Your Review on Generation VI

[KyogreThunder]

Three years ago, before the release of X/Y, we had a similiar thread regarding Generation V. Now that Generation VI as almost over, I'd like to know what everyone thought about it. I'd like everybody to post their own review on it right here on this thread. When you are finished talking about your personal thoughts, you may give it a rating out of ten stars.

 

[Alexander18]

Pretty decent games. Not as great as gen 5 but still pretty good. Both games had their ups and downs but they have more good than bad.

 

[Emperor Empoleon]

It came with a great deal of progress on the technical side, but the content was fairly shallow in my opinion. Things like the 3D jump, the adjustments to the competitive scene, or the new features like Amie/ST/PSS were wonderful, but storytelling and single player content took a nosedive coming off of BW/BW2. It felt like they were really more focused on pushing the series forward with the new hardware. Ultimately I feel somewhat lukewarm about the games, though I did mostly enjoy what they had to offer while they were hot. 7/10.

 

[Chibi_Muffin]

Alright. I'm only going to talk about the main series games, mind, since they're the only bits I feel qualified to talk about.

As far as the new Pokemon went... They're okay, honestly. Not my favourite generation, although I will say that while I do not mind its smaller size it does come with the downside of having fewer Pokemon I have grown close to compared to other generations, especially when this generation overall has had a few Pokemon I really like, a few I really dislike, but most of them were nothing all that special to me. Again, not bad, just not interesting or eye catching for the most part - I'd say there's maybe around 12 or so lines I like, and I just don't care about the others. I will say that the starters are probably my favourite (love the knight-wizard-thief theme!), as are the fossils (dinosaurs, yay!); this migrh be part of the reason the other Pokemon I like feel small since a lot of the really good ones are 'special' (I also liked the Slurpuff, Flabebe, Espurr, Goomy, Helioptile, Phantump and Honedge lines). The Legendaries, however, I found disappointing - I like Xerneas and Yveltal, but Zygarde felt like it was made too complex too late after its introduction with the whole cell thing, and all the other legendaries were event exclusive. With no trio to call its own, it does feel like Kalos was lacking a certain something.

As for the two major mechanical changes this gen? I'm fine with the Fairy type - I understand its existence in terms of game balance, and it had been a while since a new type was introduced so it was a nice little shake up without being too drastic, and I look forward to seeing it be fleshed out more in future. On the other, I didn't really like Mega Evolution at first - it seemed too gimmicky and very much like the stuff little kids would come up with rather than the game makers themselves. Now, however, I am fine with it; some of the designs and concepts are kind of cool and they do bring new life into older Pokemon, and I hope that even though it has yet to be mentioned that it has not been dropped from Gen 7 entirely due to it being such a major mechanic. That being said, I like the lore behind Mega Evolution being a symbol of the bond between Pokemon and trainer and I wish they did more with that.

My opinion on X and Y is that it felt, in hindsight, a bit wasted. I was really happy to see Trainer customisation and a form of Pokemon interaction (i.e. Amie) involved in the new games, as I think they're something that breathe life into the games and make them unique experiences. The plot, on the other hand, was a mess which I would attribute to trying to do too much. Four rivals was way too many and at least half of them were forgettable and useless, and the same goes for the four female Flare scientists. The Flare plot itself was poorly paced and a little underdeveloped, and the two parts of the plot that had potential to be really intriguing - Lysandre's friendship with Sycamore and AZ's story - were underused and wasted. Although I wouldn't have bought it myself, I am disappointed that a Z did not come to be, as it could've tied up some of those plot points and did some stuff with Zygarde, which could've redeemed Kalos as a whole really. Aside from that, I just found the region dull - the Gym Leaders bar Korrina and Wulfric had little personality and very few locations were all that memorable.

...Speaking of redemption, I actually found the story in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire to be really good! They actually did expand on the characters - they actually did a bit more with Wally and the rival, they incorporated Norman's relationship with the player more, Steven and Wallace got expanded on, and Team Aqua and Team Magma not only feel like they actually ARE different from each other, but the personalities and character dynamics for the top brass of the teams were so memorable that they went from being meh to my favourite villains in the franchise! That, coupled with Hoenn having good music and good locations anyway meant that even having played the original Sapphire way back, this was still a fresh experience for me. It's not all good, though - I thought the Delta Episode and Zinnia in particular were a bit of a mess with only the climax being anything interesting, and the lack of a Frontier and especially the reasonings behind it make me a bit worried for the future of the franchise. Nevertheless, they're really good games.

Overall? The sixth gen was alright. I think this gen will likely be remembered more for its mechanics and meta game elements than for its Pokemon (even if there are still about a dozen or so good ones), and it's a shame Kalos itself feels like an afterthought considering how good Hoenn's revisit ended up being couple with its own half-bakedness. However, from looking good at Gen 7, it does seem like the good stuff is for the most part being kept from Gen 6 and the poorer elements do seem to be being worked on, so I'm not too concerned about the franchise's future right now (although the lack of Megas, a new gimmick in the form of Z-Moves and the aforementioned Frontier quotes are still a little concerning). Nevertheless, bring on Alola!

(I'd give Gen 6 a 7/10. I'm glad for some of the new elements they brought into the series, the Pokemon were fine and ORAS was a great experience. Even so, XY's underwhelming-ness and a lack of post game innovation aside from the fairly mixed post game plots let it down a bit.)

 

[DSDark]

For my review I'll talk about the New Pokemon, The New Games, The Remakes, The New Mechanics, and How the Pokemon Company did.

-The New Pokemon: For the most part I liked the new Pokemon. The designs were good and I am okay with the number of new pokemon because there was higher percent of useful pokemon in generation 6. 7/10

-The New Games: I liked the idea of a split up Kalos however I didn't like how you felt like there was very few new pokemon in it. While the number of new pokemon was okay, the region was too big for the amount of new pokemon. The pacing however for XY was awful, I planned on using Delphox and Hawlucha, has Hawlucha can't be found until after Cyllage City I already had a Delphox before the second gym and that's just not good. After Cyllage City the game gives up its pace and you roll through gyms 3-7 in quick succession. 6/10

-The Remakes: Now I was not the biggest fan of RSE to begin with but I was really excited for the remakes because it could be the redemption they, and it was. ORAS are great games and improve on almost everything that was lacking or not in RSE. The story was expanded on in great ways. Secret bases which was a personal favorite of mine were improved. Contests were okay before and so they still are. However the biggest disappointment of ORAS is of course the lack of the Battle Frontier. 8/10

-New Mechanics: I like the fairy type it does really help nerf Dragon and gives a boost in use of Poison types so that is always good. I thought Trainer customization was great and long awaited and needed. The friend safari was a great way to change dream abilities into Hidden abilities and make them easier to get a hold of. Mega Evolution however is only alright and it's a real hindrance some pokemon that should have just gotten a normal evolution rather then a mega evolution, looking at Absol and Lucario. However it did give a bunch of pokemon new life in the metagame and that's great. 8/10

-How did the Pokemon Compnay did: TPC has been improving consistently with each generation and they continued with gen 6. They are currently doing the 20th anniversary mythic pokemon release which has been great moving into gen 7. They have released each of mythic pokemon in gen 6 which has no always been done. However I am disappoint that since gen 4 none of the mythic pokemon have been found in game. They have also been doing consistent tournaments and releasing special pokemon with them and that's been amazing. 10/10

Overall: 78/100

 

[RedJirachi]

From a mechanic standpoint, I'd definitely say Gen VI is one of the better gens. But from a storyline and Pokemon perspective, it feels a poor man's Gen V(in my eyes the best gen). I would rank it third out of the six current generations

 

[wobbanut]

I really enjoyed OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire, and the DexNav, and Wonder Trades, they've been the best part about the sixth gen games. Unfortunately, X and Y were a dud for me because of the lack of ways to battle and level up your pokemon, apart from a few random spots in Lumiose City alleys, the restaurants where you have to pay first, the Inverse battle guy you can battle once a day, and hordes (or just leave them in the breeding center and keep riding around). Awful, awful, awful. If I need to get money for max repels for PokeRadar, it takes forever! We could have also used some more pokemon other than the 70-plus they gave us, including hoopa and volcanion.

 

[Navarch]

I thought Generation 6 was okay. The worst part for me was ORAS, the games felt very stale to me. Most features just felt copied and pasted from XY, with a few added/removed. XY felt so fresh and I thought the story was great. The pacing was sort of strange, but also different, so it wasn't "bad" per say. The Gym Leaders weren't all that great, still upset about the whole 3 Pokemon only thing. Trainer Customization was great, shouldn't have been taken out of ORAS. The new Pokemon were sort of hit or miss, but really stepped it up in terms of new types/abilities. I didn't mind Megas.

I really wish we would have gotten XY2/Z just to flesh out the games more. ORAS had some stuff about Mega Evolution but it didn't really contribute to Kalos. It baffles me how HGSS were such great remakes, yet ORAS just flopped IMO. Though, I'm not a fan of Hoenn in the first place, it always felt bland.

Overall, I'd give 6th Generation a 7.5/10. Would be higher if we got XY2/Z and better remakes.

 

[Kalosian]

When X/Y and the new generation was revealed in early 2013, I was a bit surprised. I hadn't expected them to move on from Gen 5 so soon after the release of B2/W2. But it kind of made sense since they had to release a Pokemon game for the 3DS at some point. Either way, I wasn't very hyped at first since I had barely gotten started on B2/W2 back then. In fact, I got White 2 and started playing it just two weeks before X/Y were announced. I had so much left to do in them, there was no way I would be done with them before X/Y were released. Releasing them exactly a year after B2/W2 wasn't a good move, I thought.

During most of 2013, I had a hard time being excited for X/Y. I was looking forward to them, but not as much as I am currently looking forward to Sun/Moon or how I have looked forward to other games in the past, to put it in perspective. I looked at most of the pre-release things and thought things like Mega Evolution, Fairy-types and Sky Battles looked really neat. Even so, I had a hard time being interested.

On the release date, I got X. I remember the situation being rather messy because it was released on a Saturday and the circumstances surrounding it was a bit weird, but I won't get into details. I eventually got the game, then I got home and played it. It was a lot of fun! I loved the gameplay improvements, the new features/mechanics and the new Pokemon. For the first few weeks, I had planned to play X alongside B2/W2, but it ended up being so much fun that I forgot about B2/W2 for quite a while. I also got Y later, in June 2014. While the games were good, I realized eventually that they didn't quite top B/W and B2/W2.

I think X/Y has good and bad parts and I want to go over both of them, starting with the good. The gameplay is truly fantastic. Among the best in the series. The new Exp. Share, in combination with a good level curve and great training spots (most notably the Battle Chateau) makes it easy to train Pokemon, which is always a plus to me. The new Pokemon, while a smaller number than any previous generation, are still awesome in terms of design and many of them are useful in battle too. As always, there were some that looked really weird at first (most notably Chesnaught and Barbaracle) but I have grown to love them all. The new features and mechanics are awesome, I really like Mega Evolutions and Fairy-types. Also a big fan of Hordes, Inverse Battles, Super Training, Pokemon-Amie, character customization and other things I can't remember right now. I also like how they updated some older features, most notably the PSS and the Battle Maison which are great improvements over the C-Gear and the Battle Subway. The new breeding mechanics are great too, never before have I been so close to actually liking traditional breeding (no, I can't say that I actually like it). While I wasn't very fond of the main story, the Looker Missions were a fantastic post-game story. And while most of the characters in the games weren't very interesting in terms of actual character, I find them all to have great designs. I also liked the regional Pokedex, it is the largest and most varied one to date. Finally, Kalos is a great region (tied with Hoenn and Sinnoh as my second favorites), the music was good overall and the designs and graphics for pretty much everything was great.

Unfortunately, everything about X/Y wasn't good. They have a couple of negative points too. The main story wasn't very interesting, it was quite a big step down compared to the great stories from Gen 5. It was an interesting idea, but it suffered from a poor execution. As mentioned above, the characters weren't very interesting either, they didn't feel as deep as the ones from Gen 5. X/Y didn't keep a large chunk of the features from Gen 5, there are so many that I miss, or which there are no equivalent/successor to, which was a rather large disappointment. Some features were changed for the worse, most notably the Medal system and the way Shaking spots work. I also thought X/Y were a bit lacking in content on the whole, they didn't have much compared to B2/W2. Though, seeing as B2/W2 has the most content in the whole series, I guess it is a bit of an unfair comparison. The post-game wasn't very good, there weren't a lot to explore in terms of new places, and as said, not a whole lot of content. While I like the regional Pokedex, it feels like the new Pokemon got overshadowed since there were so few of them and the Pokedex on the whole was so large. Finally, X/Y has a lot of fan pandering to Kanto fans which I see as something bad since I don't think a new game pair in the series should try and pander to older fans, I like it better when they focus on the new. Even if I have played the games since the first generation, I still like it when they try to focus on the new instead of trying to bring back the old.

On the whole, X/Y had both good and bad points, but I think the good outweighs the bad and I'd say they are good games on the whole. That said, they are not, and never were, the best games in the series. But they are still good, no doubt about it.

Then there's OR/AS. When they were first announced, I wasn't sure what to feel. One part of me wanted to return to an updated Hoenn, while another part didn't want any more remakes after HG/SS, which I, unlike most others it seems, wasn't very fond of. I had sort of hoped and expected that there wouldn't be any more remakes after them, but I was proven wrong. During the pre-release period, I wasn't very impressed with most of the things they showed. Updated returning features and new Mega Evolutions were cool for sure, but that wasn't what I really wanted.

I ended up not getting either of them on the release date, which was the first time since the original R/S that I didn't get one of the games either on or soon after the release date. The reason was that I wasn't very hyped for the games, or interested in them. They were not what I had wanted to happen with the franchise and the series. So I decided to skip them until later on. My plan was to wait and see if a Kalos third version/sequel or something would be announced and released during 2015, and if it was, I would get it instead of OR/AS. But if no new game had been announced during the summer, I decided that I would get Omega Ruby in September.

So I waited during most of 2015, played X/Y, some of the older games in the series, as well as some non-Pokemon games. I kept waiting for a new main series game to be announced, but by June, it was clear that there wasn't going to be one. It is ironic, this was the first year since 2010 where I really wanted a new main series game to appear, and for the first time in 6 years, it was the only year where a new one wasn't released.

I ended up getting Omega Ruby in early September, following my reserve plan. By then, my interest for these games were higher than it had been when they were new, so it was all good. I played it during the last months of last year, then I got Alpha Sapphire in February this year since it was the only main series game I didn't own at that point and I thought getting a new game could be a good way to celebrate the 20th anniversary. But seeing a new game pair being announced was even better!

Like X/Y, OR/AS has good and bad points. Starting with the good once more. The gameplay is once again really great, same as X/Y if not better. The story is fantastic, a great improvement over the originals and among the best in the series. The characters are awesome as well, and like in X/Y, they have great designs, and in some cases, great redesigns. The new features are really awesome, notably the DexNav (and the Pokenav+ in general) as well as soaring and Mirage Spots. The new Mega Evolutions are amazing. Most of the returning features from the original Hoenn games were great too, and I like how they kept most features from X/Y. The designs and graphics are great again, I thought they would be worse than X/Y after having seen some pre-release pictures, but it turns out that they are better. The music is great, out of the three remakes we have got so far, I think OR/AS did the most justice to the originals in terms of music. Finally, they are much better remakes than HG/SS. Though, all other main series games are better than HG/SS to me, so it isn't that much, but still. It gives me hope for the future remakes.

Not everything about OR/AS is good though. Like X/Y, they have their problems. The Pokedex expansion didn't do much, it wasn't as large as it should have been. The regional dex is a bit lacking in variety, and it feels like a step back compared to the large and varied dexes of B2/W2 and X/Y. These games didn't do anything new or innovative in terms of Battle Facilities either, they just copied the Battle Maison from X/Y. Though, to be fair, those are two areas where I consider all three remake pairs to have failed, so it isn't that bad or disappointing. They did also not feature every new feature from X/Y, character customization is one I really miss. I also don't find them to be as good improvements over the originals as FR/LG, though seeing as R/S/E were better games than both R/B/Y and G/S/C to start with, it doesn't matter much. And as said, they are much better than HG/SS.

Overall, I liked OR/AS despite their flaws. They are almost on the same level as X/Y to me, just slightly worse. However, I wish they hadn't been made as this means the franchise will likely spiral into a never-ending cycle of remakes that will be created purely due to fan demand, I'm sure we will see remakes of D/P, B/W, X/Y and S/M at various points in the future. Which I'm not too happy about as I prefer first pairs, third versions and sequels over remakes. Speaking of which, I'm a bit disappointed that there wasn't a third version, sequel or some other sort of follow-up to X/Y. I would definitely have preferred that over OR/AS.

Overall, I like the 6th Generation despite its flaws. It isn't the best, but it still turned out to be very good, and I'd say it is my second favorite generation overall, beaten only by Gen 5. Gen 6 confirmed two things for me when it comes to the Pokemon games; I find the odd generations to be more thoroughly enjoyable than the even ones, and I am not a big fan of remakes. It also taught me that not every new game needs to be the best in the series, they can still be good and fun to play even if they aren't the very best. It seems like every generation gives me something new to think about, and this one was no different. I liked Gen 6, but I'm hoping Gen 7 will turn out better. Judging from what we have seen so far, it has a very good chance of doing so. And seeing as it is going to be an odd-numbered generation, the chance feels even higher.

I don't like giving scores in reviews so I won't do that. If you really want to know what I think about the games, what I have written above will tell you all about it.

This review became far too long, and I have probably forgotten things I wanted to go over. But I don't feel like writing any more about this subject, so I'll leave it with this.

 

[CptScorpion]

I have a review on Generation VI and it's a negative one, why did that generation only introduce 72 new Pokemon? I think that's an incredibly low amount of Pokemon, don't you think? An incredibly small amount of new Pokemon introduced in a generation would make such an incredibly huge disappointment. Least amount of new Pokemon in every type, least amount of new moves in every type, least amount of new abilities, no new Poke Balls introduced, and a lack of a Pokemon Z game, the 6th Generation of Pokemon is the biggest disappointment in Pokemon history. The 7th generation BETTER NOT be this atrocious!

 

[Cradily17]

I have a review on Generation VI and it's a negative one, why did that generation only introduce 72 new Pokemon? I think that's an incredibly low amount of Pokemon, don't you think? An incredibly small amount of new Pokemon introduced in a generation would make such an incredibly huge disappointment. Least amount of new Pokemon in every type, least amount of new moves in every type, least amount of new abilities, no new Poke Balls introduced, and a lack of a Pokemon Z game, the 6th Generation of Pokemon is the biggest disappointment in Pokemon history. The 7th generation BETTER NOT be this atrocious!

I think the only reason why Gen 6 had so few new Pokémon was because GameFreak had to make hundreds of 3D models from scratch as well as design models for all the Mega Evolutions and in Pokémon Amie. Since they seem to be reusing the same models for Sun and Moon, there's no excuse for having a small number of new Pokémon this time.

 

[M.P.]

I find Gen VI quite decent. I really liked Megas, customization, most new Pokemon and the gameplay. However, the story, characters and postgame were lackluster compared to Gen V. I'm kinda torn about the low amount of new Pokemon and the new Exp. Share.

8/10

 

[Sprinter1988]

I quite liked many of the innovations of the sixth generation. I've enjoyed the megas, particulaly having fun with Latias, Steelix, Pidgeot, Manectric, Sceptile Gardevoir and Charizard Y (pairing that last one with chlorophyll Venusaur is especially fun!)
I've enjoyed most of the new pokemon introduced, especially the likes of Delphox, Gogoat, Talonflame, Sylveon, Aurorus and the wonderful Goodra
The Exp. Share was fine by me (newsflash guys, you can turn the freakin' thing OFF!)
Wonder Trades were a fantastic introduction, especially as it led to the creation of Wonderlockes (currently on my fourth one in Kalos and fifth in Hoenn!), and created a nice community moment that first christmas after X and Y came out when a lot of people time on Christmas Day wonder-trading boxes of starters, eevees and the like so that kids who got the game for Christmas got something nice off Wonder Trade (I myself sent out one box each of Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon) - and this nice gesture was repeated by many again the Christmas after ORAS was released (that year I went with an original series Team Rocket theme by sending out Koffing, Ekans and Meowth)
Soaring was a great option to introduce in ORAS.
The gym leaders Viola, Grant, Korrina, Clemont and Valerie were very memorable, and the twist of having Malva as a member of Team Flare was a nice touch.
I think ORAS did a great job re-visualising Hoenn, particularly the Aqua/Magma plots - I especially feel that Archie, Shelly, Matt, Maxie, Tabitha and Courtney had a hell of a lot more character to them than in the original games, which was a great experience.

Onto the negatives:
I'm still not enjoying this whole "maximum of three pokemon for a gym leader, maximum of four for an elite four" thing they've got going on. At least in Black and White the Elite Four expanded to six pokemon during the re-matches - Game Freak, please pay attention to the teams you gave Wallace, Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia and Drake - those are the numbers of pokemon I want to see when I'm going up against the trainers that are apparently the best in the region!
I understood Team Flare's plot, but I can't say I was a fan. I think Lysandre just looked too evil for him to not be the bad guy and that everybody acts so shocked in-game wasn't believable. And the four female scientists? I'm sorry, but at least with Team Rocket (HG/SS), Team Aqua (AS), Team Magma (OR) and Team Galactic (DP) I can tell the high ranking members apart. And what even are their names? was one Marble? Or Mable? Or Maple? I honestly don't know - they're just that forgettable!
Wally's Victory Road Team - Come on, you can't give a guy that epic a theme and then stick the guy with Magneton, Roselia and Delcatty!
The downside of wonder trading - I now think that all Zigzagoon should suffer horrible fiery deaths, but I don't know how they would change that.

What does need to change is the GTS. I mean, come on! We've got people on there offering up Wurmple and asking for Arceus. This should not be happening! And why can't the game remember my GTS settings? If I set it to "exclude event pokemon" and "show only for pokemon you have" then it should be able to damn well keep that setting until I tell the game otherwise! - I mean, come on, the game can remember the text speed I set, it can remember if I want battle animations to be shown or not, it can even remember if I want to be able to switch pokemon when an opponent sends out a new pokemon to replace a fainted one, so why can't the game remember the two options I always select for filtering the results of GTS searches?

 

[Earth Wolf-Howl]

Well, personally, I thought it was an okay generation. It's still my personal least favourite, though, because though it was all right, and brought some pretty interesting changes to the series like the accessibility to competitive play, Super Training, Amie, it did feel pretty empty in comparison.

Honestly, I do agree with the consensus that the games were a little too easy this generation. Though I do think ORAS kind of improved that (weren't a lot of teams consistent with the originals?), XY in particular has some pretty flawed gym leaders and Elite 4 members. Truth be told, I don't really thing 3/4 Pokemon respectively were enough to really make them much of a challenge. It doesn't leave much room for any interesting strategies that might make them a little tough to take down. I don't think the EXP Share really helped either, but at least, like Sprinter said, it can be turned off.

This is more of a personal thing, but I felt like a lot of the Pokemon introduced this generation were pretty forgettable. Off the top of my head, I can think of the starters and their evos, Malamar, Pyroar, and Avalugg. I honestly don't really remember many of them immediately, and have to think a little more to remember what was introduced this generation. I get that they were putting a lot of focus into Megas, so I kind of understand it, but it's something that always disappointed me a little.

But I don't really have all bad to say about it, honestly. Though Kalos is kind of linear as well as a region, it did kind of improve on Unova (because come on, as much as I love Gen 5, a literal circle is just... it's kind of lame). The game's music is pretty stellar, too, with a lot of it reflecting the location you were currently in quite well. I mean, Snowbelle Town is actually one of my favourite towns for how amazing it is, with both its aesthetic and music. Small pet peeve, though- I kind of wish it was closer to Dendemille and Anistar, if only because it would fit in better. After Couriway, it feels a little out of place. The region as a whole fits the name quite well- it's rather beautiful.

I did quite like AZ's story, too. Say what you will about Gen 6's story being worse than Gen 5's, but the region's backstory about the whole war 3,000 years before and AZ's role in it made it still quite interesting in comparison to others in the series, so I'll give the game that.

If we go just by XY, I'd give it maybe a 6/10, or a 7/10? With ORAS, though, I'd bring it up to an 8.5. I don't really have much to say about ORAS, considering it's a remake, but I can at least say it's a pretty faithful remake, the Delta Episode was quite interesting, and it made RSE fresh and new again.

 

[DatsRight]

I've only played X so far, though I must say I'm enjoying it. Seeing the Pokemon in 3D and fully animated and expressive Stadium style gives training them new life, as do the extra mini games and facilities such as Amie and Super Training. Taking care of your Pokemon feels far more developed and less tedious than before (even if I still wished they'd get past that 250 EVs cap).

A fair few of the Pokemon this gen are among my favourites (though the anime may have helped) and a lot of old ones are available early in too. The common Mystery Gifts also add a good deal more.

I must say though, the game feels oddly easy at times. Not mindlessly and unintuitively so, but it does add a lot of short cuts compared to previous titles (eg. TMs being reusable, handed free items recurrently, experience gained from catching Pokemon rather than just fainting them, low opponent teams, an insane amount of iconic Pokemon obtainable during very early points, battle 'cheating' gained from having a good friendship with your Pokemon). It's not always a bad thing, hell, being spoiled for choice in so many options actually gives more incentive to continue at times. There's also a decent difficulty spike so levelling up and trying the new modes still feels essential, but still it does sometimes feel like the game is being a bit TOO charitable to the player.

 

[PrinceOfFacade]

It was definitely a game changer, and I enjoyed both X & Y and ORAS.

Of course, I have my gripes (Parfum Palace), but ultimately it was very fun ride. I will say, though, ORAS burned me out rather quickly.


RATINGS:

X & Y - 8.5/10
- Would've been higher if its story was stronger and its Elite Four wasn't so forgettable. The game could've been (a lot) less linear, and Diantha was an absolute embarrassment. At least we still have Cynthia.

ORAS - 8/10
- Fun, but sort of a one-time thing. Unlike X & Y, which I played several times and never really got tired of it, ORAS became more and more unbearable with each replay. It's sort of like fireworks. You'd totally watch it on July 4th, but by the 5th you're ready for that sh*t to stop.

 

[mystic9899]

it was a pretty fun generation. my only gripes are that the music didn't really make full use of the 3ds' sound chip and the games were a little too easy.

 

[ItsMeBrandon]

I never looked at Gen VI that thoroughly, so I guess I can give it a quick review.
This is mostly going to be for X and Y, rather than OR and AS.

Spoiler: Mechanics/Gameplay

8/10
The jump from Gen V to Gen VI was inevitably big, going from the DS to the 3DS. Full 3D means Game Freak had to dedicate a lot of work to creating a good engine.
Mega Evolution is a fine new mechanic, and I'd like it more if it wasn't for the fact that Mega Evolution designs feel somewhat on the forgettable side. That's not the mechanic's fault, though.
Gameplay is how you'd expect, there are a lot of little tweaks here and there to add convenience for things such as navigating menus as well as things like breeding.
The three added features with the PSS, Pokémon-Amie, and Super Training are all great additions, and they're pretty convenient too.
The speed of gameplay feels a bit slower than that of Gen V, but it's not too bad. I'll give them a pass for finding their footing in their first full-3D generation.

Spoiler: Pokémon

7/10
There were 72 new Pokémon introduced in Gen VI, and while that's not a lot, many of them are pretty likable. The Kalos starters are all great (but I'm still convinced Greninja is overrated), little Pokémon like Klefki, Honedge, Bergmite, and Phantump are utterly adorable, ones like Talonflame and Aegislash are tough and cool-looking, and the XYZ legendaries are all great (even if I think Zygarde's 50% Forme is its best one). It is definitely the smallest number of Pokémon introduced, and even then the balance of type variety was rather lopsided (only the Fairy type saw 10+ new Pokémon, but then again they were introduced this Gen; it still bothers me a bit). But the new engine means a lot of work creating over 700 models for Pokémon, so I've always given Game Freak a pass for this too.

Spoiler: Music/Aesthetics

7.5/10
The music in X and Y comes off as kind of simplistic, especially the battle themes. That seems a bit off-putting to me. Granted, the Gen VI soundfont is honestly pretty darn good, but I felt Masuda-san and the others could have stepped up their game a bit. It's not too big a deal either way. A lot of X and Y's soundtrack is still fairly solid, if you ask me.
I'll consider Trainer customization a part of this topic seeing as it may be partly mechanics, but it is more aesthetic than anything. I think it's obvious that that's a great feature.
I didn't miss it in OR/AS, I have to mention, because they're remakes, and adding the option wouldn't have been bad, just jarring, to me, personally.
This generation's graphics look pretty good, but the grid-based style becomes most obvious here, so it's a slight trade-off. I never found it too annoying, nor did I find the chibi look annoying, really.

Spoiler: Story/Characters

7/10
A lot of people say that X and Y have laughable stories, and I get why in terms of Team Flare overall. But I think Lysandre and AZ had a lot going for them. I do agree that there was a lot of missed potential, but I guess the fact that I took a lot of time to think about what the story was saying, and the fact that we were interacting with a 3,000-year old king, making the Kalos lore relevant, made those parts of the story stick out to me, and I liked it. I'll agree that the Team Flare admins were generally forgettable. If they had even 2 Pokémon with them and they got their own battle theme, things might well be different. That said, the story does have odd bits of pacing, and certain moments like Lysandre just telling you random things on the Holo Caster at times don't flow terribly well.
But I did enjoy a fair amount of the characters. Professor Sycamore is a nice, whimsical professor character. Diantha as a champion isn't great, but as a character is kind of refreshing. Even Lysandre, as I mentioned, is probably the most respectable team leader because he isn't condescending for once. Battling him does get old, though, as you do it 3 times pretty close together.
I should also admit that the initial ending of the game was always a highlight for me. I liked seeing AZ's story being wrapped up even if it was quick, and maybe a little awkward doing it in front of a huge crowd. It was just something I personally enjoyed.

Spoiler: Overall

7.25/10
Gen VI, as a whole, was a good addition to the Pokémon series. It did have to make some sacrifices artistically and creatively to make up for the amount of work to create a fully-capable 3D engine.
Kalos is a region with odd pacing and not necessarily the most memorable towns, but most areas are reminiscent of France, which I like, and a lot of the towns are fairly distinguishable, so they all have their own identities.
New features such as the PSS, Pokémon-Amie, Super Training, Trainer customization, and Mega Evolution were all welcome additions, and helped make the game convenient and a bit more enriching.
There weren't many new Pokémon, nor was there an amazing story, but each of those had high points to balance the low points, and they were both fine.
The music is somewhat simple but good, and songs never sounded better with that soundfont.

I still consider Gen VI to be my 4th-favorite Gen, behind Gen I (in terms of FR/LG), Gen V, and Gen III. That's not exactly a compliment seeing as I don't really care about either Gens IV or II, but still, it was a fairly enjoyable generation.

~

 

[Boss1991]

XY: 6.5
A good game in terms of the new features available, but a boring region, boring characters, and a half assed plot. The new QoL features and Mega Evolution made up for somewhat, however...

ORAS: 8.5
A fantastic game. It took RSE, and really fleshed it out, by adding some of the best features in ages, like Soaring, for example. Also really improved the classic Hoenn features like Secret Bases and Contests, while also incorporating loads of XY´s features, Amie and Super Training, for example. One of the best Pokemon games ever, period.

Overall, a very solid Gen as a whole. Probably one of my top 3 generations. I would maybe give it an 8, overall.

 

[Bolt the Cat]

Well I did like some of the improvements in this generation. 3D, the PSS, and Mega Evolution were all tremendous improvements in their own right. But once the excitement of new stuff wears off, everything is just so lacking. Both games are subpar in terms of content, and XY has almost no extra content whatsoever. And everything is so haphazard and incomplete. This was one generation that desperately needed a third version or sequel, and it's a massive disappointment that it didn't get one. It's just plain mediocre as is.

6/10