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Before I played the games, I watched the series.
I adored the universe from episode one, falling for the interesting creatures, the relatable characters and the vibrant Poké-fights. What I loved most about the TV show however, were the elements of friendship and bonding between the characters and their Pokémon. Seeing Pikachu struggle to fight impossible odds against the mighty Onyx just to please his partner, or Ash’s anguish when he let his Butterfree go was what made Pokémon enjoyable for me as a kid. When I bought the games I expected the same tête-à-têtes with my Pokémon, but as we all know RED and BLUE were not as quixotic and fluffy as the series led one to believe. Naturally, during the hard grind to the Pokémon League I developed some affection towards my creatures – I still feel a happy, nostalgic twinge whenever I see a Pigey or a Charmander and think of my own starter crew of monsters – but the fact remains that the foundations of your partnership are made with blood, sweat and numerous hours fighting your Pokémon to the brink of ‘fainting’. Heaven forbid your last Pokémon gets poisoned in a cave and you were too cheap to buy an antidote at the PokéMart. Unlike Ash, I wouldn’t be worrying about my creature but cursing its existence. Above friendship, I wanted strong Pokémon that would pummel Gary Oak into the ground and smoke Lance’s Dragonite when the time came. Cute Pokémon be gone! If it couldn’t one-shot his counter I would leave it to rot in Bill’s storage system for the rest of the game. Despite being dead-set on having the strongest six monsters with or without the lovey premise of the Pokémon series, this didn’t stop me from questioning why the hell Ash’s little Pikachu could fight on 1 HP and win while mine was constantly getting K.O’d by a Gym Leader’s Sparrow.
As the games evolved there were subtle attempts to remedy the discrepancy between series and game, and bring a little empathy and love to the handheld. Already in YELLOW, Pikachu lived outside of his ball, and when spoken to indicated how he was feeling with an emoticon above his head. Throughout the Pokémon gens there had always been the odd NPC who would comment/rate your Pokémon’s affection level – even handing out small trinkets if your Pokémon was super-duper impressed with you, however, by simple levelling you were almost guaranteed a friendly partner. When the time for Poffins came I was sure the solution for Pokémon-human bonding had arrived; and while it did allow you to spend some non-violent time playing with your bestial cohorts, the activities felt like a chore, a quick diversion from the ultimate task of mauling through hoards of trainers to get to the Pokémon League.
Finally, by Pokémon X and Y, the developers have lived up to the expectations of generosity and friendship set by the series. Years after being told that the best trainers are the ones who treat their Pokémon with respect and love, Pokémon has incorporated an ‘affection system’ (Pokémon-Amie) to address the thesis of the franchise. Unlike Poffins, wacky Pokémon massages or haircuts, the fruits of your labour are palpable. After spending hours playing, petting and training your Pokémon in the newly added minigames, your little monster buddies will garner so much affection for you that they overcome impossible odds in battle. At random (a fact I’m sure still bothers the hard-core math-crafters of Pokémon) they’ll land critical hits, vanquish status effects after one or two turns and dodge attacks. After grinding your way through Victory Road with no more Full Restores and a belt of paralyzed, sleeping and poisoned monsters, there’s nothing more compelling than having your starter Pokémon survive on 2HP for three turns against an Ace Trainer because he just doesn’t want to disappoint you. When I had come to accept that were was no other way to raise these guys than with an iron fist, the developers have made ‘caring’ for your Pokémon a decisive and unique feature. I loved it, and felt solace as this aspect of the franchise was remedied.
The world itself was beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the detail the developers put in to create a vibrant and exciting region. Apart from the obvious changes that come with making a Pokémon game compatible with Nintendo’s 3DS, there was something wonderful about the subtle changes in the series; such as the 8 directional grid and the shift from running shoes to roller-skates. Nothing major. Still, the elegant tweaks added to a franchise, which for many years overcompensated with new – and increasingly awkward – monsters while the Pokémon universe itself remained stagnant. Apart from the aforementioned Pokémon Amie, Game Freak introduced Sky Battles (battles reserved for the Flying types in your on inventory), hoard encounters – groups of slightly lower-levelled Pokémon to fight – super training (for those wanting to max out their EVs and IVs) and last but not least, a new type. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to ‘Fairy’ power in the Pokémon world. Despite my doubts, I came to appreciate how the developers tried to logically incorporate a new element into an already saturated database. Clefairy and all the ‘moonstone’ Pokémon had always been grouped in the fairy class, so turning them into their own subset wasn’t too implausible. I’m still having trouble accommodating steel Pokémon, but the fairy route I can accept. My next accolade would have to be the fact that only 69 new Pokémon were introduced. 69. That’s less than half the original 150. Instead of mass producing piles of uninteresting Pokémon – there was an ice-cream cone masquerading as an ice Pokémon for God’s sake – Nintendo seemed to realise that their audience are okay with having old monsters make a reappearance. We’ve essentially been playing the same game over the last fifteen years; keeping our favourite Pokémon is not going to kick the fan base in the nuts. Integrating more of the YELLOW and CRYSTAL creatures while adding a few, better made newcomers (with some Mega-evolutions to spice things up) ensures that no one is let down by more Trubbish monsters (-ha-ha-).
The locations were fab, and in hopes of finishing this short review I’m only going to focus on Luminose City. For starters, it’s huge. It was wise of the developers to slowly grant you access to the whole thing because it is ridiculously large and confusing to navigate. With a myriad of alleyways and avenues littered with different shops and cafes, the 3D metropolitan is a great place to loll about in. I haven’t been so excited in a Pokémon city since Goldenrod. As well as the aforesaid cafes – of which there are at least thirteen of – there are two pokecenters (because the place is just that damn big), an art gallery, a barber (finally you can customize your appearance), a place for you film your own PR video, a chic clothing store, an upmarket hotel and two restaurants where your hors d’oeuvre consists of a rotisserie of Pokémon battles, to name a few. It’s a Japanese Paris, chock-a-block with timewasting things to do pre and post-game completion.
Overall I think it is one of the best gens of the franchise. Ever since third gen I’ve had a sinking feeling that Pokémon was on its way out. The monsters were becoming silly, the plots interchangeable, and the different regions indistinguishable from the next. While Black and White lifted my spirits, there remained my doubts about whether the developers would be able to bring something stimulating to the table. With the new PSS system, the collection of minigames and side-plots, interesting characters and – for once – an appealing villain and backstory, Game Freak put to rest my concerns and apprehensions. As well as reinventing itself, the game continues to respect its loyal fan base. Seeing an obese Snorlax blocking my road to the next city, listening to Trainer Joey announce his love of shorts and hearing that Gary Oaks had told a polite Luminosians he’d ‘Smell ya later’, harkened back to the generations veteran players grew up with. This synergy between old Pokémon and new was a delightful experience, and I can’t wait until Z comes out to have another reason to splurge my income. Although there are rumours that a remake of the Hoenn region would arise – there are many references to the region in X and Y – I am finally looking forward to the next instalments in the franchise.
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