After a 14 year hiatus from the series in its entirety, I got Pokemon Y. The last game I played was red so the jump from gen 1 to 6 is not so much large as more or less consisting of "WTF is this thing?" I've made it a bit past the 3rd gym thus far so I'd like to put my thoughts in you.

First, the negatives as this for once is going to be the shortest. There's a bit too much carry over from ye olden days. I understand it may be due to balance but there's no reason to only have 4 moves available at a time or only hold 6 pokemon in a bag that can seemingly carry an infinite number of other items. The battle music isn't that great either. Similar structure to the chip tune but its not exactly tension building.

These are just a few drops of lemon juice on an otherwise quite tasty pumpkin pie. Maybe its just some nostalgia coming up but this game is quite fun. Pokecenters have the store in them so there's no need to hunt down a store. Random trainers are scattered throughout to heal your pokemon so treks back to said center aren't always necessary. I especially like the super training. It's almost as if they realized that its best to actually have some control over stats in an RPG. The Exp. Share is the best item since rare candy. I also like that they got rid of PC item storage. So now I can just carry everything thus far and not waste time at the pokecenter like in old country. It appears 14 years of tweaking and refinement have paid off. One of my friends is irked about mega evolution but I don't understand it. In a game that has critical hits that can down equally level pokemon that aren't weak to the attack I don't think its that big of a deal and welcome it as an equalizer of sorts.

On a tangently related note, I find myself paying more attention to the story. As in there actually is one now. From what I remember of red it was document every pokemon in the game, catch said pokemon (not missingno. otherwise you'll be missing a psyduck among other things) and get all eight badges. Now, there's a point to the quest. Say what you want about mega evolution but I think it gives going about the game more purpose rather than catching them all and filling a pokedex. I also find myself considering the options more. SPOILER: I got to the point where you can obtain a Lucario and I thought about it for a second. Yes, sure it may have wanted to tag along but what about the trainer? Would it miss her and vice versa? What happens if I say no? Does it get cross and become a nightmare later? I did take it along for the ride but there was some thinking behind it.

All and all I'm pleasently surprised at how much I enjoy this game. Same basic concepts but yet it still holds its charm. I even more surprised that 14 years later I hesitated for a few levels when it came to evolving Pikachu. It was only like 2 or 3... Alright it was more like 7 but that's not the point. The point is karate chop is bullshit.