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Pokémon X and Y/YMMV

< Pokémon X and Y


  • Anticlimax Boss: Korrina's gym battle is decently tough, but nothing special. So when you fight her as Successor Korrina with a Mega Lucario and her own theme song later on, you expect that this is where the real fight with her begins... except not really. Because when you fight her you're forced to use a Mega Lucario of your own, and you're nearly guaranteed to win barring AI hax in her favor.
    • If you're playing the X version and choose to use Xerneas right when you catch it, you severely defang Lysandre's final fight. Xerneas is a powerful Pokemon, and most of his Pokemon, including his ace (Mega Gyarados) are weak to its Fairy moves. To keep a long story short, they'll be utterly annihilated (Unless Mega Gyarados survives and nails you with Iron Head. Then things go to hell in a handbasket) save for his Pyroar, who still struggles to put up a good fight against it. In Y, he's able to preserve his status as That One Boss since Yveltal's Dark typing doesn't help much against his team.
    • Even though he's the final Gym Leader, Wulfric is still an Ice specialist. With a ton of slower defense-oriented Ice types. Thanks to Ice's terrible defensive typing and surplus of weaknesses, you can easily wipe him out without breaking a sweat, something he acknowledges in his pre-battle dialogue.
    • And finally, while her team looks impressive on the surface, Diantha's Pokemon have a lot of common weaknesses with there being a big overlap between those weak to Steel as well as those weak to Ice. Mega Gardevoir is still a decent ace-in-the-hole, but that's just it: she's a decent ace that can't quite hold a candle to the Mega Evolutions at your disposal.
  • Author's Saving Throw: This game finally puts an end to the irritating sounds that plague players when their Pokemon's health is low. Pokémon Black and White already tried to solve this by remixing the low-health beeping into a tense song, but that turned out to be annoying due to often interrupting the game's amazing battle music. Here, the tune is done away with entirely and the beeping only lasts very briefly before falling quiet.
  • Base Breaker: There are plenty of debates on whether Lysandre is a good villain or not. To his fans, he's a fascinating and complex character whose more sympathetic traits such as his genuine sorrow over condemning innocent Pokemon to death as well as his cut-and-dry mental illness help him stand out among most of the franchise's more unashamedly heartless villains. Those that hate him view him as a cheap knockoff of Cyrus from D/P/Pl, down to having similar motivations and even half his team copy-pasted from Cyrus's. Then there's a third camp who views him favorably for similar reasons as the first, but agree that he was executed poorly.
    • Among your friendly rivals, Serena/Calem and Shauna are at least able to avoid full-on Scrappy status thanks to having more to their character than Trevor or Tierno. But whether they're good characters or not can't really be agreed upon. In Shauna's favor, her cute and plucky demeanor is genuinely endearing and she actually experiences good character development. However, players who don't like nicer rivals dislike her for being yet another one, then there are the fans of Trevor and Tierno who think that she hogged the spotlight from them. As for Calem/Serena, their fans like that they're overall nice rivals with a genuine competitive streak while their detractors simply don't find them that interesting since they lack the more dynamic personalities given to the likes of Blue, Silver, Barry, and even Cheren and Bianca.
    • The final evolutions of all three starter Pokemon are controversial in their own right. To specify...
      • Chesnaught is well-liked for being a badass who grew from some seriously goofy looking Pokemon, but catches flack from the people who liked Chespin and Quilladin and preferred their goofy cheerfulness to Chesnaught's more standard badass/serious furry design.
      • Delphox has a fun Fire/Psychic typing that's a much-needed breath of fresh air from the Fire/Fighting starters introduced back-to-back during the last three generations. However, while there are plenty of people who like its mature and witchy design, there are plenty more who hate it for being an "ugly hag" and are willing to sacrifice its typing for the sake of keeping their Braixen cute forever. Not helping its case is the fact that its 3D model is genuinely unflattering and weird looking.
      • Greninja seems like it could easily be Ensemble Darkhorse material since it's a badass Water/Dark frog ninja with a ridiculously good ability that can change its typing... but that's also exactly why it doesn't quite hit this status. Its omnipresence in competitive battling made it a target of scorn from people who found it overpowered and annoying to fight, and the huge amount of exposure it gets compared to Delphox and Chesnaught upsets fans of those Pokemon (Not helped by it and it alone getting a special powerful new form in the Alola games). Then there's the argument about whether its tongue scarf is silly but cool, or just plain gross.
    • Mega Evolutions that are given to Pokemon that are already really strong: namely both Mega Mewtwos, Mega Gengar, Mega Lucario, and Mega Gyarados. Fans of the Pokemon don't mind the special treatment in the slightest, while fans of weaker Pokemon are disappointed that 'mons who really didn't need that kind of power boost got one anyway as opposed to ones that could really use it. Then there's the argument on how cool or good the designs are, which is its own can of worms.
  • Big Lipped Alligator Moment: When you go up the elevator in one of Lumiose City's office buildings, you'll be followed into the room by a Hex Maniac who's all but said to be a ghost, given her lack of animations and sinister behavior. She'll check you out, exclaim that you're "Not the one...", and just... vanish. Nothing in the game ever explains what her deal is, and after years of detective work from the fanbase, the only conclusion people can come up with is that she's just there to be creepy.
  • Broken Base: Is the new and improved EXP Share a hideously unbalanced item that sucks any challenge out of the game, or is it a welcome upgrade that cuts down on the amount of time spent level grinding your team? Even though it can be turned off whenever you want even that inspired plenty of arguments on whether the complainers are entitled manchildren who can't be bothered to turn off something they find annoying, or if the defenders can't see the bigger picture since the EXP Share being on by default seems to indicate that Game Freak wants the game to be played while it's active. In a reversal of the Vindicated by History trope, Pokemon Sword and Shield forcefully integrating the EXP Share into the gameplay with no way to turn it off made even those who defended it hate it in hindsight, since it foreshadows a welcome quality of life change's transformation into a full-on Scrappy Mechanic.
    • While these sentiments have mostly cooled down, the Fairy type's addition was a huge topic of debate during the pre-release days. One camp loved having a new type to play around and experiment with and felt that it was needed in a meta formerly dominated by Dragons, while the other camp said that the type chart didn't need any kind of adjustment and felt that Fairies broke the game wide open due to how they were balanced. It doesn't help that Dragon fans were seriously offended by the fact that their badass monsters couldn't lift a finger against such a "lame and girly" type.
  • Creator's Pet|Pandering to the Base: While a divisive Pokemon to begin with, Lucario was squarely put into this camp by those who take issue with how ridiculously prominent it is in the story. Mega Lucario is the star of the Mega Evolution subplot and the first Mega Evolution players can use period, and a Lucario with its Mega Stone is just given to you as a gift after beating the third gym and can punch significant holes in whatever challenge the game offers. People who liked Lucario to begin with definitely don't mind it, though.
    • Some fans view both Charizard and Mewtwo having two mega evolutions as pandering to both Mewtwo and Charizard fans ONLY, and accuse Game Freak of favoring these 'Mons while other Pokemon, whether old or new, only have one mega evolution.
    • Some fans see the whole Kanto region as this, since other regions are not exactly referenced as much as much as Kanto.
  • Demonic Spiders: Wobbuffet. Running into these things in Reflection Cave is like playing Russian Roulette, because their whole gimmick is trapping the Pokemon you send out with their Shadow Tag ability, and constantly running the risk of knocking them out by spamming both of it's counter-attacking moves while you're likely unable to safely kill them due to their ridiculous tankiness keeping them in the fight. They're tough enough to deal with when playing normally, but people doing a Nuzlocke run (Aka Pokemon with permadeath) are reccommended to just spam repels until they've escaped that hellish cave.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: The charismatic and handsome Professor Sycamore is one of the most popular professors in the series, with some players wishing that he could have been the champion or even the boss of Team Flare instead of Diantha and Lysandre. He's also the first Pokemon professor that you can actually battle (Barring the famous Professor Oak battle from the original Kanto games that was only accessible through hacking), so there's a few other points in his favor.
    • Korrina, Valerie, and Wulfric are way more popular than most of the Gym Leaders. With Valerie, it's because she made a strong first impression as the first Fairy-type Gym Leader, and her bizarre mannerisms and beauty endeared her to the fans. In Wulfric's case, he's a super nice guy and one of very few Kalos Gym Leaders to follow Black and White's Gym Leader design philosophy in the sense that he has a life outside of running his gym and as a result feels more fleshed out than a lot of his contemporaries. Korrina also has a major role outside her Gym like Wulfric, is a key figure in the Mega Evolution subplot, and is attractive to boot.
    • The Elite Four as a whole is surprisingly popular, which is a rarity given that in most games, players tend to focus their attention on the Gym Leaders and/or Champion. Malva's a standout due to being hot and having a frighteningly unhinged personality, as is Siebold for his Gordon Ramsay-style passion for cooking and his genuinely tough boss fight. Then Drasna's beloved for being such an adorable and sweet old lady who's a breath of fresh air among Dragon specialists, and even Wikstrom's got his fans for his honorable knight schtick and cool design.
    • This game's version of the Hex Maniacs are insanely popular due to the overall popularity of cute goth girls, which these gals embody in spades. It's either a condemnation of X and Y's characters or a testament to how good of a job Game Freak did at making a humble trainer class so endearing, because they've got way more fanboys than just every waifuable character in the game combined.
    • Surprisingly, Fennekin's middle evolution Braixen is a rare case of a mid-stage Pokemon being more popular than either its pre-evolved or evolved forms. While Fennekin's beloved for being cute, Braixen's own cuteness is mixed with attractiveness that makes it a sex symbol among furries. Delphox however is more divisive with some finding it ugly, leading these fans to keep their Braixen unevolved even if it misses out on a stat boost and fun Fire/Psychic typing in the process. Its popularity wasn't lost on Nintendo either, because it would go on to become playable in Pokken.
    • Diggersby may be a fugly-looking fella with bad stats, but those stats go from bad to awesome if it has its hidden ability Huge Power which doubles its attack power. Thanks to such a goofy Pokemon being able to hit as hard, if not harder than Groudon, Diggersby became a hit among competitive and casual fans alike, and one of the most beloved early game rodents as a whole.
    • While its typing started lots of arguments, Sylveon itself proved popular with the fans. Being yet another ridiculously cute Eeveelution tends to do that for you.
    • Tyrunt and Tyrantrum. Why? Three words: Dragon-type Tyrannosaurs.
    • Espurr's unnervingly calm, yet cute facial expression subjected it to plenty of PTSD-related memes, and in turn made it one of Gen 6's most beloved Pokemon. Its evolution Meowstick is also popular, albeit to a lesser extent.
  • Goddamned Bats: Route 13's encounters shouldn't be too tough to fight, but they make up for it by being as annoying as all get-out. They're mostly Dugtrio or Trapinch, Pokemon with the obnoxious ability Arena Trap that will prevent you from running and instead forces you to fight them. It's just an annoying way to waste your time, and you can't even stop these encounters with repel!
    • A weird non-combat example, but before power is restored to most of Lumiose City, any attempts to explore its off-limits districts will result in workers slowly forcing you back and warning you that no one's allowed in until everything's back in order. It's way too easy to trigger this because Lumiose is a massive city where it's hard to find what you're looking for, and the workers are very sensitive and easily triggered into slowly, painfully scolding you just because you happened to wander close to an out-of-bounds area.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: After spending years of being the butt of jokes mocking it for not being a true dragon and for being really weak to Stealth Rock, Charizard gets the last laugh after getting a Dragon type Mega Evolution and thus both becoming a dragon and becoming less weak to Stealth Rocks. Bonus points for being one of few Dragons to not be afraid of fairies.
  • It's Easy, So It Sucks: A common complaint is that compared to the fourth and fifth generation games, X and Y are way too easy for their own good. You have several strong Mega Evolutions at your disposal while the amount of opponents who use Mega Evolution can be counted on one hand, you're given tons of powerful Pokemon either for free or with very little opposition, and most enemy teams are just plain underwhelming. Team Flare's boss and a handful of Gym Leaders and Elite Four members can still put up a good fight, but they're the few exceptions to the norm.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Lysandre's attempt to nuke the world with the Ultimate Weapon and killing all non-Team Flare life is a huge one. The man himself even acknowledges this, and regrets that innocent Pokemon are getting caught in the crossfire of his plans to wipe out the humans he deems as filth.
  • Peripheral Demographic: Out of all the games, these ones are especially popular with Nuzlockers thanks to the amazing Pokemon diversity (which can be ramped up to eleven in a Wonderlocke) and the story and themes of the region being heavily based around death as a concept.
  • The Scrappy: Even fans of the game agree that Diantha is an underwhelming "nothing" character. Despite being the champion of the Kalos Region she's as dull as dishwater, easy to beat, and barely has any presence in the story. As a result, she's near unanimously at the bottom of many people's lists of favorite Champions.
    • Tierno and Trevor are among the series' least popular rivals for their incredibly one-note personalities and for contributing heavily to the contentious issue of there being too many friendly rival characters post-Silver.
  • Sequelitis: Coming hot off the heels of Black 2 and White 2, some of the most popular games in the entire franchise, X and Y were agreed to be a major step down by many a fan. The Unova games as a whole were praised for their fleshed out characters and compelling story, while the Kalos games were a step back in both regards: your Rivals and most Gym Leaders tend to be rather one note, and Lysandre is usually viewed as a subpar Cyrus clone who fails to be as compelling as his inspiration, the tragic and conflicted N, or even the disgustingly yet lovably evil Ghetsis. Now when you add that to the heavily toned down difficulty and the lack of a fleshed-out, meaningful postgame, you end up with what more hardcore fans call "The beginning of the end of good Pokemon games."
  • That One Boss: X and Y are rightfully considered to be the easiest games in the series, but even then there are some genuinely tough fights that'll catch you off guard.
    • Grant may be a Rock-type Gym Leader, but he is not the kind of guy you can steamroll with your Water or Grass type starter and call it a day. His Amaura is tough enough already since he can paralyze you with Thunder Wave and murder your Pokemon with his Refrigerated STAB Take Down, but his Tyrunt's love of slowing you down with Rock Tomb and flinch-haxxing you to death with Stomp and Strong Jaw-boosted Bite is irritating to deal with.
    • If you're playing Y or simply don't want to use your freshly caught Xerneas, Lysandre will give you hell. All of his Pokemon are decently hard hitting, but his Mega Gyarados is the star of the show. He'll mess with any physical attacker he switches into with Intimidate, and once he Mega Evolves he proves himself to be a scary bruiser of a Pokemon whose bulk and great type coverage let him rain havoc on your team.
    • Siebold has a scary Gyarados of his own, and he's packing Dragon Dance to boot. If you aren't able to take him down before he boosts his stats, then kiss your team goodbye. Even if you do take him out, the rest of Siebold's team is more than capable of picking up the slack.
  • That One Level: Reflection Cave is a startling difficulty spike, and is filled with surprisingly tough trainers with great Pokemon that boast even better coverage. And as if those weren't bad enough, you have a good chance of running into wild Wobbuffet, which will trap the Pokemon you lead with and are nearly guaranteed to kill them with their counter attacks.
    • It's not even a proper dungeon, but Lumiose City is still a pain to explore thanks to being massive and confusing even with a map to help you out. To make matters worse, you're gonna be fighting the buggy camera every step of the way.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Diantha is the champion, yet does fuck-all aside from run into the player a handful of times before the obligatory final battle. She's shown to be very good friends with Sycamore and Lysandre, and could have easily played a big part in the story during the Team Flare conflict. Her job as an actress also has the potential for interesting moments, yet all Diantha ends up accomplishing is being considered to be one of the least-memorable champions of all time.
    • Your rivals as a whole have a lot of potential for fun interactions, great battles, and good character growth since you're all friends that are supposed to be traveling together, but Tierno and Trevor really get shafted in the characterization department, and your battles with your rivals are both easy and infrequent.
    • AZ is the 3000 year old former king of Kalos! That's an interesting concept that writes itself, but he rarely ever shows up and once he's ruinited with his Floette, he vanishes never to be seen again. This extends to his Floette herself, since she has a unique design, stat spread, and even her own signature move but for reasons unknown to us she was never made catchable, downloadable, or otherwise obtainable.
    • Most Gym Leaders have cool and interesting designs, but aren't really that fleshed out. Most of them don't get involved in the main story like Unova's gym leaders, and some don't even leave their Gyms in the first place!
    • Making its debut, Mega Evolution gives quite a few weaker Pokemon a much needed buff and further empowers fan favorites that are incredibly formidable. Unfortunately, most Mega Stones are gated off until the post-game meaning that you can only play with a woefully tiny pool of Mega Evolutions in the main story.
  • Vindicated by History: In light how controversial Sword and Shield was, Kalos' detractors have come to look back at these games more fondly. While the quality of its story and the characters are still hotly-contested, there's still a lot of good things to appreciate: a beautiful and spacious region that's a lot of fun to explore, an enormous regional Pokedex that allows players to really have fun customizing their teams in subsequent playthroughs, Mega Evolutions which spice up gameplay and give weaker Pokemon a new lease on life (While giving already strong ones a fun, badass new toy to play with), and the introduction of mainstay features such as petting and playing with your Pokemon and the hectic-yet-fun Wonder Trade system. It also helps that even people who don't like the story or characters do feel that there was plenty of potential to improve them since they have solid concepts, and mourn the fact that unlike every other set of games in the series, there was no sequel or rerelease to improve upon their flaws. While there are always going to be fans who feel that these games ruined the series since a lot of the most hated elements of Sword and Shield had their roots here, there's a lot more people willing to go up to bat for them now than there once were.
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