nintensonyreviewguy

[nintensonyreviewguy]

Pokemon X and Y Review

The following is a review that I wrote of Pokemon X and Y that I devised up a week after it's release back in October 2013. I am really happy that this has found a home to be published on after all these years! Pokemon X and Y are very near and dear to me now looking back at them, nearly 10 years later when they came out on my 20th Birthday while I was in my first year of college. Hope everyone enjoys reading this raw and (mostly) unedited version of my 2013 thoughts on the matter of Pokemon X and Y. Also take a look at some of my other reviews and look forward to brand new content soon! Thanks!

Artwork of the Kalos Region, the setting of Pokemon X and Y. Kalos is based on the Country of France, specifically the northern half.

Overall, X and Y are really good. But I am disappointed with some things. The lack of post-game content is a real turn off for me as well as the low number of new Pokemon. But I really want to say that each new Pokemon in this game actually had a purpose and I had a tough time deciding my team members. There was also some things taken out in XY that were still in Black and White as well as things removed from BW that I wanted to return such as Cycling Road and a ship in the post-game such as the S.S. Tidal. I also feel like the Fairy type can't be taken seriously because of the lackluster new Pokemon and moves that back up the type as well as the stereotypical little girls that train them. There is one exception to this rule, however and that is Florges, the final evolution of Flabebe! I was almost not gonna use one but I would of regretted the decision. Florges in my opinion has one of the most beautiful designs of all the Fairy types! She really does look like a queen and can tear things up and take hits like no one's business! I also love all of the old Pokemon that got retyped to Fairy. My favorites of which are Togekiss, Clefable, Wigglytuff, and Gardevoir. All of which are very appropriate in my opinion for a retype. It gives the four of these Pokemon much more potential than they had before. I do however wish that more Pokemon like Delcatty also got retyped as I think that would of made a lot of sense. It is nice though to see that some of the moves and Pokemon I expected to get retyped, got retyped. I wish there was more.

Artwork of Sylveon versus Hydreigon. This art showcases one of the main concepts of the game that was new at the time, Fairy Types.

Now, for the story! They pulled this off flawlessly! It was not as strong as Black and White but it was just enough like the Sinnoh games. I love how Team Flare's Xerosic has a side arc for him in the post-game much like Platinum and Charon. Team Flare had one of the darkest plots of any villainous team when you look into it. I can't help but compare Lysandre to Adolf Hitler. Both wanted a beautiful world and attempted genocide of millions of people. Lysandre also tries to kill you but ends up killing himself in the process. Of course, this is just an assumption as it is never stated in-game but a lot of people refer to him in the past tense, including Sycamore. Team Flare really keeps the tradition going! The grunts have a variety of Pokemon but like other villainous teams besides Team Plasma, there is now a few generic Pokemon that are used by almost every Grunt, which makes it feel more like Team Rocket before. Team Flare has a hideout like the villainous teams from the first four generations. All of their missions involving them are very lengthy just like Team Rocket, Aqua, Magma, and Galactic. Returning to even more traditional roots is that you face Team Flare a final time and the Legendary Pokemon they sought after the 7th Gym and before the 8th. Another thing I highly praise is the levels in this game! Gym Leaders and trainers had nice levels between each area. The final levels before you even faced the League were at the early Lv. 60's! The only problem is that if one uses a Mega Evolution or turns on the Exp. Share, they can grind through Gym Leaders and trainers like no tomorrow. Keeping the Exp. Share off provides a stiff challenge. But it's really awesome at times to have it on. And I found myself using it frequently. Another thing to note is that the Gym Leaders and Elite Four all had designs and personalities similar to previous Gym Leaders and that most didn't have a secondary occupation like the ones in Black and White. Some were even based after a trainer class, such as Ramos being the head of all Gardeners, a new trainer class introduced. The Gym Leader teams felt basic, but it was the nice basic feel that Diamond and Pearl pulled off so well. One thing that wasn't present in Diamond and Pearl that was however a staple of the series from Platinum onward is that the Elite Four don't gain new teams after defeating the main story. It's a little disappointing, considering that all of the members could have benefited from the add of two more Pokemon to their teams. I do like that the Gym Leaders can be rematched at a new facility called the Battle Chateau. Unlike Black and White 2, you actually gain EXP. from defeating these Gym Leaders. However, I find rather gimmicky is that the Leaders don't appear all the time, but it's actually quite similar to Emerald now that I think about it. They would call you when their Gym was open, which could take forever. You can also rechallenge the Elite Four in the Battle Chateau but they have the exact same teams as when you faced them before, just higher level. The Battle Chateau overall is a wonderful place to train! Better than the stadiums in Nimbasa City as you can battle these trainers more than once a day. As you rank up, they can be chosen to get even tougher, with the levels soaring into the 70's! There is a lot of potential for these games to go even further in the sequels. I feel like a lot of questions and holes were left in the overall main plot, which is expected for the first paired versions of a generation. Confirmation of Zygarde has finally put to rest that the Legendaries are indeed based off of Norse Mythology as it is snake like like Nidhogrr. In fact, Xerneas in it's immobile state looks like the World Tree as well as Yveltal being based off of a couple of Norse Mytholgy birds such as Hræsvelgr, Veðrfölnir, or the unnamed eagle that sits on top of the World Tree!

Artwork showcasing the encounter with Xerneas at the bottom of Team Flare's base of operations.

One thing that I found touch and go, was the routes. I really love how even though some of the areas that felt linear, had lots of side stuff hidden away from the main road to do. And some routes were just lengthy in general. Some routes had potential but it was overlooked because of lack of trainers and side route stuff to do. These routes include Route 9, 10, 11, 12 (could of had more trainers, long route overall), 14, 17. Some of my favorite routes for Kalos include Route 4, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. A lot of locations in Kalos however were not where I expected them to be. Some of the longest routes such as Route 9 and Route 17 didn't have any trainers at all, just the Sky Trainers which I had to bypass after finding out Hawlucha can't participate. Next thing is the graphics, which is a no brainer. The graphics for this game are stunning. These games take the graphics to heights that were almost unimaginable back in the old days. They transitioned over to this very well. A lot of the familiar designs for trainer classes remain, as well as the types of NPCs you encounter looking similar to previous generations only bigger sized, making it feel all the more at home. To wrap this all up, I want to say something about the post-game. I was complaining about this at first but I realize that almost all Pokemon games since Red and Blue lack a post-game that keeps you addicted for much long. For instance, FireRed and LeafGreen are great, with the Sevii Islands and all, but once you complete them and catch Mewtwo, there isn't much left to do. It feels the same way with XY. There is a small side quest series with Looker in the post-game along with catching Mewtwo, Zygarde, and the Kanto Legendary Birds. The exception to this rule however is the Generation IV games and Gold, Silver, and Crystal. Even then, once you completed all the missions in the post-game, there wasn't much left to do. Especially the case I found with Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and their remakes. But the point I think about the post-game is to capture all the remaining Pokemon that you didn't catch during the main story. Black and White pulled this off really well. It made collecting Pokemon loads of fun, especially with the mechanics that came with it such as shaking grass and dust clouds and high leveled evolved Pokemon to be found. An example of this is Tyranitar. You do, however, have to have lots of patience for this, which some people don't have. It made something to truly strife for instead of traditionally leveling up our Pokemon, we got to hunt for them in the wild. It is nice to see that the shaking grass and dust clouds do come back but with a new twist. Pokemon actually can swoop down from the sky, a bush, or from the celling of caves! It really made the game feel so much more livelier, having a Woobat on the celling come out as a shadow at first then suddenly attack you!

Artwork showcasing Mewtwo and Lucario in their Mega Evolved States. Mega Evolution is another major concept of the game that was introduced that would go on to be featured in other games.

Oh man though! I feel like I covered everything in XY when I am forgetting a focal point: Mega Evolutions! I really like the designs of all the Mega Evolutions for the most part and feel like the Pokemon that needed them, got them, such as Houndoom. Mega Evolutions aren't too overpowered depending on the Pokemon that Mega Evolves, such as Houndoom and Gengar. It actually gives them a boost that they deserve! Some like Tyranitar, felt a little too much.

To finally conclude, X and Y are great games and a worthy addition to add to the series for long time fans!

My Final Score: ★★★★★★★★ "Great" 8/10

[nintensonyreviewguy]

Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Review

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remain a great topic of discussion and division as well as tension among fans to this day. The games were both announced and released back in late 2021.

Two pre-release screenshots showing off the graphics for the game.

I will always remember being taken back at first by the graphic style of choice when the games were first announced in the Pokemon Presents trailer back in February 2021. The graphics stay quite true to the original games with the topdown 2D sprite perspective in the overworld but with full fledged 3D models ala Pokemon Sword and Shield on the battling screens. It is something that I can agree with many that I am not fond of. I feel like the game itself would of done a lot better if the entire graphical presentation was in the format, of you know, the primary Generation 8 games! It also would of done quite a bit nicer if some of the areas such as the Battle Zone and Stark Mountian retained their designs from Platinum too. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are a primary example of where staying too faithful to the original games is not always a good thing. The biggest takeaway I find is that not all, at the time of their release, 898 species in some way, shape, or form were included. At the same time, I kinda get wanting to stay faithful in that respect but it would of been very nice to at least have the other 405 to be included in the post-game if not all of them were there like Sword and Shield, where they only included 664 of the 898 at the time. I feel like the game would of done a lot better if it actually included many of the things that made Pokemon Platinum stand out and that enhanced Diamond and Pearl to the fullest. I always hate it when the developers of a Remake don't appreciate the value of the other special editions that made the original better over the years. A primary example of this is also Pokemon's other work of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, where it didn't include the fabled Battle Frontier of Emerald, the other third version successor before Platinum. Of course, wouldn't you know it, they didn't learn their lesson the first time and failed to include the Battle Frontier from Platinum into this game as well.

Key artwork from Pokemon Platinum featuring the Distortion World.

The fact that they threw the Legendary Pokemon Giratina into a small room within a optional post-game area and called it a day is extremely upsetting, disappointing, & almost flat out unacceptable. I feel like including the many of the elements from Pokemon Platinum that made Sinnoh stand out more where the main antagonist Cyrus got a way stronger character arc and where Giratina was included at the Spear Pillar and even got it's own unique and special dungeon of the Distortion World from Platinum alongside it's other two kin Dialga and Palkia would of been amazing and would of made the two games leagues better than what they were! The other thing I have to also nitpick and take apart is the fact that they didn't bother for including some conviences such as the EXP. Candies that were introduced to 2019's Sword and Shield games. I think it would of made getting a 100% encyclopedia less of a chore. That's another thing I want to nitpick too! It would of been very nice if they included the expanded Pokemon Platinum Sinnoh Dex within the main adventure. While it is great that they bothered to include more Fire types before battling Champion Cynthia (which was one of the issues that Diamond and Pearl had), it would of been nice to have seen them have a place in the main story again as an official written Pokedex entry. While I feel there are several things wrong with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, I believe that there are some merits that need to be taken into account for this review. The fact that they didn't entirely go out to remove some of the beloved elements such as coveted Vs. Seeker and Poke Radar are a welcome and this in case, needed, addition that has been missed out on for many years! I also really like how the Gym Leaders and Elite Four can all be rematched at higher levels and that some of them even have their teams from Platinum after you defeat the Pokemon League for the first time. It's a really nice touch that I don't see a lot of people talking about when they review the game. The little things such as Autosave, showing Type effectiveness in battle, and adding the Rotom Catlog item for Rotom. Also being able to pull out Bibarel on the flick of a dime for the formerly annoying HM moves to do your dirty work and navigate the vast world of Sinnoh via the Hidden Moves app is amusing and very convenient! Catching Diamond and Pearl up to speed with these Remakes and modernizing some of the things to be in line with the rest of the series is a good thing they did. I just wish that it was executed more cohesively than it was and not the scrambled up mess that we got for the final product!

All in all, I feel Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are an example of corporate greed at it's finest and using the nostalgia of an older work to as well enticing marketing to make a quick buck. I feel like these games could of done so much better on many different levels. I give them an "OK" score on my Rating System.

My Final Score: ★★★★ - "OK" 4/10

[nintensonyreviewguy]

My Top 5 Nintendo Switch Games

Took a while longer for this to come out than I expected because of some other stuff in the way but here it is! My first video game review on Tumblr for all to see! Can’t believe it has been 6 years with the Switch as of quite recently on Friday, March 3rd. The system is still going quite strong and I have had so many wonderful adventures and enjoyed my time with each and every game that I currently own for it very much, especially the major single player games and multiplayer games with my friends over the years. I still remember the hassle it was to get one of these back in April 2017. I had to end up waiting a month more than most. It was all worth it in the very end and here’s to hoping for more good times in the future as the console continues to chug along. Looking forward to Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet DLC as well as more for Nintendo Switch Online! I figured I would take the time to review my Top 5 Favorite Games for the system thus far. All the entries are based off of my personal experiences and are scored with a 1 to 10 star system. 1 star being the worst and 10 stars being the best. Rating System:

1. ★ - Completely Unplayable

2. ★★ - Terrible

3. ★★★ - Mediocre

4. ★★★★ - OK

5. ★★★★★ - Bittersweet

6. ★★★★★★ - Alright

7. ★★★★★★★ - Decent

8. ★★★★★★★★ - Great

9. ★★★★★★★★★ - Excellent

10. ★★★★★★★★★★ - Amazing

Reviews:

1. Pokemon Legends: Arceus 9/10 ★★★★★★★★★ 

A true contender for one of my top favorite game of all time thus far on the Switch. I know it's not very original to say, but I really feel like this is an extremely good take for Pokemon's stab at their version of Breath of the Wild. I feel like Game Freak honestly went all out for this and were given complete creative freedom and took their time with everything. The game is truly a masterpiece in my eyes that is a nothing short of a love letter to veterans of the series! The story, atmosphere, graphics, music, and characters all bundle up for a nice package of what Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl should of been with this prequel visit to the past version of Sinnoh from the fan favorite games of Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum called Hisui. I remember not being that fond of Legends: Arceus at first and being intimidated by the game's style and tone. I didn't complete the game until May of last year, which is unusual as I normally find myself completing most Pokemon games within a week or less. The story is really good. The tone is something that I want to praise from the start. It was truly something when I was being told that Pokemon are vicious creatures out in the wild and that they can kill you! The characters are really fleshed out with personality as well, including actual emotions for your player character, something that wasn't present in X and Y, Sun and Moon, and Sword and Shield or that wasn't simply able to be conveyed with sprite artwork before it. I love how much of the cast is implied to be ancestors of some of the present day humans in Pokemon such as Komado being related to Professor Rowan. It is really up to the imagination of you for some of the other less obvious character parallels. Even the small handful of new Pokemon that are introduced such as Enamorus being a fourth member of the former Forces of Nature trio of Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus. It makes the whole world of Pokemon feel more connected. All of this is something I wish Game Freak would do more often. The plot feels like it is something that comes out of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games with Komado banishing you from Jubilife Village toward the climax of the game and being shunned. I also didn't expect Volo (Cynthia's ancestor) to be the final boss, especially given his kind nature throughout the game. Had I not looked at accidental thumbnails on YouTube spoiling his role, I wouldn't of known the whole time until my completion of the game. There are also several references in the games that are callbacks to the games of old and even get to use for the first time such as the Red Chain, which is what Cyrus originally had woven to shackle Dialga and Palkia atop the Sinnoh's Mt. Coronet in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. My one gripe with the game is the controls aren't exactly ideal. It's the only thing that is holding it back from a perfect 10/10. I did find myself occasionally pressing the wrong button and having a hard time with shuffling through the menus quickly. But please do not let my experiences with this be a deciding factor if you are reading this and possibly looking to purchase the game. I've seen people do a lot better than myself with it all. Legends is honestly something that I believe truly caters to everyone from the casual player to a hardcore gamer (I myself find myself being a blend of both leaning toward casual). The side quests are very fun and can range from anything to a collectathon of Spiritomb Wisps to completing a Dex entry for a certain Pokemon. I found myself ending with over 60 hours in total and that's with not even completing all that the game has to offer, including getting the coveted Shiny Charm for 100% completing the Dex. The final fights of Volo, Giratina, and Arceus are all something that offer a great challenge alone. All in all, it is a game that I can highly recommend to many people, even those that want to get into Pokemon games for the first time (although I may want to lean those new and uneducated toward Let's Go, Pikachu! and Eevee!). Thank you for sticking with me!

2. Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: 10/10 ★★★★★★★★★★

There's a lot about Breath of the Wild that I can say that hasn't been said elsewhere, so I'll make this review a little bit shorter than the others for sure. The latest installment in the Legend of Zelda series, at least as of this writing with Tears of the Kingdom on the way in later May, is something truly of wonder! I remember getting this as my first ever Switch game back in April of 2017, a month later than most for sure because of the console being so hard to find. The fact that they throw you out in the world after the Great Plateau and that you are able to go in any direction is something pratically unheard of back in the day for games like these. A huge props to the Director of the game, Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Producer Eiji Aonuma as well as the rest of the developers for making it all into one nice giant open world. The game's objective itself is very clear. You are tasked to stop Calamity Ganon from rising once again after being held dormant inside Hyrule Castle for 100 years. You have to free the Divine Beasts from the malice that Ganon has invested them with. While not the greatest story ever written by any means, it all comes together super nicely and gets the message across! The music, while absent for most of the game in the field and only around at certain parts of the game, is there and when it happens, hits like a truck with emotional feelings you get toward all the characters in the story including Link and Zelda themselves, those that passed in the previous Calamity such as the pilots of the Divine Beasts as well as those still living. My only one criticism of the game is the lack thereof of enemy diversity. You mostly will find yourself fighting the same types of foes over and over again such as Moblins and Bokobolins. In short, I feel they nailed everything else about the game pretty much to a tee! I spent nearly 200 hours exploring all the nook and crannies with great fun and doing every single sidequest (with some help from a guide). This is coming from a Zelda fan nowadays who actually just got into the games with Breath of the Wild and only had minimal experience with Ocarina of Time for the 3DS all the way back in 2012. Something to totally pick up if you like Action-Adventure games and are new to the series or are even a returning veteran that is tired of the same old things from Zelda. The theme is all about breaking conventions and redefining the gameplay of a longstanding video game franchise, something the team over at Nintendo EPD did very well and right!

3. Pokemon Sword and Shield: 6/10 ★★★★★★★

I'm going to say something rather bold here in being that Sword and Shield are not as bad as everyone thinks. I feel that the games are constantly being berated for introducing a much hated mechanic of "Dexit", a term commonly used to associate the game with not having a National Dex. The first time that a controversal move has been done since back in the day when Ruby and Sapphire prevented trading of Pokemon from older games to the then current hardware. That being said, I feel like in order to fully enjoy the games, one has to purchase the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra Expansion Passes which add 210 older Pokemon in both of the two parts of the game for a total of 664 monsters in the games. I feel like looking back at it all, the base content has a couple of merits going for it. The Max Raid Battles introduced as a Raid Battle-like mechanic from Pokemon GO are very engaging. I found myself doing them on my own and with my younger cousin sometimes every single time that the Pokemon Company International promoted Shiny Pokemon to seldomly be featured in Raid Battles. I gathered up nearly 200 hours in Sword by the time right before Scarlet and Violet came out. Though the fact you can't see the Shiny Pokemon in the overworld like you could in Let's Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! is very upsetting. While Max Raids are much slower and more mindless compared to their sequel Tera Raid Battles in Scarlet and Violet, I feel like the simplicity is something that has it's charms. The Dynamax mechanic is pretty neat and I really like how some of the Pokemon change appearance in their giant state in a special version called Gigantamax, much like Mega Evolution from before. The designs for many of them are great such as the Kanto Starter's Final Evolutions. There are many little things about the game that I find very nice that carried over from the Generation VII games or were introduced as new altogether. The Exp. Candies, the Exp. Share always being on and not being an item, and Pokemon Box Link are part of the many things that make everything streamlined and have me feel spoiled compared to what we had back in the older days. It is truly something that once you start realizing the pleasures, you never want to go back to ways of old. The story isn't anything special. I feel Team Yell is less antagonistic and don't have as much depth. Piers, their Leader, may have been able to be executed better as a character and Rose, the main villain at the climax, was something that wasn't too surprising or exciting. Basically a beloved and highly respected authority figure that is corrupt in the end. Something I feel like I've seen before and not just with Pokemon... The player characters not having much expression to them in the few cutscenes was also a little bit of a let down. The DLC I feel adds a tiny bit more such as Regieleki and Regidrago, which I'm truly fond of for them adding to the existing Regi trio, a practice I hope is more common. Tying back to my Legends of Arceus review a couple sections above, it makes the world feel more intertwined. The amount of Regional Variants was a very solid number, unlike Scarlet and Violet's measly 4, as much as I hate to draw parallels again to a future game, especially one that has yet to release it's DLC at the time of writing. I didn't find the games as challenging as some of the other older entries. The fact there is no Elite Four and it is instead foregoed for the Champion Cup, is quite disappointing. You get your Pokemon healed between every match. The music itself is always a thing that they nail. I found myself really enjoying many of the battle themes and ambient tracks within the games. I still find myself listening to the songs on repeat to this day. Graphics themselves could of been a little bit stronger than the Sun and Moon HD version that we were given. In closing, I feel while the games are somewhat bland and don't stand out as much, they're still something that can't be ignored. For that, I give "Alright" 6 out of 10.

4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons: 7/10 ★★★★★★★

Animal Crossing: New Horizons will always hold that dark place in the hearts and minds of everyone as the one game that came out right in the peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic in March of 2020. It got popular very quickly. For me, it was a big bright spot and huge time sink of over 280 hours of fun in my life as everything I had going on in life was canceled due to the obvious elephant in the room. As unoriginal as it may sound, it really helped me through a very difficult time and I'm not just talking about COVID-19 either. I had a couple of life issues that were rearing their ugly head in when this was all going on. So, therefore, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for this cute title. Now for the game itself. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a game where you are a human in a sea of anthropomorphic animals and try to adapt to life on a formerly deserted island as part of a getaway package. It is a perfect escape for many people at the time! You get complete and total creative freedom on what you get to do with the island after the first 7 days of tutorials with the game somewhat holding your hand and teaching you the ropes of everything such as the brand new and essential crafting system. The biggest thing of the game is being able to transform the island by destroying and creating cliffs and rivers using a terraforming feature. This is the stuff that dreams are made of, especially for veterans! You can do just about anything you want. No Isabelle telling you that the item is too close to another thing. Other mechanics such as the bug catching, diving, fossil collecting, and fishing all remain pretty much the same, which isn't a bad thing by any means. You don't have to fix what isn't broken. It is the parts I just mentioned along with terraforming that I found the most addicting. It felt so gratifying to fill in the museum and give Blathers all of the stuff that you've collected from your various times booting up the game and doing the morning routine (or whatever time you play). Coming from someone who has never 100% the Museum and used Action Replay to fill it in for Wild World all the way back, I will have a fond memory of earning bragging rights by finishing the fossil section on my Birthday in October 2020. This is about where the positives end though. The lack of some of the special characters that series veterans have come to known and love (or hate) such as Gracie, Mr. Resetti, and even some of the villagers themselves is rather unacceptable. I mean, I totally understand Mr. Resetti, but still, Gracie and some of the other villagers as well as even the special themed items such as the Zelda and fortune cookie prizes from New Leaf, felt like a huge slap in the face and what is holding the game down from being the best that it can be and for what the series is formerly known for. The game itself fell on hard times after 2021 when things in the world slowly started to get better. Nintendo very quickly dropped support for the game by stopping with the big updates. The Happy Home Paradise DLC that released in November 2021 marks the very beginning of the end. While my Grandmother who also enjoyed the video game as much as I did and got endless amounts of hours (I'm talking over 1,000 or more) from the game, I played for a little while after the update. Being able to play with my Grandmother, Mom, and Sister will always be a special time that I will treasure. My Grandma hadn't played a video game ever before and seeing the joy on her face and getting just as engaged as I was for a time was truly something special. But perhaps, attributing to my getting of a job in February 2022 and with things getting better with COVID-19, I had stopped playing the game as quickly as I started. It's still so sad to see that Nintendo is not supporting it to this day with bigger updates. It would of been very nice. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. For all of these various reasons, I rate the game a "Decent" 7 out of 10. It is still worth picking up if you like Sims but want the game to be full of bipedal talking animals.

5. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: 8/10 ★★★★★★★★

There's a lot that I can say really good and also really bad about Scarlet and Violet. The games are really great if they are not bogged down by the various performance issues such as the framerate, the constant crashing, and other bugs and glitches that are abound in the game. Thankfully, many of these issues and gripes have been fixed in Version 1.2.0 and other patches and updates going forward. I however, will forever remember not enjoying the games as much as their predecessors of Sword and Shield. I found myself playing more in Handheld Mode than with the TV mode I am used to because of the framerate being slightly better. The game has it's high highs but it also has it low lows. I feel that what it tries to do, it does really well. Such as the story. Seriously, first Legends of Arceus then this! The Professor(s) being an AI controlled copy turning evil and corrupt is something that I didn't foresee. When exploring Area Zero for the first time with the Arven, the son of the Professor(s), Penny, and Neoma, I literally had my heart skip a beat when I heard the Professor have a glitch in her voice (I was playing Scarlet, so it was Professor Sada). I played the entire game blind for the most part. This is probably why the review is as high as it is at a 7 out of 10 (and I also would like to rate it a little bit higher than the 6/10 I was to give upon replaying the game a little bit after Version 1.2.0's release). I feel like the entire story was well executed even with Team Stars not being "evil" per say. They are pretty much like a Team Yell 2.0, and that's not too much of an improvement but still better than what we got in the previous games for sure! The music is something else that I really like! Toby Fox and the many other composers who worked on the soundtrack really hit it out of the park! I find myself playing lots of the themes on YouTube on repeat such as the battle themes and the Area Zero theme. The Professor's final battle theme with the tone it sets is truly something I will never forget! My other issues include not being able to battle the Trainers on sight like we are normally used to and not being able to rematch the Elite Four at the League. I found myself missing a lot of Trainers and having to go back. The other more major thing though was the Gym Leaders not being scaled with your progress in the game like how the Wild Area was in Sword and Shield. I made a plan of the order in which I wanted to defeat the Gym Leaders in the game only to realize that it was actually set in the end with Katy being the lowest and Grusha being the highest. The Gym challenges themselves aren't that special. I found Katy's Gym being the most frustrating and annoying with rolling the olive ball through the course. Finally, the new Pokemon themselves are truly a blend of both good designs and some, not so great. Upon looking at some of them for the first time, I thought many didn't change much when they evolved such as Tandemaus line only getting two more little mice in the second evolution and Brambleghast only becoming a bigger cactus upon evolving. Some of the designs however, are very original and stuff based off of creatures we've never seen in the Pokemon world before such as Flamigo being based on a flamingo! The new Evolutions for Girafarig, Primeape, Dunsparce, and Bisharp are particularly nice! Kingambit is my personal favorite of the select few Evolutions of some of our beloved species. I found myself getting one for the team right away. Overall, I feel Scarlet and Violet are a lot of good but missed potential. Had the game not been put down by the issues before Version 1.2.0, it would of been a strong launch. The Gym Leaders being scaled with the progression of the Badges you collect, would of made it nearly perfect. I hope to revise this score upward with upcoming Expansion Pass. Thanks for reading!

Upon revisiting the land of Paldea and later the new land of Kitakami followed eventually by a return to Unova (albeit at the Blueberry Academy located faraway from the mainland) in the DLC Expansion Pass, I would like to revise my overall score for Scarlet and Violet to an 8/10 "Great". I found myself very happy with being able to visit both Kitakami and the Blueberry Academy along both the fresh new takes and nostalgia it had to offer. While I feel that Kitakami was lackluster after the plot was finished there and left me desiring more. The Blueberry Academy on the other hand hit the nail on the head with many features that I wanted with customization of odds and ends of the game such as your Poke Ball throwing style, redecorating the League Room, and being able to glide with Koraidon or Moraidon (depending on your version of choice)! I also found myself enjoying the various throwbacks to the Generation V Pokemon Black and White (and their sequels) games set in the mainland of Unova. While the story was excuted well in both Part 1 and Part 2 (including the Epilogue) of the DLC, I feel it wasn't as strong as the main campaign itself. But that's not to say that it was terrible. The teacher Briar not being a villain as everyone would of expected and being driven by the awe of Terapagos's power like a child was the real beauty. Lore itself overall was not as strong as Legends of Arceus or games prior. In closing, I feel like Scarlet and Violet, while being a mixed bag in the community, are a step in the right direction. I look forward to seeing what the future of the Pokemon series holds and the adventures that we will all have in the years to come!