Did anyone else enjoy the traditional nature of Pokemon Gen 6 (X/Y/ORAS) over Gen 7 (Sun/Moon/Ultra)?

[Deleted member 17627]

Recently finished USUM hoping it would be better than Sun and Moon, only for it to feel more or less the same to me. I then went to play ORAS soon after me, and it clicked with me so much faster than the former did.

Not having to backtrack, less linearity, not as many tutorials, and the dialogue being more concise and not long for the sake of it really allowed me to get into the game. Also, I know this was a positive for many in Gen 7, but I did not like Trials replacing Gyms. I felt like they took too long, were composed mostly of simple mini games, and fighting more powerful wild Pokemon was much less interesting to me than having trainer battles.

For the record, I am completely open to them trying something new instead of using gyms again in the future, but trials just were so slow to me.

What do you think Era? Would love to hear your responses.

 

[Glio]

No, Sun / Moon is better in everything but online.

 

[Prophet Five]

I absolutely did. I've replayed Gen7 like 4 times now to see if it would ever "click" for me and I now appreciate it much more but, despite its issues, I still really like Gen6. I just wish there was more focus on the Gen6 part rather than the Gen1 stuff but that horse has been beaten to death by now.

 

[ILikeFeet]

nah. there was just too much I disliked about gen 6's structure. sure the level design was better, but everything else paled in comparison. I'd take alola anyday

 

[jml]

100%, gen 7 is the only pokemon generation that I straight-up disliked and didn't finish the games.

 

[MarcelRguez]

On the first run? Yeah, I enjoyed the more to-the-point nature of XY/ORAS, compared to the tedium that was (U)SM.

After you muscle through all of that though? Nope, SM are a clear improvement over XY in almost every way (RIP PSS). Also, I can't remember any gym leader from XY right now. Even though I prefer traditional gyms over trials, I'll take trials over bland gyms any day.

 

[Firemind]

100%, gen 7 is the only pokemon generation that I straight-up disliked and didn't finish the games.

Click to shrink...

It could mean pokemon fatigue is finally settling in.

 

[Dreyarn]

I liked the change that SM introduced (mostly the idea of trials being better designed bossfights -the plant one was a highlight for me-), but I felt that it ran out of gas just when it was starting to let go of your hand.
Maybe sticking to a more traditional formula would have worked better with the development time they had, but I appreciated that at least they had tried.

 

[Dwebble]

Sun and Moon are flat-out better games than the Gen VI games, but I am sympathetic to the idea that something was lost when they chucked the gyms out. Outside of Totem Lurantis, none of the Totem battles really offered much of a wholly new challenge, and the loss of interesting gym puzzles and gym teams was keenly felt.

With that said, most of Kalos' gyms were rubbish anyway, the progression of the region was straight-up broken, and ORAS is worse in several key ways than Emerald was.

 

[ClickyCal']

Xy is more traditional, but also is just not good.

 

[Galkinator]

I'm in my first playthrough of USUM (never played S/M) and it is a god damn chore.
You literally can't play more than 5-10 minutes without a dumb and slow cutscene. I'm like 5 or 6 hours into the game and I haven't even reached the 2nd captain or whatever they call that crap.
Might be the first Pokemon game in history that I'm dropping without finishing it. This is ridiculous, not sure how can anyone have a positive opinion of this gen. (I understood that S/M are at least as bad in this regard)

 

[Apollo]

I looooove ORAS, but I really enjoyed the way SM changed things up. I find trials much more interesting than gyms, which I've never really seen the appeal of

 

[Aleh]

Gen 7 games are so special in my opinion. They just feel good. The only real flaw is Rotom in Ultra versions, though it's good in the normal ones.

 

[BDS]

X and Y weren't perfect but I liked them more than Sun and Moon which felt really tired and soulless in a lot of the game.

 

[Lant_War]

So we're in "Gen 6 is underrated" territory now, huh?

Time is truly a flat circle

 

[MarcelRguez]

I'm in my first playthrough of USUM (never played S/M) and it is a god damn chore.
You literally can't play more than 5-10 minutes without a dumb and slow cutscene. I'm like 5 or 6 hours into the game and I haven't even reached the 2nd captain or whatever they call that crap.
Might be the first Pokemon game in history that I'm dropping without finishing it. This is ridiculous, not sure how can anyone have a positive opinion of this gen. (I understood that S/M are at least as bad in this regard)

Click to shrink...

The game does speed up a bit after the fourth trial, but yeah, it's more or less like that all the way to the end. If you're not feeling it, you might want to cut your losses early. And yes, SM are just as bad.

 

[Serpens007]

I like them both, but Gen 7 felt like a Vacation of the formula. It still feels fresh and new when I pop in that bad boy

Never had a problem with the cutscenes either

 

[Serebii]

Never had a problem with the cutscenes either

Click to shrink...

Indeed, but that's partly down to people conflating dialogue with cutscenes now

 

[Robin]

I might put ORAS over Sun and Moon, but never X and Y. X and Y are the still the low point of the series to me, Sun and Moon were significantly more entertaining to me.

Edit: To elaborate too, X & Y were fine, but there has to be a least favorite and for me it's easily this gen.

 

[Forkball]

Both are great games, so much that they were my GotYs, but XY is better than SM.

+XY had fun gyms with unique aesthetics and interesting gimmicks like the quizzes, doll house warping, rock climbing etc. The trials were interesting in that you didn't know what to expect, but they all went down the same formula of "fight three weak enemies and then a totem."
+XY was far less linear. Once you got to Lumiose City there was so much to explore in both the city itself and the outlying routes. You would eventually hit a dead end at the non-story specific routes, but they would at least let you sample them. Sun/Moon had a lot of nook and crannies to find, but they railroaded you through each island so you had to backtrack to find them instead of discovering them as you play.
+XY had PSS, nuff said

I would give SM points over XY for Poke Pelago, great QoL changes, music, and characters, but overall XY is a better experience.

Both games are better than ORAS though.

 

[Aesnath]

I strongly prefer X/Y/ORAS to SM and USM.

 

[jml]

It could mean pokemon fatigue is finally settling in.

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It could, but my problem with Gen 7 was that I was constantly thinking "just let me loose so I can play pokemon the way I want to play pokemon." I could not care less about the story in a pokemon game so all of the constant stoppages for cutscenes and dialogue grated on me.

 

[MarcelRguez]

Indeed, but that's partly down to people conflating dialogue with cutscenes now

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That's on GF though, isn't it? What would have been some dialogue boxes in previous gens is now a cutscene with different camera cuts and animations for the characters speaking. I get trying to update their presentation and, emotionless protagonist aside, I think they did a fairly good job on USM, but it also slows everything down.

 

[Strings]

I liked them more than Sun and Moon, but they're still not exactly top-tier Pokemon games.

 

[Dysun]

XY are the worst of the three 3DS games, but SM were disappointing as well. ORAS was really the only title that delivered what I want out of Pokemon

 

[Viale]

ORAS made me drop Pokemon for a few years when I usually get every release. I was just so fatigued by the end of it. I actually enjoyed US a decent bit. Still not quite as new as I would have liked, but it was a very good direction imo....

A direction that they seemingly have now backtracked on with sword and shield, but we'll see.

 

[Serpens007]

Indeed, but that's partly down to people conflating dialogue with cutscenes now

Click to shrink...

Oh that must be it. Game has like 15 or 20 minutes of cutscenes, I always wondered why people complain so much about so little.

Dialogue is... like the same as always? I don't know, it was never a problem, but I may be used to the way Pokemon games are aimed at children

 

[Serebii]

Oh that must be it. Game has like 15 or 20 minutes of cutscenes, I always wondered why people complain so much about so little.

Dialogue is... like the same as always? I don't know, it was never a problem, but I may be used to the way Pokemon games are aimed at children

Click to shrink...

Yeah it's the same duration as always, they just made it more cinematic, but you can still spam the A button through it like all dialogue

 

[King Alamat]

Hell no, Gen 6 sucked. It was plagued by annoying sidekicks, unmemorable adversaries and performance issues. Hell, they couldn't even make ORAS decent remakes. The only good thing it did was introduce the Fairy type.

 

[Havok]

X and Y were just bad all around, but honestly the only gameplay change that I liked about Sun/Moon was finally getting the removal of HMs.

 

[Marz]

I didn't really like Sun and Moon that much. Thought X/Y were way better

 

[THErest]

I'd rather have the traditional over the exhausting and time-wasting cutscenes and dialogue and handholding that was Gen 7. That said, Gen 6 was a huge step down from 5 in every other way. Except outfits, I guess.

 

[dancingphlower]

I loved X and Y, but for some reason had no interest in Sun and Moon.

 

[Ryuelli]

I enjoyed Let's Go more than I did S/M. It was extremely refreshing being on my merry way in the first 10 minutes than being held back by tutorials for eons.

 

[Synohan]

I like OR/AS more than S/M. Getting rid of the DexNav should have been a crime.

 

[Busaiku]

I hate gyms and am sad they're back.

 

[Shedinja]

I feel like Gen 7 doubled down on the aspects of Gen 6 that I disliked. I always saw trials as gyms with a new coat of paint, though.

 

[LazyLain]

Liked XY
Loved ORAS (despite Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald being my least favorite entries in the series)
Liked SM

So, yes.

 

[LSauchelli]

Honestly, Black/White felt so much better than X/Y and Sun/Moon.

Other than megas, I don't enjoy a lot of the Gen 6 and 7 changes.

 

[Carassius Auratus]

They were all a massive downgrade from the DS games, but I appreciate Gen 7 for moving away from chibi character models. OR/AS had some cool ideas, though. I missed PSS and DexNav.

 

[KillstealWolf]

Coming off of Black and White, X and Y is such a massive step down, it's hard to enjoy the traditional nature of it when Black and White basically took every aspect X and Y did, but hit the narrative and world bits better.

X and Y's strengths where the move to 3D (although some could argue it as a weakness), it's renewal of old pokemon with the new Fairy Type and Mega Evolutions (Mega's being another debatable weakness) and it's online functionalities and a fairly strong set of new pokemon (These ones aren't debatable), it's main campaign however is among the weakest in the entire franchise.

 

[Hage]

Gen 6 for me.

Sun is the one I played less in the while series since Pearl, to be honest: weak postgame, terrible online, uninteresting story even for Pokémon standards and too loaded with terrible dialogue and unbearable railroading. Z moves had potential to shake things up tactically, but that's not enough.
Y had a truly terrible story, but I found it much more engaging on all levels, so much that I spent over 700 hours on it.

 

[808s & Villainy]

Why use Gen 6 as the representative of the "traditional nature" of Pokemon?!

 

[Weebos]

No, Sun and Moon were far superior for me. XY was way too traditional.

 

[Swiggins]

Gen 6 for me; best online infrastructure, I liked the competitive meta, and holy shit was it cool seeing all the pokemon in 3D after years of sprites.

Gen 7 was aight, and they definitely added some great Pokemon, but if feels really reductive in terms of features. (Which if the news regarding Sword and Shield is any indication, is only going to get worse).

 

[ferroseed168]

I did like Gen 6 better than Gen 7 but that's more because Gen 6 and the jump to 3D brought back my interest in Pokemon after 3-4 years. ORAS is still my most played game ever (makes sense given Gen 3 is my favorite generation) and it was the first time I tried to understand and invested time into the deeper mechanics in the game like EVs, IVs and breeding. I really enjoyed the story in Gen 7 in my first playthrough but the second time around in USUM, it definitely burned me on Pokemon. Haven't played Gen 7 or Let's Go since and if I ever have a Pokemon itch, I play through the older games

 

[Larrikin]

100%

The minimal story focus, the hands off nature of explpring the map, plus having everything feel fresh and new in 3d, not to mention it felt like they had rethought pokemon with amazing inclusions like PSS and friend Safari.

5 steps backwards with Sun and Moon. Easily the worst in the franchise.

 

[kambaybolongo]

Sun and moon were the first Pokémon games I've actively disliked.

 

[brinstar]

I do miss the traditional set up of the older games (even the way gyms are set up in Sw/Sh is a bit over the top for my tastes) but besides that and the multiplayer infrastructure S/M demolishes the Gen 6 games for me.

However I think the rest of Gen 7 falls flat. I did like US/UM, but ultimately it's a re-do of S/M so it's not that memorable and Let's Go is... yeah.

 

[entremet]

So we're in "Gen 6 is underrated" territory now, huh?

Time is truly a flat circle

Click to shrink...

In terms of battling, Gen 6 was amazing. PSS made it feel like an MMO of sorts, with PvP.