it would be rather pointless to keep them from being available until after an arbitrary point late in the game. That was something I disliked when playing White. Also I don't think this generation introduces all that many new creatures, so dedicating an entire national Dex to them wouldn't be much fun.
- In the first two routes I found Normal, Flying, Electric, Grass, and Bug types - I'm not used to Electric being available until relatively late in any given game, and unless I'm mistaken (which I probably am since 99.5% of my Pokemon experience is with Silver and SoulSilver), Grass types aren't typically available until at least after the first gym.
- The tutorial segment of the game seems to be much more compact in X/Y than in previous titles, which is quite nice as it makes getting started go much faster, but it results in there being a LOT of hand-holding at the beginning. I find I don't mind it that much - anything to make learning the same basics that have always existed go faster is fine by me. (Fun fact: you can buy and use Poke Balls before you receive the standard character-issued tutorial for them. )
- The music is quite nice. Reminds me vaguely of the GBA days with a hint of the classic Game Boy style at times.
- Everything seems generally "faster." All of the processes that used to take a long time - animation to enter battle, healing at the PokeCenter, loading/saving, etc. - takes a lot less time than it used to. Even the title screen lacks a long, elaborate intro movie - it just does a short less-than-ten-seconds animation and then says "Press Start." And once you do press start, there's not even a main menu until you've saved your game and quit at least once.
- I think that having the game saved to the SD card helps with save/load times. Saving is so fast that the "Do not turn off the power" message barely has time to display before it finishes!
- Pressing X still opens your menu, but there are shortcuts to all of your menu options on the bottom edge of the touch screen. I wish Black and White had had this - it might have improved my experience with White version by a lot. That game didn't even tell you how to open the menu, for crying out loud ... I had to mash buttons until it opened.

Also, don't forget to check Mystery Gift from the main menu (only accessible after starting your game and saving/quitting at least once) to get a Torchic with the item that lets it become Mega Blaziken in battle once it evolves fully.

[Supreveio]

Got both X and Y. Gonna play Y and give X to a friend.

Should actually be playing it in a few hours or so.

[abiscuit]

I found a Bidoof within the first 30min of the game.

Best game ever.

[DDYzErO]

I just got Y. lets catch em all

[Vi Deo]

I made the mistake of going for nature with torchic instead of gender. Here's hoping they change the breeding mechanics for hidden ability.

[darklin0]

I found a Bidoof within the first 30min of the game.

Best game ever.

Gonna train my Bidoof to be the best of them all.

[abiscuit]

My Bidoof is in the top percentage of all Bidoof. You have no chance.

[Will T.]

Whew ... I lost track of time today and probably played for close to six hours, if not more. More thoughts and facts (with more spoilers):

VIEW CONTENT:

- These games really don't mess around with getting the good stuff to you early on. You will get the Exp. Share (which doles out XP to everyone in the party, not just a single holder) around the time you finish the first gym, and the day care becomes available long before you ever reach the second gym. Same with the game's two new fossils, of which you get to hand-select one.
- The Exp. Share being changed to its new, close-to-but-not-quite-the-same-as-Gen-I form helps immensely with level grinding. No more ending up with an accidental 20-level split between party members! You'll still want to train laggers individually though since it really only serves to keep your party's levels similar, not as a catch-up device; and if you end up with a primary fighter or two, they will still pull out significantly ahead of the rest after a time, so watch out for that.
- There is a fairly long stretch between the first and second gyms (I'm still not to the second gym yet, but I think I'm getting close), which allows you to build up your team a lot after finishing the first gym. I don't know if this will be the case with every pair of gyms, but I rather doubt it because at the rate I am able to level up my 'mons this early in the game, that would probably put them in the low to mid 70s level-wise by the time I get to the Elite Four.
- I was very disappointed in Quilladin's appearance after Chespin evolved into it, but it seems to have quite impressive defensive capabilities, so I'm warming up to it. Still can't wait for it to evolve into Chesnaught though.
- Although most of the game outside of battles does not use the 3DS's 3D capabilities, it does show up inside of some caves, which looks rather nice.
- Some caves are explored from a behind-the-back perspective, giving them a very different feeling and making traversing them a bit more difficult as it is easy to get lost.
- Team Flare is so ridiculously cheesy it feels like Game Freak just said, "You know what? Screw the convoluted narrative about goals and whatnot - these guys are just self-serving jerks, and that's all they need to be." Literally the first thing one of their members says to you is "Team Flare wants to make its own members happy, and no one else!" (not quite exact words) I like it because it's funny.
- For anyone who, like me, was wondering which unlucky 'mon would claim Dex number 666, it's Vivillon (the butterfly with pixel-eyes).

I don't think I've had this much fun with a Pokemon game since the original Silver version. Black and White were lackluster for me after all the hype I heard for them, but X/Y seem to avoid mucking around with narratives and what-not in favor of a simple and straightforward experience. It's a lot like the early games in many ways, but infinitely more polished.

[abiscuit]

I've put in about 9 hours into this game and I can confidently say this game is likely the best in the series by a long shot. If anyone is on the fence about this game, I've got a bunch of reasons why this game is worth your time. Keep in mind that at its core this game is still Pokemon, but X/Y does a lot to make that experience great.

1. The pacing in this game is a lot faster and doesn't slow you down much with arbitrary stuff

Within 5 minutes you have your starter and you can start catching Pokemon right out of the gate. You have running shoes from the moment you start the game, and there are other means of faster transportation made available really early.


2. There are a lot of Pokemon available

Remember how in Black/White only the new generation Pokemon were available? Yeah that sucked. In X/Y I've found myself spending hours in one route because just when I think I caught everything in the route something else appears. There's a very nice mix of the new and the familiar in all the routes I've been in so far and there is a lot of variety of Pokemon Types as well. I've found myself running out of Pokeballs really fast and that is a great problem to have. Oh, and you also get a first generation starter at some point early in the game.


3. The Exp. Share change allows for team experimentation

The Exp. Share now gives 100% Exp. to any active Pokemon and 50% of that Exp. to any Pokemon on your bench. This item allows you to keep Pokemon on your team that you might be curious about and level them up without spending a lot of time swapping them around like you would in the old games. It encourages you to keep your team full and to try new things out which is something all of the games made difficult without a heavy amount of grinding. Though if you like the old way of getting experience you can always turn this item off, but I don't know why you would.


4. The online features of this game almost makes this game the Pokemon MMO that everyone has always wanted

Turn on the internet features in this game. Seriously, do it. When people who also have the internet turned on are in the same area as you they will show up as "Passerbys" and you can battle/trade/send powerups to anyone listed from any point in the game. For anyone on your 3DS friends list you can battle/trade/whatever with them from anywhere in the game. You can access the Global Trading System (GTS) from anywhere in the game. Wonder Trades are a neat feature where you can throw a random Pokemon into the trading ether and get a random one back that someone else also threw in there.

All the features that were in Black/White and earlier used to either be tied to Pokemon Centers or only to people within earshot of you, and now they have removed that barrier.


5. Super Training allows EV Training to be more accessible and completed within minutes

EV training used to be something that would be time consuming and would leave this huge barrier between the people who had the desire and time to do it compared to the people who didn't feel like doing it or didn't know what it was. Now this can be done through a Super Training mini game and EVs are visible with this tool making it a lot more accessible and much smaller time commitment.


6. The internet doesn't have all the information about this game yet

This point will only be temporary, it's only a matter of time before someone gets all the info for the Pokemon in this game. Because this game is a worldwide release, every single detail about all the new Pokemon has not been uncovered yet. The internet is in a weird state of still discovering stuff and it feels like I'm in school again with all the rumors people keep trying to spread. This isn't necessarily a point for or against X/Y but I just think it's funny.


I'm likely missing a few things worth mentioning but that's all on the top of my head. Point is this is the most polished Pokemon game they've ever made.

[Guardian]

So since I'm in Australia and I've been playing probably a bit too extensively I'm finding myself quite ahead in the game, at the 7th gym already. The game's pace picks up after the 2nd gym but.... maybe I need a break....

Here's my complete team:

VIEW CONTENT:

Greninja Water/Dark: My starter and nice glass cannon, I needed a heart scale to teach him a dark move but he's overall a good starter.
Venusaur Grass/Poison: The underrated kanto really shines in this game since you do need to deal with all the fairies running around and a classic poison type comes in handy. Plus sleep powder is always nice to catching pokemon.
Blaziken Fire/Fighting: I'm not going to lie, speed boost Blaziken is broken, Mega-Blaziken is as strong as a legendary, this thing is nuts.
Gardevoir Psychic/Fairy: Not going to lie ralts was a pain to find and then train in the early game but it's payed off Gardevoir has been really upgraded with her fairy typing, however you will need TMS to teach her a fairy move since she doesn't seem to learn anything on her own.
Aerodactyl Rock/Flying: The flyier of the team, Aerotactyl also is a bit of a glass cannon but he's proven to be a strong addition from the start however he has to switch whenever he faces a water, electric, or rock pokemon and has to make sure he one-shots any ice pokemon.
Sliggoo: Dragon The final member of all my teams is a powerful dragon that will be weak at first but will pay off once I finally evolve this guy. He'll probably need some of that Exp-Share experience and some special treatment but in the end he might be one of the best pokemon on my team.

I overall like this game but feel as usual it's a bit too easy. I keep expecting a road bump but winding up plowing through gym leader with my super-powered team though that may change in the endgame/elite 4. Maybe it's because I've played hacks of pokemon before which really tested how good you were at making a team like Volt White. I've been turning off the EXP-share quite a few times to attempt to reduce how overleveled my pokemon are to compensate but still battles are pretty easy. I kinda wish I has an old version of the exp-share so I could level Sliggoo while avoiding making my overpowered team even stronger.

That being said I love everything else about the game. The HMs are actually all the ones that are good attacks so there's no real need for an HM slave. I've found almost all the TMs given by the gym leaders to be incredibly useful.

Also wonder trades are fun, though some trolls will give you a pidgey I've received some good pokemon like Pikachu, and honedge.

[Supreveio]

I found a shiny Tauros earlier today. It's got a great nature (Jolly), too. Too bad I'm not planning on using it.

My team thus far (currently just defeated the fifth gym)

VIEW CONTENT:

Chesnaught (Grass/Fighting) - This guy actually learns a decent amount of coverage moves. Rollout, Bite...
Pyroar (Fire/Normal) - Litleo was stuck with Ember for a good while, but luckily, Headbutt is still pretty good STAB for a while, even if it has no type coverage.
Aromatisse (Fairy) - Slow but actually rather bulky. As I learned, it can also learn Thunderbolt for some reason, which I obviously taught it.
Heliolisk (Electric/Normal) - I'll have to say, Helioptile was actually a pretty lackluster Pokémon. Luckily, Heliolisk is much, much better. Also it learns Surf for some reason.

[abiscuit]

I only have two badges and I've already put a ton of time into this game. 92 Pokemon caught.

My current team...

Chesnaught
Bibarel (BIDOOF FOR LIFE)
Doublade
Floette
Charizard
Farfetch'd (False Swiper/HM Slave)

[darklin0]

Cleared the 6th gym today, I tried catching as much pokemon as possible but completing the dex is a daunting task in this one.

Current team:

Greninja
Talonflame
Venusaur
Lucario
Bibarel (better than Abiscuit's Bibarel)
Floette

[Will T.]

Currently five gyms down. I'm surprised at how high-level my team is by now - in SoulSilver I barely broke 50 with my starter before reaching the Elite Four; in X my highest-level member is at 49, with my starter at 48 and the rest of my team in the low to mid 40s. That Exp. Share change really makes a huge difference.

My team:

Chesnaught - my starter, obviously. He's basically my tank - absorbs a lot of hits while dishing out damage with Seed Bomb. Serves as my default first offensive line in any situation where he has no significant disadvantages.
Blaziken - my current highest-level party member. He works well in places where Chesnaught doesn't, and can pretty much annihilate anything. He literally one-shotted everything in the Lumiose Gym except for Magneton, and then only because it has the Sturdy ability.
Blastoise - the third of my main three along with the two above. He is my Surfer and knows Bite for dealing with those pesky Psychic-types that are so viciously powerful against Chesnaught and Blaziken, both being part Fighting-type. Also serves to cover up Chesnaught's weakness to Fire.
Talonflame - my Flyer. Was originally going to be my primary Fire-type as well until Blaziken took that role. Serves as a backup to Blaziken as well as a counter to Ground-types.
Linoone - I'm trying really hard not to turn him into an HM slave, but it's starting to go that way at this point. I might switch him out for something else later depending on what I can find down the road. His Pickup ability is immensely useful though for keeping me from running out of stuff without noticing, which is a big part of why I keep him on the team.
Pikachu - I stopped using him around level 14 to start playing with other newer 'mons, but I'm trying to bring him back. He's around 10 levels behind everyone else, but he'll catch up. He's going to be my main anti-Flying member since I don't have a strong one otherwise. I plan to evolve him into Raichu once he gets a moveset I like.

I've spent more time experimenting with different 'mons this time around than in previous games, mostly because the Exp. Share ensures that switching someone out isn't nearly as painful as it used to be.