A question for modern Pokémon players

[Queen Michael]

I've been wanting to get into Pokémon again. What's the latest Pokémon game like? Keep in mind, I've only played Red. I know there's a huge bunch of new pokémon; does that mean finishing the game's much much much harder since there's so many pokémon to catch? And what are the latest titles? And is it still possible to get Mew and Celebi?

 

[ohnoitsabear]

The games really aren't any more difficult to get into or finish than back in Red and Blue. There are new features added with each iteration, but the basic gameplay is still the same as it's always been. The biggest difference is obviously the new pokemon, but that doesn't really make the game any longer or more difficult unless you want to get every single one of them. The newer versions have also added a lot of convenience features that only serve to improve the game.

Basically, the new Pokemon games (which are X and Y for the 3DS) are probably the best the series has ever been, and there has been no better time to be a Pokemon fan.

 

[Bellvedere]

The latest Pokemon games (X & Y) are the best Pokemon games to date. Each entry in the series has been an improvement on the basic game and X&Y is absolutely outstanding in how much has been added and fixed.

If you haven't played anything since Red, in terms of gameplay (battles), there will be a few new types (including the one added by X&Y - fairy) and some of the type advantage/disadvantages will be a little different if you still recall them.

You don't need to catch 'em all to finish the game but if you want to, in some ways it's actually a little easier due to how much more accessible and convenient online trading has become. Well, perhaps not easier than Red since you pretty much only needed a friend with the opposite game but easier than many entries in the series.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

Breeding/trading and collecting is the easiest it's ever been too, and since you don't have any recent games to port, you don't have to mess with Pokebank.

Incidentally, they are giving away a Celebi right now for transferring Pokemon via Pokebank... It will likely be the only way to get an X/Y legit Celebi for a looooooong time.

 

[PFCboom]

X/Y are awesome. It's new in many, many ways, but there are plenty of reminders of generations past. The "bump into a wall" sound is unchanged, and for some reason, it really made me feel good about the whole game.

The music is improved, with battle themes for all different scenarios: Wild pokemon battles, trainer battles, gym trainers, gym leaders, Team Flare members, Flare admins... and so on and so forth.

Fully animated 3D models of all pokemon, and their attacks. Awesome.

I love the newest starters. Well, the grass one, at least. He's like a friggin' paladin.

The way the legendaries figure into the main storyline isn't as fleshed out as in previous generations, but the trade-off is a world that is richer and feels more populated than ever before.

You can catch Mewtwo, and it isn't bloody *&^%ing impossible like I remember it from Red/Blue. Bust out a Doublade/Aegislash (steel/ghost type) and you're all set to wear down Mewtwo through sheer attrition.

It's going to be a bit of a shock to jump from Red/Blue straight into X/Y, but you'll get *RAMPANT GODDAM SPOILERS* not too far in so I think it's worth the initial adjustment.

 

[Dragonbums]

I've been wanting to get into Pokémon again. What's the latest Pokémon game like? Keep in mind, I've only played Red. I know there's a huge bunch of new pokémon; does that mean finishing the game's much much much harder since there's so many pokémon to catch? And what are the latest titles? And is it still possible to get Mew and Celebi?

They aren't much different in terms of main gameplay. However you best read yourself up on all the updates if your planning on going into competitive battling, because THAT has changed a lot over the years.

For instance some Pokemon have changed typings. (Mainly fairy changes), others got new abilities, certain moves have changed their types, newer and older pokemon have a variety of strategies and abilities so on and so forth.

In other words, read up on the metagame or prepared to get wrecked hard.

 

[Hero of Lime]

X and Y are great games to start with, though just about any Pokemon game after Red and Blue including the remakes are better in every possible way.

My personal favorites are still Black and White which I highly recommend, but X and Y have the best battle visuals with the 3D models and all. You may not care about it, the story in X and Y is probably the weakest point, though enjoying the story is a small part of the experience. Music is great, the new Pokemon are a pretty nice set. X and Y are pretty awesome all around.

Be prepared to have a lot of names and things of interest name dropped on you if you play X and Y. Pokemon games may not have changed too much, but you will be thrown lots of new information that may seem overwhelming at first.

As for the latest titles, you have the most recent being X and Y, before that it's Black and White 2, then Black and White before them on the DS. If you want to go further back there are the Gold and Silver remakes and Pokemon Platinum, also for DS.

Mew? No, but a Celebi? Yes, you can get one for downloading Pokemon bank.

 

[AuronFtw]

The latest ones are really nice to look at with all the 3D effects, but they're really easy even for Pokémon games (thanks to the Exp. All) and they have a severe lack of endgame content. Still, they're incredibly fun and they still capture that Pokémon feel really well, with some great new features. Would definitely recommend X and Y first.

Erm... they actually have the *most* endgame content of any game in the series to date (excepting the obvious GSC/HGSS second continent, which wasn't really content at all, just rehashing old maps and gym leaders out of order), with countless daily activities and resetting trainers in the battle maison in addition to the battle chateau (which they have a version of in ~every gen since 3). Given that battles are easy to queue for and trades are easy to set up, there's definitely a lot to do once the relatively short campaign is finished.

The story is literally pants on head retarded - don't try to make sense of it, because the characters in the game obviously aren't. But as others have said, the graphics and various other updated aspects are great (including EV training via minigame instead of traditional grind killing!).

 

[144_v1legacy]

The one different thing I'd put different to Red, if you've really missed all the games between, is the loss of emphasis on "catch 'em all". There's simply too many Pokemon, and too many unobtainable-without-unreasonable-effort Pokemon in particular, to make it feel like a worthwhile goal. Battling is what it feels like it's all about, which is less rock/paper/scissors than it used to be.

As for the story, this game's "Team Flare" is my favorite Pokemon antagonist group to date, because of how hilariously adamant they are about their not-so-criminal attire.

 

[Risingblade]

There are like what 400-500 new pokemon since Red?

 

[FrozenLaughs]

The one different thing I'd put different to Red, if you've really missed all the games between, is the loss of emphasis on "catch 'em all". There's simply too many Pokemon, and too many unobtainable-without-unreasonable-effort Pokemon in particular, to make it feel like a worthwhile goal.

I, along with other Escapists have a living Pokedex. I'm only short a Mew, so it's entirely possible to trade your way up to every single non event Pokemon in the game. That's around 708/721.

 

[FrozenLaughs]

There are like what 400-500 new pokemon since Red?

721 now. So... 570 more.

 

[Bellvedere]

There are like what 400-500 new pokemon since Red?

569 since Red. Currently up to 719 total and 454 can be obtained in X&Y through catching and evolution.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Comparing to Red, X and Y is a huge difference even when not metioning about the graphic. The game itself is far easier to the past incarnation by making Experience Share a feature that you can turn on and off thus making level grind a thing of a past (I had to turn it off several time when my team became over level)! Breeding and trading are also super easy now making the whole EV training more time saving to do. Also in this version they did a good job at providing the returning Pokemon with the new so you have a wide range of Pokemon to choose to form your team.

As for Mew and Celebi, there is no information on how to capture Mew other than transferring it over from the previous game and last time I've check, Celebi can be obtained if you used the Pokemon bank.

 

[Queen Michael]

There are like what 400-500 new pokemon since Red?

569 since Red. Currently up to 719 total and 454 can be obtained in X&Y through catching and evolution.

How do you get all the other ones, then?

 

[Fractral]

There are like what 400-500 new pokemon since Red?

569 since Red. Currently up to 719 total and 454 can be obtained in X&Y through catching and evolution.

How do you get all the other ones, then?

You can transfer them from Generation 5 games using a paid E-Store app called Pokemon Bank. Since you don't have a generation 5 game (and you need gen 4 games anyway to get stuff like Ho-oh) you can just use the brilliant trading facilities the games have to fill up your dex from people who have transferred their pokemon or hacked them into the game. That would be the easiest way to get Mew, since there hasn't been an international event for ages.

 

[Bellvedere]

There are like what 400-500 new pokemon since Red?

569 since Red. Currently up to 719 total and 454 can be obtained in X&Y through catching and evolution.

How do you get all the other ones, then?

From trading with other people. You can pass Pokemon up generations so people that have other games in the series will do that and breed them for trade. You can also get some from events - mainly legendary Pokemon.

Trading online is really easy though. You can organise it on sites that deal with Pokemon trades, and/or use game's built-in systems.

 

[Charli]

Sheesh I've only just caught up to Soul Silver/Heart Gold this week by pilfering my brothers DS.


...Can you believe I found Pokerus naturally in the game but not a single shiny yet. Jfc...

I'd like to get into the latest series again too but ...alas, I am ordinarily DS-less.

 

[Foolery]

Pokemon X/Y has the blandest singleplayer out of the series, and a very empty post-game. It's all about breeding and battling online, if you're not into that it's a boring chore once you finish the main game. That said, the graphics are fantastic. That's the only praise I can give it. It looks pretty. I also really hated the soundtrack aside from the idiotic Team Flare's theme. Oh and have fun with always on rollerblades. Of course you can run with with the D-Pad, but eh, I'd rather have proper equippable items from a drop-down quick select list like in Pokemon White/Black.

 

[T_ConX]

Pokemon is one of those games where the longer you stay away from the series, the better it gets. If you seriously haven't touched the series since G1, then you're in for some big surprises.