The excitement over Pokemon X&Y has been gaining momentum, so it’s my turn to weigh in on my opinions on the five bad & five best things so far on X&Y, as this is based on a game & anime series that hasn’t come out yet, my hopes will be that my opinions on the bad will quickly disappear when the game & anime is released.
I’ll start with the bad.
5. Gym Leader, Elite Four & Champion Designs.
So far I’ve not been impressed by the Gym Leader designs, I’m hoping Clemont & Viola prove me wrong in the anime, but rock climber guy isn’t exactly very inspiring & skater girl is packed full of gimmicks, and I’m hoping this doesn’t become a habit with later gyms or the Elite Four & Champion.
4. The Anime fails to use the relationship between Ash & Serena.
The biggest most shocking reveal of X&Y is the fact that Serena is Ash’s childhood friend.
This is a big risk for a series where all other traveling companions haven’t even heard of Ash until he showed up, so how will they play it with Serena who knows Ash already? Well this leads nicely to number 3.
3. Ash doesn’t grow as a character again.
My biggest criticism about Black & White was that Ash forgot how to be a Pokemon Trainer; in other beginnings in Hoenn & Sinnoh he at least remembered how to act from his previous journey but lost all bearings when he reached Unova. If he ends up this way again then the fanbase will demand that Ash hang up his Pokeballs for good and give up the title of franchise lead to someone else, maybe even Trainer Red who will easily replace him should Pokemon Origins be a rousing success.
2. The Fairy Type might break the game.
New types are hard to balance, it took a couple of tries before Dark & Steel were correct and it may be the same with Fairy type. To rephrase this properly, if I have to have a Fairy type or a Pokemon that has to counter a Fairy type, particularly if the Champion is a Fairy specialist then I’m going to end up with a team of Pokemon I don’t want; I gave up professional Pokemon training years ago and I want to enjoy this game with a team of Pokemon that I want and not a team of Pokemon I need. This also comes into another problem.
1. Mega Evolution might break the game.
The need for a Mega Evolution Pokemon on the team is going to be high, again I don’t want one if I need it to complete the game, this is especially prominent when I end up with a Kanto starter & Torchic so soon after selecting my own Pokemon which does have a Mega Evolution each.
Bonus: I'm getting so sick of the fake images of fake evolutions, honestly can't people do something more productive with their time?
Now the good things
5. The Kalos Pokedex will be huge.
Considering how many Pokemon have appeared in trailers and previews this could potentially have the biggest Pokedex of all the regions.
4. Character Customization
I finally get to redesign both my male & female trainers to their own personas rather than play as just a generic character with their own name. Since I play both games, both my trainers will look good.
3. Less New Pokemon and they don’t suck.
There have been less new Pokemon this Generation unless Nintendo have really been Sandbagging all this time. Saying that, the designs are pretty good so far especially the T-Rex one that will definitely be on the Male Trainer’s team.
2. Traveling in the Pokemon World is actually fun.
Ride-on Pokemon, Roller Skating, Bicycle & Default Running. That may not seem much too some people, it’s a big deal for someone like me who dislikes walking at snail’s pace in these games, and if the trailers are anything to go by then you’ve got rope swinging as well. For the first time the journey feels like a proper adventure.
1. Serena.
Serena is the female trainer who will become Ash’s traveling companion along with Clemont and his little sister, she is also the default female trainer for the games. It may not seem as a big surprise to many people but what did cause a stir among the fanbase was the reveal that Serena is “ASH’S CHILDHOOD FRIEND!”
That caught me off guard. I already had my predictions over the next female companion that Ash travels with; not only was I not expecting Serena (I expected Roller Girl) but I wasn’t expecting the even bigger revelation of Serena being Ash’s childhood friend.
Not to mention the shock of every Pokeshipper in the world; I think it went something like this below.
So what does this mean for Ash? That’s what I want to know. The hope is that the stuff I mentioned about Ash & Serena in the bad list doesn’t come true and for the first time in the show’s history, Ash might finally grow up. (Mentally not physically) Either way, Serena is the key to the success of Generation VI, and the anime is often a better representation of the franchise than the game itself. How they deal with this is how we’ll remember her as well as Ash and this generation of the franchise.
Bonus: Clemont & his Sister
The same goes for the male traveling companion and his tagalong sibling, mind you Clemont doesn’t need much to beat Cilan nor does he need much to beat Tracy or Max, he just needs to beat or equal Brock who we miss terribly.
