Monday, September 2, 2013

Pokemon X and Y Part 1: Facts and my thoughts (updated)

   Hello and good morning, afternoon, or night everyone!  It's time for the long awaited and anticipated Pokemon X and Y post.  Today, i'll be focusing only on the things we know about for sure and not doing too much speculation.  This post is going to be very long with a lot of pictures and videos but let's get started from the beginning.
Professor Sycamore

The Beginning:  
    As i mentioned way back in this post, the new region is the Kalos region, based on France.  You start of in the town if Vaniville which looks pretty big and interesting.  Here is a great list of the confirmed towns.  We do know for a fact there is a new generation of Pokemon, but in some videos we have seen Pokemon such as Pikachu and Axew appear, so perhaps like in Black and White 2, we'll be seeing some old favorites.  X and Y are set to become the first ever Pokemon games to be released worldwide on the same day (however Japan and China still get it first because of timezones -_-) on October 12th.  I myself have already pre-ordered X and discovered that it will, unlike most brand new games, be $40.  The new Pokemon Professor is the handsome Professor Sycamore.  At first, i was a little disappointed we went back to male professors, but i understand having a bunch of girls in a row is just as annoying as a bunch of men.  Plus, Sycamore has my seal of approval as the most handsome professor.  This generation, our starters are Froakie, the water type frog; Fenniken, the fire type....fox?  dog?;  and Chespin, the grass type Chipmunk?  I've heard a lot of people call him a mole or squirrel but...guys....Ches--pin.  Chip--munk.....I'm just saying.  One weird thing is, that close as we are to the release, we have yet to see the evolutions of thesestarters.  Maybe this is just my bad memory but i felt like for Gen 5, we knew about this time if not before.  Most people are worried about Fenniken becoming a 4th in a row Fire-Fighting mix seeing as it can learning the move "glow punch."  I personally would really like to see Fenniken evolve into maybe a Physic-
The "spiny-nut", "fox", and "bubble-frog" Pokemon.
Fire type or something else.  As of the others, I really think Froakie maybe (hold with me here) a flying water type.  Why?  Well i was watching a video (that i couldn't find i'm sorry) in which the released the NAMES of the evolution and from what i remember of Froakie's, it was based on the myths of the giant flying frogs that i cant for the life of me remember the name of.  This type of frog has actually been seen in Nintendo games like Zelda before making me believe that pretty strongly and if that's true, that's AMAZING.  Chespin on the other hand has an interesting color scheme that lads me to think it might be either Grass and Ground or Rock, wither of which is a nice combination and hopefully will be executed well.
      Next up, let's talk about your town and a few important people.  In every Pokemon game, you have at least one rival who challenges your through the world and even made my top 10 rivals in all gaming.  In the beginning, there was Green (or Blue in America).  There was also supposed to have been a 3rd character named Blue who would have been a girl and would have taken then 3rd Pokemon.  She appeared in a few of the Pokemon Mangas but is a topic for another time.  In the 5th generation, we were given 2 rivals in the form of Cheren and Bianca which is said to have links to the Red-Blue-Green dynamic the first game wanted.  However, all that is blasted out of proportion in the newest
You can learn more about these guys here and gym leaders here
games.  You will have not 1...not 2.....but FOUR companions.  This game shows you facing a single rival but with 3 other neighbors from your town who follow you around.  Your rival will be the character of whatever gender you did not pick, so if you chose to lay as a male, she will be named Serena, however her male counter part is Calem.  Personally....I'm not a huge fan of their names.  In the past, the names of the characters hand been color based dating all the way back to the famous Red, however now that we have left color for letters, i understand that would be difficult.  These names...eh.  Moving on, here are your 3 companions alongside 2 of the new Gym leaders (which you can read more about on that link).  Finally, we know for a fact that second one there is a guy.  That's been rackin' my brain for a while.  Now, how do i feel about this?  Well, in most games a companion can be very useful to carry your stuff, help you in battle, or lead you places.  However...in Pokemon?  Now, in every Pokemon game since the 3rd generation there have been essentially "escort mission" in which you trail a character through a hard tunnel or something.  They generally have a Chansey to heal your Pokemon after every battle so that's really cool!  But let's think about this.  They are
Bench sitting is a thing now ok?
only there for a short time and in that time essentially nullify the need for a Pokemon Center or even healing items.  If these characters are like those then the Pokemon Center will be totally outdated and useless.  On the flip-side, if they DON'T do any of that, what are they there for?  So far it looks like all they do is show you how to sit on benches.  I sincerely hope these characters don't follow us the whole game unless they have some real purpose because otherwise, i'm sure they'll get annoying.

New Pokemon:
   Here's the big one.  Soooo many new Pokemon have already been revealed for these games as well as a new type of Pokemon!  The fairy type has entered the field to end the reign of the Dragon types and although others thing it's silly, i really love the concept and hope there are some cool fairy types.  That being said, i am
a bit disappointed.  Early in the year, people speculated the new types would be light and sound based on Xerneus and Yvetal's designs and the trailer.  These ideas and theories made a lot of sense to me and i think would have made a lot of sense in the Pokemon universe with pokemon such as Chatot and Whismer already being so heavily focused on sound.  I know it was only a theory, but it seemed to make a lot of sense and i'm sad that it isn't true.  Moving on though, this fairy-type will be implemented on some older Pokemon including Jigglypuff and Gardevior as well as the new Eevee-lution, Sylveon.  I'm actually really happy to hear Sylveon is a fairy type and it's name fits perfectly.  (Sylven...often meaning elves or fairies ^^.)  Sylveon is not the only new Pokemon revealed, oh no not even close.  I will try to go over as many of the new Pokemon as i can but there is a lot more to talk about so i don't want to spend to much time on them.
   Let's start with this CoroCoro scan and move on.  What's that?  What's a Corocoro scan you ask?  A lovely question my dear!  From what i can tell, corocoro is a magazine in Japan that releases official Pokemon news.  A scan is just that.  Someone scans a picture from the magazine and posts it on the internet.
 However, i have seen a lot of fake Corocoro scans that depict Pokemon that do not exist so you often have to wait for official releases.  Here, i will only be talking about CONFIRMED Pokemon.  First off, we have Pancham (fighting) and his evolution Pangoro (fighting/dark), both of which i really like.  I do wonder though, if there is a middle evolution?  It seems like a pretty big gap between the two.  Next up at number 2 are Inkay and it's evolution Malamar both of which are Dark=Physic.  ow this to me is a bit confusing.  At first glance, i would always say Water dark (and that Malamar looks like Ursella) but since that's not the case i might mistake these one's types often.  Next we have the adorable little Spritzee (fairy).  On this one, i actually like the Japanese name Shushupu better and if i get one i'l be sure to give it a cute name.  This one is (sadly) a Y exclusive alongside Skrelp (poison/water) which can be seen right below it.  I think Spritzee is really adorable and i will 100% be trading for this cutie.  Skrelp on the other hand....I get the design but i prefer the X exclusive i'll be talking about next.  First, to rival Spritzee is...yes.  That's right.  A cotton candy-pokemon called Swirlix (faity).  This Pokemon, like Vanilish, causes a lot of controversy.  Seriously, if i saw this Pokemon in the wild, i'd probably just eat it.  Next up underneith it is Skrelp's counterpart, Clauncher (Water).  These are the two X exclusive Pokemon and although i perfer the deign for Clauncher, im a bit dissapointed that he's one type and Skrelp is 2.  Below there are details on Xerneus (fairy) and Yvetal (Dark/Flying).  As i was talking about earlier, i'm sad they're not light and sound but life goes on.  ext up, we have some more of the new announced types!  Geeze there are a lot you guys.  
       Here, we have the default characters as well as Pancham.  Beside it is Fletchling (Flying/normal) who we now know evolves into the amazing Talonflame (Fire/Flying) and it is speculated it will have a middle evolution as well that we haven't seen yet.  There's always that standard flying type but normally they just stay flying and as much as i'd love to use this Pokemon, if i take Fenniken, i might not use it much :(  We also have Gogoat (Grass) which evolves from Skiddo (Grass), both of which are ridable.  Finally, there's Helioptile (Electric/Normal).  Now this Pokemon is the first i have an issue with the design with.  For me...it just feels too blocky.  I do like however that it spreads its ears similar to a Dilophosaurus when attacking
though.  I really would like to see more Dinosaur-esque Pokemon like Tropius.  Next up, we have the full chain of our standard issue early bug type.  It starts out as Scatterbug (wait for it......Bug!)  who evolves into Spewpa (bug still) and finally into Viviliion (bug flying) which sounds vaguely similar to the starting town if you ask me.  Now, at first glance at the little guy I was extremely skeptical.  I now understand why Misty is scared of bugs.  Ew.  I especially was biased in comparing it to Caterpie which has always held a special place in my heart.  The next evolution definitely confused me and made me question where the line was going.  I was scared it would look more like a Venemoth but then BAM!  Vivillion!  I absolutely love this little guy with his big adorable anime eyes and bright colorful wings.  I'm brought back to memories of Butterfree and Beautifly and those are good memories.  You think we're done?     You're dead wrong.  Next up we've got 3 more of your standard issues!  First up we have Gogoat's pre-
evolution, Skiddo, which is really adorable.  Beside it is Bunnelby (Normal) who plays the part of the Bidoof and other such easy to catch rodents.  Next to it however, is this generation's Pikachu, Dedenne (Electric/Fairy).  Every generation has it's own electric rodent, whether it's Emolga or Pachirisu and this is this generations.  However, i do have to say i feel like it looks a little TOO much like Riachu.  I feel like it could be some weird part of that line and that's a little bit dissapointing, however the fairy type added onto it could lend for some really exciting new changed and so i'll give this fuzzy little friend a chance.  Next up we have 2 more adorable little guys, Litleao (fire/normal) and Flabebe (fairy).  Fun fact, Flabebe will be the smallest and lightest Pokemon at only 4 inches and .2 pounds.  This generation has already shown me a ridiculous number of promising fire types
which is actually really depressing seeing as i really want Fenniken, however i will be adding Litleo to my team and i can not wait to see a FIRE LION YOU GUYS!!!  Also, based on his tail, we might even be seeing a more Manticore-esque reature and that would be super cool!  Then there is Flabebe.  This is another one of those strange ones like "is the flower part of it or do we always see them on those particular plants?"  Plus...honestly....i'd rather just catch this guy in my hands rather than waste a Pokeball.  I mean, how many of these do you think get squished every day?  Depressing isn't it?  You're killing fairies with your feet.  How do you even see these
guys as encounters???  Anyway.
      Finally, we have a few majorly cool Pokemon.  Honedge (steel/ghost like a boss) is literally a possessed sword.  This Pokemon is getting a lot of flack for being a sword, but there have been magnets, pokeballs, candels, and all sorts of weird things.  Personally, i love this Pokemon and want it on my team.  Finally we have the Pokemon Oorotto who has thus far only been seen in the trailer.  This Pokemon looks like it'll be dark/Grass or like a Sudowoodo who turned evil.  Also seen inside this trailer is Noiveryn(flying/dragon) who would have made an amazing sound type but noooooooo.  Anyway, let's close off this section with the trailer and move along shall we?!?
To learn more about any of these pokemon, visit here and more specifically about things pictured in this trailer here.


UPDATE:  I also forgot to mention that eevee (to sylveon), pancham, and inkay will be using a new form of evolution never previously seen!  This new form hasn't been revealed yet and i doubt it'll be a "mega-evolution" sort of thing so we can all guess and hope on what this new form may be.  When i first saw Sylveon, i thought it might evolve with a heart scale but seeing the others i'm not sure.  I personally hope it'll be through the use of Pokemon-amie which is talked about under new features below.  We'll just have to wait and see!    

Mega Evolutions:
    You thought i was done talking about Pokemon didn't you?  Nope!  This video shows 6 of the 7 Pokemon who mega evolve.  Let's start with that.
So now let's talk about these guys.  First of all, i have to yet again complain about the number of fire-types.  I love Blaziken and he is actually one of my favorite Pokemon of all time and to have him back it's great...but
Source
frustrating.  Now, Mega-evolutions on Pokemon that are already the 3rd evolution such as Blaziken and the new L'oreal model, seem unnecesary even if it's cool.  I do have to laugh at the hair on Ampharos and the amazing design of Blaziken.  However, on Pokemon such as Absol and Mawille that have been sitting around for a few generations without an evolution, i think this is a great idea but i wish it was an actual evolution rather than a super-saiyan rip off.  Design wise, i know Mewtwo's form gets a lot of crap and i do agree it's really weird and i was hoping it was a female form based on the body design, but it's...ok.  This does beg the question though, how common are Mewtwos in this game?  Mewtwo has just been grouped with a few more common pokemon-i mean you could get a Lucario around every corner in B/W 2.  Speaking of Lucario....Did it cross-bread with Giratina or something??  It's cool but...weird.  These are all fine and dandy but the really important one here is the one not picture.  Mega Kangaskan.  Take a nice long look at this.  Then, travel on back to this post and tell me this does not support my idea?  I really hope they do something with this and i'll talk more about it next episode.  

New Mechanics/Features:
       And now for the big one.  This game has a lot of new features and mechanics to discuss.  First of all is the most obvious-the 3D.  The whole game has been changed to a 3-Dimensional art style.  I do however have a bit of a problem with this.  When looking at the world, we normally just saw little pixelated guys but you could just tell everyone's age and all that.  For some reason, seeing people like the Professor in the overworld, the look....squished.  There's something about the style that makes them all look...small and strange.  I also...don't all hate on me at once....don't really lie the style of the 3d battles.  I do love the way the environment moves and the attacks actually look like they're connecting, but something about the color or the shape just...jars me a bit.  I know in time like in any other game i'll adjust but for now....i'm wary.
     Moving past just that, this is the first ever main-series Pokemon game to allow free movement.  The other Pokemon games took place on a grid meaning you could move left right front and foward and this is totally understandable and just fine for the game format, however, the 3DS has a control stick rather than just  d-pad!  This allows your character to finally walk diagonally through space.  As you can see in the trailer, there are gyms and other enviromental goodies for us as trainers to mess with (if you watch really closely when he swings on a vine, you'll see his glasses stayed where he swung from).  This all also includes bench sitting which is very exciting.
    Most exciting though is the personalization!  Everyone since the beginning of Pokemon has looked the exact same and had no choice.  In the first game, you didn't even have a choice in your gender.  Since then,
the game has allowed you to pick how others see you, but only from a list of thier pre-made character designs that you see in the game such as "Beauty" and "Ranger."  But now, we know for a fact there will be personalization of your character!!  We know for a fact you have at least 3 options, but based upon an image of the PSS, we assume there will be a LOT more ways.  This is something we've all been waiting for and i am extremely happy to see.  Although i generally love the pre-designs of the characters and these ones were ok, they were a bit lack-luster, but knowing they can be changed to finally be individuals is a great start in the right direction for the Pokemon series.  This also lets people from all over the world not have to be all the same because well...we're not!  I
The third one on the bottom looks suspiciously like N...
hope we get some nice clothes too and other cool ways to express our individuality.
     Now, the PSS or Player Search System, is something that hasn't been elaborated n too much.  So far, it looks like it'll be a method of trading and battling anytime anywhere.  How will this work?  What exactly does it do ? We don't really now but from the looks of it, it may also serve as a friend roster and a new sort of G-tech or whatever for the bottom screen.  Only time will tell on this one.
           This is not the only new feature and in fact, it's not even the most interesting.  Personally, i'm most excited for Pokemon-amie (amie meaning friend in French playing into the french theme of the Kalos region).  This feature will FINALLY allow the use of your camera and maybe even microphone to interact with your Pokemon in a Nintendogs fashion.  Ever since i watched the anime as a kid, i wanted to be a Pokemon breeder like Brock.  I would spend hours in my box looking at the subtle differences between male and female forms before that was a feature in the Pokedex.  I have always wanted to just have a snuggly Pokemon as my pet just to cuddle and never to fight with.  This caused me to have a lot of really cute Pokemon.  This feature actually allows you to pet, feed, and play with your Pokemon.  This is he side of Pokemon i've always wanted to see and what i really hope is that this can be done with the Pokemon in your PC so that you can just pop in to say hello rather than feeling horrible.
(the video does repeat at :30)
    Similarly, there is also a way to train Pokemon interactively.  This Super Training will be done through mini-games rather than just grinding on those poor Zubats. 
    Next, we have 2 new battle forms.  The first is what's called a hoard encounter like was seen in the trailer revealing oorotto where up to 5 Pokemon attack a single Pokemon from you.  This encourages you to teach your Pokemon moves that hit multiple enemies.  This sort of battle seems a little intense to me.  If i was attacked by 6 Pokemon i'd throw out all 6 of mine naturally but i suppose it's a good way to really level up one guy.  One frustrating mechanic i hope won't come over is the on that stops you from throwing a Pokeball if there are 2 Pokemon.  What is our aim really that bad?  There's not a whole lot known yet so I can't judge them yet.  Finally, there's Sky battles.  Sky battles will be optional (thank god) only for Pokemon that know Levitate or are flying types (even if they don't know fly.....don't ask me about Pokemon logic guys...).  These battles are supposedly going to either give you more money or maybe more experience and will at least be interesting.  
   

The Bad Guys:
      Very little is know about our new villains, Team Flare, but allow me to make one quick hope that i know should be in the next part but i want to talk about here.  Team Flare, as far as we know, only wants money.  Now, as i've already discussed inthis post N and Team Plasma were an amazing team to fight against, making us feel horrible about the way we treat our Pokemon.  Each new generation has had some bad guy that wanted something, whether it was to disrupt the ecosystem and flood or heat up the earth or capture all the legendaries to use to take over the world, there has been a motive.  But what other team seemed to just want money?  What other team stole pokemon and wore snazzy suits and sunglasses?     
These guys.  I really sincerely hope there is some link between these two.  I know that times change and villains get better, but i miss good old Team Rocket.  Yes, i ship Jesse James.  Seeing Team Flare to have some relationship back to that would be utterly amazing and would make all the fanboys and girls scream.

Closing Statements:
     I remember back at the beginning of Gen V i was caught up in the hatred.  I decided the designs were dumb and that i hated them because everyone did.  I even stopped buying Pokemon cards because i "didn't want those ugly cards in my deck" and now i'm sorely regretting that as i try to buy a bunch before these packs go out of date.  This generation i decided to let my mind be open and take each piece in before making judgments.  I am actually really excited for this.  Yes, i am upset it's come out so quickly after the last seeing as i haven't finished White 2 or even Black because of the death of my DS.  Yes there are things im dissapointed about and skeptical about, but as you'll see in my next post, i have a lot of hopes for this new generation and i hope you'll all check in to that soon!
    Finally guys, there is also news on the trading card and anime front that i'm EXTREMELY excited for.  I'll let The Jwittz explain.  
  
   I am thrilled about having PINK Pokemon cards you guys.  The dragon cards, like he said, really were disappointing.  The anime though is super exciting.  I haven't watched the main series show since the 4th generation and i would LOVE to see the story of Red played out in an anime.  I'm hoping maybe it'll be on a station i actually get (probably Cartoon Network) and that i wont miss it which i'm so prone to do.  Also, Pokken fighters you guys.  What are my thoughts on it?  Well it's definitely interesting to say the least.  I do wish it was something more like XD and Colosseum, but we'll see as more news is revealed.  Plus, i don't have a Wii U or a Wii anymore anyway. 

   WOOOOOH!!!  I actually did it you guys!  5 straight hours of writing this post and gathering the pictures and things and it's finally done.  I hope you'll all tune in for my hopes which i'll try to get up this weekend or sometime soon!  If there's anything i missed or you'd like to tell me your thoughts on you can comment, write in, or just straight up email me here.  I'd love to see concept art on what you think the starters could look like or any of your theories.  In fact!  If you have a theory that interests me, i'll puts it up on my next post with your name or link to your page or whatever so the whole world can see your brilliance!  I have to go now guys i think i'm off to see the Butler.  Please excuse errors and all that.  I tried really hard to get this up for you guys!  Vote, share, and definitely comment!!!  <3        


  


               

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