The Great Regional FRIENDLY Debate: Kalos vs. Alola

Estronic

For being the jump from sprites to models, Kalos left a mediocre impression on me, at best. Granted, I was pretty young when I first played the game, so pardon me for anything that sounds shaky. Stories about an ultimate weapon meant to kill all living things on the planet never really exceed in good storytelling, and Kalos is no exception. Team Flare also feels too generic to stand out from other evil teams, though I do find it cool how Lysandre's motive changes depending on what version you have. I also find interesting how they show and develop a lot about AZ and his backstory that relates to the whole ultimate weapon thing; however, I felt like he definitely had some untapped potential. Overall, Kalos's story attempts to be interesting and fleshed out but unfortunately doesn't quite hit the mark.

I might be biased because I played it a lot more recently, but I really liked the plot in Alola. Specifically, I really enjoyed the evil teams, Team Skull and the Aether Foundation, with the latter not being obviously evil (though you can figure that one out). For Team Skull, I appreciate how they're a new spin on evil teams in terms of motive, or rather lack of one. Guzma couldn't care about destroying humanity or whatever; he just wanted to chill with his crew as pretty stupid thugs, but that doesn't mean he's not rich in character. Lusamine, on the other hand, is pretty insane. Her motives with Ultra Beasts were really hardcore, and the conflict between her and Lillie really makes the endgame, in my opinion. Sure, it still has its flaws, but it regardless does a good job at getting the player's interest.

Despite Kalos having a seemingly interesting storyline, I'll have to give it to Alola for being as such but more in-depth.

Estronic

Nothing angers me more than some of the characters in Kalos. The so-called "rivals" are stupid additions to the games and barely contribute anything to the story. If they stuck to one rival as usual, it would've been so more better. Lysandre was probably the most interesting character to me, but even then he has some flaws that just don't settle with me. He has very philosophical views throughout the story, but I don't think they justify his goals, especially the one when he wants to wipe out all of life because he can't have his beautiful world he envisioned. Unfortunately, I can't really comment on other characters in the story because I literally can't remember what they were like. The Gym Leaders, Champion, and other supporting characters just slip my mind because they're so forgettable. Kalos in general just doesn't do a good job when it comes to the characters.

Jumping into a new generation, Alola made really big improvements to the cast of characters, including only having one, slightly less annoying, rival. Anyways, I enjoyed the developed relationships between Lusamine and her children, and I personally enjoyed Lusamine as a character in general. For being a technically evil team leader, her personality was something we've never seen in Pokémon, as well as, well, merging with one. Guzma, the actual evil team leader in Alola, was also a breath of fresh air. To me, he felt the most human compared to other antagonists in other regions; he couldn't care about crossing between dimensions or sprouting world havoc, since he'd rather lead a gang of aloof hooligans and just mess around. When he realizes how insane Lusamine was after committing to her motives and has a change of heart, however, it showed that Guzma wasn't a completely flat character meant to fill the empty role as a pure evil to fight. Many of the other supporting characters, which I GUESS can include Hau, kept the story in Alola rolling over, contributing to a really good and enjoyable story.

If it wasn't obviously already, my vote here goes to Alola for having characters that had a lot of depth and weren't as annoying.

Estronic

The new pool of Pokémon Kalos introduced weren't as hyped up as previous ones, as it was very small compared to the batches of Pokémon other regions introduced. Regardless, some of the Pokémon introduced became really popular fan favorites, such as the slick Greninja and the goofy Goomy, though some just didn't hit the mark. That isn't usually a problem, but like I said, the small number of new Pokémon that entered the fray led to not a lot of options for people to be impressed with. However, the introduction of Mega Evolution brought old Pokémon in the spotlight to be shown off in new, striking, and powerful formes. Many designs of this new forme become immediate favorites to many, such as Mega Lucario and Mega Blaziken, whereas some of them helped other Pokémon to get attention they've never had, such as Mega Banette and Mega Medicham. The legendaries, however, weren't as striking as I hoped for, since most of them felt like they were missing something, specifically Zygarde at the time before Alola rolled around, funnily enough. Overall, I think Kalos introduced a fair number of cool Pokémon, but the introduction of Mega Evolution created a series of amazingly designed and popular Pokémon that people can consider to be their favorite addition.

Alola unfortunately didn't introduce many new Pokémon as well, but they still had their fair share of good ones. To me, however, none of them really strike me as amazing. Not many of the Pokémon designs are really striking, plus their other attributes weren't too interesting to me either. As a person who really likes Ice-types, I was disappointed when there was only ONE new Ice-type in Alola, and it's already so ugly. The other Ice-types introduced in Alola were Alolan Vulpix and Alolan Ninetales, and while I'm not a huge fan of them, I really enjoyed the concept of Alolan formes. They bring new life into old Pokémon, similar to what Mega Evolution did in Kalos; however, the only Pokémon that got these new formes were part of the original 151, which is somewhat disappointing considering Game Freak's persistent Kanto pandering. In general, though, I found the Pokémon that came along with Alola were pretty great, though they definitely had more potential.

This category is going to go to Kalos for me. It was tough, but the the fact that Alolan formes were exclusive to Kanto Pokémon unlike Mega formes was pretty much the big deciding factor.

Estronic

Kalos continued the tradition of having the player collect badges from Gyms throughout the game. To be blunt, however, it was really, really boring. The challenges before the actual fight against the Gym Leader were painfully easy and just felt like a hassle. It's obviously designed like that so kids won't easily get stuck, but the stuff they actually gave us makes me question how old Game Freak thinks we are. The Gym Leader battles themselves are arguably the same deal, but it feels like they made them easy for the sake of them being easy. The Gyms in Kalos just felt amazingly lackluster in difficulty, making it a poor ending to the game series tradition of having Gyms.

Alola overall just felt like an amazing breath of Hawaiian fresh air, and the Island Challenge really made those breaths feel crisp. The actual Trials were still relatively easy, but at least they were much more creative and didn't feel like a waste of time. For example, I found Acerola's trial to be the most creative, utilizing a new unique feature in the camera to track down the Ghost-types roaming the supermarket. Having Totem Pokémon to fight as the final challenge rather than an actual person was also really cool, and I found it really fun and even challenging to beat them. The Island Kahunas were also pretty tough to fight against, and they somewhat kept the spirit of Gym Leaders by being actual trainers to fight. As an offtrack route Game Freak took from Gyms, the Island Trials of Alola were executed nearly perfectly.

This might've been a closer battle, but the fact that the Gyms in Kalos were underwhelming compared to past Gyms makes Alola excel as the Island Trials were brought into the mix.

Coconut

Kalos puts all of its marbles into this huge "secret weapon" that Team Flare is attempting to use to uhhh, take over the world I guess? It's kinda hard to figure out exactly what Lysandre wants to do based on just text alone. Even from just casually playing through it, you're left with several questions. What does this big cannon accomplish? In X, it apparently grants everything eternal life, which is an awesome plot device, and an adult would be able to see why this might not be such a great thing. The game, however, does a very poor job of explaining why this natural progression is so significant. On the other hand, in Y, this big cannon plans on preserving beauty by... destroying everything. All forms of life are going to be destroyed and thus preserved. If there's something I'm missing here, please let me know, but this just seems like laziness at its core. AZ and his Floette is a plotline that the game would have been just fine without if it was glossed over completely. Lysandre being hidden from you as the bad guy is hilariously written, as it is clear from the moment you see him that he is up to no good. The final secret weapon being the legendary Pokémon is clear right from the get-go and has been tried and tested before (see: Hoeen), but it doesn't really hit the mark like it has in the past.

The Alola region's centerpiece is the Island Challenge, a coming-of-age event for this brand new child on the island that the other people are not nearly as attached to. While it's not perfect, it follows the KISS model to a T; keep it simple, stupid. You venture from island to island, collecting a team of various Pokémon to complete challenges from the Island Kahunas. You also have the plotline of the Ultra Beasts and the Aether Foundation, a group dedicated to curing Pokémon that have become hurt—most likely from the actions of Team Skull, another villainous gang set on... causing chaos I guess? Remember when I said this plotline was simple? I lied. The Aether Foundation's leader, Lusamine, goes from kinda crazy to absolutely bonkers in her descent to madness over Ultra Beasts, a subspecies of really powerful Pokémon that they need to create their own Pokémon with the specific purpose of defeating them. Your job is also to protect Lillie, who has a difficult time keeping this rare and powerful Pokémon that the Aether Foundation wants to dissect safe from harm despite the fact that she constantly wants to prove her independence from her Mother, who also happens to be Lusamine. Got all of that? Good. I really liked this game's focus on the "lesser" legendary Pokémon; it was a nice change from the typical Pokémon game, which focuses almost entirely on the box legendary. Ultra Sun and Moon completely take what I just said and throw that in the trash with Ultra Necrozma, which happens to be one of the hardest mandatory in-game fights in a Pokémon game ever. Despite the fact that they had a simple premise, it seems like the storyboard just kept getting bigger and bigger and no one had the gall to say enough is enough.

While I don't particularly love either plot, I'm going to give the slight edge to Alola. Both are really confusing, but the Alola plot has more to work with. The sequel really added more to the plot, which X and Y really just didn't get.

Coconut

Kalos has a large collection of characters that immediately appear to be your rivals at the beginning of the game. Each of them has their own unique goal that is different from the main character's. Great start. It's a darn shame you never see these characters live out their goals to the fullest. You truly don't see much of them at all, and that's disheartening because if they made the effort to show growth in these characters separately from the main character, they could have all been very fleshed out and interesting. Instead, these characters only show development because of the actions that you do specifically. Give me a quick side quest that lets these characters grow individually, not directly because of something that I did. You could make it mandatory or irrelevant to completing the game, but it would add depth to these characters that I frankly don't care much about. On the other side of the coin, Team Flare is an evil organization that prides itself on being rich and having funny hair. They really nail the "I have money and power" thing, because these guys are everywhere, especially the places you want to be. But that's all they have going for them really. They don't have the character development in the organization, except for Lysandre, whose plot does not really make much sense in half of the copies of the game. Everyone else, including the Gym Leaders and Elite 4, are extremely forgettable, with the exception of Sophocles, who I specifically remember for annoying me through various sections of the game.

Alola starts your game with Hau, a rival who in all accounts wants you to succeed. He isn't particularly annoying, nor does he really intrude on your progress through the game, but he doesn't do anything particularly special—a middle-of-the-pack rival. Lillie is introduced as someone who needs the protection, nearly getting you killed in the process before being saved by Koko ex machina. The Trial Captains aren't particularly memorable, but the Island Captains are pretty good; they are introduced early and show that they care about the main character while still hoping to be a challenge for them. Team Skull is your typical group of baddies who just want to make their mark as a society. Which is... actually pretty good for a villainous group. Their leader, Guzma, shows incredible character development. He never seems particularly dangerous, despite being the leader of an actual gang, but he looks his fair share of crazy and in the end turns out to just be a regular guy. He takes a very Giovanni-like route with his development, and it pays off in strides. On the other hand, the Aether Foundation's quite forgettable with the exception of Lusamine. Lusamine is a nutjob throughout the story line and develops into someone who is not only mad for power but willing to risk everything in her life for the adrenaline rush of having power. Not particularly great, but her children, Gladion the edgy boy, and Lillie, the useless one, show some growth while they have to save their own mother.

I like the characters from Alola so much more than the characters from Kalos. A good portion of them actually develop into meaningful characters, and many of them are quite memorable. The same can't really be said for the Kalos characters.

Coconut

Kalos has an okay selection of monsters, with a particular favor towards the Kanto Dex. The new choices introduced, however, are the smallest number of total 'mons that we have ever seen from a Pokémon game. And I totally get that they introduced the Mega Evolutions in this time, which was cool, but they didn't really stick around now did they? But the designs they did introduce? They nailed it. Sure, there are some 'mons that are rough around the edges (looking at you, Binacle line), but lines like the Pancham line, the Amaura line, Hawlucha, and the Froakie line just hit the mark for me. I would rather have a smaller Pokédex if we kept getting design choices like the aforementioned. The 'mons available in the game are pretty okay too, especially if you like Kanto being shoved down your throat. The options are diverse, and you can build a team around a design that you like without inhibiting yourself too much. Finally, the game also had quick access to new Pokémon in the post game with Friend Safaris.

On the other hand, Alola does have a wider selection of new Pokémon, but not by much. This generation's gimmick was the new formes for Pokémon. And some of these were really cool designs, with the most standout for me being the Vulpix line and the Grimer line. The "old Pokémon, new look" gimmick would follow into Galar too, so Game Freak realizes the goldmine they hit with this idea. That being said, none of the new Pokémon designs are particularly bad, but not many of them are very good. Pokémon like Incineroar and the Tapu have really grown on me across a generation, but overall the designs are pretty weak. In terms of availability, the game is pretty weak in what I can choose to use throughout the game. The Berry trees would have been a cool concept, but it falls flat because you can only find one Pokémon in them. I wish the game would have given me less of the limited Island Dex style and went with a broader concept with more Pokémon to catch, as it would have really given me more creativity in my teambuilding.

This one goes to Kalos for sure. Neither one of these games are perfect in the way that they handle this situation, but the options they give me access to outweigh the lack of new Pokémon.

Coconut

Kalos has the Gym system, a tried-and-true method that has worked for games before it. But this is attempt number six of the Gyms, and the burnout from the games shows. The Gym designs and layouts are fairly cool and surprisingly unique, as many of them have a cool puzzle for you to solve, sprinkled with Gym Trainers for you to roll. The Gym Leaders, however, are where the Gyms falter for the generation. None of the Gym Leaders are particularly memorable. And the only one that is really memorable between both generations, Sophocles, only reminds me of how much I dislike him. The previous Gym Leaders are memorable for more reasons, despite the fact that so many of them have a significantly smaller impact on the game. These games have the storyline and design philosophy to make these Gym Leaders have more of an impact. But for some reason, for me, they just don't stick to the wall.

The Trials are a newer concept from Alola. I was very open to the concept of trying something new with the Gyms, considering I didn't really like how they worked in the previous generation. This isn't quite what I was expecting, but it is certainly a welcome change. The designs of the trials are more abstract, giving more room to nail this concept in the future. The Totem Pokémon being a powered-up version of an already existing mon does not really suit the game, as I want to be able to have the same experiences as the Leader. It removes my ability as a player to see their signature 'mon, think it's cool, and use it myself. And sure, I could still use that 'mon, but it's simply not the same as the Totem 'mon in terms of raw strength. I think Trials were really cool in concept, but they could have been executed so much better, and in the future, I hope they experiment with something like this, or even something completely different and unique to what we have seen in the past.

I'm gonna have to give this one a conditional grade. Trials have the potential to be a lot better than Gyms. They are not better than most Gym challenges. They are, however, better than Kalos's pathetic excuse for a Gym trial.