Rate Generation 6 until now

[Boss1708]

All of us are debating about the future of Gen 6, but how do you rate this generation for now?

Rate X/Y from 1 to 10 and justify your opinion. Do the same with OR/AS.

Then rate the Generation as a whole.

You can also say which one do you prefer: the Kalos games, or the Hoenn Games?

 

[EmpoleonProd]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

X/Y is a 8/10. It felt good, fresh, and nostalgic all at the same time but also felt incomplete.

ORAS is a 9/10. It was an amazing game but the 1 it didn't get is mainly for lack of good post-game like the Battle Frontier and other things to do.

 

[Krash]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

XY: 7/10. Was good and refreshing, but ultimately lacking anything postgame.
ORAS: 9/10: Points given for Dexnav, deducted for lack of battle frontier.

I loved ORAS, although after playing it, I don't get the hype the third generation had. Having never played it and thus blind to the effects of nostalgia, the story was just sort of meh. The locations were great, but the one-sided, ill-informed goals of the main antagonists were not really well-thought. At least Lysandre's mimics a real-word theory that our planet can't sustain its current and ever-growing population, thus a reduction in people would mean a more stable future (yes, I know his idea was slightly different but you have to see the parallel).

 

[firepanda]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

Overall, a 6/10. The positive and negatives below constitute a +1/10 in my book, which is added to the base level of 5/10.

Positives:

• They were very pretty games. Cutscenes were lovingly animated and the characters had so much more personality for it.
• Character customisation was one of the best side features in a Pokemon game. It was one of the most requested features, and I think GF delivered. It was dropped for ORAS, but I do like Brendan, so in retrospect that's a decision I'm okay with.
• DexNav was another great feature that really made catching competitive-level Pokemon fun.
• Mega-Evolutions were a nice addition to the battling system.
• There's a lot more support for the competitive scene, which is really nice. A lot more thought is being put into balance, Battle Maison is a dedicated competitive facility (unlike the frontier) and there were tons of small conveniences.
• Bringing back ORAS was a great decision (Emerald was my favourite game) and for the most part they pulled it off well. Secret Bases are so much fun.
• The music in both games was absolutely superb.

Negatives:

• The simplification of the games is getting ridiculous. I thought it may have been just because I'm getting old, but that's definitely not the case anymore. You get coddled throughout, constantly gifted Pokemon and face off gym leaders using no tactics whatsoever with a half-empty team. If you choose to use Exp All, you end up wildly overlevelled and probably will end up overlevelled regardless.
• On a related note, the change in experience formula was a pain. You will overlevel yourself you choose to switch frequently in battle.
• Mega-Evolutions generally were for fan-favourites, were mostly overdesigned and tended to dominate the plot, even of ORAS.
• Mega-ZardX is an abomination of fan-service. Enough said.
• The post-game was disappointingly non-existent in XY. Largely due to the time spent on the new engine and increased amount of time needed to create assets, I think.
• It's disappointing they didn't come out of their shell for ORAS. They didn't include anything from Emerald, and didn't make a new area a la Sevii or Western Johto.
• Lots of good stuff has been lost from Gen V. Most prominently, difficulty modes and the absolutely fantastic story-telling.

 

[Boss1708]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

X/Y is a 8/10. It felt good, fresh, and nostalgic all at the same time but also felt incomplete.

ORAS is a 9/10. It was an amazing game but the 1 it didn't get is mainly for lack of good post-game like the Battle Frontier and other things to do.

And did Mauville get you busy like Lumiose or you think it was no way near as busy?

XY: 7/10. Was good and refreshing, but ultimately lacking anything postgame.
ORAS: 9/10: Points given for Dexnav, deducted for lack of battle frontier.

I loved ORAS, although after playing it, I don't get the hype the third generation had. Having never played it and thus blind to the effects of nostalgia, the story was just sort of meh. The locations were great, but the one-sided, ill-informed goals of the main antagonists were not really well-thought. At least Lysandre's mimics a real-word theory that our planet can't sustain its current and ever-growing population, thus a reduction in people would mean a more stable future (yes, I know his idea was slightly different but you have to see the parallel).

Trying to stop 2 teams fighting each other,I found awesome, although that´s Emerald´s case, not OR/AS. But still... Honestly, Lysandre I found weaker as a Villain...

Overall, a 6/10. The positive and negatives below constitute a +1/10 in my book, which is added to the base level of 5/10.

Positives:

• They were very pretty games. Cutscenes were lovingly animated and the characters had so much more personality for it.
• Character customisation was one of the most side features in a Pokemon games. It was one of the requested features, and I think GF delivered. It was dropped for ORAS, but I do like Brendan so in retrospect that's a decision I'm okay with.
• DexNav was another great feature that really made catching competitive-level Pokemon fun.
• Mega-Evolutions were a nice addition to the battling system.
• There's a lot more support for the competitive scene, which is really nice. A lot more thought is being put into balance, Battle Maison is a dedicated competitive facility (unlike the frontier) and there were tons of small conveniences.
• Bringing back ORAS was a great decision (Emerald was my favourite game) and for the most part they pulled it off well. Secret Bases are so much fun.
• The music in both games was absolutely superb.

Negatives:

• The simplification of the games is getting ridiculous. I thought it may have been just because I'm getting old, but that's definitely not the case anymore. You get coddled throughout, constantly gifted Pokemon and face off gym leaders using no tactics whatsoever with a half-empty team. If you choose to use Exp All, you end up wildly overlevelled and probably will end up overlevelled regardless.
• On a related note, the change in experience formula was a pain. You will overlevel yourself you choose to switch frequently in battle.
• Mega-Evolutions generally were for fan-favourites, were mostly overdesigned and tended to dominate the plot, even of ORAS.
• Mega-ZardX is an abomination of fan-service. Enough said.
• The post-game was disappointingly non-existent in XY. Largely due to the time spent on the new engine and increased amount of time needed to create assets, I think.
• It's disappointing they didn't come out of their shell for ORAS. They didn't include anything from Emerald, and didn't make a new area a la Sevii or Western Johto.
• Lots of good stuff has been lost from Gen V. Most prominently, difficulty modes and the absolutely fantastic story-telling.

So you are one of the few that actually prefers the Battle Mason, rather than the Frontier? Most people dislike it.

Personally, I´m bored of it, after achieving 70 consecutive wins in Pokemon X. If they at least changed the Pokemon teams in ORAS... but they just ported it from X.

PD I really like Mega- Zard X... Why are you againt GF doing what fans ask?

 

[EmpoleonProd]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

Tbh Mauville wasn't as exciting as Lumiose, and a lot of that stems from the fact that still laid out more like it's on a grid, and that it's inside. The camera angles, the rotation of the angles as opposed to the grid design that remained with Mauville. I would've liked it if they really altered the layout of Mauville to be true to the originals but to feel like an extremely populated city.

 

[ocelotlrama jaguar]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

X/Y- 7/10. It was good, but not great. It really did feel like it was rushed just to get Gen V out of the way. They are in no way bad games as they are fun, but they just didn't have that quality that I loved about the previous games. The story was not that interesting and the concept of Mega Evolution should not have been overhyped as much as it was.

ORAS- 8.5/10. Excellent remakes! I will admit, I wasn't looking forward to more remakes, especially of games that I would rather remain in the past, but it did surprise me. To me, it fixed what was wrong with Ruby and Sapphire as well as X and Y. The only thing I was not a fan of was the lack of character customization and Emerald upgrades. I was also not too fond of them shoe-horning Mega Evolution into the post-story game. It's like, okay, I get it. Mega Evolution is good. Criminy.

Overall, not a bad generation. I liked it a lot better than generations II, III and IV (excluding Platinum because that game is perfect to me), but it's still not as good as generations I and V.

 

[skyradiant]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

I kind of dislike numerical scales when it comes to opinionated stuff, so I'll just describe my thoughts:
X/Y: Really shallow and disappointing compared to the previous installments, especially in regards to the plot and characterization. The music and graphics were at least solid (except for the frame rate dropping), but that's about it.
OR/AS: Huge improvement over X/Y. The plot and characterization was much better, and Mega Evolution was used more effectively, with Primal Reversion and Mega Rayquaza. The side features, like soaring, diving, and Contests (the last being a pretty unpopular opinion tbh) were also pretty enjoyable. My only problem with these games is that the soundtrack isn't on par with other installments in the series, and that May/Brendan wasn't very interesting.
Overall, I would say this generation is mixed, with X/Y being shallow and disappointing, and OR/AS fixing my main problems with the former. This kind of how I feel about the fourth gen, with Platinum being solid and HG/SS being boring and underwhelming.

 

[~ Blazing White Yang]

I give XY a solid 8/10. I think that its advancements are some of the greatest and most significant that the series has seen, and I love the Region from an artistic standpoint. But the story-telling, replay value, and offline activity are all miles behind the game's predecessor.

ORAS, 7/10. A serious disappointment for everything they did away with, although not necessarily a bad game. The retold story is great, both the new and returning features are interesting. But they basically undid everything that made Emerald the definitive Hoenn of its time. The presence of Kyogre and Groudon in the same game, the updated boss battles and post-game teams, Trainer Hill, Battle Frontier, the additional dungeons...It was a decent game, but not a definitive remake.

 

[Boss1708]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

I would give Pokemon X a 7.5, here´s why:

The Pros have to see with all the innovations the games brought. Mega Evolutions, The boutiques and customization, Pokemon Amie, Lumiose City which is enormous, etc.

The actual design of Kalos is great, it really captures the beauty of France, its big Paris-like metropoli and its nature too.

And I think the most important improvement over past generations is the Pokemon Selection. It includes all the best Pokemon in the series, from all generations. They are mostly all obtainable in- game. Xerneas is beautiful.

And the Online mode is what let´s you enjoy those Pokes in battle, really good.


The Cons are few, but significant in my opinion.

First is the lenght of the game. It feels short to me, and the Post game is tiny.

The actual region, although beautiful, looks very small, and completely empty and inactive once you do the main game. You either go to Lumiose, or you feel like you are in an empty place. There is absolutely NOTHING to do out of Lumiose and Battle Mason.

The villains feel weak and even insecure in what they are doing.

ORAS I can´t judge properly, since I haven´t played it yet, but I liked the demo, and i´ve played the original Emerald, so I can judge most of the storyline, and I feel like it is definitely BETTER than X, and BIGGER. And much more active in the post- game.

The only real cons would be the abscense of a Battle Frontier and no Gym Leaders rematches. AND THE COMPLETE PORTING of the Battle Maison from X. They could at least change the Chatelaines´ Pokemon. It´s not that hard Game Freak!

Im not rating the game with a number, cause i haven´t played it yet.

 

[Mitchman]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

XY is a 6/10.
-Great pacing up to the 3rd gym, everything falls apart afterwards. Laverre to Anistar saves the late game a bit, but Anistar to Wulfric's city is terrible. Which is a shame, the best route is in between Anistar to Couriway.
-Or was that Couriway to Snowbelle? That is the issue, I never had a problem remebering routes and their positions till gen 6, it all just blends.
-Pokemon design was great, but I disagree with the number. And the lack of a trio. They're barely trying with the legendary mythos, and despitr the event Pokemon being more fleshed out then ever, they are nowhere near the greatness of gen 4. I liked cresent island and flower paradise, we need stuff like that. I hope to god whatever is next and if its in Kalos we get to explore the powerplants for Volcanion background stuff.
-Unused content out of the Wazoo. I have a feeling Soaring was meant for XY but was cut, there are a lot of empty rooms, and there is clearly an unused town in the victory road background.
- Only good thing was the megas and the EVs having visual representation.

ORAS is a solid 9. Considering how RSE already was for me. Not much to say really, it could have beem am eleven if they actually put emerald changes in.

 

[Dieter]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

XY 6.5/10 (max)

First of all, let me start with saying I don't think XY were awful games. Believe me, then they wouldn't have gotten a passing grade. But that's what I feel all I can give them. I feel like every aspect of these games is fine. But that's also it. The region looks nice and has some interesting places, but it feels terribly disconnected. I just felt like I was kinda travelling from one little world to another, the region as a whole did not feel connected at all. Second, there were way too many Pokémon available in the main-game, especially compared to the new ones we got (I know, I know, old complaint is old) It's not that I don't like being able to use old favourites, or try Pokémon I skipped in previous games, but there was so much to catch and try here. And at the same time, especially for people who have been with the games for a while, well, chances are they'll have tried a lot of these Pokémon once before already. Aside from that, the pacing was awful, just to get to the second gym felt like it took like ages. Then suddenly everything goes a lot faster, only for the end to slow down a little again. I also have mixed feelings about the evil team. I liked the fact they were clearly a small, somewhat exclusive team, cause you encounter the same grunts several time (well, grunts with the same team, so I'm guessing they're the same grunts) which gives them a bit more personality. But it also makes it easier to anticipate what pokémon they're gonna use (not that that has been very hard before) as for post-game, I haven't explored it that much yet. Oh and customisation is a nice touch, though I don't miss it very much either in ORAS (I did chose the female PC though, cause if they're gonna give me the option of customisation, I want plenty of choice as well. Which I guess is another issue I slightly have with these games)

also, for the record, I got both games around the same time (I originally wasn't planning to get Y, but it was on sale a week before the release of ORAS) and I've got about about 25 playing hours max in Y, as opposed to over a 100 hours in AS

ORAS 8.5/10
Ok, so the nostalgia factor has definitely played into this as well, but that's why I try to be a bit stricter with my rating. First of all, the Hoenn region really benefits from the capabilities of the 3DS. This really is what the region should look like. Aside from that, the entire world feels more fleshed out (I like the details of the Hoenn Rangers Coexistence force, and the Hello Kitty reference for example) It's the little things that make the region for more alive and vibrant. Also, DexNav. Love it.

On the other hand, it can't be denied that Hoenn's Dex is a bit lacking, and the minor expansion didn't really solve that (you couldn't even catch Pokémon like Budew in the wild, which I would have expected) It's somewhat solved after the Weather Crisis, but that's pretty late in the game, so most people probably won't bother changing their teams anymore then either. And even then, a slightly bigger expansion would have been appreciated (which could have been solved by adding extra areas post-game to the Safari Zone like in Emerald) Speaking of which, I don't miss it. The Old Safari Zone. The only thing I think is a pity is the fact you can't get pokémon in Safari Balls anymore now, but that's not a dealbreaker for me

The fact you can't use the Dowsing Machine underwater is a bit of an annoyance, but on the other hand Underwater is absolutely gorgeous and I like the new trainer class (though maybe they should have implemented similar rules to Sky Battles. On the other hand, you can battle wild pokémon with anything you want underwater as well. actually even surfing...)

I think the plot was improved as well, it didn't feel nearly as bare bones anymore. I'm still not certain if I'm disappointed they didn't include more Emerald elements, but at the same time, the Delta Episode solved this fairly well. And I guess the remakes too need to focus on their box mascots

What's a shame though is that the games felt easier. And that's not just me growing up and getting better, cause the difficulty level really was just lower, which was mostly noticeable when battling Gym Leaders. Also, why are they in they listed as rematchable if they can't ever be challenged? I'm still hoping some update might change this, but it just feels weird. Either give us rematchtes or don't add them to that list at all

I think there are some more thing, but I feel like I've been rambling too much already. I also think most of my critique towards ORAS are minor things, and they don't spoil the game for me, not even remotely. More thing that could have been executed slightly better

Overall, I'm quite ok with this generation. It's brought quite a few interesting things and introduced some cool new things like m-evolution (which I warmed up to fairly quickly)
The only thing that currently bothers me is the absence of any new or events. We'll probably get Hoopa soon, but there doesn't seem to be happening much aside from that (I also still think Diancie's distribution could have been handled far better, but that's more a local issue) And I'm still hoping for a Jirachi/Mew Distribution (possible involving something like Faraway Island)

 

[firepanda]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

So you are one of the few that actually prefers the Battle Mason, rather than the Frontier? Most people dislike it.

Personally, I´m bored of it, after achieving 70 consecutive wins in Pokemon X. If they at least changed the Pokemon teams in ORAS... but they just ported it from X.

PD I really like Mega- Zard X... Why are you againt GF doing what fans ask?

Oh I love the frontier. That place was my childhood. I was disappointed they didn't bring it back, but not surprised in the least. They always copy over the battle facilities from past games and it would just have been too much work to create high-level post-game content that most people won't see. One benefit of having a Maison instead of a Frontier though, is that it's a bit more competitive.

MegaZardX... Well, you're allowed to have your opinion, if it's blatantly wrong. (joking) Personally, I think it was my first ever 'hate at first sight' experience in Pokemon. I always disliked how popular, overused and just generally universally loved Charizard was. If I had to compare starters to football teams, Charizard would be Liverpool. And I loathe Liverpool. (Continuing the analogy, Venusaur would be Chelsea with the stall game and Blastoise would be Man U with the pulse attacks/long balls.)

Ahem. But I quite liked ZardY's design. It was elegant and only refined and touched up on the current design. Then ZardX came along. Two megas was blatant favouritism and ZardX was an overdesigned piece of trash. Those wings looks ridiculous and impractical, not cool. They made it black, because black is cool, even though that colour was already taken by the shiny. Also, blue flames because that's cool too, right? They did the classic 'just add spikes' technique for the tips of the wings, shoulders and those oversized claws. Lastly, blue fire vomit, which actually looks kinda silly in art, looks really bad in-game and just really adds a whole lot of questions about practicality.

Finally, they made it competitively amazing. Dragon type was another 'hey let's make it cool' decision, not to mention horribly inconsistent with poor MegaZardY. I don't think Tough Claws was the best ability for it either, though it was certainly one of the strongest.

Overall, I think I designed better 'cool' Pokemon when I was 8. All those reasons combined together make me hate MegaZardX with the fury of a thousand burning Solrocks.

 

[Boss1708]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

So you are one of the few that actually prefers the Battle Mason, rather than the Frontier? Most people dislike it.

Personally, I´m bored of it, after achieving 70 consecutive wins in Pokemon X. If they at least changed the Pokemon teams in ORAS... but they just ported it from X.

PD I really like Mega- Zard X... Why are you againt GF doing what fans ask?

Oh I love the frontier. That place was my childhood. I was disappointed they didn't bring it back, but not surprised in the least. They always copy over the battle facilities from past games and it would just have been too much work to create high-level post-game content that most people won't see. One benefit of having a Maison instead of a Frontier though, is that it's a bit more competitive.

MegaZardX... Well, you're allowed to have your opinion, if it's blatantly wrong. (joking) Personally, I think it was my first ever 'hate at first sight' experience in Pokemon. I always disliked how popular, overused and just generally universally loved Charizard was. If I had to compare starters to football teams, Charizard would be Liverpool. And I loathe Liverpool. (Continuing the analogy, Venusaur would be Chelsea with the stall game and Blastoise would be Man U with the pulse attacks/long balls.)

Ahem. But I quite liked ZardY's design. It was elegant and only refined and touched up on the current design. Then ZardX came along. Two megas was blatant favouritism and ZardX was an overdesigned piece of trash. Those wings looks ridiculous and impractical, not cool. They made it black, because black is cool, even though that colour was already taken by the shiny. Also, blue flames because that's cool too, right? They did the classic 'just add spikes' technique for the tips of the wings, shoulders and those oversized claws. Lastly, blue fire vomit, which actually looks kinda silly in art, looks really bad in-game and just really adds a whole lot of questions about practicality.

Finally, they made it competitively amazing. Dragon type was another 'hey let's make it cool' decision, not to mention horribly inconsistent with poor MegaZardY. I don't think Tough Claws was the best ability for it either, though it was certainly one of the strongest.

Overall, I think I designed better 'cool' Pokemon when I was 8. All those reasons combined together make me hate MegaZardX with the fury of a thousand burning Solrocks.

I´m completely disappointed with ur opinion of MegaZard-X. (joking) He is my current team Mega, you know?! XD Ithink you just envy his coolness. (still joking).

Everyone can have an opinion, but since Charizard is one of my top 3 favourite non- legendaries, I like both his megas.

Oh, and being a football fan, I like your example... I´m a Real Madrid fan, by the way.

About the Battle Maison and BF, are you implying that, since the BF is hard to remake in 3D, we will not have it anymore, or were you talking about ORAS only?

Or do you think they have decided to make the Online features the main post- game, and forget about Battle Facilities? I hope not...

 

[Joshawott]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

I personally feel that Generation VI has been the worst generation in the franchise so far. The story of X/Y felt like little more than a watered down version of Black/White's and the gameplay didn't pose any real challenge at all and I felt like the games really weren't using the full potential of the 3DS hardware.

Then after only having been on the market for six months, their successors were announced. In regards to both timing and gameplay, the games felt very rough and rushed. Although the Delta Episode fixed the story complaint from X/Y, the simplicity of the gameplay remained, which only contributed to the bad taste in my mouth left by the removal of character customisation, the lack of a compatibility patch for X/Y and the way the Battle Frontier was handled (also, can we not talk about how we were handed a legendary Pokémon mid-story?). There were some great innovations like soaring and the DexNav though; watch them not show up in the next game.

 

[Boss1708]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

I personally feel that Generation VI has been the worst generation in the franchise so far. The story of X/Y felt like little more than a watered down version of Black/White's and the gameplay didn't pose any real challenge at all and I felt like the games really weren't using the full potential of the 3DS hardware.

Then after only having been on the market for six months, their successors were announced. In regards to both timing and gameplay, the games felt very rough and rushed. Although the Delta Episode fixed the story complaint from X/Y, the simplicity of the gameplay remained, which only contributed to the bad taste in my mouth left by the removal of character customisation, the lack of a compatibility patch for X/Y and the way the Battle Frontier was handled (also, can we not talk about how we were handed a legendary Pokémon mid-story?). There were some great innovations like soaring and the DexNav though; watch them not show up in the next game.

What do you mean by "rough and rushed"?

By the way, I like how you say the ORAS - introduced features are most likely not going to be in the next game... I think that´s a reason to give ORAS a higher note. Those features cuold end up being ORAS exclusive. Let´s hope not...

 

[Joshawott]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

I personally feel that Generation VI has been the worst generation in the franchise so far. The story of X/Y felt like little more than a watered down version of Black/White's and the gameplay didn't pose any real challenge at all and I felt like the games really weren't using the full potential of the 3DS hardware.

Then after only having been on the market for six months, their successors were announced. In regards to both timing and gameplay, the games felt very rough and rushed. Although the Delta Episode fixed the story complaint from X/Y, the simplicity of the gameplay remained, which only contributed to the bad taste in my mouth left by the removal of character customisation, the lack of a compatibility patch for X/Y and the way the Battle Frontier was handled (also, can we not talk about how we were handed a legendary Pokémon mid-story?). There were some great innovations like soaring and the DexNav though; watch them not show up in the next game.

What do you mean by "rough and rushed"?

Only being announced 6 months after XY's release, the teasing and lack of a Battle Frontier despite the Maison being copy and pasted in, the touch-screen being a jumbled mess due to having to balance the PokéNav with XY's PSS that was just dumped in, etc.

By tha way, I like how you say the ORAS - introduced features are most likely not going to be in the next game... I think that´s a reason to give ORAS a higher note. Those features cuold end up being ORAS exclusive. Let´s hope not...

It's more of a criticism of GameFreak in general as opposed to strictly ORAS.

 

[Esserise]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

XY

Spoiler

+ The graphics were lovely.

+ Kalos is now one of my favorite regions, both aesthetically and for its massively diverse Pokémon distribution. I have to give special mention to Laverre City and the Route preceding it, as well as Reflection Cave for being one of the most cleverly-designed dungeons in the series. And I really liked how the different flower patches offered different Pokémon. I would have made it a *bit* more diverse across colors, but its fine as it is, too.

+ The Roller Skates were the perfect speed for me.

+ Customization was great, although it was limited.

+ The PSS/O-Powers, Super Training, and Amie were all fantastic additions. (Although Amie could still use a bit of work, and I would love to be able to turn off the benefits - what if I just want to pet my Chesnaught without it becoming a hax machine?)

+ Streamlining breeding/IVs.

+ Pretty much all of the new Gen VI Pokémon were very well-designed and flooded my favorites list; also, I liked that they kept the number of new ones down to around ~70, and I think that they should aim for that from now on.

+ The music was pretty good. Laverre City, Route 8, Route 16, the Kalos Power Plant/Poké Ball Factory, Lysandre Labs, Diantha, Xerneas/Yveltal, and the Elite Four themes were all particular favorites of mine. Oh, and Sycamore's theme.

+ Gave me more early days nostalgia more effectively than anything with Kanto itself ever has. Actual Kanto does nothing for me, but Kalos was "Kanto in spirit" which I thought was a much better way of going about it.

+ Introducing Mega Evolutions, which are really fun, although some of them should have gotten better boosts. Looking at you, Banette.

+ The Looker Bureau storyline was brilliant.

+ Fun new Evolution methods.

+ The new in-battle Type benefits, like Grass types being immune to powder/spore moves. Adds a subtle little layer to the battle gameplay.

+ Horde Battles are a great feature, aside from the framerate drop and the lag.

- Sky Battles, on the other hand, are the epitome of superfluous redundancy, so this kind of cancels out the Horde Battles' point earned.

- Barren post-game, although I can forgive it this time around because, as firepanda said, I assume it is partially because they spent so much time working on everything else.

- THE LUMIOSE BADLANDS. Whoever designed this level should really look into becoming a torture artist.

- The storyline was pathetically unfocused and lacked foresight, which hurts especially so coming in off of the BW games. We got a few interesting characters here, but as a whole, it was a giant flop. pls fix, Z

- No E4/Champion upgrades... why? And why aren't Gym Leader rematches a permanent fixture by now?

- While I appreciate that they want to balance the Type chart, and while I like the Fairy type, the chart still needs quite a bit of work, and the Fairy type made it just that bit more complicated.

- Too much babying. While I'm not going to take it out on the EXP Share (because I just leave it off), the EXP system itself is still too generous, I think, and the NPC Trainers still refuse to use more than 3-4 Pokémon unless they are breeders or the Magikarp guy.

- Can PokéMiles be more worthwhile, please? It'd be a huge jump, but for instance, a while back I even thought that they could set up a thing where you could go and buy event Pokémon that have passed their deadline, using PokéMiles. I would love something like that. But heck I don't know, I'm just spitballing.

All in all, I'd probably give XY a 7/10. Still nowhere near BW/B2W2 for me, though.

ORAS

Spoiler

+ Also visually stunning. I like the vibrant colors.

+ Revitalized the Gen III storyline and made Archie/Maxie not total buffoons. This storyline alone, even without the Delta Episode (which was amazing in its own right), beats the tar out of XY's.

+ I like most of the new Mega Evolutions/Primal Reversions.

+ Soaring/Mirage Spots <3

+ Flying directly to Routes.

+ THE DEXNAV. I actually like trying to catch 'em all, now. The other Navs were good features as well, but the DexNav stands out.

+ Secret Bases, hooray!

+ The new Surfing mechanics were a nifty idea. I love Sharpedo for it.

+ Most of the remixes and new themes were good. Zinnia's battle theme was straight dope. There were a few "bleh" ones in this soundtrack, though.

+ Boosted post-game Elite Four teams w/Megas like whaaaaaaat

+ Regigigas carrying on its underlings' tradition of being a stupidly cryptic Guide Dang It to acquire made me smile.

+ The Trainer's Eyes thing was a decent rematch system. My Shedinja thanks you, at least.

+ Hilarious villain team dialogue lives! "Fire the laser like whoa..."

+ Gym Leaders and Elite Four outside of their chambers! Yes, Game Freak! Feed my hunger for more character lore! And nobody will convince me that that kid watching the Whismur at the Battle Resort wasn't a young Tierno.

- I really don't like Hoenn as it is, and with as much as they refused to update it, or even breathe new life into the terrible Pokémon distribution, I can't say I was very pleased. The post-Primal migration of new Pokémon just doesn't cut it, as it was too little, too late by then.

- HM requirements. I thought we had moved past this. That smash rock north of Mauville is an abomination.

- NPC trainers are still under-equipped weaklings.

- Still no Gym Leader rematches. I swear to Lord Rayquaza, I will write a letter.

- Customization being axed because only French people change their clothes...

- NoPatch4Megas...

ORAS gets a 6/10 from me. While I have fewer gripes with it than I do XY, the gripes that I *do* have are either more significant or concern things that I feel really shouldn't still be a problem this far into the series, or stem from GF's rather questionable priorities as of late.

 

[Zweilous]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

XY: 6/10

Spoiler

Pros:
-Rebalancing of the type chart as it did need to happen.
-Mega Evolution in concept as it does give a lot of Pokémon a new chance in the metagame and it is fun in theory.
-Better accessibility of EVs and IVs, such as breeding mechanics, Super Training, Horde Battles, etc.
-Customization, this may not completely appeal to me, but it was still nice to change around a couple things with my trainer and make him more like me. The only thing I'll say on this is that I wish it had more options.
-The Looker Sidequest was excellent and I found myself getting attached to Emma and Looker as a character.
-Graphics are very good, and I like the art style overall. There are some quirks here and there (some Pokémon models), but it still looks great.
-The battle system turned out very good as well, keeping the streamlining that Gen 5 did with its own new animations, mechanics and the like to bring it into the next system. Framerate problems are an issue though, and this should've been improved by ORAS.
-Inverse Battles are probably the best new battle style in the games, it changes up what you're used to and makes playing it very enjoyable as you try to readapt. I'd love to see more of this feature as it's really fun to do.
-The online is greatly improved and streamlined.
-Pokémon-Amie is a fun diversion and I like being able to just sit back and play with my Pokémon without anything else getting in the way.


Cons:
-The story took a huge step back from Gen 5, the pacing was pretty bad as at some points you sped through the game while others you slowed down tremendously. The characters such as the Rivals, Gym Leaders and especially the Champion felt mostly one-dimensional, which is disappointing as the rivals had potential of being developed as a band on friends going on an adventure. Team Flare in particular suffered for this as due to both these problems, they were unfocused and underdeveloped as a Team and you didn't get a feel for them until they threw everything at you at the endpoint of the plot. Also, there were some issues with Fridge Logic here as some of Team Flare's mini-events didn't connect well with the large plan (why steal Pokeballs when you can just buy them?) and Lysandre's seems contradictory when you consider he's replacing the world's "bad people" (who from what we've seen, are completely nice and very willing to help you) with his team (a bunch of selfish criminals who paid their way to get into the organization). T
-Related to this, I felt Kalos has a pretty weak character to it. Like the main story, the lore behind it felt rushed, we barely know anything about Xerneas/Yveltal, their ties to the plot was weak at best, and they don't explain too much about some of the other aspects of the region. Considering that this region followed Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova and even Johto to a lesser extent (Ho-oh), which were much more developed as regions and in their main legendaries, it's really sad to see these two get basically Heatran level backstories. Mega Evolution was better handled, but even then they blow through it a bit too quickly as we complete it at Gym 3 and we get nothing else from it after that point.
-The casualization really reared its ugly head, the games are still linear, the difficulty is dumbed down even further, there are too many options that are abusable, and the game never feels like it's challenging you unless you make it challenging for yourself.
-The Battle Chateau rematches were pretty lacking compared to other generations as all of the teams are dumbed down rather then being made tougher. I mean, how does the Champion's ace at its strongest only have one attack move that it can only use when you're asleep? That's pitiful for a rematch.
-The post-game is barren, and there is a severe lack of side-content like the Contests.
-The nostalgia pandering, I love the older regions, but I really feel like the attention they got here really came at Kalos' expense. Kanto especially is guilty of this as it had the most Megas, its starters and legendaries were present, Santalune is Viridian Forest 2.0, Lapras, etc. that overshadowed a lot of things in the game. There's giving a nod to the old and just beating you over the head with it, and I feel XY did too much of the latter then the former.
-Mega Evolution in execution, it played a bit too much into being a popularity contest and we had an imbalance with certain ones being favored over the others (looking at you Charizard and Mewtwo). Additionally, though not to the same extent as the previous point, I didn't like how poorly balanced some of them came out with those like Kanghaskhan being ridiculous while others like Banette were rather lackluster.
-The music I found to be bland, there were a few songs that I do like, but most I found that I forgot them as soon as I was done playing the game. The battle themes in particular suffered as most tried to go for an ambient theme and it just didn't work for what the songs should be, especially the Gym Leader one.
-The Sky Battles could've been implemented a lot better, the feature just didn't live up to its potential and it was too spread out with a number of flaws to be enjoyed.

Overall, I felt it was pretty average as a game. A lot of good ideas, with some reaching their potential, with others not making it up to bat. Hopefully a third version will come in and fix up most of these problems.

ORAS: 6.5/10

Spoiler

Pros:
-DexNav, this was a great feature and I was glad it was added.
-The region is very lovely overall, and it looks great updated to the 3DS graphics.
-Soaring was also a fun feature and it added a bit more to the game and region.
-Mirage Spots were also a good idea, though I really wished they didn't put important things like TMs on them as it sometimes made going through them a chore if you weren't getting lucky with it.
-Greatly improved the story, it made bland characters like Shelly and Courtney a lot more interesting as characters. Similarly, it also helped that Team Magma/Aqua's plan were a lot better developed and made sense in the story. The only complaint I have here is with Wally as he kind of gets a bit more attention, but falls short since the story doesn't allow him to be seen that much. It would've been great to see the kid grow up without too much "show, don't tell." I'll also say that Zinnia inherited Lysandre's Fridge Logic problem in that a lot of her actions were pretty inexcusable and yet the story just expects us to sweep it under the rug.
-Secret Bases and Contests are back, now with their own little stories to get you into them.
-Surfing on Sharpedo is awesome, it makes traveling through the water routes a breeze.
-The music was great, I'm not sure I'd rate it higher then the original RSE soundtrack, but it's still good in its own right. The original tracks made for the game are also pretty fun to listen to.
-The return of rematches for regular trainers and the Elite Four was greatly appreciated, especially the latter as they buff up their team quite a bit with Megas.

Cons:
-For all of the updates to the story and the features that were originally present, they really slacked on updating the problems the RS region originally had such as the Pokémon roster and HMs, both of which were improvements the previous games brought and for some reason aren't followed through with this one.
-No Emerald features or updates, which makes no sense as not only did HGSS do this, but those features added a lot to the game as it gave you more to do and have fun with. The Gym rosters in particular was a step back as now you have Wattson without a Hoenn Pokémon, Tate/Liza being cakewalks again due to only having two Pokémon, among other such issues.
-Battle Frontier, yes I know it's being a broken record at this point, but this is a worthwhile feature that just got nixed unfairly, and the reasoning behind it was extremely questionable.
-No Customization, which was again made worse by the reasoning behind it.
-The game's difficulty, while a step up, still was pretty easy to get through.
-Lack of patching to keep the previous games updated. I understand this was a bit of an issue with Gen 4 and 5, but even they didn't lock out the previous games out of certain features the other had and you still could connect with each other. This issue is also made even worse with the fact that we don't exist in an age where we can't update the games, so while Gen 4 and 5 kind of had an excuse, Gen 6 just ends up feeling like it's behind the times.
-No Gym Leader rematches, I'm still confused why that was removed.

For a remake of one of my favorite regions, ORAS kind of felt lacking. I do enjoy these games, but the amount of cut corners, behind-the-scenes issues and other things really dragged down the games for me. There was so much potential here that it hurts my overall enjoyment of the games, and it does hurt to see that happen to a region you enjoyed so much

All in all, Gen 6 has been a disappointment to me. These games have their good points, and they are great points, but the issues that each game has I feel drag them down. It also doesn't help that GF's toxic mindset as really started to affect the games as they're basically choking the franchise out of beloved features for poor reasoning, and it hurts the enjoyment of the games as you're not getting as much out of them before you're done with them. So as it is, I would say that I feel Gen 6 is pretty average as a generation and it's probably one of my least favorites right now.

 

[Mega Wurmple]

Re: Rate Gen 6 until now

Hey, gen 6 is my first generation so here is a perspective from a newbie:

Alpha Sapphire (My first Pokemon game) 8/10

Pros
- The graphics are beautiful and Hoenn is fun to explore.
- It's good for casual gamers since pretty much any pokemon can be good enough to get through the story part of the game.
- There is a lot of depth of gameplay for the pros with strengths and weaknesses of pokemons and moves, breeding, etc.
- It's really fun discovering all the different kinds of pokemon.
- The storyline is entertaining and doesn't take itself too seriously.
- There is lots to do: story, pokedex, legendary hunting, breeding, berries, secret bases, trading, etc...

Cons
- Some of the dialog is so slow, even with the text speed on max (e.g. choosing which move to forget)
- It would be nice to have a button to press to skip the animations (especially mega evolution)
- The fight/bag/run buttons have jaggies. Why not antialias them?
- The protagonist is too much of a Mary Sue
- Hearing how much the NPCs love pokemon gets a bit old.

Mixed
- It's fun to chain on the dexnav for cool pokemons.
- It's difficult to stop grinding in the middle of a chain when you want to go and do something more fun.
- The infinite cycle track tempts me to leave pokemon in daycare overnight with the D-pad held down with a small DIY vice.

X 9/10 so far (just got 7th gym badge)

Pros
- Same as AS (graphics, exploring, casual, etc)
- The camera angles seem better especailly when restoring at Pokemon centres.
- The three regions. There seems to be much less running into the same Pokemon everywhere.
- The story seems fine. It's entertaining enough which is all a game like this needs.
- the fight/run buttons look much better.

Cons
- Same as AS for the most part.
- Don't enjoy navigating Lumiose city. It would be better if it was a top-down view, except the Eiffel Tower.