SUMMARY:
An excellent region with creative new Pokémon designs and memorable locations. The wealth of Pokémon to choose from makes this a particularly replayable entry. But there are some deep flaws with the game - a weak plot (even for a Pokémon game), a bad cast of characters, and low difficulty (again, even for a Pokémon game).
It's obvious it could have been a better game. But if you like the series as a whole, there's good to be found in here.
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Kalos is one of the best regions we've ever gotten. The towns are very memorable - Laverre, Anistar, Lumiose, and Shalour stand out. There are a few really nice routes, with Route 14 and Route 20 coming to mind. There are some absolutely gorgeous music tracks, like Anistar City and Shalour City (although I'm not a big fan of the game's soundfont as a whole).
The new Pokémon are very good, and there's such a wide selection on all the routes that I could probably spend hours building teams for replays. Updated movesets make many previous-generation Pokémon much more usable than when they debuted.
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The pacing is pretty weird - the gap between the first and second gyms is so wide that I usually pick up several team members in it. And it suffers the typical Pokémon problem of having virtually no plot until somewhere between the 7th and 8th gym. Also, you fight one particular gym leader three times in quick succession, which gets old very quickly.
The plot itself is bad, even for a Pokémon game. There's lots of potential in it, but it largely goes unused. I wish they did more with AZ. It makes me supremely sad that Kalos never got another game - it feels like they were planning on it, but then ran out of time & included little elements of it in ORAS and Sun/Moon.
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Seeing a main Pokémon game in 3D for the first time was fascinating when the game came out, but I do miss the sprite era. The 3D in this game has already not aged well, while Black & White feels like it looks better every year. The 3DS games in general also suffer from framerate issues during battles. This game gets it particularly bad, being the first 3D game; it tanks the hardest during horde battles and double battles.
The models are largely lifeless, with Flying-type Pokémon getting particularly shafted. (Although I do thank them for making Eelektross look legitimately badass, and making sure its Levitate ability made visual sense, instead of waddling on the ground like a seal.)
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Even for a Pokémon game, this one was easy. You'll one-shot virtually everything before long. Even with the EXP Share off, I beat the champion in 6 turns. Could make using some less-powerful Pokémon more fun, though.
The rivals are the worst in the entire series. I do not say that lightly. I'm not one of those people who says anyone less antagonistic than Silver is bad. I like friendly rivals. But with the very brief exception of Shauna, the rivals in this game are asinine, and every scene with them is a waste of time. Especially Tierno. Jesus Christ, Tierno.
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I'm definitely in the minority on this, but I heavily dislike Mega Evolutions. It feels like they just gave normal-ass Pokémon a bunch of spikes and called it a day. The designs are largely uninspired, and the kinds of Pokémon they gave Megas to was very scattershot. I would've preferred if they spent more time heavily rebalancing previous generation Pokémon that needed buffing, or developing new evolutions with new design influences. (Remember Ledian? I like Ledian. I wish it wasn't so unplayably awful.)
The Fairy type was a fantastic addition. It's genuinely impressive how they managed to fix several type-balancing issues at once with just one new type - a type that fits in conceptually with previous types, and could apply to numerous already-designed Pokémon & moves - all while also ensuring that the type's strengths & weaknesses made logical sense.
I think I'm in the minority on this as well, but I loved Super Training. I don't care if there were more efficient ways to EV train, the mini games were fun. Even better, they made the world of competitive battling a little easier to get into for a newcomer, and that's always a good thing. It's a shame they got rid of it in the same generation where they introduced Bottle Caps to streamline IVs as well - a game with both in it could have introduced so many people to the world of competitive battling. I hope they bring back something similar someday.
This game has Sky Battles. Remember Sky Battles? Me neither.
--------------------
(P.S. - If you like the anime, please check out the Kalos series. It's one of the best.)
An excellent region with creative new Pokémon designs and memorable locations. The wealth of Pokémon to choose from makes this a particularly replayable entry. But there are some deep flaws with the game - a weak plot (even for a Pokémon game), a bad cast of characters, and low difficulty (again, even for a Pokémon game).
It's obvious it could have been a better game. But if you like the series as a whole, there's good to be found in here.
--------------------
Kalos is one of the best regions we've ever gotten. The towns are very memorable - Laverre, Anistar, Lumiose, and Shalour stand out. There are a few really nice routes, with Route 14 and Route 20 coming to mind. There are some absolutely gorgeous music tracks, like Anistar City and Shalour City (although I'm not a big fan of the game's soundfont as a whole).
The new Pokémon are very good, and there's such a wide selection on all the routes that I could probably spend hours building teams for replays. Updated movesets make many previous-generation Pokémon much more usable than when they debuted.
---
The pacing is pretty weird - the gap between the first and second gyms is so wide that I usually pick up several team members in it. And it suffers the typical Pokémon problem of having virtually no plot until somewhere between the 7th and 8th gym. Also, you fight one particular gym leader three times in quick succession, which gets old very quickly.
The plot itself is bad, even for a Pokémon game. There's lots of potential in it, but it largely goes unused. I wish they did more with AZ. It makes me supremely sad that Kalos never got another game - it feels like they were planning on it, but then ran out of time & included little elements of it in ORAS and Sun/Moon.
---
Seeing a main Pokémon game in 3D for the first time was fascinating when the game came out, but I do miss the sprite era. The 3D in this game has already not aged well, while Black & White feels like it looks better every year. The 3DS games in general also suffer from framerate issues during battles. This game gets it particularly bad, being the first 3D game; it tanks the hardest during horde battles and double battles.
The models are largely lifeless, with Flying-type Pokémon getting particularly shafted. (Although I do thank them for making Eelektross look legitimately badass, and making sure its Levitate ability made visual sense, instead of waddling on the ground like a seal.)
---
Even for a Pokémon game, this one was easy. You'll one-shot virtually everything before long. Even with the EXP Share off, I beat the champion in 6 turns. Could make using some less-powerful Pokémon more fun, though.
The rivals are the worst in the entire series. I do not say that lightly. I'm not one of those people who says anyone less antagonistic than Silver is bad. I like friendly rivals. But with the very brief exception of Shauna, the rivals in this game are asinine, and every scene with them is a waste of time. Especially Tierno. Jesus Christ, Tierno.
---
I'm definitely in the minority on this, but I heavily dislike Mega Evolutions. It feels like they just gave normal-ass Pokémon a bunch of spikes and called it a day. The designs are largely uninspired, and the kinds of Pokémon they gave Megas to was very scattershot. I would've preferred if they spent more time heavily rebalancing previous generation Pokémon that needed buffing, or developing new evolutions with new design influences. (Remember Ledian? I like Ledian. I wish it wasn't so unplayably awful.)
The Fairy type was a fantastic addition. It's genuinely impressive how they managed to fix several type-balancing issues at once with just one new type - a type that fits in conceptually with previous types, and could apply to numerous already-designed Pokémon & moves - all while also ensuring that the type's strengths & weaknesses made logical sense.
I think I'm in the minority on this as well, but I loved Super Training. I don't care if there were more efficient ways to EV train, the mini games were fun. Even better, they made the world of competitive battling a little easier to get into for a newcomer, and that's always a good thing. It's a shame they got rid of it in the same generation where they introduced Bottle Caps to streamline IVs as well - a game with both in it could have introduced so many people to the world of competitive battling. I hope they bring back something similar someday.
This game has Sky Battles. Remember Sky Battles? Me neither.
--------------------
(P.S. - If you like the anime, please check out the Kalos series. It's one of the best.)