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[Antoon]

I just finished Pokemon Sun, and boy was that a borefest. I had to force myself to finish it. If it wasnt for Team Skull, the only thing that was mildly amusing, I dont think I could have made it to complete the league at all (and then to be forced to sit through 30 min of pointless cutscenes).
It looks like Gamefreak took one step forward with making the 'gym challenges' more unique and making those HM moves like Cut/Surf/Fly be way more easier to use to get around. But then it took 3 steps back by holding my hand in absolutely every place I was in, removing any sense of exploration, brining back a ton of same Pokemon from previous gen that nobody cares about.

I do have to admit that some totem challenges were a bit challening, when its 2 vs 1, but overall it was a piece of cake in the rest of the game. I was always wondering if its also my OG 3DS which was making the battles/pokemon encounters soooooo slow, I tried to avoid any battle encounters because I was sick of the slow pace of starting and leaving the battles.

That horrible trainer battle music also killed my fun (but luckily Team Skulls theme made up for that).

Its been 5 years since I played Pokemon X, and I do remember it having many flaws, but I dont remember hating it as much as Sun, maybe it was just more fresh since it was in full 3D and new type etc.

Anyway, what are you thoughts?

 

[jadedm17]

Personally sounds like an age burnout thing to me; I think Sun/Moon are better games but they're too formulaic to impress.... like Destiny 2 is better but not $60 for another game better.

I'm hoping the Switch games can light a new fire personally.

 

[Freedom Gate Co.]

Well, X has the worst plot I'll say that. Terrible charters, silly laser canon thing, 3000 year old men wandering for years, megastone origins, Team blaze is full of morns and no real logical motivations, main bad guy somehow killing himself with the laser, basically no post-story, etc.

Game is also broken, choose fire type starter for both starters, run through most gyms with just the 1st one with second has back-up, game gives you powerful pokemon for free later to build party. , Megastone is giving too early and is broken in two ways, one for Charzard it's too strong, for Lucario after the halfway point it basically does nothing. Beat game in less than 10 hours on first and only play through, there's next to zero exploration, you don't need to grind. Trash.

Sun and Moon have better storys, Ultra sun and Moon have worst stories. X is bad and broken but at least its playable, Both versions of Sun and Moon bored me extremely.

 

[SoulUnison]

As someone who’s played every generation since Red/Blue and who bred two full teams of 5/6IV Shinies during X/Y, Sun/Moon bores me to death and I’m not sure what would pull me back in.

 

[Yoshi]

Pokémon Ruby / Saphire are the worst, but you conveniently left them out of your vote. Of the two listed, Sun / Moon is worse for its bad final third, but I refuse voting for that, because it is only the second worst.

 

[Antoon]

Pokémon Ruby / Saphire are the worst, but you conveniently left them out of your vote. Of the two listed, Sun / Moon is worse for its bad final third, but I refuse voting for that, because it is only the second worst.

Because Ruby/Sapphire is nowhere near worst? It has introduced a ton of new features. Sorry but I cant take your opinion seriously after you claimed that Yoshis Island 3DS was a good game.

 

[Codes 208]

Sun and Moon because the entire game was nothing but a hand-holding simulator with narrative bullshit. X and Y weren’t my favorites either, but atleast they actually felt like a Pokémon game with a traditional gym system. Albeit one of the easier ones.

Pokémon Ruby / Saphire are the worst, but you conveniently left them out of your vote. Of the two listed, Sun / Moon is worse for its bad final third, but I refuse voting for that, because it is only the second worst.

not even close to the worst.

 

[Husky]

Hardcore Pokemon fan, I used to buy all the games on day one before Sun/Moon were total trash.
X/Y was a step down from the golden days of DS Pokemon (Sinnoh games, Johto remakes, and Unova games are PEAK PERFORMANCE POKEMON fite me) but it had a large number of redeeming qualities, like the utterly adorable player customization, and the SKATES, man. The bottom-screen online functionality added some nice passive socialization as well, and it was neat to receive feedback there after Wonder Trading off some Haunters (evolves into Gengar after being traded). Mega Evolution was real fun too, but doesn't pair well with the decreased difficulty of 3DS Pokemon. Sun and Moon were a total drag to play through though, the customization was nerfed, the characters all sucked, the tutorial was like ten hours long, and the locations were boring. It was like Hoenn but WORSE. The best times I had in that game were when I sold Lillie's Poke Doll for like, 5 cents. Fuck I hated Lillie. Fuck, Hau too. And Kukui. God that game sucked. First Pokemon games I ever disliked.

To add to the Ruby/Sapphire discussion, tbh the Hoenn games are a bit "too much water" for me. They got some great qualities, and I especially love the secret base feature (online bases had me playing Alpha Sapphire daily until I had my Platinum Flag--my base is a saloon), but I haven't got the same love for them as some others.

 

[Fake]

Ruby/Saphire no doubt. They simple put IV/EV mechanics + abilities to make pokemon meta even more stupid. I hate that generation.

 

[Solid Slammus]

Worst Pokemon games at time of release? Gotta go with Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. DexNav on its own wasn't enough to make up for losing X/Y's amazing diversity of Pokemon types and designs . Being limited to that old R/B/E roster of wild Pokemon felt really, really bad (considering OR/AS were the immediate follow-ups to Pokemon games where you could capture Ice, Steel, and Dragon type Pokemon in the beginning routes), and I didn't like the asthetic direction the remakes went for at all, either.

Worst Pokemon games to pick up and play today? I'd give that one to Pokemon Gold and Silver. I loved those games when they first released but nowadays, even if I'm playing the DS remakes, I always play them with hacks, hacks that eliminate the non-linear travel options in Johto and Kanto in favor of establishing a proper level curve for trainers and wild Pokemon throughout the game.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Pokémon Ruby / Saphire are the worst, but you conveniently left them out of your vote. Of the two listed, Sun / Moon is worse for its bad final third, but I refuse voting for that, because it is only the second worst.

Maybe if you're talking about ORAS.

I never finished X/Y, I despised the nostalgia baiting and Charizard shilling along with Mega Forms being a literal mistake. I could actually finish Sun/Moon and it was actually quite the visual upgrade despite both games running badly on the 3DS.

3D Pokemon was a mistake btw.

 

[The Mad Draklor]

I miss the days when the rival was being an arrogant asshole towards you.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Diamond/Pearl, unquestionably. Or maybe Black/White, I'm not sure.

There are a handful of reasons, like the off-the-wall Pkmn designs that began creeping in, especially for the Legendaries. The biggest reason, though, is the battles were slowed way down. Everything was slowed down to a snail's pace, not only because of the engine they used in the DS games but also because Game Freak began overemphasizing "field" effects like rain, so every turn you had one or two additional status messages about the fucking weather or the alignment of Aquarius or something.

Slowest Pokemon games ever.

 

[deriks]

X and Y was very nice because felt like a remake and a breath of fresh air at the same time

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Diamond/Pearl, unquestionably. Or maybe Black/White, I'm not sure.

There are a handful of reasons, like the off-the-wall Pkmn designs that began creeping in, especially for the Legendaries. The biggest reason, though, is the battles were slowed way down. Everything was slowed down to a snail's pace, not only because of the engine they used in the DS games but also because Game Freak began overemphasizing "field" effects like rain, so every turn you had one or two additional status messages about the fucking weather or the alignment of Aquarius or something.

Slowest Pokemon games ever.

This is true for base game D/P except the Pokemon design comment. I liked D/P because I have tolerance for the BS but it's definitely on the lower end of the series. Platinum fixed all these problems.

B/W is really fast though so...

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

This is true for base game D/P except the Pokemon design comment. I liked D/P because I have tolerance for the BS but it's definitely on the lower end of the series. Platinum fixed all these problems.

B/W is really fast though so...

Regarding B/W, you're right. For some reason I lumped that in with the earlier DS titles even thogh B/w specifically addressed the problem of the slow combat.

 

[Saber]

XY indeed added some nice things and its the only version so far I trained my pokes to 100 with no trouples(and it was fun).

Yet, its a half baked experience, with nonsense stupid mechanics like Sky battles(which make a lot of pokes just doing the flying animation), easly forgetable characters, introduction of the ridiculous non balanced megas(and brown nosing charizards)lame bosses and a terrible region.

I may give some merit to Moon/Sun for trying to get away from chibi looking characters, but the game is far from be a good experience. Oh and the trainer battle theme is pretty bad. End up using Team Skull theme on Battle Tree because of how I cant stand that music.


So in the end, between those 2 XY is worse.

But the worst Gen for me is R/S. Seriously, this game was so terrible to play.

 

[Codes 208]

The leveling in B/W was absurd though. Grinding was made more difficult by decreasing value of EXP based on your Pokémon’s level versus the opponent. To some who just blow through the story that’s fine and all, but it made nuzlockes a chore to do. Almost unfun really.

 

[JoeyWestSide]

Playing through x and I'm loving it. I'll play through moon after. So far my favorite is either gold/silver or ruby/sapphire. Gen 3 has some of my favorite Pokémon but gen 2 has 16 badges to get. So all of that to say, I don't have enough info to answer.

 

[Queso de Grande]

Ruby/Sapphire is by far the worst generation. I tried replaying emerald recently and there wasn’t a single redeeming feature in the game. I swear the only people who like gen 3 started on gen 3.

 

[Horatius]

diamond and pearl are by far the most boring, but i think their fundamentals are still better than X and Y's. x and y completely broke any kind of balance the games had and they were piss easy to begin with.

sun and moon, though sharing that problem, were at least tonally a breath of fresh air. i really dug them a lot.

i would go:

gsc > rby > rse = sm > bw > bw2 = usum > dp > xy

 

[Zannegan]

Why not include every gen? If you control the conversation too much, there's no real scope for converzation, just like-minded nodding-along and thread-whining (like this, lol).

On-topic: I didn't particularly enjoy nor did I finish either. I'll give the nod to Z/Y as the most disappointing, simply because that was the game that showed me that even the transition to 3D wouldn't shake up the series in any meaningful way. Gamefreak revels in their rut, and the only changes they are interested in making are combat/system tweaks. The sense of limitless adventure that the first games had is pretty much gone from the series.

 

[Inanilmaz]

Everything after gen 3

 

[SLoWMoTIoN]

Which one had the au...I mean SIMPLE mind kid going around making "friends" with pokemon while his dad exploited them?

 

[Montblanc]

Pokemon Black/White. Those had the best story, by far, beautiful music and faster-paced battles than D/P, but they were absolutely terrible in terms of everything else. I understand wanting to bring back the nostalgic feel by letting you use 5th gen Pokemon only until you beat the game, but many of those Pokemon were next to useless and often not distinct enough; e.g. too many Steel types. I practically forced myself to finish it and reach the postgame ala FireRed (FR/LG had my favorite postgame) hoping that would make me like the games more. Instead, I was greeted by Level 60+ trainers everywhere even though I just battled Elite 4 and the final bosses who were in their 40s - 50s. Yeah, f*** you too, game.

Black 2/White 2, on the other hand, were absolutely fantastic and are contenders for the best in the series imo. They fixed pretty much everything I disliked about the first game. I love Unova.

Never played X/Y or S/M.

 

[Antoon]

People hating on R/B are strange. The introduction of Ability and Nature element of each pokemon create a whole new level of gameplay, so it made every creature be worth something more or less. And I dont even care for IV'/EVs. It definitely had a lot more exploration than the 3DS games.

 

[Antoon]

Pokemon Black/White. Those had the best story, by far, beautiful music and faster-paced battles than D/P, but they were absolutely terrible in terms of everything else. I understand wanting to bring back the nostalgic feel by letting you use 5th gen Pokemon only until you beat the game, but many of those Pokemon were next to useless and often not distinct enough; e.g. too many Steel types. I practically forced myself to finish it and reach the postgame ala FireRed (FR/LG had my favorite postgame) hoping that would make me like the games more. Instead, I was greeted by Level 60+ trainers everywhere even though I just battled Elite 4 and the final bosses who were in their 40s - 50s. Yeah, f*** you too, game.

Black 2/White 2, on the other hand, were absolutely fantastic and are contenders for the best in the series imo. They fixed pretty much everything I disliked about the first game. I love Unova.

Never played X/Y or S/M.

I still have yet to play B2/W2 though they are on my shelf, but I am taking your word for it.

 

[Montblanc]

I still have yet to play B2/W2 though they are on my shelf, but I am taking your word for it.

They're worth any Poke-fan's time. Seriously. I beat White 2 recently for the first time and I was amazed just how polished and good it was. I'd recommend it even to those who never played Pokemon games before.

 

[CatCouch]

I played X/Y a bit about a week ago and it is a bit rough, particularly the skates and camera issues. X/Y have some of my favorite environments and Pokemon, though. Delphox is my favorite Pokemon ever!

I put a lot of time into Su/Mo and it's just more fun to play. It took me a good 30 or so hours to beat. It has Lusamine, Kukui and Salazzle, too, I love them so much! X/Y took around 20 hours to beat and had very little post game content so I dropped it sooner. No sequels or third version didn't help, either.

I love both for the characters and new Pokemon but X/Y just doesn't age that well for me. I also miss the challenge earlier games had. I can blow through these games with little effort. I played B/W and B/W2 in 2016 and they kicked my ass after all the time I spent breezing through X/Y before them~

I hope the next Pokemon game has a bit more challenge in the main story.

 

[Yoshi]

People hating on R/B are strange. The introduction of Ability and Nature element of each pokemon create a whole new level of gameplay, so it made every creature be worth something more or less. And I dont even care for IV'/EVs. It definitely had a lot more exploration than the 3DS games.

Terrible pacing in the world design, even lower difficulty than in the predecessors (in the remakes, I have made a point about playing it without swapping Pokémon that are not dead and without exchanging Pokémon from my team and the boxes. The first six Pokémon I catch are my team. Even this way it was a breeze. Also I think Ability and Nature were not good additions. There are so many Pokémon already, adding additional random variables is not a good thing.

Ah yes, and Yoshi's New Island is a better game than your poll is a poll.

 

[Shaqazooloo]

Pokémon Ruby / Saphire are the worst, but you conveniently left them out of your vote. Of the two listed, Sun / Moon is worse for its bad final third, but I refuse voting for that, because it is only the second worst.

Yup, I can agree with this, and very happy that I wasn't the only one entering this thread to say so. Pokemon were (for the most part) trash, plot was bad and the rival team were boring, very tedious and overall just very forgettable imo.

 

[Spukc]

Both of em are ass.

Too much handholding. Shitty new pokemons

 

[Caayn]

I've been playing Pokémon since Yellow on the gameboy and Pokémon S/M/US/UM are my least favourite Pokémon games. Never did I had the feeling that I was playing the game, I constantly felt like the game was playing me instead.

Surprised to see so much dislike for R/S/E in this thread, I've spent so many hours playing those games and I enjoyed each and everyone of them.

 

[Saber]

People hating on R/B are strange. The introduction of Ability and Nature element of each pokemon create a whole new level of gameplay, so it made every creature be worth something more or less. And I dont even care for IV'/EVs. It definitely had a lot more exploration than the 3DS games.

Introducing abilities in a world without balancing was terrible. The game still have no special and attack splits, which make some mons with more advantage than others.

Already said, but the game pacing is terrible, pokemon distribution consist in find Wingulls and Pelipers everywhere, the soundtrack is annoying because everything is trumpet, the list goes on.

 

[DaMonth]

Oh my god, this is a crazy thread. Absolute insanity. If US/UM didn't exist, X/Y would be undeniably the worst games in the franchise. And just to prove why, I'll list pros and cons.

X/Y
Pros:
Skates, customizing character, Mega Evolution, jump to 3D.

Cons:
Jump to 3D (both being that ugly first step where everyone was doll-proportioned and the fact that 3D meant they couldn't make more new Pokemon), the new Pokemon (Scatterbug is the only fuckin' bug), Team Flare, Lysandre (the most obvious evil ever and they act like it's a twist), A/Z showing up randomly a few times and suddenly he's just in jail where he immediately tells you his entire backstory like you asked, the pacing (Getting to Cyllage City takes like, two hours), the Gym Leaders (I dare you to remember who they all are), Lumiose CIty being too big and samey, your rivals sucking you off more than ever before, the fireworks scene, the fact that a terrorist organization announces the genocide of the human race on television and I can still walk around and talk to people who don't even blink an eye at it, zero post game.

Sun/Moon:
Cons:
The tutorials, it's pretty railroaded, I can understand not liking SOS, snubbed customizing, Hau isn't that great, didn't go as far as they should've with Alolan forms, Nihilego-possessed Lusamine should have fought you, still the blank trainer face, Battle Royale

Pros:
Huge love letter to Pokemon Fans, Gladion, Lillie is one of the best characters in Pokemon (an actual character arc AND the fact that she bookends the story by going to Kanto), Alola is actually charming and not just a droll whatever place, showing up to the Pokemon League and being the first Champion challenged by the professor of all things, Z-moves, Growing alongside the legendary instead of just meeting a random world-ending power at the end like every other game, good new Pokemon with added personality (Mimikyu), Team Skull, the return of two bad teams, Lusamine (a memorable psychopath), trials, the actual presence of the Trial Captains in the story, no HMs, actually telling a good story, models looking nice

Also I guess you can say the trainer theme was bad but it's not. Certainly no Yoshi's New Island.

 

[Saber]

Sometimes I forget Battle Royal was even a thing lmao

May have some kind of fun online, but against cpu? I would call the top of the stupidity since the bot almost aways counters you, so the battle ends more like 3 vs you, with cpu gang up your pokemons like no tomorrow.

Also, they seriously need to make something about trainers face.

 

[DaMonth]

Also Diantha is an actual nobody.

R/B/Y: Your rival.
G/S/C: Old Elite 4, helped defeat Team Rocket with you
R/S/E: Son of the Devon Corps guy/Old Water Gym leader
D/P/Pt: Woman who constantly shows up in the plot.
BW/B2W2: Guy who constantly shows up in the plot/Old Gym Leader

X/Y: You meet her in a cafe once. And then one more time in another city but she does nothing.

US/UM is really only as bad as it is just because it fucked up Sun and Moon.

 

[Starlight Lotice]

Diamond/Pearl, unquestionably. Or maybe Black/White, I'm not sure.

There are a handful of reasons, like the off-the-wall Pkmn designs that began creeping in, especially for the Legendaries. The biggest reason, though, is the battles were slowed way down. Everything was slowed down to a snail's pace, not only because of the engine they used in the DS games but also because Game Freak began overemphasizing "field" effects like rain, so every turn you had one or two additional status messages about the fucking weather or the alignment of Aquarius or something.

Slowest Pokemon games ever.

Definitely agree here.

Diamond/Pearl had some stupid Routes as well which required backtracking in odd places. A replay made me stop at the mountain.

I don't mind B/W but I felt that the Overworld felt off and the characters didn't interest me.

I haven't played X/Y or S/M but they don't look like they have improved any mechanics from the older games and just taken away features instead.

I love Gens 1, 2 and 3 but I can't get into the other generations (and I tried for 4 and 5).

I am not voting because I can't give a fair opinion without playing them.

I want them to make a game where you can catch any generation of Pokèmon without going over the top for one gen over another. Gold/Silver did this the best although it did skew towards the newer Gen but I got Ghasty early in game so I didn't mind. (And you can get Onyx via a trade too).

 

[Dr. Claus]

Sun/Moon were amazing outside of the overly long tutorial island. X/Y was a linear mess with almost no worthwhile endgame content.

 

[Aren117]

Sun/Moon was a slog to play. I feel like the series is too bloated by now.

HG/SS was the perfect Pokémon game, I miss that game.

 

[DemiFiend_]

X and Y was very nice because felt like a remake and a breath of fresh air at the same time

I'd have to disagree. The region felt like Gamefreak prioritized style over substance - and to add insult to injury, the difficulty is virtually nonexistenct.

 

[Foalington]

I honestly don't know what is considered good or bad.

Personally, I felt that newer titles pushed pokemon's boundaries further - could be for better or for worse. But at least it was a new thing. Maybe I should replay everything and give it a proper evaluation to the pokemon games.

 

[kraspkibble]

X/Y weren't great but they were a huge step up from black/white. i really enjoyed X/Y.

sun and moon were just straight up ass garbage. they are the first pokemon games i've not managed to finish.

Sun/Moon was a slog to play. I feel like the series is too bloated by now.

HG/SS was the perfect Pokémon game, I miss that game.

imo the best pokemon games to date. i'm kicking myself for selling my copy of SoulSilver.

 

[Antoon]

Since this thread was bumped, I'm gonna update on my journey.


So I finished Ultra Sun a few weeks ago, and this only added salt to the wound. I cannot believe that it could actually be worse than Sun/Moon, I mean that takes effort to fall this low. This is EXACTLY the same game as Sun/Moon, but with useless add-ons that dont make anything better or interesting. The story is even worse than the original Sun/Moon, since they removed the whole aryan family drama that was one of the better thigns Sun/Moon did well, and instead dropped some boring-ass alien people from another dimension which do absolutely nothing to make me care about the plot.

The only change that made the game bearable was the improved battle theme remix of the trainer battles and the Team Rainbow Rocket side-quest. That's it. This game has absolutely no heart or soul, and is further proof how bankrupt gamefreak is.

I will not buy any more Pokemon games in the future. Game freak is now Disney of the gaming world.

 

[Mexen]

Moon was my first Pokemon game and after 30 hours, I could not continue. Maybe someday I will get back to it. My copies of X and Alpha Sapphire are also untouched because I am afraid I will not like them. I don't even know how to feel about Sword and Shield from what we have seen so far.