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Welp, it's only been a little over year since Black 2 and White 2 but here it is, the next generation of Pokémon, which received a worldwide release on 10/12, which I was present to buy the minute it was available.

Pokémon X and Y’s whole motif seems to be around innovation. There is a lot of metagame mechanics introduced, which, overall, may shift the entire balance of the game. Though the same old story runs the same as before, you're starting a new journey alongside your friends, this time 4 of them. Tierno who wants to create a Pokémon dance team, Shauna who doesn't really have a goal but wants to travel the region, Trevor who wants to fill the Pokédex, and Serena/Calem who is your rival. You'll travel through the Kalos region which is littered with over 450 Pokémon, 69 of which are completely new and 29 Pokémon that can now activate the new Mega Evolution mechanic all while dealing with Team Flare who wishes to create a "beautiful world."

First off amongst the newest additions to the franchise is the new Fairy-Type. Not gonna lie, but not exactly the most enticing name for a new type, but once I tried it out I grew to love this new type. I have a new dragon-slayer Pokémon type that let’s me rid myself of those annoying Garchomp/Salamence Wi-Fi battlers. It also create a huge amount of rethinking for myself as I have to reanalyze and remember Fairy's weaknesses and the older Pokémon's weaknesses since most such as Gardevoir and Azumarill now have Fairy attached to their typing. Nevertheless I continue to look forward to wrecking dragons with fairies...as odd as that sounds. Although I can never get past having a Jigglypuff now being able to completely negate a Salamence’s Outrage attack... While Dark still remains my Absol-ute favorite, Fairy is an interesting type.

Next is the all-new Mega Evolutions. When I first heard about this, I couldn’t stop thinking about Digimon. It’s another interesting, and at the same time, great new feature that can change the course of a battle. I’m mostly mixed between this new feature because it didn’t feel necessary and even some who they picked to mega evolve either didn’t need it at all because they were already good (Aka Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon), or could have been a new regular evolution such as Mawile, Bannette, and Pinsir’s Mega Evolutions. Nevertheless, I did devote one member of my main game to try out this feature and I will admit that it was fun.

The graphics are gorgeous in all aspects. The Pokémon 3D models are impressive and clean. The attacking animations are smooth and flow nicely, though they may hiccup if the 3D is on. The environments are stunning and beautiful, especially the cities. Oh, and how could I forget the new feature to customize your trainer? Finally, my character feels like a unique individual rather than a mass-produced clone. This feature was something I wanted since Gen III. Now that we have it, I love it! However I will complain that the amount of clothing variety and colors is too shallow and I had a hard time making outfits especially for the boys. I played the female version and noticed a HUGE difference in outfit options not to mention hairstyles where the girls get 6 different hair styles plus bang variations and the boys get only four styles and no bang variations.

The storyline this time around feels a bit less dramatic as much as Black and White did with the spectacularly written Team Plasma/N saga that made me really bond and feel for N. Even the Gym Leaders were heavily involved as well as Alder, the Champion. It made me felt like the whole league was involved with stopping Team Plasma and not just myself. Team Flare just kinda pops in here and there and then you feel like they aren’t as much of a threat compared to previous Villainous teams. After all, their whole mantra is that they want to be “fabulous and fashionable.” Not a very threatening goal compared to Pokémon Liberation or total Universe reform. Depending on the version though, the true goals of Team Flare changes as in Y the leader will try to kill everyone while in X he'll give everyone eternal life to make them suffer for the "beautiful world" that may never happen. None of the Gym Leaders really interact in the game save perhaps Clemont for 5 seconds or so and Korrina who helps you become a Mega Evolution Trainer. So all in all, the story isn't as amazing as Black and White and feels like the older Team Rocked sagas.

The new Horde Battles seemed unnecessary and annoying as these 5 Pokémon can launch 5 attacks against you while you can only pick them off one at a time unless you have a multi opponent hitting move such as Discharge or Surf. Even though they deliberately lower their levels, if all 5 launch Sand Attacks, you'll probably just slowly lose health until your Pokémon faints. Rinse and repeat. Sky Battles felt lacking because I needed to have a flying/levitating Pokémon just to participate, which hinders my game and forces me to limit the possibilities, though I’m glad they made these optional. I’ll admit that the one trainer in game who does Inverse Battles was interesting and I had a lot of fun facing, but over all these new battle formats still lacked the wonder of other battle mechanics introduced before like Double and even Triple battles.

Unfortunately, this generation comes with the least amount of new Pokémon. While I can kind of get over that fact, it does limit my usual habit of using only new Pokémon and doing my usual Fire/Water/Grass/Electric/Flying/Dragon team, something that I've done my best not to break in previous generations but it seems like an inevitable thing this gen. I suppose with the smaller amount of new Pokémon there were a few new ones that I was disappointed by in terms of design (looking at you Diggersby), but still there are a handful of great new Pokémon aesthetically. I suppose my only other disappointment is the lack of Legendary Pokémon. Even though I don't use them to complete the game or even link battle, I enjoy the additional myths and legends surrounding the region. Perhaps there's room for future additions perhaps with that ominous "SpotPass" update button in the Holocaster menu, but I suppose one can never know.

Nonny’s Rating: 8.5/10. There's a lot of good improvements and a few things that made it feel slightly inferior to Gen V. It did a "three steps forward, two steps back thing." Nevertheless, I fully enjoyed the game and I still will once I'll be able to transfer my Gen V Pokémon in December.

Nonny's Tip: The new EXP share is extremely broken now, it makes level grinding incredibly easy and short. If you are trying to rush through the game, this is a great way to speed things along.

Nonny's Team:
Pokémon Y
Chesnaut
Talonflame
Vivillon
Blastoise (Mega)
Sylveon
Goodra

Pokémon X
Delphox
Starraptor
Gardevoir
Lucario (Mega)
Pikachu
Lapras