Ghost's Angry Reviews: Pokemon X and Y PART 2

This is your standard spoiler warning.  If you don't want Pokémon X and Y spoiled then I suggest you read with caution or just simply walk away.

Ghost here, thanks for joining  (quick warning this one may end up being a bit picture heavy)

IT'S TIME FOR PART 2!!!

Yeah I realized very early that there was no way I could do a review of X and Y and make it short enough that people would read with only one part so here comes Part 2 for you.  If you haven't read part 1 then I'd suggest you do so by clicking here.  

But if you're ready to waste more time with me then let's dive back into

Pokémon X and Y

The Return of the Doctor

Pokémon X and Y are filled with nods to the past such as getting the original starters, several mentions of Hoenn (3rd Gen) and of course something I was eagerly awaiting.   The return of The Doctor...even though he's not explicitly called that. 

OK OK hold on for a minute.  In order to really explain, We'll have to go back in time a little bit.

The game - Pokémon Platinum Edition.  The story was basically the same as Diamond and Pearl.  Team Galactic was attempting to use the legendaries to destroy the universe and create a new one for themselves.  In Platinum they planned on using both Dialga and Palkia to destroy all of space and time.  Suddenly a man shows up by the code name of Looker.  He shows up randomly and claimed to be a member of the International Police.  By getting assistance from the player, they were able to stop Team Galactic and stop the leader of the team for good.   

Although he made a brief visit in Black and White, his role was vastly improved upon for X and Y.  

This time around "Looker" has his own place in Lumiose City which he is temporarily using as a base to investigate some rather strange things happening.  Pokémon going missing or being stolen, a girl without a home and her strange little Espurr, and some space-age technology are just the right mixture for a good mystery resulting in some rather fun missions that took a good three hours to complete.  POST GAME even which is really amazing.  I won't go into great detail because what little bit of spoiling I'm going to do will already give away what's happening so instead I'll actually get around to saying why I call him The Doctor.

For the benefit of those who don't know.  "The Doctor" is the main character of the BBC Television show Doctor Who

It is the adventures of a Time Lord as he travels through all of space and time to save our world and the worlds around us. Throughout his many adventures he may have a different face but his bravery and intelligence are always present.  Already we see a bit of a parallel from Platinum.   An evil organization plotting to destroy the world by destroying space and time?!  That's right up the Doctor's ally.  And this guy who has no actual name just happens to show up to help stop it?  However X and Y cement that even further.

Both Looker and the Doctor have lost a companion that they held dear to their heart(s)

Both Looker and the Doctor after having lost that companion, picked up a new companion in the form of a young black girl

Both Looker and the Doctor's journey's put them face to face with suits that moved not because of the individual wearing it.

Both Looker and the Doctor have put themselves in mortal peril for the sake of a friend.

And both Looker and the Doctor leave suddenly without really saying goodbye... Just a simple looking back at the friends he was lucky enough to have on the journey.  In short.  Looker IS the 10th Doctor

I honestly can't tell you how much I love that they included such a blatant reference to what has become my favorite TV show.  It's amazing and is very fitting with David Tennant's Doctor.  Besides.. After taking such a hard hit in that alleyway from the robot suit he definitely had to get out of there because the process he is about to go through can be "a bit dodgy."  So here's hoping we see Looker again in the future.  Perhaps with his new face.

Now that THAT bit of trivia has been taken care of.. let's get back to the hardcore complaining.

The Wild World of Wonder Trading

Pokémon X and Y as expected added a great deal of brand new features and ideas to the world of pokémon.  One such new idea is that of Wonder Trading. 

Wonder Trading is a fairly simple concept.  You select something that you have captured/bred/etc at complete random and initiate a Wonder Trade.  Nintendo's servers will filter your wonder trade request and you will be paired up with someone at random from anywhere in the entire world.  Then the creature you have selected and the creature they have selected will be traded.  Neither of you have any idea what you are about to get.

I honestly really like this concept.  For those of you who understand the Pokémon Community as a whole... they get incredibly stingy and getting something you need will require you to jump through so many hoops I'd like to think this would be a way to possibly get things you need even if it takes a few tries.  I've heard the stories of people getting pokémon with hidden abilities, good egg moves, things that evolve or even rares and legends.  WOW there's some really generous and awesome people out there.  Let's give it a shot shall we?

OK I need to give something that's pretty decent.  How about this Protean Froakie that I have.  It's a starter pokémon and it has the hidden ability so I'm sure someone will enjoy receiving it.

 OK I'm ready for the trade... What am I getting in return for this bad boy??

FFFF a Caterpie?  Well ok this is bound to happen  let's try again

GAH that's just about as bad.  OK I know there are bound to be some douches around here 

but surely I'll get something good right?

Oh yes MUCH better.  Pikachu's wannabe cousin.  This is getting old let's try it again

Ok not... awful.  I like ghost types but there are Haunter everywhere in this game.

Let's give this ONE last shot.  At least give me something I don't have a lot of

I honestly don't know why I expected this to be any different.  If people have a chance to saturate the market with simple low level common things and potentially get something great in return with no way to really force them to give out good things then they're going to give out crap.  Now granted I HAVE gotten a few good things out of wonder trade including a Yveltal, a Shiny Poliwhirl, and a Marvel Scale Dratini.  There are great things out there you just have to wade through HOURS AND HOURS worth of bullcrap to eventually get something good.   On the plus side every time you perform a Wonder Trade you get a certain amount of this new thing called Pokemiles which you can trade in for items such as PP Up and Rare Candy.  So it's not THAT bad of a trade off.  It's still just extremely annoying to spend 4 hours sometimes trying to get something that you don't mind keeping rather than instantly wonder trading back.

&#*@% CENSORSHIP!

Let's talk about one of my favorite things to complain about... Censorship.  When you're making a game that is supposed to appeal to children there needs to be a little bit of discretion I understand.  However censorship "for the children" has gone way too far.  When people are wanting to ban the dictionary because it has a definition of "oral sex" then I'm calling absolute bullcrap.  No... seriously that's a thing. You can read about it here.

Heck, I censor myself a little bit on here compared to how I used to write video game reviews because unfortunately an increase in cursing means a decrease in people reading what I have to say given the people I usually hang around with now. It's an unfortunate part of life that you eventually have to realize is there even though I don't like it at all.

So while I agree that 5 year olds shouldn't be walking around dropping the F-bomb all day (although that's mostly because of their inability to use it properly moreso than the "abomination" of the word being uttered from their mouth)  When companies try to take censorship into their own hands things just get ridiculous and nowhere have I been more annoyed than in this game.  

X and Y have added stringent censorship rules to the nicknaming of your pokémon.  I'm not talking just making sure some of the big words are missing OH NO... i'm talking total takeover of sanity.  Let's pick a name at random shall we.... how about Humphrey.   Yeah good old Bogart needs a bird named after him let's give that a try shall we?

WHAT???  We can't use the word Humphrey??  Why's that cause it has the word "hump" in it??? It's a proper name for crying out loud!

OK well let's test out that theory then.... if Hump can't be put in anything let's try Thumper.

Ok... well that would make sense and be consistent if... oh I don't know..

IF YOU DIDN'T GET AN IN-GAME TRADE POKEMON ALREADY NAMED THAT YOU DENSE MORONS!!!!

YOU CAN'T EVEN USE THE NAME CONNER WHICH IS ANOTHER PROPER NAME FOR NO FORESEEABLE REASON WHATSOEVER

BUT YOU CAN BET YOUR SWEET HIND END THAT YOU CAN USE NAMES SUCH AS SUGARNIPS AND SANDYKROTCH SINCE I RECEIVED THEM IN WONDER TRADE

 

 

OK.. need to calm down just a bit...I just..... I haven't been this annoyed by something so trivial in my entire life.  This is beyond ridiculous.  I know there is always a way to get around a censor but when your censorship ends up removing perfectly acceptable names and words then you're doing it absolutely wrong.

Speaking of Unacceptable nicknames

 

NO... just NO

Conclusion

There's probably quite a bit more I could really talk about but many things would be nitpicky things such as how the roller skates actually have a learning curve so you don't just slam into things constantly, or things that I really want to talk about in another format such as releasing the game with a GAME BREAKING GLITCH

yeah that happened but thankfully was patched 2 weeks later

Despite it's weirdness and ample amount of annoyances this is really a pretty great game.  I wouldn't say it's the best that the series has to offer, but it holds its own amongst the others.   It took a few risks but there's something about it that just isn't complete.  It's like there's a GREAT game lying just over the corner and at the end of the day this is just a good game. 

If you are an avid pokemon fan then you probably already own this game.  If not I suggest you do so because it continues the storyline and the discovery of new creatures.  A pokemon fan would love it.

If you are NOT a pokemon fan or you haven't played a game since the Gameboy or Gameboy Advanced generations but are curious about the serious I would actually suggest you start with Black/White and then Black2/White2 before grabbing this one as the storyline in those game are far richer.  Then all you'll have to do is learn to cope with the new Fairy type.  But that's just one person's suggestion.  

This is Ghost fading into the darkness.

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