Not impressed by Pokemon X&Y..

It plays exactly the same as Red and Blue, I'm not remembering those games to be better than they are, I found my old GB from the attic and played through one of them to compare. Barely anything has changed, they have added some fluff here and there, but the core game you play is the exact same thing. It doesn't feel evolved enough, in fact it is basically what I would have expected from a sequel back in 2000 or something.

The UI is still slow as hell, for some reason you have to wait through everything one at a time, they don't just streamline it all. I swear waiting for the UI to animate is half the game, probably why they keep it slow. I mean if I'm attacked by 4/5 mobs, why are they all treated as individuals? Basically means I have to wait through 5 sets of animations each time, just frigging group them up and treat them as one. There is loads of that BS, stuff like using the fishing rod or bicycle is cumbersome, I don't get why the UI has to fade to black and load each time, surely the 3DS is powerful enough to handle it all in real time?

The world is very linear still, only now it feels more so because of the flashy graphics it becomes more jarring. I mean there is nothing to explore, basically you follow a corridor throughout the whole game. It is so annoying having these narrow paths everywhere you go and even in caves now they're all narrow paths, even in the originals you could move around a bit. The world feels super grid like too, it is as if they designed it for the dpad and the analogue stick was an afterthought, it basically means analogue movement is HORRIBLE, but also the world just seems super fake and dated.

Where is the story as well? So far I've met no memorable characters, had no major plot points and I still don't know what Team Flare or whatever they're called want. Basically all I'm doing is treating Gingers as the enemy and that is all I have... I just hate gingers. The original games I got through as I could get the story with the cartoon and pretend I'm Ash and I could see all places in the cartoon. However now I've grown out of the whole cartoon thing and I expect my story to be in the game... it just isn't there.

I just don't get the amazing reviews, graphics aside it is the same exact game, still they've barely done anything with it since the originals, they're still doing the pointless two game thing which adds nothing to the experience and the sounds are super shitty too, why is Pikachu the only one that sounds correct? The rest sound like they came out of the GB.

I found it to be meh. It's probably my last Pokemon game. Prior to it, the last one I played was Gold and I wanted to check out Y because it looked like a significant leap.

And you lost all credibility right there

While I do agree that the single player campaign needs an overhaul, it's incredibly unfair to judge the game without experiencing its surprisingly deep online gameplay.

Pokemon is no longer solely about battling gym leaders and becoming champion. That's only the appetizer. Training, trading and competitive battles are the main course. It's honestly the main reason why the games are still relevant today, despite having the same general single player formula.

I also hate the change in camera because the controls keep changing and it takes a second or two to get used to which way they make you move when the camera changes. Frigging let me change the camera, don't let the game automatically do it...

I just want a genuinely evil team that don't seem like a bunch of idiots. I want Team Rocket back and decent rival who has all six pokemon by the end of the main game

That is really what has put me off of pokemon games. Single player really need to be the priority (or the "main course") while trading, training, and competitive battles should (at best) be a mere "side-dish".

Also why is the game so easy? Beaten the main story without any challenge what so ever.

@Celsius765: We already had "genuinely evil" villainous teams. Team Galactic wanted to destroy the current universe to create their own and Team Flare wanted to wipe out all life on the planet to start anew. Considering Team Rocket only wanted money and power, Galactic and Flare's goals were evil and insane.

It would be appreciated if they flesh out the villains more. Have character development better than N's, stop making the grunts into clueless drones that stick out like sore thumbs and don't know the real reason why they're taking orders from a lunatic, and overall have a more consistent and well-thought-out story that's engaging from the start to end instead of only during the inevitable climax before the 8th gym.

@crimsonbrute: I would prefer a strong balance between single and multiplayer over anything else. As much as I love XY's improvements in accessibility for competitive multiplayer, I was definitely craving more of its campaign once I was done with the Elite 4. Probably my biggest complaint with XY is the fact that the game lacks crucial single player features available in previous games (Battle Frontier, World Tournament, etc) which will obviously be present in the upcoming games (ORAS and "Z") and be advertised as "new."

But yeah, considering they dedicated most of XY (and ORAS from what we've seen) on gameplay changes and multiplayer, I certainly hope that they're focusing more time on the single player for whatever game is coming next year.

@gajbutler: HOLY CRAP, thank you for reminding me! They should DEFINITELY bring back the difficulty setting from Black 2 and White 2 without the unnecessarily annoying process of unlocking it. A simple difficulty setting at the start of the game after selecting the language. All I ask.

Yeah, definitely. Having something to do after finishing the main campaign would've been a big improvement especially to players like myself. I tend to keep a small group of pokemon that pretty much remain unchanged through the game. I really don't want to waste hours level grinding dozens of pokemon that I will probably never use.

Sidenote: Has a pokemon z game been announced?

The pacing is super weird, the first two badges just dragggggg, then it just goes super fast and is suddenly over lol... like the first two badges felt as long as getting all the others.

@crimsonbrute: Not yet, but it's safe to assume we'll see Kalos again soon, either in the form of a 'Director's Cut' like Platinum or some kind of sequel (or maybe even a prequel) like Black 2/White 2.

Considering the 3rd main Kalos legendary is named Zygarde, I call this inevitable upcoming game 'Z' until we get official confirmation.

@crimsonbrute: I've never gone into the stuff to do after the singleplayer part, but from what i've heard, you can do lots of stuff for the competitive part. Breeding, training (such as doing for EVs), trading, setting up your team and the strategy for it, etc.

Like I said before, I just pick my 6 pokemon I want to use through the whole game and that's it. I don't train them (other than level grinding), I don't trade, I have no strategy other than attacking until I win.

@crimsonbrute: You said you wished to have something to do after the main campaign. I listed the stuff you could do.

Next, if pokemon x and y are like the previous DS pokemon games, from time to time you will have opportunities to download unique legendary pokemon off of wifi during events, or even go to gamestop to download unique pokemon. Something like that.

I don't agree with all of your criticisms, except the linearity. It's my least favourite in the franchise because it blatantly leads you down a specific path without any illusion of choice. It felt very linear. And I'm a big fan of the franchise, it's probably in my top 3. Pokemon X/Y just felt like a big step back.

maybe it's not the story that stale but the handheld game restrictions that's getting stale. What if Namco or Square Enix worked on the next pokemon games

@trugs26: That was also my biggest issue. Irritated me greatly that there was no freedom at all.