Challenge COMPLETE: Pokemon X: AZ's Floette Solo Run

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Twelve
La dernière étape de cet interminable périple français commence! Vers la route de la victoire, le gant ultime! Une dernière bataille avec Serena, aussi molle que jamais. Et à la Ligue Pokémon, et une bataille avec le premier des quatre élites!​

I make my way up through the badge check area off Route 22 but the Ace Trainer on the gate stops me and demands a battle. It's cool there's a guard, but to be a bit more threatening he really needs a bigger team. Three Pokemon just isn't that difficult. Carbink, Raichu, Kingdra... add, say, Scrafty and Rhyperior and this guy becomes an actual challenge.

...this has got to be a sinecure of some kind. How many battles a year must this guy actually have to fight? 10, if he's lucky?

Oh, well. Anyway, the time has come to enter Victory Road proper! I proceed to the corridor and, in a very impressive sequence, the back of the room rumbles before sliding away and reforming itself into a stairwell.

But I need to double back. If I'm going to make it through Victory Road I will need a dedicated HM slave, so Squirtle will have to accompany me on this segment of the journey. I make a mental note to knock it out immediately. I can't remember if victory road has any double battles but better safe than sorry.

Before I go I decide to check out the southern part of Route 21 which requires Surf and Waterfall, taking a little peek inside the Chamber of Emptiness.

Remember when everyone thought this room would have something to do with Hoopa? Simpler, more naive times.​

I am rewarded for my exploration with... TM26, Earthquake. Yeah, Floette'll find all sorts of uses for that.

Into Victory Road we go. The first cavern isn't too difficult, and I manage to skirt around most of the trainers and make it out relatively quickly. There's a boulder at the top of the room which no doubt I'll be able to move when I approach from the other side, creating a nifty shortcut. Why didn't any of the other trainers fix that shortcut? Selfish bastards.

Ah yeah, there is a double battle in here.

But that's what you're doing, you mug! You only have a Medicham and a Gallade, hence ONE POKEMON EACH.​

Pleasantly, this place isn't just one big cave - every so often you emerge to find a grassy cliff area. What with all the ancient-looking towers and crumbling stone walls, this place appears to be some sort of ruin. Possibly the whole mountain is one vast ancient castle, or possibly even a city. That's really interesting and isn't ever talked about in the game to my knowledge. Wonder what its significance is. Parfum Palace was the apparent seat of the monarchy, but of course royalty often doesn't restrict itself to only one castle. Perhaps -

...there's a healer here? Oh mate C'MONNNNN-

I was so annoyed by this I actually turned my game off.​

Right. Where was I? Oh yes, Victory Road. I continue onwards but who should show up once again but Serena, burbling some nonsense about how she wants to test herself against me one more time and see if she has what it takes-

Yeah, yeah. Get on with it. She leads with Meowstic and I use Calm Mind a couple of times before taking it down with Hidden Power (Dark). Vaporeon and Altaria fall pretty quickly, but Chesnaught manages to avoid Light of Ruin and smacks me with Seed Bomb, doing some heavy damage. With 110 HP remaining, I figure I can survive the recoil and use Light of Ruin again, obliterating it and leaving me on 5 HP. Not to worry, I'll heal up and see off her Absol. Oh, but wait. Didn't Tierno and Trevor say that she'd been training at the Tower of Mastery? Aha, so she's going to Mega Evolve her Absol. Best proceed with caution...

...but she doesn't. Well, that's a letdown. I heal up, tank a Slash from Absol, and OHKO it.

Remember when the pre-Elite Four rival fight was actually difficult? Pepperidge Farm remembers. Idk, maybe it would be if I was using a different team. I was genuinely surprised when I looked at Serena's list of teams and saw that you only fight her five times before the postgame. It feels like a lot more. But damn is it a dull-ass lineup.

It is really cool and nostalgic that you can see previous areas from Victory Road. Wish that there were more, and that Alola had done the same.​

I pick up a Carbos and a Zinc on my way. Apparently Floette has acquired so many EVs at this point that the Carbos is ineffective - oh well, can sell that later on. The Zinc works, though.

There's a waterfall just before the final cavern so I quickly scale it to nab whatever TM it is at the top I've forgotten about. There's a Hiker stood in front of it who proves incredibly difficult to evade - I save my game before approaching and have to soft reset six times before I sneak past successfully. Aaaaaand TM02, Dragon Claw, is my shit reward. Another move I can't make use of.

And there's a bunch of unavoidable trainers in the final section. But at last I make it, and emerge blinking and dazed onto the mountain's summit.

Wow. The Kalos League - a large and spectacularly ornate castle - is seriously impressive (even moreso at night when the sky becomes an implausibly gorgeous tapestry of stars and galaxies overhead). And the music is one of my favourite themes in the entire series. Though GlitchxCity's sublime remix takes it to a whole new level IMO.

Though I have to say that I think the type specialties of the Kalos Elite Four are a little uninspired. Fire, Water, Steel, Dragon. It's like a nine year-old's idea of what the coolest types are.

So, we're here. The final challenge is finally upon us. Time to regroup, take stock, and plan my strategy.

...aw, fuck. I forgot to get TM29, Psychic, from the Pokemon Village earlier. Looks like I have to go through the Winding Woods AGAIN. Grumble. I fly back to Snowbelle and collect it, also getting a Pixie Plate. Eh... could have used that earlier. Better choices for items at this point. Returning to the Pokemon League, I drop a metric shit-ton (an official unit of measurement since 1988) of cash on Hyper Potions, Full Restores, and Full Heals. There's no point buying Revives since I'll be going it alone so I sell all the ones I have.

I think I'm ready to begin.

Who to fight first, then? One of the foursome is likely to prove very tricky, while another seems likely to be fairly easy. The other two, it is to be hoped, will be more even fights. So I decide to start in the middle.

Siebold

Once I enter the Elite Four chamber I'm met by a pink-haired woman in slinky leggings and sunglasses who introduces herself as the Fire-type user, Malva. Yeah, we'll get to you. First, though, I'm taking on Siebold. I scrutinise all of the four open doorways and choose the bottom-right.

In the Flood Chamber, I watch as two immense gears spring to life and douse the room in torrents of flowing water. I wade to the dais upon which a man stands, apparently lost in contemplation.

He thinks, and then appears to reach a conclusion.

"No, I simply can't say."

Um... hello?

He turns to me as if noticing me for the first time.

"You there! Young man! I have a question I must pose to you. Do you think Pokémon battling can ever be worthy of being called an art?"

Uh... idk. Honestly, I'm not that concerned with big philosophical matters right this moment. Let's say... no.

Woah! Okay, easy. Jesus, talk about a hair-trigger temper.​

He continues in full flow, undeterred.

"If all you seek in life is to fill your stomach with some tasteless matter, then why are there Chefs in this world?!"

Because some people legitimately don't care about what they eat. And that's fine. For some people, food really is just fuel.

"We labor tirelessly to make something wonderful that will disappear from sight as soon as it is enjoyed. That is the life of a Chef! That is the life of a Trainer!"

Yes, ephemeral art. Like theatre or flowers that only bloom once or that rotting cow's head Damien Hirst put in a glass case once. What's your point?

Clearly too enraged to speak, he finally begins our battle, sending out Clawitzer first. I've taught Floette Energy Ball, so boost once with Calm Mind and promptly take care of it.

Gyarados is next. Energy Ball isn't going to do the trick here. Hmmm, do I go for Light of Ruin straight off? Yeah, why not. I let loose my signature move, and manage to OHKO. Next up is Barbaracle, for whom a boosted Energy Ball probably does way over 100% - and finally Starmie, who... also dies to one hit. Wow. That was nice and simple.

Not seeming at all fazed, Siebold proclaims that "there are no weak Pokemon, only weak trainers". Sure. This guy's just full of lofty statements, ain't he.

I agree with his overall point about art, btw. Just find it really weird the combative way it's put across. Surely there are better ways to muse on the theme of ephemeral art than by putting talking points into the mouth of a man who seems to explode with anger if told "no".

Anyway. Returning to the centre of the room transports me back into the central chamber, where now only three of the doors are open to me. Who shall I tackle next? Find out next time in the penultimate installment...



Current team
Floette @ Leftovers - level 77

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Thirteen
La fin est en vue. Une bataille prévisible facile! Une bataille assez moyenne! Et une bataille incroyablement facile!
Oh, la pure excitation - je peux à peine me contenir!​

Time for our second Elite Four member.

Drasna

In the Dragonmark chamber, I watch as two immense, leathery wings slowly unfold to reveal a sinister-looking dragon skull, which lifts away to reveal a kindly-looking woman stood beneath. Two large fonts on either side heat up and slowly emit a fog of incense as I approach her. She, unlike Siebold, has only nice things to say, proclaiming that I look strong and that she's looking forward to battling me.

Eagle-eyed readers might recall that I said I planned to put a bit of time into Inver's challenge. This is because his inverse battle house is one of the only places one may obtain the damage-reducing berries in Kalos. It took an unholy amount of soft resets, but at last I was able to obtain the three berries I needed from him.

The first is a Kebia Berry. Equipping Floette with this allows me to shrug off Dragalge's Sludge Bomb and 2HKO it with Psychic, which I've taught it instead of Hidden Power. I've taught Floette Dazzling Gleam in place of Energy Ball for this fight, too, and all three of her other Dragons - Noivern, Druddigon, and Altaria - fall to one hit from it.

Quick?! It was almost transparent.​

Boy, that was actually disappointing. Let's see if Malva can give us a better time.

Malva

In the Blazing Chamber, all is dark and quiet. Suddenly two immense gouts of flame roar into life, turning the room into a searing furnace. Up on the dais awaits the woman we met earlier on arriving.

She starts with Pyroar. I've taught Floette Nature Power once again (and re-equipped the Leftovers) which I'd expected to turn into Heat Wave or something much as the Snowbelle Gym made it become Ice Beam. But nah, it's Tri Attack again. Pyroar lands a powerful hit with Flamethrower, but Tri Attack 2HKOs. Next out is Talonflame, who - despite sadly lacking the Gale Wings ability - nearly KOs with Brave Bird after I strike with Psychic. Ack. Better heal! Amusingly, Malva has the same idea and we both spend the turn healing. I hit it with Psychic again and it lands another Brave Bird, but this time I'm left with enough HP to be sure of surviving - it's moot, though, as a second Psychic finishes it off.

Torkoal is next. It's a bulky turtle which soaks up a Tri Attack with little effort and responds by bulking itself up with Curse. A second Tri Attack fails to finish it, and it unleashes a brutal Earthquake attack that leaves me on 27 HP. I take it out on the third turn, but then I have Chandelure to deal with.

Boosting up with Calm Mind seems the only way to shrug off its wickedly powerful Flamethrowers. It takes a chunk out of me with the first one after I use a Hyper Potion, but then elects to use Confuse Ray. Well, great. I don't bother healing and hope Floette will manage to use Calm Mind - happily, it does. From there, it's a few rounds of alternate healing and attacking before I finally bring it down.

Well, that was a bit more challenging. Time for the final member of the foursome - and the one I've been dreading.

Wikstrom

In the Ironworks Chamber, two great blade-like objects descend into the floor while the room's components crash together to create a ring around the battlefield. On the dais awaits a man in clanking, shining armour.

As a Steel-type user, Wikstrom could be potentially quite problematic. However, I've taken some measures to mitigate that.

The first is by equipping Floette with a Babiri Berry. As his Klefki prepares to attack, I boost my stats with Calm Mind, hoping to shrug off the Flash Cannon I know is coming...

...and Klefki uses Dazzling Gleam. What.

Well, this battle just got a hell of a lot easier.

I've taught Floette Substitute for this fight, so I put one up - but Klefki does the first and only smart thing it can do and uses a Prankster-quickened Torment, preventing me from using Calm Mind in succession. Frustrated, but in no way impeded, I continue to boost intermittently as Klefki continues to use Dazzling Gleam ineffectively. Only after three more uses does it appear to decide that Flash Cannon might be useful, but by then it's not enough to break a Sub in one hit and so the Babiri Berry goes un-activated.

I swear if I went through all that Inverse Battling for nothing I'll be so mad.

When at last I've reached +6 Special Attack and Special Defence, I attack using Hidden Power (Dark), the only move I can use that will be even remotely effective. Even at maxed stats, it's not enough to OHKO, so it takes quite a few turns before Wikstrom stops healing and I get the kill.

Scizor is up next. Well, I'm fully boosted and behind a Sub - it isn't as threatening as it initially seemed. I wonder if Light of Ruin will KO... let's try it. Astonishingly, despite me being faster, Scizor doesn't use Bullet Punch - and Light of Ruin is a clean OHKO.

I have no words. Probopass comes out, and since Light of Ruin left me on 10 HP, I decide I need to heal, despite its Power Gem not breaking my Sub. I strike with Hidden Power and bring it to 1 HP; it's saved by Sturdy. Since the recoil from Light of Ruin is much less threatening when it's 1 HP, I have no qualms about blasting it to death.

And last out is Aegislash, which Hidden Power OHKOs probably several times over.

Oh good god. All that worrying, all that scheming... for nothing. I... can't. I really just can't.

Seriously, Kalos. You just couldn't be cool, could you.



Current team
Floette @ Babiri Berry - level 79

 

[Dusk Mage Necrozma]

What’s your HP type?

 

[QuentinQuonce]

What’s your HP type?

Dark, which I mentioned a few posts back -

As luck would have it, the second trainer has two Pokemon who are actually weak to Ice (Delibird and Mamoswine) but I still opt to replace Nature Power with Hidden Power (Dark) before I challenge the leader.

- but I'll make a note of it in the last post for easier reading. Cheers for spotting that.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Part Fourteen
Enfin le final tant attendu. Une bataille glorieuse contre Diantha! Un défilé en mon honneur! Et une réunion en larmes entre de vieux amis.
Adieu, adieu, Kalos... très probablement pour de bon.​

Right, so the Elite Four were one big pushover. All that's left is the Champion widely considered the easiest in the series' history. What could go wrong?

She does have a fantastic battle theme though, gotta give her that. And it was nice to see her beat Lance in the anime recently. He needs taking down a peg or two.

Diantha

I enter the beautiful Radiant Chamber, a place bathed in soft, shifting white light and patterned with an intricate tiling that seems to represent all the known Pokemon types.

Diantha, realistically enough for a famous actress who probably meets dozens of new people each week, initially has no idea who I am, but soon realises that we've met before. She deduces that I'm the one who stopped Team Flare and thanks me. No worries. You were of zero help, but a thank you is better than nothing.

Kalos has so few Pokemon that Diantha has had to resort to stealing Grant and Korrina's signature mons to have a diverse team. I've read a theory that Diantha's team are meant to represent different genres of film - with Hawlucha as martial arts/action, Tyrantrum as disaster/monster, Aurorus as fantasy, Goodra as children's/comedy, Gourgeist as holiday/horror, and Gardevoir as romance - which is as good as any, and I think fits pretty well. It's a good team overall, and way better than DP Cynthia.

She opens with Hawlucha and it immediately goes for Poison Jab. However, I have one more Kebia Berry in my arsenal, and I've given it to Floette to stymie the damage from the super-effective attack. This allows me to get off one Calm Mind and swiftly demolish it with Psychic next turn.

Tyrantrum is next. I don't want to resort to Light of Ruin this early in the battle so I use Psychic again and to my surprise it OHKOs.

Next up is Aurorus. It narrowly survives Psychic and sets up Light Screen. Cunning. Diantha heals it, but the boost to its Special Defence means that Psychic falls short of 2HKOing. Unfortunately, it can't do much in return - it tries to use Blizzard, but misses, and I finish it off before it can attack again.

Goodra next. Its titanic Special Defence coupled with Light Screen means that Psychic barely leaves a mark. Fuck it, Light of Ruin is the best option here. I let loose and faint it, sustaining some massive recoil damage in the process. But I'm not concerned about that (yet) since Gourgeist should be easy enough to handle - Hidden Power (Dark) will capably OHKO.

And last is Gardevoir, which promptly Mega Evolves. I really don't have much capable of doing decent damage. On balance I opt for Hidden Power again. It barely does a third, while its retaliatory Moonblast does a surprising amount and brings me to 14 HP. Better heal. Once I'm at full health, I hit it again with Hidden Power and bring it to around 33%. Okay... I could use Hidden Power again, but I think that there's no more fitting way to end the challenge than by using Light of Ruin. Let's do this. I select Light of Ruin, and Floette blasts Mega Gardevoir with its flower cannon, fainting it.

Y'know... I know Mega Diancie wasn't a thing until after this game, but Mega Diancie should absolutely have been Diantha's signature mon. I know, it's a mythical, but... it suits her so well. Gardevoir is fine, but... meh. Maybe in the remake.

Diantha congratulates me on my victory, and says that Professor Sycamore was right, calling him "dear Augustine" again. Are these two supposed to be old lovers or something? I'm sure it's probably been left to fanfic writers to flesh out a whole romantic history between them. We take the elevator down to the Hall of Fame, where I register my hardworking Floette as a League Champion.

​

We flash forward a few days, to Lumiose City where a parade is being thrown in my honour. Ah, finally some gratitude from the people of Kalos! Shauna, Tierno, Trevor, and Serena are also here. We stand in front of a cheering crowd and Professor Sycamore bestows on me the Honour of Kalos, a fancy medal. Neat.

But all at once the festivities are interrupted by the arrival of the giant man from Team Flare's base. AZ, isn't it? He requests that I battle him because he wants to know what a trainer is. Very well. He sends out a Torkoal, Golurk, and Sigilyph, none of which prove difficult to defeat. Our battle concluded, AZ thanks me and says that he finally feels free of his sorrow from having built the Ultimate Weapon.

The words are barely out of his mouth before there's a bright flash of light from the sky. Everyone looks up to see something descending from the clouds... why, is that a Floette?

​

Y'know what? I know that this Floette was injected into my game via Pokemon Bank, but let's all suspend disbelief for a moment and pretend that the Floette I met in a fateful encounter at the start of this journey has decided that the time has come to leave me and reunite with its first trainer. It's more impactful that way. AZ falls to his knees, overcome with joy at reuniting with Floette after so long.

​

You were a good companion, little buddy. But I'm glad that you've finally found your old partner once again.

And that's it.


Final team
Floette - level 80




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Final thoughts​

Well, that's this challenge at an end. And, uh... what an experience it was. I've always said that Kalos is the easiest region, but this was beyond what I was expecting. And Floette did much better than it really should have. Few opponents were a serious threat, and the ones that really should have been - like the recent example with Wikstrom - were bafflingly unthreatening. Is bad AI the only thing to blame here?

Part of the problem admittedly lies in the (unavoidable) fact that Floette was an outsider Pokemon. Around the second badge, I began to realise I was becoming hopelessly overlevelled. I skipped as many trainers as I could, but even so, I ended up at level 80 by the end. It makes me wonder whether I'd have finished the challenge at level 100 if I'd fought everyone I could.

The level advantage helped, but I don't think it was a total dealbreaker: even with Floette's rather shallow movepool, it learns good enough attacks and has decent enough bulk to get by. I haven't counted but I think the number of times I blacked out during the challenge was under five.

But my opinion of Kalos in general hasn't really shifted. Nicely designed, but it's all surface. So much more could have been done with what was there - the trainer rosters, Mega Evolution, the Pokemon themselves. And the less said about the game's plot, the better. It's a serious comedown after BW, which I'm looking forward to replaying at some point (not for my next challenge run, though). I don't think I'll be playing the Kalos games again. I only ever use my completed copy of Y for transferring or for the occasional Friend Safari rummage.

Still, it's been fun to revisit, at least for a while. You live and you learn.

To everyone who's kept up with this, thanks for reading - I hope you enjoyed it as much as - or more than - I did playing it. I have a couple of ideas for future challenge runs swirling around atm, but not sure when the next one will drop - hopefully see you there when it does. (BTW, if anyone wants to discuss ideas for challenges or even contribute, feel free to DM!)

Till then.

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

Congrats on completing the challenge! It has been fun to follow it.

I like how you had a French name for every part of the challenge. I don't understand French but Google Translate got the job done. This also taught me that the French term for NPC is "PNJ", something I would never have learned otherwise.

But my opinion of Kalos in general hasn't really shifted. Nicely designed, but it's all surface. So much more could have been done with what was there - the trainer rosters, Mega Evolution, the Pokemon themselves. And the less said about the game's plot, the better. It's a serious comedown after BW, which I'm looking forward to replaying at some point (not for my next challenge run, though). I don't think I'll be playing the Kalos games again. I only ever use my completed copy of Y for transferring or for the occasional Friend Safari rummage.

I will have to agree here. Kalos could have been a lot better, I will forever wish that "Z" had been a thing. X/Y do not have a lot of depth, Mega Evolution was a bit underutilized and the way they showcased the new Pokémon could have been better as well. Regarding the story... if we look at the first pairs alone, X/Y were unfortunate as they were released between B/W and S/M, the two game pairs that have the best stories in the whole series IMO. I don't think the story in X/Y is the worst in the series, but I don't consider it to be good either. X/Y also have a rather lackluster post-game, they feature a lot of fan pandering to Kanto, and they offer little to no challenge outside of self-imposed ones (and those can still be easy, as you have shown with this one). There's no denying that X/Y have many issues and that they are lacking in many aspects.

And yet... I love X/Y. I think they are excellent games. Despite everything above, I had a ton of fun with X/Y and I'm always happy to revisit them (even if it is only for something minor). When it comes to the things I consider important in Pokémon, X/Y does almost everything right and next to nothing wrong. In comparison, S/M are arguably more "complete" games, they also have a much better story and more depth, but I didn't find them nearly as fun to play as X/Y. I guess what I want to say here is that there are many different factors that can make a game enjoyable. Even if a game lacks depth, the surface alone can still be enough to make it enjoyable. Or something.

Sorry if I got a bit off track there, just wanted to say that. Once again, congrats on completing the challenge! I'm looking forward to your next one. Regarding that, I also have a request. When you start your next challenge, could you send me a VM/PM with a link to it? Because I will probably miss it otherwise.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Congrats on completing the challenge! It has been fun to follow it.

I like how you had a French name for every part of the challenge. I don't understand French but Google Translate got the job done. This also taught me that the French term for NPC is "PNJ", something I would never have learned otherwise.

Thanks - Google Translate was what wrote them haha. I speak a little French, but not that much.

I will have to agree here. Kalos could have been a lot better, I will forever wish that "Z" had been a thing. X/Y do not have a lot of depth, Mega Evolution was a bit underutilized and the way they showcased the new Pokémon could have been better as well. Regarding the story... if we look at the first pairs alone, X/Y were unfortunate as they were released between B/W and S/M, the two game pairs that have the best stories in the whole series IMO. I don't think the story in X/Y is the worst in the series, but I don't consider it to be good either. X/Y also have a rather lackluster post-game, they feature a lot of fan pandering to Kanto, and they offer little to no challenge outside of self-imposed ones (and those can still be easy, as you have shown with this one). There's no denying that X/Y have many issues and that they are lacking in many aspects.

I was reading old Reddit posts the other day and it turns out that a while back I posted a wishlist of ways X and Y could have been better. I stand by pretty much all of these:

-Trim down the Pokedex. Even for a large region like Kalos, 450 Pokemon is excessive; 300 would have sufficed. Make the new Pokemon easier to find than older ones to encourage players to catch and use them.

-Change up some of the TMs. If the Gym Leaders are going to be showcasing new Pokemon they should be showcasing new moves as well. Having them hand out TMs from older generations just felt like a half-assed rush job.

-Open up some more areas. There's a bunch of places that feel like they should be accessible but aren't. The power plant, the inaccessible cafe stairs, and, as mentioned, the Couriway Town train. Expand some other areas, too, like the Sea Spirits' Den and Kiloude City.

-The story isn't bad, but only really gets interesting after the halfway mark. Give me some more context about the Ultimate Weapon. Make Team Flare more memorable. Involve Diantha somehow. In fact, make all of the Elite Four more interesting. Siebold in particular was particularly obnoxious, because five seconds after meeting him he asks you a question and if you answer wrongly he starts calling you names. Why do I care about what you have to say? In five minutes I'll have beaten you and will never encounter you again. Sorry, rant over.

-Give the mythicals some reason for being there. Diancie is bland as hell, Hoopa is interesting but feels like an afterthought, and Volcanion screams wasted potential. I've wanted a Water/Fire type since I first got into Pokemon, and it just feels like such a waste. Also, make AZ's Floette actually obtainable, even if it's just a one-time giveaway rather than part of the plot.

-Make the Battle Maison more interesting. I don't care how. I couldn't tell you the names of the four bosses with a gun to my head, and their teams stink of laziness ("let's just give them ALL the legendaries!")

-Remove all the goodies you get handed to you on a platter. No Kanto starter, no Lucario, no Lapras. And nerf the Exp Share so that my entire team isn't level 50 by the time I reach the seventh gym. And stop fellating Gen 1 quite so hard.

-For god's sake stop with every single character asking me "are you ready to battle? Do you want a moment to get ready?" It's like you want me to obliterate you.

-Zygarde. Give the poor thing some love. It deserved to headline its own game (or at the very least to have been involved in the plot of SuMo) not to be shoved awkwardly into another generation as a sidequest.

And yet... I love X/Y. I think they are excellent games. Despite everything above, I had a ton of fun with X/Y and I'm always happy to revisit them (even if it is only for something minor). When it comes to the things I consider important in Pokémon, X/Y does almost everything right and next to nothing wrong. In comparison, S/M are arguably more "complete" games, they also have a much better story and more depth, but I didn't find them nearly as fun to play as X/Y. I guess what I want to say here is that there are many different factors that can make a game enjoyable. Even if a game lacks depth, the surface alone can still be enough to make it enjoyable. Or something.

It's funny... I've been thinking lately that I'm quite conceptual in my approach to media. Which is to say that even when a piece of media is objectively bad, I tend to appreciate the ideas that went into them as much as (and sometimes rather than) the execution. As a non-Pokemon example, most people agree that the Hobbit trilogy was terrible. But a lot of the ideas that went into it were great, and that's what I like about it.

And I actually really like what Kalos was all about. The whole design ethos of the games, and the beauty theme, are super interesting. As I highlighted throughout the run, there were lots of individual aspects of the game I liked. So yeah. I can give XY credit where credit is due for those parts.

And really, even the most lacking Pokemon games are still gonna be at least passably good. Pokemon is too good a format to seriously fuck up.

Sorry if I got a bit off track there, just wanted to say that. Once again, congrats on completing the challenge! I'm looking forward to your next one. Regarding that, I also have a request. When you start your next challenge, could you send me a VM/PM with a link to it? Because I will probably miss it otherwise.

Will do! Not sure when it'll be yet, but hopefully before ScVi drop.

 

[Hugin]

-Trim down the Pokedex. Even for a large region like Kalos, 450 Pokemon is excessive; 300 would have sufficed. Make the new Pokemon easier to find than older ones to encourage players to catch and use them.

This is the one part I disagree with. And I think your challenge format might skew your perspective somewhat. XY have a massive regional pokedex, with a wide variety of pokes available early, that doesn't rely on gimmicks like Raids or QR codes. That's a good thing IMO. It means you can run a mono-dragon team from early in the game. Or mono-bug. You can run the game a dozen times, with a different team each time, and have most of the members pre-Clemont each time. That's a huge benefit for replayability, and one that your specific challenge runs don't take advantage of.

And to be clear, this isn't criticism, I'm just explaining why my perspective is very different on this issue. I love your challenge runs, keep them up.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

This is the one part I disagree with. And I think your challenge format might skew your perspective somewhat. XY have a massive regional pokedex, with a wide variety of pokes available early, that doesn't rely on gimmicks like Raids or QR codes. That's a good thing IMO. It means you can run a mono-dragon team from early in the game. Or mono-bug. You can run the game a dozen times, with a different team each time, and have most of the members pre-Clemont each time. That's a huge benefit for replayability, and one that your specific challenge runs don't take advantage of.

No, you're probably right on that. That post was from a few years back, and was probably a knee-jerk response. When I play a new game, my preferred way to do it is with an all-new team - and then I usually do it again with another team of 6 I also wanted to try out. Ultimately I think that what annoyed me wasn't so much the quantity of Pokemon, but the availability, since I knew what I wanted to catch and the issue was sifting through the rest to get it.

Kalos Route 5, for instance, has nine different Pokemon you can encounter in either version. Ultimately, yeah I do think that's a good thing. But all but one of them are available via regular wild encounters, which makes tracking down a specific species incredibly tedious. It's annoying enough to find a Pokemon when a route or cave has five Pokemon available!

There should have been some differentiation of encounter method here. The game makes a gesture in this direction by having horde encounters and Pokemon that jump out of trees or from cave ceilings, but it's not enough. QR codes and a greater emphasis on using honey to force horde encounters would have made the diversity feel justified. Alola did this in a better way imo.

And to be clear, this isn't criticism, I'm just explaining why my perspective is very different on this issue. I love your challenge runs, keep them up.

Ahh that's great to read, thanks. Will do.

Ironically, my next challenge actually will rely on excessive Pokemon diversity - so I'll be interested to see what you make of it. But that's all I'll say for now!

 

[KalosianPorygon]

Ironically, my next challenge actually will rely on excessive Pokemon diversity

Interesting. Something like a Nuzlocke where you can't have two Pokémon sharing a type or from the same Generation on the same team? That could be a funny way to play the game.
Or maybe some kind of N Challenge: you beat a boss, you release your whole team, also you can't use the same Pokémon species more than once.

 

[TpOi2006]

i randomly stumbled onto this, and it was absolutely amazing to read. You clearly know gen6 very well, and have very good commentary on the game as a whole. I’m interested to see what will be coming from you next.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

i randomly stumbled onto this, and it was absolutely amazing to read. You clearly know gen6 very well, and have very good commentary on the game as a whole. I’m interested to see what will be coming from you next.

Well THIS was my favorite comment ever. Thank you so much! This makes writing these threads worth it and I hope I can keep up that standard in the months and years to come

(I'm quite drunk atm so I hoped that made sense)