[JAMIE] Hello, and welcome to a huge RETROspective
look at two games I feel very, very mixed about. These are 2013’s Pokémon X and Y and I
promise I have several very good reasons for titling this video “Where nostalgia ends.” Before we go on, though, what are Pokémon
X and Y? I mean, I’m assuming you know what Pokémon
is because you clicked on this video, but I know a good few diehard Pokémon fans who
initially skipped out on these two. X and Y are the starts of the 6th generation
of Pokémon. As far as mainline games go, that means these
two along with the generation 3 remakes, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Until Sun and Moon - the start of the 7th
generation - was announced, I remember hearing rumours everywhere about a “Pokémon Z”
- a third version that would add a bunch of content, focus on the legendary Pokémon Zygarde,
and hopefully make the Kalos region feel a bit more fleshed out. As I’ll get into later, this region always
came off as feeling somewhat incomplete to me. I’m not sure if it was ever confirmed, but
I remember seeing YouTubers talk about “Oh yeah, Z was in development, but got scrapped
and had its content shoved into Sun and Moon. That’s why there was a random Zygarde quest
in those.” But that’s not the focus of today’s video. No, see, X and Y were games I was hugely excited
for. And, back in the day, I rather enjoyed them
- even if I had my fair share of criticisms. And I’ll be going over what I liked and
what I had issues with today. But being one of my retrospectives, there’s
a deeper, more personal layer. I feel like I’ve always been more critical
of X and Y than most of the other games in the series, and there are two factors at play
here. First off, these are often called “the first-ever
fully-3D Pokémon RPGs.” And, if we’re talking handheld games, sure
I’ll give them that. But the first Pokémon game I ever owned was
Pokémon Colosseum on the GameCube. That was a fully 3D RPG with a story mode
where you could catch and battle Pokémon. And whether you love that game, hate it, or
consider it nothing more than an odd spinoff, it at the very least deserves that title…right? But maybe that’s just me being a pedantic
fangirl who wants to shill her favourite console as much as possible. The 3DS may have had stereoscopic 3D, but
the GameCube had a handle, hell yeah! However, I want to address here the title
of this video - “Where Nostalgia Ends.” I feel like there’s a very clear split in
how I look back on Pokémon as a whole. There is how I look back on Gens 1 through
5 - particularly gens 4 and 5, as I played the absolute hell out of those - and then
there’s how I look back at everything after. That’s not to say there’s anything inherently
wrong with the games after gen 5. I mean, there was certainly a start to some
concerning trends that would continue in the series for years to come starting in X and
Y, but I’ll talk about those later. And yeah, I definitely like a lot of those
earlier games better. Oh yeah, here’s a shocking opinion no one
on YouTube has ever had before: Pokémon Sword and Shield didn’t do much for me. But let’s look back at when X and Y came
out along with the games that came directly before them: Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. Now I could do a whole video on why I adore
Black 2 and White 2 so much. From massive Pokémon selection to some tastefully
done fan service in terms of the Pokémon World Tournament to a story that, though not
as engrossing as in Black 1 and White 1, was ridiculous enough that I thoroughly enjoyed
it, and a fleshed out Unova region filled with nooks and crannies to explore. My god, look, that’s just a straight up
ice laser! This is only the tip of the iceberg, but I
think it’s no secret that Black 2 especially, what with the more futuristic vibe some of
the exclusive areas have, is my favourite game in the entire Pokémon series. In North America though, Black 2 and White
2 came out in June 2012. And that’s important - that was the summer
before my Freshman year of high school. And like so many video games, I got my copy
of Black 2 before the family hopped on a flight from Houston, where I spent a huge portion
of my childhood, to Victoria, BC, where funnily enough, I ended up spending most of my adult
life. A new game to play on my DSi. Six and some hours of flight, broken up by
a layover in Calgary. And a new pair of headphones, too, so I was
totally immersed in this game for hours on end, all during my last ever summer before
starting high school. Fast forward over a year to October 2013,
and we get to the release of Pokémon X and Y. These games were supposed to be a great new
leap for the series. The first Pokémon games to be released on
the same day worldwide. Being fully 3D on a handheld. Character customization. Fucking benches, y’all! (Laughs)
There was also this new mysterious feature called “Mega Evolution”, which would give
certain Pokémon a new evolutionary stage by attaching a special stone to them, though
it could only be activated on one Pokémon per battle as a temporary thing. I remember when it was first announced, it
was just through a leak of this guy - Mega Mewtwo Y. For a hot minute, I remember Facebook blowing
up about this hot new Mewtwo for the 2010s - cause, yeah, that’s what my main social
media site was at the time - and everyone was like “Oh damn, Mewthree is here! OOOOOOOH!” This was the last in a long line of Mewthree
announcement hoaxes - if you’d consider this a hoax and not a misunderstanding - dating
back to when the Pokémon Chaos Black romhack was first put onto a cartridge and started
being sold at flea markets. But no, this was just one of Mewtwo’s Mega
Evolutions - yeah, he had two, one for each version. The only other Pokémon to get this treatment
was Charizard. And yeah, I have an issue with that - we’ll
get to it. I actually played through Pokémon X shortly
after launch, and I’ll be honest, it was fun. Competitive battling was at its strongest
ever, especially with the advent of Super Training, which made it easy to train up your
‘mons for some competitive virtual cock fights. Not to mention how good the online features
were! When X and Y online was at its peak, it was
phenomenal! Especially wonder trading - I love trading
a Caterpie and randomly getting someone’s rejected baby Cyndaquil in return. The game had this graphical vibe that reminds
me a lot of PS1 RPGs, almost like Chrono Cross or something. Not to mention, like in all Pokémon games,
the soundtrack kicked some major ass. Especially Anistar City. And being the insatiable fangirl I am, I eventually
bought Pokémon Y as well. And then eventually ended up with a Japanese
copy of Pokémon X as well. …Why the hell do I own this? The 3DS is region locked. This is going to live on a shelf for the rest
of my life. But even back in 2013, I knew something was
different about X and Y on some deeper, more personal level. I don’t think I knew the words back then,
but something just felt a bit…off. In before someone says “oh yeah, bet you
could also say the same about your gender!” But, like, that was a very different kind
of “off” feeling. Every Pokémon game before X and Y had felt
like some huge grand adventure for me. And even once I beat them, I found myself
coming back for more. Searching for secrets. Battling with friends. Trying to catch them all - even though I never
actually completed a Pokédex until I was an adult. Maybe it’s because we travelled a lot when
I was a kid. But I think there’s another reason why X
and Y came off feeling like “just another video game” to me. When I first played Black 2, I was a teenager,
sure, but a really fresh one. While sure, I had friends and such, I definitely
still had time to sink into a game like this. X and Y? Not so much. By October 2013, I was 15, well into high
school, and involved with extracurriculars and learning how to drive and rocking my iPhone
5, and being big into playing classical music because, I’m not sure if you know this or
not, but I was cool as shit. …okay, a bit of an exaggeration, but the
point is I had other things I was focusing on. Sure, I played through Pokémon X. Moreso in short bursts on the weekends before
I headed off to do other things. But it was one I played through more akin
to games I play as an adult. I’m not saying I was “an adult” at 15. Hell no, I was a dumbass teenager. But I definitely had a certain childhood nostalgia
for the first five generations - yeah, even Red and Blue, though not until later on when
a cousin found his old OG Game Boy. I guess that stopped with X and Y because,
well, I was changing and getting older. That’s not the games’ fault. However, it does means that, in a way for
me, it’s “where nostalgia ends.” …I hope that video title drop earned me
a subscriber. Before I go off on yet another tangent, let’s
go through the adventure of Pokémon X and Y. Specifically X, somewhat in brief, to get
out what I overall like and dislike. The game starts off with professor DILF here,
who shows you a neat tapestry and lets you put in your name and choose your basic character
designs. I know there were more in later games, but
you gotta love that X and Y started this trend of giving characters customization options,
instead of the same boy or girl protagonist for everyone. After a bird flies through your bedroom, you
get up, lament the fact you own a Wii U, get dressed, and go downstairs, where your mom
tells you that it’s time for you to go get your first ever Pokémon! Oh, and also apparently she’s a Rhyhorn
racer. Nothing is really done with this bit of information. You then leave your peaceful Vaniville Town
to go through route 1! That’s right, you don’t even have a Pokémon
and you need to go one town over to even get started! What challenges and trials await us on Route
1? (Sad Trombone)
It’s just a straight line. This…is utterly pointless. Did they just desperately need to up the route
count by 1? Was something planned for here in the post-game
that was cut? Nobody knows! We then arrive in Aquacorde Town and, gotta
be real, for the actual first town of the game I quite like it. While there’s no formal Pokémon Centre
or Pokémart - which, like in Gen 5, are combined into one building when they appear - there’s
a lady on the north side of town who can heal you up and a little side shop that sells Pokéballs
and potions. There’s even the first of several Photo
Spots, where you can take a picture in front of the local landmarks. Reminds me of a similar feature in HeartGold/SoulSilver. Kalos is based on France and, while I’m
not an expert on small French villages, I can say as someone who just moved to Europe
for work that, yeah, the vibe is on point here. You don’t have time initially to take in
any of that, though. It’s time for you to meet your rivals! Remember how in Black and White you had two,
Bianca and Cheren? And they grew and had character development
and were actually interesting characters? Technically Black 1 and White 1 gave you a
third rival as well, in terms of N. That man even took you on a date, what a lad! Well, apparently Game Freak thought what made
people like those rivals is that you had a few of them, so in X and Y you have four different
rivals! You have a player character based on the gender
marker you didn’t choose, a girl who looks like that character’s hyper little sister
but is apparently the same age as the rest of y'all, a dancing guy, and Trevor. None of them get fully developed, and the
only two who contribute much of anything at all are your main rival - in my case, Calem
- and the hyper girl, Shauna. The dancer, Tierno, seems to exist solely
to fill up lines of dialogue. Trevor really has nothing to him either, but
I always liked to imagine he has some sort of tragic backstory. Later on, you also have encounters with Sina
and Dexio, who are professor Sycamore’s assistants. That’s the DILF, by the way. They also have superhero alter egos and…does
this mean we have technically six rivals? Most of these are just excuses to constantly
pause your adventure for dialogue on things that, let’s be real, are often self-explanatory. Honestly, I think it would’ve been better
with just Calem here. Maybe Shauna. I like her design. She can stay. In this first meeting with your friendly rivals,
they’ve brought starter Pokémon to pick from. And they also make you choose a nickname for
them to call you. As you can tell, my sense of humour hasn’t
changed since I was 15. I really, really like the Gen 6 starters. For all the other issues I have with Gen 6,
Pokémon design isn’t one of them…for the most part. And these starters are all incredibly strong. This time around, we have Fennekin, Chespin,
and Froakie. And initially, I wasn’t big on Froakie,
but trust me, he gets way better. Gotta love Greninja…even if that’s not
who I went for this run. I remember seeing people complain online that
your first rival battle is against a rival who uses a Pokémon that has the type weaker
than yours. Really, we’re complaining about that? It’s a tutorial battle. You’re gonna just spam Scratch or Tackle
until you win anyways. You then head north from Aquacorde Town and
encounter one of my biggest gripes in Pokémon X and Y. Well, maybe two of them, since there’s an
unskippable catching tutorial. Why was this only ever optional in Gold
and Silver? Like, is it really that hard to give me the
option to not have to watch this? But no, I’m talking about Santalune Forest
here, which will lead you from north of Aquacorde Town to south of Santalune City, where the
first gym leader resides. Cause, y’know, it’s Pokémon. Collect the 8 gym badges by beating the Gym
Leaders and become a Pokémon Master! What if I told you “where nostalgia ends”
has a double meaning? In a lot of the recent Pokémon games, I’ve
noticed a huge amount of banking on nostalgia for the original Generation 1 Pokémon games. “Why would Game Freak do that? Isn’t that lazy and takes resources away
from creating new, exciting things?” And the answer is yes. But as long as you keep buying Pokémon games
and nostalgia keeps selling copies, it’s unlikely they’ll stop. I don’t know if this is the case in Scarlet
or Violet, by the way. I haven’t played those yet. And I’m not overblown in saying that, ever
since X and Y, Game Freak has really been pandering to Gen 1 nostalgia to sell copies. When Sword and Shield came out, a massive
deal is made about the champion, Leon, having a Charizard. Isn’t he so cool, with his Charizard? Shame he’s bad at directions! In Gen 7, there were the Alolan form Pokémon,
which all just so happened to be new forms of Gen 1 Pokémon. And back in X and Y, we got - (huge inhale)
Pikachu now has a special voice clip when sent out instead of a traditional cry, the
only legendary Pokémon outside of the version legendaries are Mewtwo and the legendary birds
from gen 1, when you reach Lumiose city, Professor Sycamore gives you a Gen 1 starter, you also
get given a Lapras later on, and for some reason, Charizard and Mewtwo get two different
Mega Evolution forms. It all comes off as feeling like a way to
tap into that Gen 1 nostalgia a lot of folks have - at the expense of X and Y’s own sense
of identity. And all of this begins here in Santalune Forest. Instead of coming up with a unique layout
for the first dungeon of the game, they instead decided to copy/paste the layout of Red and
Blue’s Viridian Forest verbatim. But not the encounters! No, in the original games, Pikachu was a rare
encounter here. In X and Y, they’re everywhere. I did catch one though. Look, I might not care for Pikachu, but I
love Raichu. Dungeon design gripes aside, I have no real
issues with Santalune City. There’s the first clothing shop of the game,
specializing in hats. The city has a really pleasing outdoor aesthetic. The gym has this cool spider web look to it,
and the first gym battle is respectable as far as first gym battles go. I really dig that Gym Leader fight theme,
too. I may or may not occasionally put this theme
on to pump me while cleaning the house. The only major issue is a very obvious progression
block that stops you from grinding in one of the nearby routes. But I guess that’s not too bad, though,
since you can train on Route 22, which goes from east of Santalune City to Victory Road
- which also has an NPC block! I know Pokémon games have always been rather
linear - well, for the most part - but X and Y also gives you about as much leeway to explore
as a single-track railway. Route 22 also introduces us to one of my biggest
problems with not only X and Y but most of the newer Pokémon games. See this track-and-field-looking area at the
top of the route? That’s supposed to be the Rhyhorn Race Track. Y’know, for Rhyhorn Racing. What your mom does for a living! When I initially found this, I was like “Oh,
I bet there’s a minigame or something in there!” The whole aesthetic reminded me of the Pokeathlon
from HGSS. Maybe I’d even be able to train up Rhyhorns
a la Chocobos in Final Fantasy 7 or Chao in Sonic Adventure 2 and race the hell out of
them! The only issue: There is ZERO possible way
to get into the race track. No minigames. No area to explore. It’s just in the background of this random
route. And there are a lot of points where cool-looking
places exist for no other reason than route or town decoration. It’s a huge issue I have with X and Y, and
it only got worse with Sun and Moon. And then, in Sword and Shield, it got to a
point where it feels like the majority of some areas are out of reach for you as a player. In the Black and White titles, it was amazing
how much random extra stuff there was to do and explore. Want to ride a ferris wheel? Sure! Take a train to an entire town that exists
solely to flesh out the railways? Sure! Find entire new areas, caverns, and things
to do by revisiting a route after either acquiring new HMs or reaching a new part of the story? You bet! X and Y, in contrast, feel so much more shallow,
and it all starts here with this inaccessible Rhyhorn race track. Multiple parts of the game have bodies of
water - whether they be lakes, ponds, or sea access - that you can’t surf or fish on. There are these really cool power plant or
lab-looking places on the desert route that are completely inaccessible. I know I’m skipping around a bit, but near
the end of the game, you end up in Couriway Town. This town is only really notable for two reasons. First off, you fight against Professor Sycamore
himself there, in one of two battles in the game. And second, for the post-game, it’s near
Terminus Cave, where you catch Zygarde. But what always bugged me here was this train
station. Kalos is based on France. I’m not sure if you knew this, what with
the Eiffel Tower appearing in all the concept art and whatnot. And, thanks to this, Kalos has its own equivalent
to the high-speed TGV trains found in France. However, the Kalos TGV train-equivalent only
has one line. Once you beat the Pokémon League, you can
take the train to one of two post-game exclusive areas: Kiloude City. This is where the Battle Maison is - this
game’s equivalent to the Battle Tower. It also has the friend safari, which is a
neat StreetPass-based version of the Safari Zone. Is anyone else like this? Maybe it’s cause Streetpass was actually
a thing where I was at. There’s also a post-game superboss fight
against your rival, and the Stats Judge, who’s there to help you with IV breeding. And if that last bit made zero sense to you,
it’s okay, competitive Pokémon is wild and complex enough to keep you up at night
if you let it. The other post-game area is just a single-room
cave where you can fight Mewtwo, by the way. Oh wow, they even called it “The Unknown
Dungeon.” That’s another one for the Gen 1 callback
count. …where were we before I went off? Oh yeah, train station. It’s never used. There were rumours of this leading to a whole
new side of the region in a Pokémon Z, being a spot where you encountered a legendary Pokémon
in an online event or even in Sword/Shield that those game’s region’s underused rail
lines would connect to Kalos in the post-game. But none of this came to pass. And so it just exists here, as yet another
part of the game that ultimately served zero purpose. Back to the the first gym. After beating Voila, the first gym leader,
we get given one of X and Y’s most contentious items: the EXP share! Now, the EXP share has been an item in every
generation of Pokémon. In gens 2-5, you attached it to a Pokémon
and they’d gain experience points after surviving a battle, even if they didn’t
fight. However, back in Generation 1, the EXP share
was actually the EXP All, which gave EXP to EVERY member of your party when it was activated. And in X and Y, they made it work pretty similarly
again. On one hand, I can definitely see the arguments
from those who claim that this change makes these already easy games easier. But on the other hand, one of the best parts
of Pokémon is experimenting with new creatures and toying around with your team. Do you know what makes team experimentation
hard? Grinding. The EXP share heavily cuts down on grinding
and, as such, I actually find this to be a welcome change. And look, if you really don’t like it, you
can turn it off. (Cough with a quick clip of Sword/Shield)
Also, whenever you catch Pokémon you gain experience now. Neat! At the end of Route 4, we get our first encounter
with Sina and Dexio. And, they pretty much exposition dump. I swear, the next half hour of the game is
just cutscene after cutscene as you talk to these two, get escorted through the gate into
Lumiose City, meet Professor Sycamore in person, have a battle, get a Pokémon, and meet some
other people. By the end of this sequence, I was just constantly
mashing the A button, trying to get out of Lumiose City as fast as possible to get to
Route 5. A few quick notes on Lumiose City. First off, you’re only allowed to explore
a small part of it right now because there’s apparently been a power outage. Well, that’s a load of bullshit, because
while you’re talking to these construction dudes, NPCs are just walking past them and
the lights are still on. Second off, this is Lysandre. You haven’t encountered them yet, but he’s
the leader of the evil team flare. You can tell he’s a bad guy because he’s
wearing black and ominous music plays whenever he shows up. Third, this is Diantha. She’s a movie star, and also apparently
the champion. …She’s very underutilized. I could see her being a gym leader or something. But I dunno. As far as Champions go, I honestly expected
Sycamore to be the champion. It feels kind of built up, especially since
you battle him twice. And finally, whoa, look at those rollerskates! You actually get these back in Santalune City,
but I moreso associate these with Lumiose City, and the following Route 5 since that
has some skatepark-esque areas to play around in. Good route. While X and Y do have your usual running shoes
and you later get a bike, after Santalune City, you also get the option to move around
on rollerskates by just moving with the 3DS circle pad instead of the D-pad. So, the D-pad defaults to walking or running,
circle pad is skates, and the bike is either registered to select or chosen from the menu. I really like the rollerskates. They give you a full range of movement that
isn’t confined to an 8-directional grid and move you around faster than walking as
well. X and Y also have a fairly dynamic camera,
so a lot of the game features views from different heights and angles. For better or worse. In Lumiose City, this is done in such a way
that this becomes the perfect spot for Pokémon breeding! Let me explain. Over on route 7 is the Pokémon daycare, where
you can breed your Pokémon. …Y’know, make a mommy Pokémon and a daddy
Pokémon love each other very much and pop out an egg you have to hatch by walking around. In late 2016, when I was both getting into
my first year of Uni and preparing for Sun and Moon to launch, I decided to try my hand
at getting really into breeding in X and Y. Y’know, doing stuff for all that competitive
battling stuff I won’t go into. And to breed a competitive team - especially
if you want them to be shiny - you need to hatch a TON of eggs. So here’s Jamie’s unofficial Stuff We
Play guide to hatching a ton of eggs in Pokémon X and Y really quickly! Step 1, get a Pokémon with the Flame Body
ability. One of my favourite ‘mons introduced in
X and Y is Talonflame. It evolves from Fletchling, which initially
seemed like this generation’s equivalent to Pidgey and nothing more. However, I was horribly wrong there! Talonflame is a fantastic Fire/Flying type
that I use on most runs of X and Y and, it just so happens, it can also get Flame Body. Flame Body has two effects. In battle, if you’re hit directly by a move,
you have a 30% chance of afflicting your opponent with the burn status which, on its own, is
pretty good. Outside of battle, Flame Body halves the number
of steps needed to hatch an egg. Step 2, get your eggs from the daycare. Breed whatever you want. As always, use a shiny Ditto traded from a
regional version of the game different than your own because…well, cause that’s how
the folks on Pokécommunity said I could become cool. And finally, step three, go to the main ring
road around Lumiose City, hop on your rollerskates, and use a rubberband to forcibly hold your
circle pad in a direction. This will make you start skating around in
circles. Check in every few minutes to press the A
button to go through an egg hatch cutscene, fly back to the daycare if need be for more
eggs, and fill the time in between by watching more of my YouTube videos or something. I hope you found that interesting because,
past Route 5, X and Y get a bit boring for a few hours. The next town is Camphrier town, which initially
looks pretty neat. The town has a Medieval-style city wall and
even a castle! However, the castle is completely empty. Well, that was a waste of time that’s never
brought up again. The route then diverges into two paths, one
going northwest along Route 6 towards Parfum Palace, and the other going directly west
along this un-surfable river. When I first saw the map I thought “Oh boy,
an optional route!” Nope! There’s a sleeping Snorlax blocking the
way along Route 7, and the only way you can…get…a thing to wake him up…is by getting a flute
thing from Parfum Palace. (Sigh)
That’s another tick for the Gen 1 reference tally. Route 6 is deceptively boring. Towards Parfum Palace, it’s just a straight
tree-covered path lined with trainers. However, coming back, it does have two actual
maze-like sections you can explore, complete with additional trainers and items! Parfum Palace is okay. I like the vibe and aesthetic. Don’t care for trying to hunt down this
rich douche’s dogs. The fireworks cutscene is nice though. Ah, young lesbians in love. Heading back to Route 7, we wake up the Snorlax,
go past a berry farm, and arrive at the Connecting Cave. Later on, you can actually make this into
a direct link between Cyllage City - home of the second gym - and this route. For now, we have to go the long way around. That means through the cave, down Route 8
to Ambrette town, divert through route 9 to check out the Glittering Cave, back to Ambrette
Town, down the south beach portion of Route 8, and then to Cyllage City. The first time I played X and Y, this whole
sequence had me pretty hyped. The gap between the first and second gyms
is HUGE! Like multiple hours long! Between Santalune City and Cyllage City you
go through, I shit you not, 6 routes - two of them twice, three full towns, and two dungeons
- three if you consider Parfum Palace anything more than a distraction. I was just thinking: Wow, just imagine if
this is the same scope the rest of the game has! Huge treks from gym to gym, with potentially
massive varieties in environments in Pokémon selections! That’d be HUGE! Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Once we hit Cyllage City, we go back to the
standard Pokémon fare of having a gym in either every city or every other city. At least the gimmicks are cool here. Cyllage has rock climbing, Shalour City has
skating shenanigans, and Laverre City has a creepy doll house. On that note, the Kalos Pokédex is so big
it’s divided into three sections, with 450 total Pokémon catchable in the region! That’s more than even in the base version
of Sword and Shield! And yet, I dunno, Black 2 and White 2 feel
like they have more variety and like their region is a little more lively. Maybe it’s because you get hit with a ton
of different types of Pokémon from different generations early on. I usually end up with like a Mareep and a
Riolu along with my starter by the time I hit the second gym. While X and Y start introducing more as you
go on, for the first bit it feels like you get some new stuff, a lot of Gen 1 ‘mons,
and little else. So while there are more Pokémon available
to you by the time you beat the game, they aren’t spaced out the best. What I do find interesting is Route 9. Instead of traversing on foot, you actually
ride on the back of a Rhyhorn! …and we couldn’t see a race track full
of these why? Anyways, this is one of a few different rideable
Pokémon! Later on, we get to be carried around by a
Mamoswine, explore a farm on a Gogoat, and wonder why Lapras gets an exclusive surfing
model but none of the other water types. This leads us to Glittering Cave, which for
its first section actually has this pretty neat first-person perspective. This was shown off a lot in trailers leading
up to X and Y and…yeah, I can see why. It’s a cool effect! For what X and Y lack in substance, it really
did show off the 3DS’ graphical capabilities well. I mean, don’t play it with the 3D on, or
the frame rate will tank. Glittering Cave especially looks wonderful! After this initial section, you then encounter
Team Flare! They’re this game’s evil team and they
want to…uh…destroy the world with a laser while looking stylish? Sure, that works. They exist, and they’re pushovers. After all this, we also get given one of two
fossils, which can be revived in Ambrette town. One gives you the T-Rex Tyrunt, and the other
gives you the sparkly long-boi Aurorus. Here’s another weird gripe I have: X and
Y effectively give you a full team of Pokémon. If you want, it’s possible to beat these
games with a team of five Pokémon by the end without throwing a single Pokéball. That’s your initial starter Pokémon, the
Kanto starter you get from Sycamore, the fossil, a free Lucario that can Mega-Evolve in Shalour
city, a Lapras right after, and, if you got the game at launch, you got given a free Torchic
that could Mega Evolve as well. Every Pokémon game has gift Pokémon. The concept of them is fine and all. Just, all of these get handed out to you. No searching or anything. And they’re all rather good. Maybe I’m just being hard on these games,
but it just feels a little overboard to me. The only one you have to search or battle
for is the Mega Lucario. When you hit Shalour City, you meet the gym
leader, Korrina, and have to go through some big seemingly-plot important tower dedicated
to Mega Evolution. You battle her Mega Lucario with a Mega Lucario
you get given to try to prove who’s best and…it doesn’t matter if you win or lose,
you get the Mega Ring and it lets you mega-evolve. Should mention, between Cyllage City and Shalour
City is Geosenge Town. …it’s a crappy Stonehenge knockoff! There are two more things along the way. First off, the Reflection Cave! A really unique dungeon where trainers can
only spot you by seeing their reflections in a mirror. Now that’s a gimmick I can get behind! The second and way crappier thing is sky battles! This is a gimmick exclusive to gen 6 involving
battles, uh, with Pokémon that can fly. There’s a limited number of battles and
sky battles don’t really add much of anything. I feel like the devs saw triple and rotation
battles in Gen 5 and were like “Oh, we need to add a new battle type to Gen 6! Something that’ll end up being used even
less!” Perhaps the biggest travesty here is what
Sky Battles did to a lot of Pokémon models. A lot of the new X and Y models look pretty
good, not gonna lie. But some appear stiff and lifeless - particularly
the ones for Pokémon featured in Sky Battles. Instead of making two sets of models for these
- one set for regular battles and one for Sky Battles - every Sky Battle-compatible
Pokémon is instead permanently in a flying pose. This means certain flying Pokémon, such as
Skarmory here, just t-pose in the air ad nauseum. You’d think in Sun and Moon and into Sword
and Shield, they’d make new poses. I mean, the Sky Battle-compatible models are
huge downgrades. Back to the adventure, we beat Korrina in
Shalour City and head off to Courmarine City. This city features both a monorail and the
next gym leader, Ramos. I think I can sum up the rest of the game
in brief. Head south from Coumarine. Desert Shenanigans with team flare. Head back to Lumiose. Go to the Eiffel Tower, which is also a gym. Hey look, it’s Clemont, he appeared in the
anime apparently. I dunno, I stopped watching back in Hoenn. Head up Route 14. Chat with your useless rivals. Go to a lame ghost house. Ask why this guy is asking for a tip when
tipping culture isn’t much of a thing in France, or really most of western Europe for
that matter. And then we get to Laverre City, home of the
gym with this girl with these really creepy bug eyes. Also, she specializes in Fairy Types, which
was a new type of Pokémon introduced in X and Y. It was the first time a new Pokémon typing
was introduced since Gold and Silver back in 1999. I like fairy types. Their poster child is Sylveon, and Sylveon
is a pretty top tier Pokémon. We stan a trans icon. So, one more tangent before we get on with
the progression summary. To evolve Eevee into Sylveon, you need to
actually play with them! That’s thanks to Pokémon Amie, a new feature
that lets you play with your Pokémon, pet them, and feed them treats! …again, let me be clear, X and Y may not
be my favourite Pokémon games - in fact, they were my least favourites in the series
until Sword and Shield - but features like Pokémon Amie and Mega Evolution really are
cool. Shame about them getting axed after Gen 7. After beating Valerie in Laverre City, you
clear Team Flare out of a Pokéball factory and head down Route 15 to Dendemille Town. Also, hey, we have a Masterball now! There’s a short detour to the Frost Cave
to rescue an Abomasnow, who then carries you through the snow piles of route 17. If you want, you can also detour to route
16. God, I wish there were more of this. This whole adventure feels way linear even
by Pokémon standards. I mean, not as much as in the next two generations. There are way too many pauses for characters
to spew dialogue, particularly your rivals. And a lot of it is just so…self-explanatory. None of these characters grow or change at
all, a lot of what they talk about is the same old schtick every time - we get it Tierno
you like dancing hang up the Pokeballs, and Team Flare really doesn’t do much for me. From Route 17 you get to Anistar City. This is where the seventh gym is - home of
Olympia, the psychic gym leader. Ooooh, fancy camera angles. And also a big crystal! (Siren)
Uh oh, do you hear that? That’s the plot alarm! Team Flare has captured this guy, AZ, who
is a 3000-year-old king with lots of trauma. He tried to make a thing to live forever with
his Flower Pal, and then turned it into a giant death laser! And now Lysandre wants to revive the death
laser! And it involves reviving the version legendary! I really love these legendary designs. Especially Xerneas. That’s why I chose X. So go through a base hidden under a café
in Lumiose City, fight Lysandre, see some shit go down on TV in Geosenge town, go to
Geosenge town, go through a lab, fight a gauntlet of grunts, awaken the legend, throw your Master
Ball, and fight Lysandre one more time. This time he even Mega Evolves…and still
goes down easily. …Stupid Gyarados couldn’t even fight right. Hey other folks who played X and Y: Was anyone
else put off by how relatively small trainer parties stay? All of the gym leaders only have 2 or 3 Pokémon
in their team. Lysandre in his final fight only has four. Even all of the elite four members only have
four Pokémon each, even on rematches. And sure, some of these fights get fairly
challenging towards the end, but why the slimmed-down parties? To be fair, Gen 5 had a similar issue with
party sizes, but in the first four gens, it wasn’t uncommon to find trainers with five
Pokémon each by the time you reached the endgame. In X and Y, even in Victory Road, the majority
of trainers use only a couple of Pokémon max. Anyways, with Lysandre down and the day saved,
it's time to head through Route 18, Couriway town, a Sycamore fight, and Route 19 to Snowbelle
City. Here, we’re off to fight the final Gym Leader:
The ice-type master Wulfric. And I gotta say: I love this guy’s design. I bet he gives great bear hugs! He’s also one of the few gym leaders you
get to encounter outside of the gym. I think the only others are Korrina in Shalour
City and Clemont in Lumiose City. You have a full-on mini quest through the
spooky forest of Route 20 to the Pokémon Village, which is a Pokémon preserve of sorts
where Wulfric Volunteers. It’s also where Mewtwo’s little cave is
in the postgame. The final gym isn’t too bad but is pretty
fun. I like this sliding puzzle, and I dig Wulfric’s
team, even if by the point, my team was well-rounded enough to make quick work of him. From here it’s down Route 21 and through
Victory Road! There’s a final rival battle and some good
strength puzzles and some pumping music. For all X and Y’s other issues - particularly
in a lot of the other dungeons either feeling generic or like hallways - this is a nice
final gauntlet to end the game. The Elite Four proper also are pretty good,
even with slimmer-than-usual teams for Elite 4 fare. Like in Gen 5 you can fight them in any order,
you have to fight them all one after another, and each of them have really badass introductions
and cutscenes. I’ve said it before and said it again: Especially
for a game out only two years into the 3DS’ lifespan, X and Y really show off the system’s
graphical power at times. I mean, it’s not impressive in the grand
scheme of things - I think a lot of Colosseum and XD looked technically better, but dammit
the game has some really pretty moments, and a lot of people were impressed at the time! Finally, we reach the champion, Diantha. She’s…well, she’s no Lance or Iris,
that’s for sure. Do you know what I’m saying, Pokémon fans? She’s the third trainer you encounter all
game who can mega-evolve and, during my playthrough for this video, I was worried her Mega Gardevoir
was going to give me some serious trouble. (Gardevoir faints)
I was very mistaken. But wait, there’s one last thing we have
to do! Remember that story I glossed over because
I thought it was generic at best? Well, as a thank you for saving the Kalos
region, the regional government or whoever is in charge of things decides to host a ceremony
to thank you! This plays out after you beat Diantha and…they
make a point to give you and all four of your useless rivals equal credit. Like, I dunno, I can see maybe giving Calem
and Shauna a little bit of credit. But Trevor and Dance Dance Revolution here? These two contributed practically nothing
to the adventure and exist solely to be two more models that Game Freak happened to make
for this game, and the fact they’re here for this ceremony detracts from the whole
thing. I’m not upset. Look, this might be a video essay looking
at a video game I first played at 15 that was aimed at kids, but I know there are bigger
issues in the world. That said, this annoyed me. You do get to fight AZ, though, so I guess
there’s that. Not a hard fight, but actually pretty cool,
since AZ ended up being the one character I found quite interesting, particularly with
his backstory. I really wish the devs leaned more into using
him or things associated with him to flesh out Kalos and make it feel like its own place. As it stands, the region feels like a generic
Pokémon region with a vaguely French coat of paint on it. Sun and Moon at points had this same flaw
but overall felt like they stood more on their own. But then we got to Sword and Shield, and I
was disappointed to feel the same way as I did here - just, of course, in regards to
England instead of France. And I think that’s my biggest issue with
X and Y: They’re well-made games, and being a full 3D Pokémon game on a handheld made
them stand out in 2013, but nearly a decade later, what makes them stand on their own? A good friend of mine once described X and
Y as “Solid but not standout” and I feel much the same way. And if you disagree - that’s fine. My buddy Marcos loves these games and calls
them his favourite in the series and, though I don’t see what he sees, I both respect
his opinion, and acknowledge that there’s fun to be had. For every step forward X and Y had, there
was also a step back. Fully 3D on a handheld, but we got Sky Battle-afflicted
models. We got cool new forms in Mega Evolutions - which
were expanded on in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire - but there was an overreliance on Gen 1 fan
favourites, and the feature was unceremoniously axed after Gen 7. A lot of the new Pokémon designs were great,
but the story was barebones - and could've really been improved in that beefed-up "Pokémon
Z" updated re-release we never got. And of course, some of the cutscenes and locales
are GORGEOUS, especially by 3DS standards, but some routes and towns have aesthetically
beautiful features that are either devoid of content or complete un-interactable with
by the player. Please ignore this graphical glitch in Anistar
City - that's just caused by how I'm having to record gameplay. Perhaps most egregiously, X and Y felt like
a start to a new era for the series. Sprite-based Pokémon games were done with
and went out with a bang in Gen 5. You had two very different game choices there,
too: Do you want Black 1 and White 1 - which feature exclusively new Pokémon until the
post-game - or Black 2 and White 2 - which feature a huge variety of Pokémon to use
from across the series the very start? X and Y have a bigger regional Pokédex but
feel more tethered to gen 1. Specific love is given to Gen 1 favourites. Gen 1 starters and Lapras are given out just
cause in the middle of the adventure. The Snorlax segment. Mewtwo is fought in a place called the Unknown
Dungeon. Some moves, such as Psychic and Hyper Beam,
use their Gen 1 sound effects. Pikachu has a special voice clip when it appears,
much like in Pokémon Yellow. And must I again mention Santalune Forest
being a straight rip of Viridian Forest? Maybe I’m nitpicking - and that’s fine. But I’m entitled to my opinion, and my opinion
is that X and Y, despite being heralded as the start of a new era for the series, feel
way too tethered to the past. That’s not to say Pokémon games shouldn’t
have any references to past games. To mention B2W2 one more time, the Pokémon
World Tournament was a huge homage to fans by featuring all the Gym Leaders and Champions
from throughout the series up to that point. But also, it was optional and limited to the
post-game. Most of the references I just mentioned are
very in-your-face. But even outside of that, Kalos feels like
it’s missing something. Maybe it’s the unused rail line or the inaccessible
areas. Maybe it’s the overabundance of rivals. Maybe it’s the weird pacing. I don’t even think they’re bad games. I just don’t think they’re great games
either. And before someone mentions it, yeah, there
are other aspects of X and Y - bad and good - that I haven’t mentioned. I hate that you only get one Legendary Bird
per playthrough, and you have to chase the damn thing across the region to even get a
chance at fighting it. On the flip side, though, the post-game has
a mini-story in Lumiose City where you get to partner up with international Detective
Looker. And, gotta be real, I enjoyed this. I wish there was more to actually explore
though, especially in the post-game. Like, a singular town? Really? Like, it’s more than in Sword and Shield
- not counting DLC - but remember back when Pokémon post-games would give you an entirely
new region to explore? Or at least half a region? Or even an island area that was basically
a mini-region. Overall, the games are just okay. If you’ve played all the Pokémon games
that came before them, sure, dive in. I think there’s fun to be had. But if you started with X and Y or only played
the games that came after, definitely go back and play the earlier stuff. Platinum, HGSS, and both sets of Black and
White games are all my favourites, and all of the Game Boy Advance entries rock as well,
particularly Emerald. Thanks for sitting down and listening to this
long ramble about these 3DS games from me. I tried to be as balanced as I could be, while
also bringing in my own experiences and memories. X and Y really did come in at an odd time. Looking back, when do you stop feeling that
sense of childhood nostalgia for games? I’m guessing, for me, it was at some point
between 2012 and 2013. And it’s why for myself I’m comfortable
calling this pair of Pokémon games…where nostalgia ends.
