Replayability is insane relative to how easy they are. It's not insultingly easy like Gen 7 and the visuals somehow aged good on a 3DS. Designs were great, the awful story was unobtrusive.
You hit the nail on the head with this one. X and Y excelled at presentation, which isn't too surprising considering these were the first Pokemon games to be fully 3D. But once you get past that, the actual game itself has so little substance. This generation's biggest crime was not giving us Pokemon Z, because HOLY TOLEDO did these games need it! Oh well. Better late than never, right?
@ he’s right tho You people always whine and cry about something That’ didn’t resonate with you as 20+ years old than what it was when you was 8 years old lol This guy said there’s no substance? Really what substance do you need When you have online battling Singles battle multi battle , double battle triple battle Shiny hunting , pokemon breeding character customization What other subjective “substance” you looking for Battle frontier ? Cause that’s a good idea when online battling became the most desired feature Do you think anyone aside from niche fan base would play that Give me a break
yeah like after Korrina or Ramos, the gym leaders should have been using mega's: Clemont with ampharos, Valerie with mawile, Olympia with either alakazam or medicham and Wulfric with abomasnow and same goes for the Elite 4 too: Malva with houndoom, Siebold with blastoise, Wikstrom with scizor or aggron and Drasna with garchomp (or ampharos or charizard...but i'd prefer garchomp or ampharos for obvious reasons)
@bulborb8756 that's a lesson gamefreak learned from gen 6: don't hesitate to let the npcs in on the battle gimmicks. XY only gives Megas to the final evil team leader fight and to the champion, and ORAS did that and one fight for each of your rivals. But in gen 7 Hau, all the kahunas, the elite four and champion all used z-moves; in gen 8 your opponent will always dynamax when you have the option to, and pretty much every major trainer battle in gen 9 (besides the starmobile fights) has the opponent terastalize.
Yeah because Kalos was the only region that didn’t got a 3rd game. Would have been so amazing if it got the Gen 5 treatment with having a sequal. Adding extra places into the region, a totally new story surrounding AZ, Mega Evolution and maybe a NEO Team Flare would have been insane. Also putting Zygarde the main focus point and having a grand finale like the anime
but as we have seen, gen 4 was the last time a proper 3rd version was ever made (personally i don't see Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon as "3rd versions") however there is a chance in Legend's Z-A that stuff regarding mega's and AZ will be brought up and that perhaps Zygarde could play a major role
@@bulborb8756 Just curious, why don't you see USUM as proper third versions? The only real difference they have between traditional ones is that there's two.
@ it's just that they did not feel like 3rd versions like how it was with Yellow, Crystal, Emerald and Platinum plus like since USUM added a few new mons as well just makes me feel like they were more like an "expansion" of sorts then a 3rd version, at least how i see it
"why does it take 5 god forsaken hourse to get to the second gym!?" I actually kinda like that, especially after the more recent pokemon games where it feels like you reached the second gym/trial or big boss nearly right after the previous. it made me feel like I was actually going on a journey where it takes me time to reach the next gym. having to travel through not one, but 2 extra cities before reaching the second gym just feels great to me. but hey, things differ from person to person
i feel like at some point in the distant future, there will be a ton of people who grew up on xy, sun and moon, swsh, and will look back at them in the same way people look at the earlier gens now
No need to at least imagine that. I grew up on XY. It was the first pokemone anime I ever watched when I was younger back in grade school, and was the first pokemon game To me. XY is as classic and iconic, if not more so than the original Red and Blue, and the original seasons of the pokemon anime
@@vardiganxpl1698although I grew up playing Ruby Sapphire, I’ve had my solid experience with XY back then because it was the first game I played with my youngest brother, I tried to matches properly with his generation, I was kinda skeptical at first but then it was a fun experience, it’s part of the reason I couldn’t accept Sun Moon when it first released as I genuinely hoped for the Z title to drop
i was a kid for platinum-scarlet and violet. i look back at sun and moon in such high regard compared to most, but x and y just falls flat to me for being as easy as it is. there’s a ton about the game to enjoy but at the end of the day its a mash A sim.
I immediately realized that they were putting a large chunk of their energy into the camera; literally every gym had a camera trick in some way that wouldn’t have been possible in previous generations. Even Lumiose city’s gym took advantage of the fact that the pokemon were models and not sprites
Imo, the potential was there. It just needed the third game to build on it, in a similar manner to how DP needed Platinum. I really hope they finally do Kalos the justice it deserves with ZA!
Lysandre had so much potential as a villain that just wasn't utilized by X and Y's poor writing. In the past Lysandre was known as an incredible man and an incredible inventor, creating all kinds of devices and products to try and improve the world, he traveled the world to give his inventions and money to others, but when he saw that the only thing that happened was just people asking him for more and more, he believed that people were greedy and destructive, always wanting more until it's too late. At his core, Lysandre was a man who loved too much. He loved the world and Pokemon, but he physically couldn't stand the thought of things ruining this beautiful world that he loves so much. Pokemon Generations and Evolutions sheds some further light onto his character, stating that "Everything that is beautiful should stay that way forever" and "I can't stand the thought of the world becoming uglier". Lysandre hates change, and in order to fight it, he gathers up all the people he believes are worthy of keeping the world as he thinks it's meant to be. He loves Pokemon so much that he begins to weep openly about the fact that Pokemon cannot exist, as the ugly will only use them to cause more pain. It truly brings him pain to do so, but it's a necessary sacrifice in his eyes, what must be done to ensure his world never falls to ruin. Of course some might say "but team flare is full of those "ugly" people, men and women who steal, extort, lie and cheat for their own personal gain, people who believe that just because they have more money and dress better than other people, that they are inherently 'more worthy", why would the fee to join team flare be such a high price? That could be interpreted as another part of Lysandre's plan. You can see he has no care for Team Flare at all, he uses it to gather all of the "ugliest" people he can think of in one place, they were never intended to be a part of his beautiful world, he was going to dispose of them all. He travels the region personally asking people he deems worthy to join him, while all the greedy and wealthy pay to join him, a sign of failure in his eyes. When he mentions "his group" when he publicly announces his plan to activate the ultimate weapon he's not talking about Team Flare, he's talking about the people he truly believes are worthy. This disconnect is even seen in the game, when the player is presented with the choice of two buttons, one that stops the machine and one that will fire it, Lysandre admits to the player that if they had pressed the right one he would have stopped, it's only because of Xerosic who rigs the buttons to trigger the machine regardless that there's no choice, because he just wants the world to end, he's one of the "ugly". This contrasts with Professor Sycamore, the Player and their friends, who constantly show to Lysandre that there are other options, that his plan isn't the only way to save the world, that his vision of an ugly world might not even happen. But Lysandre is so far gone that he just can't see it, he even thanks them for trying to change his mind, but stays steadfast to his plan. And with no options left, the legendary pokemon of life/death taken from the machine, he decides to spread his belief to Sycamore's pupils, by turning the weapon onto them, so he can "give them the pain of endlessly waiting for a beautiful world to be built" giving them immortality so they can watch as his vision of an ugly world becomes reality. This action ultimately takes his own life in the process, and it's unknown if he even succeeded in giving the characters their "enternal life". "Pokemon Trainers, listen well. The future isn't decided, you can't be sure each day will be like the one before. You have the potential to change the world. Help build a brighter tomorrow." -Lysandre
i know it would screw with how they want the timeline to be relatively grounded in earth's, somehow, but now i want Gen 10 to have a secret bossbattle with Serena the Eternal.
@F14thunderhawk that would be awesome, it could happen depending on whether Legends AZ takes place in the future. And maybe as a subversion of expectations, Serena/Calem are at the forefront of this Lumiose City project, essentially proving Lysandre wrong by making the world better.
Looking back on X and Y, it seems very clear that they were not actually finished. Gamefreak probably wanted to do more, but were forced to release the games as is to meet the deadline. And the success of X and Y unfortunately sent the wrong message to Gamefreak and Nintendo: That fans would still buy and play the games even if they weren't actually complete (or even close to being complete).
I think the reason the XY games themselves had little in them was because so much time was spent turning the hundreds of Pokémon into 3D models. About not having a third game, Game Freak was probably tied-up with ORAS and SM, so they just skipped making a Pokémon Z game, until now with Legends Z-A. Although I’d argue BW2 killed the “third game” concept because we never got Pokémon Gray, which still infuriates my OCD brain. XY was my first Pokémon game, so I’ll always cherish it with a special place in my heart, even with its flaws.
I really liked how they made 3d models for EVERY pokemon from gens 1-6 even before pokemon bank was released. I'm disappointed with the amount of content cut from xy but the devs still definitely tried with these games
The problem with the Pokemon experience as a whole is that we will NEVER get the complete package. Game Freak knows that the Pokemon franchise has to keep churning out content forevermore because it's on par with many world famous franchises like Disney and Hello Kitty. So to that effect, they choose to give us, in any Pokemon title, at the very most a solid experience to enjoy, so that they always have room to one up themselves and keep the attention of the masses. The cut content from Kalos is proof of this. Sure, other things played a factor in this content being cut, but if they would have given us this COMPLETE experience like they planned, where would they go from there? If X and Y were lauded as the greatest Pokemon games of all time, then anything they release afterward would just be considered dogwater by the fan base, and okayish at most by the outsiders looking in. They never can nor will give us the experience we're looking for, because it's just not good for business.
And considering how Pokemon Black and White underperformed sales wise, it's understandable but sad that GF has used XY's rushed business model for creating games moving forward.
15:30 I mean, that would be a funny message. "Resource scarcity and conservation are basically scams invented by the uber rich who want to doom the world." Works with the Gen 8 games, too.
3:20 - The Unova tie-in location have a BRIDGE that connects the palace to the maze is a nice touch/callback. 5:50 - With Mountain Kalos echoing Fall, Winter and Spring, one would expect for South to be Summer coded.
I think for me when it comes to X and Y it's the last game in the series that contains region design and exploration that I love. That long stretch between Gym 1 or 2 will funnily enough be one of my favourite parts of the entire series for how much I enjoyed that sense of exploration without any plot obligations which feels like a controversal opinion. It's overall pretty mid in the grand scheme of pokemon games but subjectivly it furfills alot of what I like in pokemon games outside of in- game battle difficulty.
The main problem, not just for Kalos but most Pokemon games, I feel is the disconnection between Pokemon villains trying to say something about real world issues such as resource scarcity and climate change, except those issues don’t exist in the Pokemon world or at least aren’t shown to us because GF doesn’t want to ruin the idealistic world they present it as
Yes I also love how MASSIVE the dex is in this game. They kept the number of new Pokémon LOW but managed to TAPER it in a way that made it still refreshing. My interest in this game did not FADE at all thanks to this excellent roster.
As far as first versions go X/Y are honestly better than G/S and R/S and I think the fandom is too hard on these games. If a third Kalos game was made I could see it being in my top 5 EASILY
I think the biggest problem is _the way people look at Pokémon_ and not so much the games themselves. Let me elaborate : The biggest complaints of this game are all either the playerbase trying to demand more out of something functional to suit personal expectations or things that are downright not a problem. - The EXP Share can be turned off literally at the press of a button if you select it, so there’s no excuse to be complaining the game is “too easy” when you clearly never even checked the item screen (the game is legitimately challenging not using it if you want to skip leveling). - The Roller Skates can literally be removed by walking with the D-pad instead. - The Kalos “Rivals” aren’t meant to be direct competitors; they’re just new friends you get to travel alongside on your personal journey to become the best with Calem/Serena. - The game’s story leans heavily (and rather excessively) on either implications or shared meanings between separated dialogue. Team Flare is written to be a full-on doomsday death cult, but most fans wouldn’t be able to tell you that because they disregard the side dialogue of most characters. The upfront charge of 5,000,000 Pokédollars is the biggest giveaway. Charging essentially $50k (converting Pokédollars to Yen and then roughly to USD) to join a society dedicated to committing acts of theft and violence is the most blatant parallel to real-world conflict I can remember since Team Rocket was literally just a street gang. - The majority of the development of Lysandre is the biggest unified problem of the story, and it’s specifically because we just don’t see it. Again, he’s primarily hyped up in the same vein as Team Flare through outside dialogue mentioning him and his influence that people just don’t feel like reading. He doesn’t get much emotional development - but neither did the antagonists of gens 1-4. N is basically the sole exception up to gen 6 since the Rockets, Archie, Maxie, Cyrus, and Ghetsis are as shallow as can be, and Archie and Maxie were basically template characters until they were redesigned _in gen 6._ Generation 6 and specifically X and Y are perfectly fine games - they aren’t anything groundbreaking from a gameplay standpoint, but again, the primary gameplay loop was only massively upended in generations 2-4 because of either technical changes or outright new aspects of game design as a whole. Generation 2 introduced 2 new types, Special Attack and Defense as separate stats, and breeding, and that doesn’t even cover the first additional region that became a series regular. Generation 3 marked the first shift from consoles, moving to the GBA and requiring much of the games to be redesigned. Then, Generation 4 made easily the biggest splash behind Generation 2 by completely redesigning the system of physical and special moves as well as introducing online trading. People outright didn’t like Generation 5 when it came out, and a big part of that can be traced to similarly oversized expectations not matching the game as well as the trend that lasted only that generation of new evolutions being delayed leaving it more as nostalgia bait with a fun story than anything of substance. Comparing the single moderate new Fairy type that was added sparingly and the first full generational gimmick to its predecessors, Generation 6 had peanuts in comparison to previous games in regard to any sweeping changes. Those kinds of big changes allowed for a lot of experimentation in those generations, but outside of introducing Mega Evolutions, there aren’t many things that could be reasonably upgraded or altered from the previous generations. The biggest change by far is the use of full 3D models across the board, but people have gotten too high on the B&W sprites as of late to remember that the models in X and Y were the first of their kind on a new piece of handheld hardware. It was revolutionary at the time, but people have just gotten too spoiled with new console generations to remember that the 3DS (as well as the Switch, fittingly enough) aren’t built to match the horsepower of a small car. The hardware was limited and the new 3D models did great for being a very early release on a handheld from the early 2010s. In the end, I fully acknowledge that X and Y are not the best or deepest games, but they aren’t bad - I don’t think any of the main series Pokémon games are below at least average, and the only reason I say that is because I just personally didn’t like Sword and gave up too soon to give a proper answer. It suffers heavily from being both the first game on a new console as well as the first game on a new console generation (with the 3DS coinciding with the Wii-U and therefore the PS4 and Xbox One as opposed to the DS and the Wii). It had to do the load of work from the back behind the scenes and gets slammed for things that it had to sacrifice to get the games working on the 3DS in the first place in such a short amount of time while still implementing Megas and the Fairy type. The story, while not a grand display of fantastical heroism like DPPl or B&W, is interesting and much more grounded than the universal domination plots before it. Silent storytelling is hard to get right, but the game still has depth to it when you think of it as a whole combined world and not solely a linear gameplay experience. I enjoy stories told through implications, so I find that the story asks a lot of interesting questions once you piece it all together. Lastly, I’m endlessly grateful to this game for actually making the player character feel like they just have normal friends for once instead of a bunch of people who are magically critical to the plot (like Lillie and Gladion, Hop and Marnie, and Arven and Penny). It really makes the little group feel like casual friends on different adventures rather than us as the center with other people added on for the sake of our own story. It makes the protagonist feel like they actually do just have friends.
The Galar region really made me appreciate Kalos more. I've always felt like after Kalos, Pokemon regions have become a lot more linear and having lesser memorable areas. I liked Alola but you could tell the routes were less creatively designed than usual, but Galar's routes were just direct straight lines for the most part. Kalos had routes like 8, 15, 16, and 19 that absolutely blow every route Galar had out of the water.
This didn't start with Kalos. Unova is a literal straight line, with one branching path for the post game. It is as bland and boring of a region as I can think of.
It's interesting hearing about games that are "controversial". I'm 32 and started with gen 1, but the only generation that ever really disappointed me was Sword and Shield. Have my issues with S/V (mostly down to performance), but that's really it
Oh dear, Sword and Shield is indeed another game I really freaking hate in this franchise. But you could argue that most if not all of its shortcomings are direct consequences of choices made during gen 6.
Bonus points in Kalos for the most neglectful parent ever xD like your child saves the World and becomes the best trainer in the Region. They get their own parade and get honored in front of the whole region... and you watch it on TV XD
I say X and Y as a whole embodies style over substance. While it has good presentation they didn’t add enough content or story to make it worthwhile. Sure it looks nice but not much beyond that. Overall I say a 6/10. It’s not the worst but it’s definitely not one of the best.
I was born in 1993 Became a fan at the height of Pokemania in the late 90s early 2000s Played every Generation Loved X&Y back in 2013 at 20 Still love X&Y in 2025 Bring on Z-A!
I've grown to appreciate the visual/fashion aspect of XY. The geography and trainer customization is one of my favorite parts. Also 6:27 JPR kitchen jumpscare
I played Y for the first time super recently and (thanks to hindsight) turned the Exp Share. off whenever I was getting a little too strong. Suffice to say, I do feel a little bad about it being the community's Wobbuffet for years. The region of Kalos is actually very interesting and pretty fun to traverse especially with how they use the camera along with the rollerskates being a nice switch up from running, the Pokemon variety is super great, the many little details like how you can use Air Cutter to knock berries out of trees is pretty neat and for the first 3D handheld outing I think the models do a fine enough job. Plus I really liked my team. Unfortunately the game still has its shortcomings. The lack of Megas both in the main story and on trainers after you get access to the mechanic is very lame. The characters say a bunch of stuff but it constantly feels like there's no substance to it and it feels like there are a lot of things left on the cutting room floor when you play the game (obvious powerplant joke is obvious). "Missed potential" is the name of the game for X and Y since I can feel the want to do more. It really is unfortunate that we never really did get that Pokemon Z and probably never will since while we still know nothing about ZA, it will likely be focused squarely on Lumiose City and its development.
In my opinion It badly needed a 3rd version to fix the "base game". If u take Megas, Trainer customisation(A QoL update), there's nothing else. For some reason all the Legendaries are Shiny locked including the old ones-Bird trio+Mew2 1. No proper post game content like BW, SM("Base games") 2. Megas only used by 3 NPCs in serious battles+Korrina 3.Lack of Zygarde plot 4.Move tutors 5.Kalos Megas like Diancie, Ash Greninja(Bond phenomenon) came in the later gens. Sadly Delphox & Chesnaught got nothing Everything could have been fixed with a 3rd version
The victory road chat with the rival is deranged. With the empathy for the omnicidal maniac. "Oh, if only we could have found a golden average...", da fug, game.
X was my first Pokémon game. Being used to other JRPGs, I found the gameplay pretty boring. The 4 moves restriction, constant 1-hit KOs, and 1v1 combat of Pokémon were a huge downgrade, and I was disappointed by the lack of content. I finished X and looked for post-game and was like "That's it?" However, the music was AMAZING, and honestly got my hooked to give ORAS a chance, which I'm glad I did because they were amazing in terms of content.
I feel so bad for X and Y because unlike a lot of the other terrible mainline entries I don't hate it or find it's unfavourable aspects frustrating (like say SV or SwSh) but they're probably one of my least favourite generations because they're ultimately pretty dull. Full of a lot of ideas and style but little substance. It's the only generation I feel ONLY sticks to the series conventions without trying to explore most of its concepts with any amount of depth. Not helping that is the lack of a third game or sequel that prior to gen5 was the primary means of unlocking a generation's true potential. Plus it's been pretty well documented now that gen 6 was rushed out for the 3DS systems, evidenced by that third game cut and it releasing only a year after the black and white sequels (before hand games came out on a 2-3year gap). Disliking these games feels like hating a dumb puppy, it's clearly trying and we've not yet hit the point of utter executive laziness but it simultaneously tries too much and not enough to be interesting. Stylistically I love it, this is my favourite 3D style they've done to date. Keeping it close to the 'chibi' (idk if that's the right term) of the 2D games is great, keeping things familiar and interesting. This game does a great job playing around with it's camera, character animations and expressions in a way other games struggle to and the environments are varied, detailed and stunning (also I agree the UI is great although the SwSh UI slander I'll disagree with I actually love that part of the game). I love how the customization in this game reflects actual clothing it really fits with Kalos' vibe and is a great display of the game working within it's limitations. And while the pokemon animations are limited, it's more impressive they were able to get all of them working plus they look good for the 3DS's scale they were a great 'mid-point' for full console animations, assuming they went that route (which they unfortunately didn't). Also idk if I missed you saying it but the soundtrack is great, especially the area themes. Gameplay wise these games are also really good. Pretty standard and low on difficulty but some fights can actually be challenging with the exp share off and it does give these games a more relaxing vibe which is why I think poketubers keep using it for nuzlockes. For as small as the number of them are, the new mons introduced in Kalos are amazingly designed and set a solid foundation for a lot of the modern design philosophy. Personally I think ORAS was where the concept of mega evolution was executed best but it was a bold step forward that managed to shake up a formula that had hadn't seen major changes for a while. This games major problem is by far it's story and characters. Most of the cast is just really boring and don't do or go through anything of note, with a lot of them essentially having the sole character trait of being generically nice. Four rivals is already quite bloated but it's worsened by the fact they're all virtually the same and a lot of their 'gimmicks' aren't explored in meaningful ways. And I think that's the embodiment of the problem, X and Y consistently presents concepts and ideas that seem cool in isolation but never goes anywhere with them or when it does it's at such a surface level. Also I have to disagree with the 'strong points' of the story being compelling because they're either elements that don't impact the story, lore (which is cool but lore should be background that informs details it should not BE the story, at least not for a game like this) or it's insanely pretentious. That last point is how I feel about Lysandre, he's not human he just cries sometimes and spouts nonsense about ugliness which could be compelling except that it's insanely ill-defined and isn't reinforced anywhere in the game: Kalos is amongst the least problematic regions and literally the only people causing problems are Team Flare. Lysandre is full of paradoxes which is usually fine for a villain, but the story wants to paint him as sympathetic when all he is a sociopath making excuses (USUM doesn't help his case). It's just the result of bad writing and an ill-defined theme for Kalos to have, like most people say beauty but the story never explores questions of that theme when it clearly wants to without having to. All in all I think these games just needed more time in the oven to decide what they wanted to be. I still hugely appreciate them, it was this generation that allowed me to connect with new friends and battle them (seriously they had online so right in this generation) and they are fun games; but I think that's because it's the pokemon formula with bells and whistles over because it does anything too interesting outside of mega evolution. They're games in which I'd put something on in the background over something I'd want to get immersed in. I just wish GF/the pokemon company would treat them better, they didn't deserve to just be left the way they were. Here's hoping Legends Z-A can give Kalos the great showing it deserves, I just hope they actually polish the games properly and don't just rush them out.
I have only 3 problems with Kalos - The Lumiose Camera is very fancy, in all the wrong ways. You should be able to take off your roller skates. They can be very annoying. And lastly, camera angle in the desert makes it impossible to spot the visible pokemon that you should be dodging.
10:23 weirdly enough the manga actually does stuff with this. Making team flare more of an omnipresent team with "eyes everywhere" and the protagonists don't know who to trust
I always appreciated Kalos’s aesthetic and presentation, one of the best in the series. Outside of that though, even before the leaks, I’ve always felt that XY had the bones of a phenomenal experience, the structure IS there, but at the end of the day it’s still just the bones. You really hit the nail on the head with this.
@@Eagleboy90210yes, Hearthone gym in Pokémon Diamond and pearl I think. It was just maths questions with 3 doors and an elevator. Atleast in platinum it was more creative.
Always the glitched out player icons with buggy-looking names that are promoting their social profile. *immediately confirms Pokemon trade* *game crashes*
No no, you're right. Gen 6's online still hasn't been matched. It had such a clean UI that was super convenient to use. Online battling was actually fun.
i love kalos but it does NOT feel natural badlands with so little transition and a random snowy area they don’t develop each region of the region feels so forced “oh we want a sand area here” so they put it on a random spot
Thank you for the X and Y praise JPR ! It was a stark change from B and W back in the day, but I genuinely loved the aesthetic of X and Y and the gameplay felt so satisfying
2:06 Dendemille may not have given us anything story or team building wise; but it did unintentionally give us one of the most memorable NPC of the past decade.
Yoir point that the game guides you to have the same team every playthrough is just as bad in B2W2. Starter? Check. Lucario by the first Gym? Check. Magnezone because it made Roxie so easy? Check. Previously hyped up Ground or Dark type around Route 4? Check. Overworld late-evolving bird in the same area? Check. Easy mid-late Haxorus before Drayden? Check.
Besides the starter and the desert bird, none of these are "in your face". Just random encounters like any other. It _is_ noticably more prevelant than in the previous games however, so I'll give you that.
Honestly X and Y was a lot of fun and it was the first time I was really encouraged to try new pokemon, including the fossil pokemon. The customization was also really appreciated. The only complaint I have is the access to the original Kanto starters made me ignore the new Kalos starters
I feel like so much of this game was gearing towards its third version. It kind of felt like an updated ruby, sapphire, emerald given the color schemes.
Looking back and considering how low the franchise has fallen with the latest two gens, I've reconsidered my opinion on this game. At the end of the day, it wasn't completely bad, it's just that it was way too easy and got a lot of stuff cut from the original plans, which IS a bad thing per se. But the recent games outside of Legends Arceus were so bad that in comparison made X/Y looking good.
@theamazingspooderman2697 My brother/sister in Arceus. Kalos is based on real world France, Lumiouse city on Paris, and the gym on the Eiffel Tower....what does the Pokedex have to do with any of this?
This video brought up some points like the story that I hadn’t thought about before. While I admit that Kalos feels unfinished in many areas, the rivals suck, and it’s relatively easy, I still very much enjoyed the game and I think the region itself is beautiful and was fun to explore. Kalos needed a third game badly, but I still preferred it to Sun and Moon or Sword and Shield.
i think Game freak should work on game remasters , a bit like the Tomb Raider classic games Remastered editions , it would be cool to see the classic 3D games to be released on switch and switch 2 on HD , better textures and etc , and maybe some fixes , it would be cool. im excited for ZA but i think being able to play the OG XY game on switch would be cool too
Only one problem about this generation, the fact that had so much wasted potential, not sure if we needed a 3rd game, but with the leaks confirming it we got a lot of things taken from us ! Almost beyond imagination what these games could have been !!
“Everyone ended up with the exact same teams” is a great point, and one i noticed myself. When I played Pokemon Y, i made sure to use a new team with no repeats from my X run; no event Blaziken, no Lucario, no Lapras, etc.. It was in the multiple playthroughs of that game that I used pokemon I probably wouldn’t have otherwise on a first run of XY. I challenged myself since, as you said, the dex was very large! Across those runs, I used Linoone, Pyroar, Pidgeot, Pangoro, Florges, Golurk, Aurorus, Tyrantrum, and even Butterfree! BUTTERFREE! Each one played their part, and it felt like a personal challenge to avoid the usual picks. It’s fun to try and use an outside the box team
12 years 😳 ffs my brain still calls them new 😭😂 guess I'm getting old lol I honestly enjoyed them. The only Pokémon games I never finished were the open world ones. ow always lacks a good story
As someone that started playing with Pokemon Blue in 1998, last year I revisited my Pokemon Y. Had not played it since I breezed through it in 2013. It was way worse than I remembered. The lackluster story and pacing that you mentioned made it one of the worse pokemon generations that I recall (probably Sinnoh is the worse, as it has aged very poorly for me). However, I have high hopes that Legends Z-A greatly expands on most of the unfulfilled potential of Kalos.
I definitely enjoyed this game as a kid more than I did as an adult. Was disappointed that Sylveon was the only cross gen evolution even as a kid though.
As a 33 y.o. who played every gen, I enjoyed X & Y thoroughly playwise, but it felt disconnected from the rest of the Pokémon world. Isolated. Like an anomaly.
I miss Pokémon Amie. I really prefer it to the camping and picnic mechanics. I wouldn't mind those so much if they still included the option to pet, feed, and groom your mons. I know you can technically wash them in SV and make curry or sandwiches, but it doesn't feel the same as Amie.
I loved the exp share change and I agree how does everyone know about mega evolution? Once you complete the third gym? , I guess they were smart enough to do the research on Google, and get some mega stones after all
This game is very BLATANTLY a victim of overambition, to the point where I can point out so many things that this game was likely trying to do and failed at and why.
Looking back, X and Y is all style and no substance. It was hard carried by being the first 3D Pokémon game (excluding the GameCube games). The game felt horribly unfinished and I wasn't sure why back then. Diantha is still hands down, the worst champion in the franchise.
Thanks for making this video. Im someone who actually grew up during the gen 6 era, and i feel a huge amount of nostalgia towards kalos. Despite the story lacking, in glad you held Kalos itself as a beautiful and fantastic region. Both kalos and galar mean a lot to me. Makes me wanna visit actually Uk and France someday
One of the things that really bother me about XY and I think no one ever talks about is how it's legendaries and their dungeons are so... Bland. When I was a kid I got so amazed when I first saw Ho-Oh at the top of Tin Tower, climbing the Sky Pillar for Rayquaza, or how damn creepy and empty were the Turnback Cave and Giant Chasm for Giratira and Kyurem. Meanwhile, in Kalos, aside from the obligatory story legendary, everyone else are in such boring and uninspiring places. Mewtwo is in a cave we already went before without any sort of dungeon around, the legendary birds are some of the most annoying roaming legendaries ever made, and Zygarde's Terminus cave is literally just a random cave on the side of the road with a bunch of trainers, making Zygarde feel less like that imposing leader of a legendary trio, and more like a miner that arrived in the morning for work by defeating random 11-year olds. And the worst is that GF had the opportunity to make something cool with Volcanion and the random Power Plant locked doors... Only for the doors to remain locked and Volcanion be given as a mystery gift. We've come a long way since Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave, and in a bad way.
X and Y are some of my most nostalgic games, not just because the games themselves, but it felt like everyone in my school was playing pokemon. Every lunch period we were battling or trading, it was the first time i completed a national pokedex and i still love shiny hunting in it. It was the last time i really had time to dive deep into a pokemon game and ill always appreciate them
I feel like all the pokemon games even if hated on at launch end up being praised in like, 10-ish years afterwards because the little kids that grew up with those games weren't involved in the hating and then they praise it due to nostalgia and it's just a cycle, like I would die for Sinnoh cause that was my first region when I got Pearl as a kid.
9:00 Me neither because my team consisted of a level 100 Azumarill and 5 unevolved pokemon who were a single evolution away from being boxed for the entire game
If ever there was a region that so desperately needed a third version it was Kalos. I get that those have never been the best sellers, but they've also always been the games that most define the legacy for which each generation was remembered. There's a damn good reason why people were so disappointed that BD/SP included basically nothing from Platinum, and why even the otherwise much more well received OR/AS were still lambasted for failing to include Emerald's Battle Frontier.
As someone doing a replay of Y with nothing but my friends favorite mons named after them it’s more fun than I remember it being and loved playing Y when it first dropped
well my friend i have to disagree with you strongly though I love pokemon x and y throughout kalos gen 6 it's among my favorites including unova gen 5 pokemon black white black 2 and white 2
I agree with many of the points made though I do disagree with the sentiment of the video title. I don't think X&Y are remembered as bad? Undercooked yes but a good game is there to be added upon...unlike say Sun and Moon which is a game that was given time to cook but the main problems with that game are core features (over reliance on cutscenes, rotom phone telling you exactly what to do and where to go, no room for self exploration) so was ultimately a polished turd.
Opinion: X and Y are "lost potential" it started to well but it felt unfinished, and halfway it sort of started feeling like the devs were rushing to the end. Not bad, but definitely not great. Just hanging on good, but could be better.
I think you just simply had to be there for X and y. People who were playing X&y at the time, and older UA-camrs who started there specifically can tell you how legendary that game was. Unfortunately it is not aged that well because of 1, there is no online anymore so no more wonder trading and stuff. And 2, there was no follow-up game.
Had the itch to replay it, and got filtered after the first gym. It's so sterile, and the grid based map design feels awful in comparison to the sprite based games.
Happy JPR Friday!! What do you think of X and Y all these years later?
Replayability is insane relative to how easy they are. It's not insultingly easy like Gen 7 and the visuals somehow aged good on a 3DS. Designs were great, the awful story was unobtrusive.
Fun gym puzzles, great clothing options, wish they got a remake
extremely boring game and incredible online
They are the cookie-cutter Pokemon games and nothing more imo
@@ThunderXSurge nah gen 7 was harder not by much at all tho. Npcs actually had more then 3 mons on their team 😂
You hit the nail on the head with this one. X and Y excelled at presentation, which isn't too surprising considering these were the first Pokemon games to be fully 3D. But once you get past that, the actual game itself has so little substance. This generation's biggest crime was not giving us Pokemon Z, because HOLY TOLEDO did these games need it! Oh well. Better late than never, right?
HOLY TOLEDO indeed
Hehe. I like that. Holy toledo
You will get your Z version soon enough, and I hope you will stop complaining after that.
@ sounds like something Todd Howard would say tbh
@ he’s right tho
You people always whine and cry about something
That’ didn’t resonate with you as 20+ years old than what it was when you was 8 years old lol
This guy said there’s no substance?
Really what substance do you need
When you have online battling
Singles battle multi battle , double battle triple battle
Shiny hunting , pokemon breeding character customization
What other subjective “substance” you looking for
Battle frontier ?
Cause that’s a good idea when online battling became the most desired feature
Do you think anyone aside from niche fan base would play that
Give me a break
The lack of a 3rd game really made gen 6 less developed.
Fr. Kalos never got its second change to impress like the other regions did.
And necessary time
but unfortunately gen 4 was the last time they did 3rd versions, in gen 5 they did sequels and in gen 7 they did an altered version of the plot
@@bulborb8756Gen 7 might as well be two 3rd versions because that's exactly what Yellow, Crystal, Emerald and Platinum are
A lot of people feel that way. I think that just comes to timing with the 20th anniversary around the corner then.
The lack of in game Mega's and general ease hurt it. Wulfric should not have 3 Pokemon as the final gym leader
yeah like after Korrina or Ramos, the gym leaders should have been using mega's: Clemont with ampharos, Valerie with mawile, Olympia with either alakazam or medicham and Wulfric with abomasnow
and same goes for the Elite 4 too: Malva with houndoom, Siebold with blastoise, Wikstrom with scizor or aggron and Drasna with garchomp (or ampharos or charizard...but i'd prefer garchomp or ampharos for obvious reasons)
Wulfric is such a joke he straight up tells you himself that he's the worst gym leader.
@bulborb8756 that's a lesson gamefreak learned from gen 6: don't hesitate to let the npcs in on the battle gimmicks. XY only gives Megas to the final evil team leader fight and to the champion, and ORAS did that and one fight for each of your rivals. But in gen 7 Hau, all the kahunas, the elite four and champion all used z-moves; in gen 8 your opponent will always dynamax when you have the option to, and pretty much every major trainer battle in gen 9 (besides the starmobile fights) has the opponent terastalize.
Wulfric is a meme, that man actually sucks
More megas
Yeah because Kalos was the only region that didn’t got a 3rd game. Would have been so amazing if it got the Gen 5 treatment with having a sequal. Adding extra places into the region, a totally new story surrounding AZ, Mega Evolution and maybe a NEO Team Flare would have been insane. Also putting Zygarde the main focus point and having a grand finale like the anime
but as we have seen, gen 4 was the last time a proper 3rd version was ever made (personally i don't see Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon as "3rd versions")
however there is a chance in Legend's Z-A that stuff regarding mega's and AZ will be brought up and that perhaps Zygarde could play a major role
@@bulborb8756 Just curious, why don't you see USUM as proper third versions? The only real difference they have between traditional ones is that there's two.
Unova, Galar, and Paldea didn’t either
@ it's just that they did not feel like 3rd versions like how it was with Yellow, Crystal, Emerald and Platinum
plus like since USUM added a few new mons as well just makes me feel like they were more like an "expansion" of sorts then a 3rd version, at least how i see it
"why does it take 5 god forsaken hourse to get to the second gym!?" I actually kinda like that, especially after the more recent pokemon games where it feels like you reached the second gym/trial or big boss nearly right after the previous. it made me feel like I was actually going on a journey where it takes me time to reach the next gym. having to travel through not one, but 2 extra cities before reaching the second gym just feels great to me. but hey, things differ from person to person
Agreed
i feel like at some point in the distant future, there will be a ton of people who grew up on xy, sun and moon, swsh, and will look back at them in the same way people look at the earlier gens now
No need to at least imagine that. I grew up on XY. It was the first pokemone anime I ever watched when I was younger back in grade school, and was the first pokemon game
To me. XY is as classic and iconic, if not more so than the original Red and Blue, and the original seasons of the pokemon anime
@@vardiganxpl1698although I grew up playing Ruby Sapphire, I’ve had my solid experience with XY back then because it was the first game I played with my youngest brother, I tried to matches properly with his generation, I was kinda skeptical at first but then it was a fun experience, it’s part of the reason I couldn’t accept Sun Moon when it first released as I genuinely hoped for the Z title to drop
i was a kid for platinum-scarlet and violet. i look back at sun and moon in such high regard compared to most, but x and y just falls flat to me for being as easy as it is. there’s a ton about the game to enjoy but at the end of the day its a mash A sim.
No. There won’t be.
I am like that and I grew up with gen1-2. Gens 5-6 are my absolute favorites
I immediately realized that they were putting a large chunk of their energy into the camera; literally every gym had a camera trick in some way that wouldn’t have been possible in previous generations. Even Lumiose city’s gym took advantage of the fact that the pokemon were models and not sprites
Imo, the potential was there. It just needed the third game to build on it, in a similar manner to how DP needed Platinum. I really hope they finally do Kalos the justice it deserves with ZA!
With what we know from the leaks? ZA will be a trainwreck and I’m here for it XD
@@c0mpu73rguyWe’ve seen your comments, we get it.
@@c0mpu73rguyliterally nothing in the leaks has been indicative of how good the game is
@@c0mpu73rguy What leaks for ZA even are there?
Lysandre had so much potential as a villain that just wasn't utilized by X and Y's poor writing.
In the past Lysandre was known as an incredible man and an incredible inventor, creating all kinds of devices and products to try and improve the world, he traveled the world to give his inventions and money to others, but when he saw that the only thing that happened was just people asking him for more and more, he believed that people were greedy and destructive, always wanting more until it's too late.
At his core, Lysandre was a man who loved too much. He loved the world and Pokemon, but he physically couldn't stand the thought of things ruining this beautiful world that he loves so much. Pokemon Generations and Evolutions sheds some further light onto his character, stating that "Everything that is beautiful should stay that way forever" and "I can't stand the thought of the world becoming uglier". Lysandre hates change, and in order to fight it, he gathers up all the people he believes are worthy of keeping the world as he thinks it's meant to be. He loves Pokemon so much that he begins to weep openly about the fact that Pokemon cannot exist, as the ugly will only use them to cause more pain. It truly brings him pain to do so, but it's a necessary sacrifice in his eyes, what must be done to ensure his world never falls to ruin.
Of course some might say "but team flare is full of those "ugly" people, men and women who steal, extort, lie and cheat for their own personal gain, people who believe that just because they have more money and dress better than other people, that they are inherently 'more worthy", why would the fee to join team flare be such a high price? That could be interpreted as another part of Lysandre's plan. You can see he has no care for Team Flare at all, he uses it to gather all of the "ugliest" people he can think of in one place, they were never intended to be a part of his beautiful world, he was going to dispose of them all. He travels the region personally asking people he deems worthy to join him, while all the greedy and wealthy pay to join him, a sign of failure in his eyes. When he mentions "his group" when he publicly announces his plan to activate the ultimate weapon he's not talking about Team Flare, he's talking about the people he truly believes are worthy. This disconnect is even seen in the game, when the player is presented with the choice of two buttons, one that stops the machine and one that will fire it, Lysandre admits to the player that if they had pressed the right one he would have stopped, it's only because of Xerosic who rigs the buttons to trigger the machine regardless that there's no choice, because he just wants the world to end, he's one of the "ugly".
This contrasts with Professor Sycamore, the Player and their friends, who constantly show to Lysandre that there are other options, that his plan isn't the only way to save the world, that his vision of an ugly world might not even happen. But Lysandre is so far gone that he just can't see it, he even thanks them for trying to change his mind, but stays steadfast to his plan. And with no options left, the legendary pokemon of life/death taken from the machine, he decides to spread his belief to Sycamore's pupils, by turning the weapon onto them, so he can "give them the pain of endlessly waiting for a beautiful world to be built" giving them immortality so they can watch as his vision of an ugly world becomes reality. This action ultimately takes his own life in the process, and it's unknown if he even succeeded in giving the characters their "enternal life".
"Pokemon Trainers, listen well. The future isn't decided, you can't be sure each day will be like the one before. You have the potential to change the world. Help build a brighter tomorrow."
-Lysandre
i know it would screw with how they want the timeline to be relatively grounded in earth's, somehow, but now i want Gen 10 to have a secret bossbattle with Serena the Eternal.
@F14thunderhawk that would be awesome, it could happen depending on whether Legends AZ takes place in the future. And maybe as a subversion of expectations, Serena/Calem are at the forefront of this Lumiose City project, essentially proving Lysandre wrong by making the world better.
I don't think Lysandre went around traveling to recruit people into Team Flare. Because apparently it costs 5,000,000 PokéDollars to join Team Flare.
@@shouldveusedsafesearch8099 you missed the point. That's just what the grunts were told.
Lysandre’s motivation is funny because it’s literally “billions must die”
Kalos has fallen
chudsandre
Its not like archie or cyrus had smarter goals. The only evil team with a reasonable goal is rocket
Looking back on X and Y, it seems very clear that they were not actually finished. Gamefreak probably wanted to do more, but were forced to release the games as is to meet the deadline. And the success of X and Y unfortunately sent the wrong message to Gamefreak and Nintendo: That fans would still buy and play the games even if they weren't actually complete (or even close to being complete).
I think the reason the XY games themselves had little in them was because so much time was spent turning the hundreds of Pokémon into 3D models.
About not having a third game, Game Freak was probably tied-up with ORAS and SM, so they just skipped making a Pokémon Z game, until now with Legends Z-A. Although I’d argue BW2 killed the “third game” concept because we never got Pokémon Gray, which still infuriates my OCD brain.
XY was my first Pokémon game, so I’ll always cherish it with a special place in my heart, even with its flaws.
“Perhaps I treated you too harshly”
Eh. It was the start of easy AF games
I never did.
Deservedly too, those games are trash.
Easly the worst main line games along with scarlet and violet.
I think “what could have been” is what makes XY so intriguing, whether you think about the leaks or just basic ideas.
For me, it was still fun to play.
@@dannysmi7162Oh, no, I don’t deny that. I still prefer this game compared to most others (though that might be the rose tinted lenses talking a bit)
I really liked how they made 3d models for EVERY pokemon from gens 1-6 even before pokemon bank was released. I'm disappointed with the amount of content cut from xy but the devs still definitely tried with these games
The problem with the Pokemon experience as a whole is that we will NEVER get the complete package. Game Freak knows that the Pokemon franchise has to keep churning out content forevermore because it's on par with many world famous franchises like Disney and Hello Kitty. So to that effect, they choose to give us, in any Pokemon title, at the very most a solid experience to enjoy, so that they always have room to one up themselves and keep the attention of the masses. The cut content from Kalos is proof of this. Sure, other things played a factor in this content being cut, but if they would have given us this COMPLETE experience like they planned, where would they go from there? If X and Y were lauded as the greatest Pokemon games of all time, then anything they release afterward would just be considered dogwater by the fan base, and okayish at most by the outsiders looking in. They never can nor will give us the experience we're looking for, because it's just not good for business.
And considering how Pokemon Black and White underperformed sales wise, it's understandable but sad that GF has used XY's rushed business model for creating games moving forward.
15:30 I mean, that would be a funny message. "Resource scarcity and conservation are basically scams invented by the uber rich who want to doom the world."
Works with the Gen 8 games, too.
3:20 - The Unova tie-in location have a BRIDGE that connects the palace to the maze is a nice touch/callback.
5:50 - With Mountain Kalos echoing Fall, Winter and Spring, one would expect for South to be Summer coded.
I think for me when it comes to X and Y it's the last game in the series that contains region design and exploration that I love.
That long stretch between Gym 1 or 2 will funnily enough be one of my favourite parts of the entire series for how much I enjoyed that sense of exploration without any plot obligations which feels like a controversal opinion.
It's overall pretty mid in the grand scheme of pokemon games but subjectivly it furfills alot of what I like in pokemon games outside of in- game battle difficulty.
The games, debatable, but the TCG? Have you SEEN the Mega Evolution cards!? Pure Art🔥
Ikr I would have loved to play pokemon z 😢
The main problem, not just for Kalos but most Pokemon games, I feel is the disconnection between Pokemon villains trying to say something about real world issues such as resource scarcity and climate change, except those issues don’t exist in the Pokemon world or at least aren’t shown to us because GF doesn’t want to ruin the idealistic world they present it as
Yes I also love how MASSIVE the dex is in this game. They kept the number of new Pokémon LOW but managed to TAPER it in a way that made it still refreshing. My interest in this game did not FADE at all thanks to this excellent roster.
_Wait… say that again…_
I’ve always loved XY, it’s hard to not love your first Pokémon game
As far as first versions go X/Y are honestly better than G/S and R/S and I think the fandom is too hard on these games. If a third Kalos game was made I could see it being in my top 5 EASILY
I agree that people are too harsh on XY but they're objectively shallow compared to R/S or G/S, those games are massive in content by comparison.
X was probably my second fav pokémon game ever. Maybe numba juan
13:18 actually you have to pay him 5.000.000 dollers to not get hit with the laser
I think the biggest problem is _the way people look at Pokémon_ and not so much the games themselves. Let me elaborate :
The biggest complaints of this game are all either the playerbase trying to demand more out of something functional to suit personal expectations or things that are downright not a problem.
- The EXP Share can be turned off literally at the press of a button if you select it, so there’s no excuse to be complaining the game is “too easy” when you clearly never even checked the item screen (the game is legitimately challenging not using it if you want to skip leveling).
- The Roller Skates can literally be removed by walking with the D-pad instead.
- The Kalos “Rivals” aren’t meant to be direct competitors; they’re just new friends you get to travel alongside on your personal journey to become the best with Calem/Serena.
- The game’s story leans heavily (and rather excessively) on either implications or shared meanings between separated dialogue. Team Flare is written to be a full-on doomsday death cult, but most fans wouldn’t be able to tell you that because they disregard the side dialogue of most characters. The upfront charge of 5,000,000 Pokédollars is the biggest giveaway. Charging essentially $50k (converting Pokédollars to Yen and then roughly to USD) to join a society dedicated to committing acts of theft and violence is the most blatant parallel to real-world conflict I can remember since Team Rocket was literally just a street gang.
- The majority of the development of Lysandre is the biggest unified problem of the story, and it’s specifically because we just don’t see it. Again, he’s primarily hyped up in the same vein as Team Flare through outside dialogue mentioning him and his influence that people just don’t feel like reading. He doesn’t get much emotional development - but neither did the antagonists of gens 1-4. N is basically the sole exception up to gen 6 since the Rockets, Archie, Maxie, Cyrus, and Ghetsis are as shallow as can be, and Archie and Maxie were basically template characters until they were redesigned _in gen 6._
Generation 6 and specifically X and Y are perfectly fine games - they aren’t anything groundbreaking from a gameplay standpoint, but again, the primary gameplay loop was only massively upended in generations 2-4 because of either technical changes or outright new aspects of game design as a whole. Generation 2 introduced 2 new types, Special Attack and Defense as separate stats, and breeding, and that doesn’t even cover the first additional region that became a series regular. Generation 3 marked the first shift from consoles, moving to the GBA and requiring much of the games to be redesigned. Then, Generation 4 made easily the biggest splash behind Generation 2 by completely redesigning the system of physical and special moves as well as introducing online trading. People outright didn’t like Generation 5 when it came out, and a big part of that can be traced to similarly oversized expectations not matching the game as well as the trend that lasted only that generation of new evolutions being delayed leaving it more as nostalgia bait with a fun story than anything of substance. Comparing the single moderate new Fairy type that was added sparingly and the first full generational gimmick to its predecessors, Generation 6 had peanuts in comparison to previous games in regard to any sweeping changes. Those kinds of big changes allowed for a lot of experimentation in those generations, but outside of introducing Mega Evolutions, there aren’t many things that could be reasonably upgraded or altered from the previous generations.
The biggest change by far is the use of full 3D models across the board, but people have gotten too high on the B&W sprites as of late to remember that the models in X and Y were the first of their kind on a new piece of handheld hardware. It was revolutionary at the time, but people have just gotten too spoiled with new console generations to remember that the 3DS (as well as the Switch, fittingly enough) aren’t built to match the horsepower of a small car. The hardware was limited and the new 3D models did great for being a very early release on a handheld from the early 2010s.
In the end, I fully acknowledge that X and Y are not the best or deepest games, but they aren’t bad - I don’t think any of the main series Pokémon games are below at least average, and the only reason I say that is because I just personally didn’t like Sword and gave up too soon to give a proper answer. It suffers heavily from being both the first game on a new console as well as the first game on a new console generation (with the 3DS coinciding with the Wii-U and therefore the PS4 and Xbox One as opposed to the DS and the Wii). It had to do the load of work from the back behind the scenes and gets slammed for things that it had to sacrifice to get the games working on the 3DS in the first place in such a short amount of time while still implementing Megas and the Fairy type. The story, while not a grand display of fantastical heroism like DPPl or B&W, is interesting and much more grounded than the universal domination plots before it. Silent storytelling is hard to get right, but the game still has depth to it when you think of it as a whole combined world and not solely a linear gameplay experience. I enjoy stories told through implications, so I find that the story asks a lot of interesting questions once you piece it all together. Lastly, I’m endlessly grateful to this game for actually making the player character feel like they just have normal friends for once instead of a bunch of people who are magically critical to the plot (like Lillie and Gladion, Hop and Marnie, and Arven and Penny). It really makes the little group feel like casual friends on different adventures rather than us as the center with other people added on for the sake of our own story. It makes the protagonist feel like they actually do just have friends.
Pokemon Z:
Not only would we have to add the Mega Evolutions from ORAS, they'd still need to make more. {Venusaur: Poison; Blastoise: Water/Steel; Butterfree: Bug/Ghost;
Golduck: Water/Psychic; Kingler: Water/Fire; Gyarados: Water/Fire & Water/Dragon;
Xatu; Flygon; Walrein; Sudowoodo: Rock/Fight; Sunflora: Grass/Electric;
Octillery: Water/Steel; Houndoom: Dark/Ghost; Breloom: Grass/Fight;
Aggron: Steel/Dragon; Roserade: Grass/Poison; Wailord: Water/Ghost & Water/Steel;
Tyranitar: Rock/Electric; Salamene: Dragon/Dark; Manectric: Electric/Steel;
Huntail: Water/Dark; Gorebyss: Water/Psychic; Luxray: Electric/Dark; Floatzel; Toxicroak;
Garbodor: Poison/Steel; Beartic: Ice/Fairy.
Because the Pokemon introduced into the Dex is so skimpy, I have no problem "poaching" mon made later in the series to fill the ranks {gen 7 to 9}:
Crabrawler [2]; Mareanie [2]; Morelull [2] ; Turtonator; Drampa; Rolycoly [3*]; Applin [5];
Toxel [2*]; Sizzlipede [2*]; Impadimp [3*]; Ursaluna; Basculegion; Nymble [2]; Lechonk [2];
Fidough [2]; Nacli [3]; Annihilape [3]; Farigiraf [2] Kingambit; Dudunsparce
Then the routs should be made more dynamic, longer and have more nooks and crannies to explore.
Gym Leader and Elite 4 Rematches
Viola: Vivillon, Accelgor; Forretress; Heracross; Centiskorch; Lokix; Armaldo; Mega Pinsir
Grant: Aurorus; Tyrantrum; Bastiodon; Gigalith; Tyranitar; Aerodactyl; rhyperior;
Mega Coalossal
Korrina: Mienshao; Machamp; Hawlucha; Hitmontop; Pangoro; Annihilape; Poliwrath;
Mega Lucario
Ramos: Jumpluff; Venusaur; Gogoat; Victreebel; Exeggutor; Tangrowth; Hydrapple;
Mega Breloom
Clemont: Magnezone; Heliolisk; Eelektross; Lanturn; Ampharos; Rotom {Freeze}; Toxtricity;
Mega Luxray
Valerie: Sylveon; Mr.Mime; Togekiss; Shiinotic; Azumarill; Carbink; Hatterene; Mega Mawile
Wulfric: Avalugg; Abomasnow; Weavile; Crabominable; Walrein; Mamoswine; Cloyster;
Mega Beartic
Olympia: Slowking; Meowstic; Grumpig; Metagross; Gothitelle; Jynx; Farigiraf; Mega Xatu
Malva: Delphox; Talonflame; Chandelure; Houndoom; Arcanine; Pyroar; Volcarona;
Mega Charizard Y
Wilkstrom: Probopass; Empoleon; Aggron; Bronzong; Aegislash; Magnezone; Corviknight;
Mega Scizor
Seibold: Starmire; Barbaracle; Clawitzer; Lapras; Sharpedo; Kingdra; Basculegion;
Mega Blastoise
Drasna: Druddigon; Hydreigon; Appletun; Noivern; Dragalge; Duraludon; Flygon;
Mega Altaria
AZ: Florgess; Turtonator; Dragapult; Golurk; Sigilyph; Dragonite; Jellicent; Klinklang;
Kingambit; Rabsca
The Galar region really made me appreciate Kalos more. I've always felt like after Kalos, Pokemon regions have become a lot more linear and having lesser memorable areas. I liked Alola but you could tell the routes were less creatively designed than usual, but Galar's routes were just direct straight lines for the most part. Kalos had routes like 8, 15, 16, and 19 that absolutely blow every route Galar had out of the water.
This didn't start with Kalos. Unova is a literal straight line, with one branching path for the post game. It is as bland and boring of a region as I can think of.
It's interesting hearing about games that are "controversial". I'm 32 and started with gen 1, but the only generation that ever really disappointed me was Sword and Shield. Have my issues with S/V (mostly down to performance), but that's really it
Oh dear, Sword and Shield is indeed another game I really freaking hate in this franchise. But you could argue that most if not all of its shortcomings are direct consequences of choices made during gen 6.
Bonus points in Kalos for the most neglectful parent ever xD like your child saves the World and becomes the best trainer in the Region. They get their own parade and get honored in front of the whole region... and you watch it on TV XD
I say X and Y as a whole embodies style over substance. While it has good presentation they didn’t add enough content or story to make it worthwhile. Sure it looks nice but not much beyond that. Overall I say a 6/10. It’s not the worst but it’s definitely not one of the best.
I was born in 1993
Became a fan at the height of Pokemania in the late 90s early 2000s
Played every Generation
Loved X&Y back in 2013 at 20
Still love X&Y in 2025
Bring on Z-A!
You were 5-6 at the height of Pokemania.
@@cabrondemente16 year olds love pokemon, dude
I've grown to appreciate the visual/fashion aspect of XY. The geography and trainer customization is one of my favorite parts.
Also 6:27 JPR kitchen jumpscare
I played Y for the first time super recently and (thanks to hindsight) turned the Exp Share. off whenever I was getting a little too strong. Suffice to say, I do feel a little bad about it being the community's Wobbuffet for years. The region of Kalos is actually very interesting and pretty fun to traverse especially with how they use the camera along with the rollerskates being a nice switch up from running, the Pokemon variety is super great, the many little details like how you can use Air Cutter to knock berries out of trees is pretty neat and for the first 3D handheld outing I think the models do a fine enough job. Plus I really liked my team. Unfortunately the game still has its shortcomings. The lack of Megas both in the main story and on trainers after you get access to the mechanic is very lame. The characters say a bunch of stuff but it constantly feels like there's no substance to it and it feels like there are a lot of things left on the cutting room floor when you play the game (obvious powerplant joke is obvious). "Missed potential" is the name of the game for X and Y since I can feel the want to do more. It really is unfortunate that we never really did get that Pokemon Z and probably never will since while we still know nothing about ZA, it will likely be focused squarely on Lumiose City and its development.
This is the gen that brought me back forever as a pokemon fan.
In my opinion
It badly needed a 3rd version to fix the "base game". If u take Megas, Trainer customisation(A QoL update), there's nothing else. For some reason all the Legendaries are Shiny locked including the old ones-Bird trio+Mew2
1. No proper post game content like BW, SM("Base games")
2. Megas only used by 3 NPCs in serious battles+Korrina
3.Lack of Zygarde plot
4.Move tutors
5.Kalos Megas like Diancie, Ash Greninja(Bond phenomenon) came in the later gens. Sadly Delphox & Chesnaught got nothing
Everything could have been fixed with a 3rd version
I love how XY are getting the BW treatment! Get trashed for several years, then become respected in the later years!
The victory road chat with the rival is deranged. With the empathy for the omnicidal maniac. "Oh, if only we could have found a golden average...", da fug, game.
I will die on the hill that XY were easily some of the best feeling Pokemon games. They didn’t have the most content but I always had fun
X was my first Pokémon game. Being used to other JRPGs, I found the gameplay pretty boring. The 4 moves restriction, constant 1-hit KOs, and 1v1 combat of Pokémon were a huge downgrade, and I was disappointed by the lack of content. I finished X and looked for post-game and was like "That's it?" However, the music was AMAZING, and honestly got my hooked to give ORAS a chance, which I'm glad I did because they were amazing in terms of content.
With the graphical praise as someone who just beat omega ruby for the first time, the game looks amazing in 2025 (especially the delta episode)
I feel so bad for X and Y because unlike a lot of the other terrible mainline entries I don't hate it or find it's unfavourable aspects frustrating (like say SV or SwSh) but they're probably one of my least favourite generations because they're ultimately pretty dull. Full of a lot of ideas and style but little substance. It's the only generation I feel ONLY sticks to the series conventions without trying to explore most of its concepts with any amount of depth. Not helping that is the lack of a third game or sequel that prior to gen5 was the primary means of unlocking a generation's true potential. Plus it's been pretty well documented now that gen 6 was rushed out for the 3DS systems, evidenced by that third game cut and it releasing only a year after the black and white sequels (before hand games came out on a 2-3year gap). Disliking these games feels like hating a dumb puppy, it's clearly trying and we've not yet hit the point of utter executive laziness but it simultaneously tries too much and not enough to be interesting.
Stylistically I love it, this is my favourite 3D style they've done to date. Keeping it close to the 'chibi' (idk if that's the right term) of the 2D games is great, keeping things familiar and interesting. This game does a great job playing around with it's camera, character animations and expressions in a way other games struggle to and the environments are varied, detailed and stunning (also I agree the UI is great although the SwSh UI slander I'll disagree with I actually love that part of the game). I love how the customization in this game reflects actual clothing it really fits with Kalos' vibe and is a great display of the game working within it's limitations. And while the pokemon animations are limited, it's more impressive they were able to get all of them working plus they look good for the 3DS's scale they were a great 'mid-point' for full console animations, assuming they went that route (which they unfortunately didn't). Also idk if I missed you saying it but the soundtrack is great, especially the area themes.
Gameplay wise these games are also really good. Pretty standard and low on difficulty but some fights can actually be challenging with the exp share off and it does give these games a more relaxing vibe which is why I think poketubers keep using it for nuzlockes. For as small as the number of them are, the new mons introduced in Kalos are amazingly designed and set a solid foundation for a lot of the modern design philosophy. Personally I think ORAS was where the concept of mega evolution was executed best but it was a bold step forward that managed to shake up a formula that had hadn't seen major changes for a while.
This games major problem is by far it's story and characters. Most of the cast is just really boring and don't do or go through anything of note, with a lot of them essentially having the sole character trait of being generically nice. Four rivals is already quite bloated but it's worsened by the fact they're all virtually the same and a lot of their 'gimmicks' aren't explored in meaningful ways. And I think that's the embodiment of the problem, X and Y consistently presents concepts and ideas that seem cool in isolation but never goes anywhere with them or when it does it's at such a surface level. Also I have to disagree with the 'strong points' of the story being compelling because they're either elements that don't impact the story, lore (which is cool but lore should be background that informs details it should not BE the story, at least not for a game like this) or it's insanely pretentious. That last point is how I feel about Lysandre, he's not human he just cries sometimes and spouts nonsense about ugliness which could be compelling except that it's insanely ill-defined and isn't reinforced anywhere in the game: Kalos is amongst the least problematic regions and literally the only people causing problems are Team Flare. Lysandre is full of paradoxes which is usually fine for a villain, but the story wants to paint him as sympathetic when all he is a sociopath making excuses (USUM doesn't help his case). It's just the result of bad writing and an ill-defined theme for Kalos to have, like most people say beauty but the story never explores questions of that theme when it clearly wants to without having to.
All in all I think these games just needed more time in the oven to decide what they wanted to be. I still hugely appreciate them, it was this generation that allowed me to connect with new friends and battle them (seriously they had online so right in this generation) and they are fun games; but I think that's because it's the pokemon formula with bells and whistles over because it does anything too interesting outside of mega evolution. They're games in which I'd put something on in the background over something I'd want to get immersed in. I just wish GF/the pokemon company would treat them better, they didn't deserve to just be left the way they were. Here's hoping Legends Z-A can give Kalos the great showing it deserves, I just hope they actually polish the games properly and don't just rush them out.
I have only 3 problems with Kalos - The Lumiose Camera is very fancy, in all the wrong ways. You should be able to take off your roller skates. They can be very annoying. And lastly, camera angle in the desert makes it impossible to spot the visible pokemon that you should be dodging.
You can take off the skates at any time. You just use the D-pad instead of the circle pad.
10:23 weirdly enough the manga actually does stuff with this. Making team flare more of an omnipresent team with "eyes everywhere" and the protagonists don't know who to trust
Another W for Pokemon Adventures/Special
I always appreciated Kalos’s aesthetic and presentation, one of the best in the series. Outside of that though, even before the leaks, I’ve always felt that XY had the bones of a phenomenal experience, the structure IS there, but at the end of the day it’s still just the bones. You really hit the nail on the head with this.
3:03 To be fair, the French did want to get rid of the Eiffel Tower at first, so it is somewhat accurate.
Didn’t diamond and pearl have a gym that was just math until you reach the gym leader
@@Eagleboy90210yes, Hearthone gym in Pokémon Diamond and pearl I think.
It was just maths questions with 3 doors and an elevator.
Atleast in platinum it was more creative.
Yeah guys, XY had the Best online experience!!
*Hides under the rug the online trading system asking for level 100 caterpies and level 10 Charizards*
Always the glitched out player icons with buggy-looking names that are promoting their social profile.
*immediately confirms Pokemon trade*
*game crashes*
No no, you're right. Gen 6's online still hasn't been matched. It had such a clean UI that was super convenient to use. Online battling was actually fun.
I mean the GTS was a product of Gen 4
i love kalos but it does NOT feel natural badlands with so little transition and a random snowy area they don’t develop each region of the region feels so forced “oh we want a sand area here” so they put it on a random spot
Thank you for the X and Y praise JPR ! It was a stark change from B and W back in the day, but I genuinely loved the aesthetic of X and Y and the gameplay felt so satisfying
18:35, sky battles gonna go hard in ZA
2:06 Dendemille may not have given us anything story or team building wise; but it did unintentionally give us one of the most memorable NPC of the past decade.
Who dat?
@@dougdoug2469 One word. Milk.
@@dougdoug2469the hex maniac that sells moomoo milk… the fanart that spawned was quite numerous
@@Xeno-The-Wanderer oh lol
Heck Yeah 😎😎
Yoir point that the game guides you to have the same team every playthrough is just as bad in B2W2. Starter? Check. Lucario by the first Gym? Check. Magnezone because it made Roxie so easy? Check. Previously hyped up Ground or Dark type around Route 4? Check. Overworld late-evolving bird in the same area? Check. Easy mid-late Haxorus before Drayden? Check.
Besides the starter and the desert bird, none of these are "in your face". Just random encounters like any other. It _is_ noticably more prevelant than in the previous games however, so I'll give you that.
Honestly X and Y was a lot of fun and it was the first time I was really encouraged to try new pokemon, including the fossil pokemon.
The customization was also really appreciated.
The only complaint I have is the access to the original Kanto starters made me ignore the new Kalos starters
5:44 and whit the leaks we know that for postgame the scarpped at least 3 towns, 8routes, 4 dungeons (all locate in South kalos)
6:36 if you drank whole milk you wouldn't be worried about drinking thick glue
I feel like so much of this game was gearing towards its third version. It kind of felt like an updated ruby, sapphire, emerald given the color schemes.
Looking back and considering how low the franchise has fallen with the latest two gens, I've reconsidered my opinion on this game. At the end of the day, it wasn't completely bad, it's just that it was way too easy and got a lot of stuff cut from the original plans, which IS a bad thing per se. But the recent games outside of Legends Arceus were so bad that in comparison made X/Y looking good.
7:54 You know what else is massive?
Your butthole. Seriously, your joke is predictable, cliche, and unfunny.
To be fair on Clemont's gym, the real world Eiffel Tower is basically just an oversized electrical pylon so....don't boo me, you all know I'm right.
oh so now we are comparing pokemon to the real world? not when those dumb pokedex entries make no sense in the real world?
@theamazingspooderman2697 My brother/sister in Arceus. Kalos is based on real world France, Lumiouse city on Paris, and the gym on the Eiffel Tower....what does the Pokedex have to do with any of this?
This video brought up some points like the story that I hadn’t thought about before. While I admit that Kalos feels unfinished in many areas, the rivals suck, and it’s relatively easy, I still very much enjoyed the game and I think the region itself is beautiful and was fun to explore. Kalos needed a third game badly, but I still preferred it to Sun and Moon or Sword and Shield.
Doesn’t sound like you enjoyed it.
7:19 I am! I'm saying open world is bad!
Gen 1 - Gen 7, that’s all💯
i think Game freak should work on game remasters , a bit like the Tomb Raider classic games Remastered editions , it would be cool to see the classic 3D games to be released on switch and switch 2 on HD , better textures and etc , and maybe some fixes , it would be cool. im excited for ZA but i think being able to play the OG XY game on switch would be cool too
That's just what remakes will become now that we're almost done with remaking 2D games, no?
Only one problem about this generation, the fact that had so much wasted potential, not sure if we needed a 3rd game, but with the leaks confirming it we got a lot of things taken from us ! Almost beyond imagination what these games could have been !!
It’s better to have a game with wasted potential than wasting potential on a game that doesn’t deserve it.
“Everyone ended up with the exact same teams” is a great point, and one i noticed myself. When I played Pokemon Y, i made sure to use a new team with no repeats from my X run; no event Blaziken, no Lucario, no Lapras, etc.. It was in the multiple playthroughs of that game that I used pokemon I probably wouldn’t have otherwise on a first run of XY. I challenged myself since, as you said, the dex was very large!
Across those runs, I used Linoone, Pyroar, Pidgeot, Pangoro, Florges, Golurk, Aurorus, Tyrantrum, and even Butterfree! BUTTERFREE! Each one played their part, and it felt like a personal challenge to avoid the usual picks. It’s fun to try and use an outside the box team
12 years 😳 ffs my brain still calls them new 😭😂 guess I'm getting old lol
I honestly enjoyed them. The only Pokémon games I never finished were the open world ones. ow always lacks a good story
8:46 shoutout to my Story and E4 team for my playthrough with Delphox, Charizard, Blaziken, Lapras, Ledian and Gogoat
I put like 700hrs on my Y.
Less than 10, I gave up fast.
as a wise bald blue man once said:
"PRESENTATION!"
As someone that started playing with Pokemon Blue in 1998, last year I revisited my Pokemon Y. Had not played it since I breezed through it in 2013. It was way worse than I remembered. The lackluster story and pacing that you mentioned made it one of the worse pokemon generations that I recall (probably Sinnoh is the worse, as it has aged very poorly for me). However, I have high hopes that Legends Z-A greatly expands on most of the unfulfilled potential of Kalos.
BDSP elite four was a shockingly hard difficulty jump.
I definitely enjoyed this game as a kid more than I did as an adult. Was disappointed that Sylveon was the only cross gen evolution even as a kid though.
Still wondering at this point why my character can’t carry a flashlight so I can get through caves instead of having flash. That’s all I want 😣
As a 33 y.o. who played every gen, I enjoyed X & Y thoroughly playwise, but it felt disconnected from the rest of the Pokémon world. Isolated. Like an anomaly.
19:18 Hey, sandpaper as a whole is actually pretty interesting! Industrial grade diamonds and all that jazz.
While XY were undeveloped, I think ORAS helped slightly develop Gen 6 even more with Megas and them being good games.
I miss Pokémon Amie. I really prefer it to the camping and picnic mechanics. I wouldn't mind those so much if they still included the option to pet, feed, and groom your mons. I know you can technically wash them in SV and make curry or sandwiches, but it doesn't feel the same as Amie.
I loved the exp share change and I agree how does everyone know about mega evolution? Once you complete the third gym? , I guess they were smart enough to do the research on Google, and get some mega stones after all
This game is very BLATANTLY a victim of overambition, to the point where I can point out so many things that this game was likely trying to do and failed at and why.
Looking back, X and Y is all style and no substance. It was hard carried by being the first 3D Pokémon game (excluding the GameCube games). The game felt horribly unfinished and I wasn't sure why back then. Diantha is still hands down, the worst champion in the franchise.
Thanks for making this video. Im someone who actually grew up during the gen 6 era, and i feel a huge amount of nostalgia towards kalos. Despite the story lacking, in glad you held Kalos itself as a beautiful and fantastic region. Both kalos and galar mean a lot to me.
Makes me wanna visit actually Uk and France someday
One of the things that really bother me about XY and I think no one ever talks about is how it's legendaries and their dungeons are so... Bland. When I was a kid I got so amazed when I first saw Ho-Oh at the top of Tin Tower, climbing the Sky Pillar for Rayquaza, or how damn creepy and empty were the Turnback Cave and Giant Chasm for Giratira and Kyurem.
Meanwhile, in Kalos, aside from the obligatory story legendary, everyone else are in such boring and uninspiring places. Mewtwo is in a cave we already went before without any sort of dungeon around, the legendary birds are some of the most annoying roaming legendaries ever made, and Zygarde's Terminus cave is literally just a random cave on the side of the road with a bunch of trainers, making Zygarde feel less like that imposing leader of a legendary trio, and more like a miner that arrived in the morning for work by defeating random 11-year olds. And the worst is that GF had the opportunity to make something cool with Volcanion and the random Power Plant locked doors... Only for the doors to remain locked and Volcanion be given as a mystery gift. We've come a long way since Mewtwo in Cerulean Cave, and in a bad way.
X and Y are some of my most nostalgic games, not just because the games themselves, but it felt like everyone in my school was playing pokemon. Every lunch period we were battling or trading, it was the first time i completed a national pokedex and i still love shiny hunting in it. It was the last time i really had time to dive deep into a pokemon game and ill always appreciate them
I feel like all the pokemon games even if hated on at launch end up being praised in like, 10-ish years afterwards because the little kids that grew up with those games weren't involved in the hating and then they praise it due to nostalgia and it's just a cycle, like I would die for Sinnoh cause that was my first region when I got Pearl as a kid.
I feel the world singing in my hands!
the anime was its saving grace imo. it was black and white but, reverse.
We unironically got not just a skeleton of a game, but an incomplete one at that.
9:00
Me neither because my team consisted of a level 100 Azumarill and 5 unevolved pokemon who were a single evolution away from being boxed for the entire game
If ever there was a region that so desperately needed a third version it was Kalos. I get that those have never been the best sellers, but they've also always been the games that most define the legacy for which each generation was remembered. There's a damn good reason why people were so disappointed that BD/SP included basically nothing from Platinum, and why even the otherwise much more well received OR/AS were still lambasted for failing to include Emerald's Battle Frontier.
As someone doing a replay of Y with nothing but my friends favorite mons named after them it’s more fun than I remember it being and loved playing Y when it first dropped
Well a remake of these games one day is needed to potentially improve them that’s for certain.
well my friend i have to disagree with you strongly though I love pokemon x and y throughout kalos gen 6 it's among my favorites including unova gen 5 pokemon black white black 2 and white 2
no they're actually really good games, i recently replayed them and i rly rly loved it.
the music is freaking amazing.
I agree with many of the points made though I do disagree with the sentiment of the video title. I don't think X&Y are remembered as bad? Undercooked yes but a good game is there to be added upon...unlike say Sun and Moon which is a game that was given time to cook but the main problems with that game are core features (over reliance on cutscenes, rotom phone telling you exactly what to do and where to go, no room for self exploration) so was ultimately a polished turd.
Opinion: X and Y are "lost potential" it started to well but it felt unfinished, and halfway it sort of started feeling like the devs were rushing to the end. Not bad, but definitely not great. Just hanging on good, but could be better.
I think you just simply had to be there for X and y. People who were playing X&y at the time, and older UA-camrs who started there specifically can tell you how legendary that game was. Unfortunately it is not aged that well because of 1, there is no online anymore so no more wonder trading and stuff. And 2, there was no follow-up game.
Those who started with XY are the only ones who thought it was good
I never had the issue with the team.
I always do new pokemon. So the kanto, torchic, wnd Lucario, straight into the box
Had the itch to replay it, and got filtered after the first gym. It's so sterile, and the grid based map design feels awful in comparison to the sprite based games.