I’ve been putting off writing this for a while and I think it’s mostly because I don’t really know where to begin. How can I encompass how I feel about these games in a BS stream-of-consciousness review?
I guess I’ll start by getting the TL;DR out of the way: I love Generation VI. I loved Pokémon X when I played during my sophomore year of college, and I loved playing through Pokémon Y over a decade later. I love this game. And to state the obvious, no small part of that is due to nostalgia. When I first played Pokémon X, I didn’t have a care in the world. I was a dumbass college student. I spent all of my time not at work or in class hanging around my dorm trading and battling with anyone in my immediate vicinity who owned the game. The first time I did any real EV training (through this gen’s wonderful Super Training feature, I might add) was when we set up a “Pokémon League” of sorts in which I earned the right to be the Grass-type gym leader. It was a great time in my life!
On top of that, how could I possibly separate my nostalgia for that time in my life with my nostalgia for Pokémon as a whole? That is literally impossible. It cannot be done. I started playing these games in kindergarten. The only thing that’s been in my life longer than that is Star Wars, and not by much. Anyway. Just disclosing that up front.
That said, as a game? Nostalgia “aside?” It’s great. It’s so freaking great. It’s just fun. As I get older, I can still appreciate games that challenge me and make me really think or struggle against them, but I also appreciate games that feel like a warm hug. The Gen VI games fit into the latter category. In many ways, they feel like the high point of the Pokémon series that it hasn’t really hit again since. They’ve got the entire National Dex (through Gen VI anyway), the new Pokémon are pretty great by and large, Fairy type really shakes up the game, and Mega Evolutions are the best gimmick the games have had to date. Even the starters are all great (despite Chespin taking a nosedive as it evolves). Also, there’s a metric crap ton of things to do in the game. I’m not usually one to get heavily into Pokémon post-game content, but even after beating the Elite Four, I couldn’t put it down. Again… fun.
Oh, and here was the team that carried me through the Elite Four this time around:
- Vector (Greninja)
- Onslaught (Talonflame)
- Jedi (Venusaur)
- Ruin (Raichu)
- Voxyn (Lucario)
- Force (Yveltal)
And if you can’t tell, they’re all named after books/things from the Star Wars: New Jedi Order series.
Aesthetically, again, these games are a high point of the series. The 3DS isn’t the most impressive of platforms in a graphical sense, but Game Freak absolutely pushes it to its limits. The overworld is beautiful, and the environments are so varied. Even the tall grass is various different types of grass, flowers, and the like. Despite that, the overworld hardly even compares to the Pokémon models. I don’t know if they’ve ever looked that good again (before Legends: Z-A anyway). And the music? Don’t even get me started. I’ve already talked about nostalgia too much, but I tie music to memory very strongly, so the music in this game speaks to something in my soul that I can’t even describe. (Note: hearing these musical themes come back in Pokémon Legends: Z-A has been a wonderful little treat.) The downside of pushing the 3DS to the limit? This game really chugs in a few places. And if the 3D effect is on? Forget about it. But it’s really only noticeable during battles, so it isn’t actually that big of a deal.
I don’t know if any Pokémon villain team could ever be as iconic as Team Rocket, but Team Flare definitely comes close. I didn’t really resonate with any of the evil teams in the games between Gen I and Gen VI, but this gen makes up for that with a vengeance. I love their hair, I love all the orange, and Lysandre is absolutely over the top. And they really are stylish as hell. The admins especially. The plot is batshit, but like… in a good way? There’s a man that’s 3,000 years old and he brings his Pokémon girlfriend back to life. Lysandre wants to literally just kill everyone. It’s great.
As much as I enjoy these games, I have to concede that they’re not perfect. Fairy type is a little bit overpowered (I don’t tend to use it despite this knowledge) and continues to wreak havoc on competitive play to this day, and on the whole the games are just too easy. Like… WAY too easy. I can’t remember even one battle where I not only felt any sort of danger, but where I wasn’t at least three or four levels higher than my opponent on average. Even in Gen V, the Elite Four was nothing to shake a stick at. I had the hardest time trying to beat Ghetsis in that game as an actual adult. But in Pokémon Y? It was a cake walk. The entire thing. I love Mega Evolutions, but they are also crazy OP, and it doesn’t help that you’re guaranteed at least two of them if you want them. Two good ones at that: a Gen I starter and a Lucario. I still can’t get over them giving you a Mega Lucario right out of the gate. Shit is b-a-n-a-n-a-s. I don’t even think I used it when I played X all those years ago. What was I thinking? I mean, I know it’s furbait, but come on, at some point pure power has to win out there.
Dang. I’m getting warm and fuzzy all over again just typing all of this out. This hasn’t turned into as comprehensive of a document as I’d hoped it would, but I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I knew it wouldn’t all the way back in the first paragraph. But I think this is as good as it’s going to get. I was thinking that maybe getting started would help me find how I wanted to put my feelings into words, but I don’t know if I got there. I have a ton of love and appreciation for X and Y simply as games for sure, but I can’t divorce them from the experiences I’ve had with them: staying up way too late playing and skipping class the next morning, screwing around having joke battles with my friends, and meeting all sorts of people that I might not have otherwise had I not been playing X at the same time they were. I actually still have a ton of people on my 3DS friends list from that time in my life, and it makes me a little sad to look back at that, but it’s not without joy either.
I should probably wrap this up. If I was having this conversation with a friend that was there with me when these games came out, we could probably chat all night, but instead I’m typing on a T480 and it’s time for me to shower and get in bed so I can kick this dumb cold and get up for work in the morning. I didn’t do it on purpose, but I don’t know if any sentence I could’ve put there could’ve put as fine a point on the differences in my life between when I first played X and when I finished Y this time around. Sigh. I’m getting all wistful, so it’s definitely time for bed. Anyway. This won’t be the last time I revisit Gen VI. I’ve got a Pokedex to fill up in X, and Y will come calling wanting to get stomped into the dirt all over again one of these days.
And shoutouts to any degenerates that remember Showderp. Mr. Luggs and Citizen Snips for life.