Hey guys! I disappeared for a while because I was playing Pokemon Y. In the last 5 days I clocked 59 hours, and caught 247 Pokemons. I don’t think I’ve ever played a game that much before.

I stopped after beating the game, but I’ll probably keep going back to it every once in a while, since it seems like there’s still a lot left to do.

Instead of writing a structured review, I’m just going to make a list of everything good and bad about the game.

(WARNING: KINDA SPOILERS)

THE GOOD:

• It’s a Pokemon game.
• The 3D graphics make the game feel very fresh, even though the gameplay isn’t all that different from previous games.
• I actually liked most of the new Pokemon, especially the cute first stage evolutions.
• I can dress up my character! Makes shopping so much more fun, and personalization is very important in a massive game like this.
• You can use TMs as many times as you want!
• Mega-evolutions are kind of cool!
• You still get experience for catching a Pokemon!
• You can encounter a lot of Pokemon (400+ I think?) before even finishing the game. Some previous games limited you to a lot less.
• Lots of stuff for old fans; including 1st gen starters, Viridian Forest, and Pikachus early on.
• Dungeon designs were interesting and reasonably varied.
• I can make random character videos! Not useful but still cute.
• The major story cutscenes were actually quite good.
• I can give my dog a haircut!
• Quick Balls are overpowered. Kinda cheap, but speeds things up nicely.
• I can give myself a haircut! But the hairdresser usually butchers it.
• Lots of new player animations! You can sit on chairs and beds, and kneel down when talking to kids.
• Gym and Elite 4 interior designs are awesome.
• Mirrors actually work!
• Roller skates!
• You can ride Rhydon, Skiddos and other things!
• You get ambushed by a ghost for no reason!
• Competitive training/breeding is apparently a lot more accessible now.

THE BAD

• The game’s too easy! My Pokemon were always at much higher levels than the opponents. I’ve heard that EXP share is to blame for this.
• Lumiose City is too easy to get lost in, mostly due to the camera spinning around and every area looking the same.
• The developers didn’t try very hard when creating road-blocks. There’s a power cut? The lights are on behind you!
• Pokemon still don’t have their actual voices, except for Pikachu. Really ruins immersion when you’re still listening to Gameboy-quality sound effects.
• You still can’t skip battle animations by pressing a button. It’s either all animations on or all off.
• You can’t disable boring text in battle. Yeah, I know Charmander just used Ember, I told him to!
• You don’t have to explain to me that I can use Strength to move a boulder every time I talk to a boulder. I learned that the first time.
• Status effects are still incredibly annoying, especially due to their random nature.
• Status effects should be healed after battle. Healing them is just time consuming, not challenging.
• Hordes of Jr Mimes take like 5 minutes to finish their turn. Double Slap’s animation is so annoyingly slow.
• Quick Balls are overpowered. I caught the box cover Pokemon without even weakening it! What!
• The paintings in the art museum are too small! Some of them looked really interesting and it would have been nice to see them all in higher detail.
• Everyone on the GTS tries to trade crap Pokemon for legendary ones. If you do this: Fuck you! Stop cluttering the system!
• Wonder Trade also has a lot of totally worthless Pokemon floating about.
• Too many buildings have the exact same interior layout, and it makes exploring them kind of routine and boring.
• It’s too hard to get 5-stars in that jigsaw puzzle minigame.
• The game gives you tips long after you probably already figured things out. Most notably, you need to use Rocksmash to get to a tip about how to use Rocksmash.
• The word-filter wouldn’t let me call my Bidoof “Beaver”.
• But calling a Pokemon “DiIdo”, “Herpes”, or “8=====D” is still considered acceptable.
• The “Items” category in your bag contains too many items. Needs more categories.
• I couldn’t find a wild Pikachu! I had to trade for one.
• All of the trashcans in the game are empty!
• You can’t take off your hat.
• The Pokemon Champion isn’t as cool as the ones in the first two generations.