Hmm, you've got some good points, but I'm not so pessimistic as you. I see all your criticisms as a sign that the series has a lot of room to grow. You thought of things I'd not even begun to imagine, but then I didn't try very hard. I really enjoyed X/Y, but I was a bit worried that they wouldn't have anywhere to go after this. As for there not being a lot of new Pokemon, that's fine by me, there's enough already. They need to slow down so expectations aren't so high each time. The reason for the grids is that a lot of the "puzzles" rely on them. However, the skating didn't feel gridlocked to me, and that had puzzles, so they're already moving past gridlocked puzzles. It makes puzzle design easier, but it's not necessary. I think a DQ8 style might be completely doable for next gen. I like the idea of gyms as a huge sidequest. That's too good of an idea for Nintendo to pass up forever. It would be the perfect thing to spice up the series while having it feel familiar. Expand the possibility for story without making it not feel like Pokemon anymore. Nintendo's all about that kind of thing.

I think why I'm so complacent is that X/Y felt like a reboot of the series of sorts. It's the first gen I played since gen 3, the first one I was even remotely interested in. It felt like a fresh start somehow. I don't know how to explain it, I just got the impression that this is a new beginning, so I wasn't ever worried. Next gen will fix a lot of what you mentioned, and I think Pokemon Amie is here to stay, as it brought in a lot of girl gamers, added a lot to make the game a bit more immersive, and though it might get a name change for a new region, I don't think it'll go away completely.

X and Y are pretty good, I find it odd when people basically admit it's the best Pokemon game yet, then complain that it's not better than all the others by a wide enough margin. Maybe I don't see the problem because I don't play every Pokemon game that comes out. Heck, I doubt I'll buy another until 7th gen.

What game is that in your sig? greetings

I'm a hardcore Pokemon player, and I believe that Pokemon X and Y are small steps forward to a better tomorrow.

They gave us 3D graphics, customization options for trainers, and 3D battles. It'll only get better from here, I'm sure.

Right back atcha! The game is Monolith Soft's "X" which is supposed to release later this year on the Wii U.

Have you played Lego City Undercover prequel?

That 3DS exclusive is more open world then any PS3 & 360 game, and it is polygon graphics with vehicles going beyond 60 mph.

Grand Theft Auto 5  (PS3 & 360) was only cell-shaded graphics with vehicles stuck at 25 mph max speed.

The 3DS can handle everything you want for Pokémon. It's just that Developers like GameFreak & Camelot, don't know how to develop 3D graphic games. Just look at Golden Sun Dark Dawn.

And I look forward to Golden Sun 4, but fear the limited Developers of Camelot.

Well it was GF's first attempt on a new hardware. Not that it means XY should get a free pass, but I will give GF credit for making the online experience in XY so seamless and natural. This combined with allowing people to train their pokemon for competitive battle in a simpler process and more fleshed out way make the games better.

That being said, post game content was horribly lacking. I still remember the amount of fun I had with Emerald's battle frontier. XY desperately needed something like that, especially because of how easy the games were, even easier than previous entries. I am also very dissappointed with the lack of very many legendary pokemon, who are the highlight and allows for a lot of postgame exploration.

As for story...well we've already established Pokemon has no real story. It's the same old dated tale of a trainer becoming a pokemon master by collecting 8 badges and beating the pokemon league. Funny enough, even though you were disappointed with BW, they were probably the games that placed the most emphasis on storytelling in any pokemon game. I think GF just doesn't want to create any proper story because of the demographic of children the games are aimed at. This is really sad because the Pokemon world is ripe with opportunities for great storytelling. Heck, the Pokedex tells more story than the actual adventure. Turning some of that stuff into in game story would have made the storyline even better.

The 3D graphics looked like 2D sprites when the 3D was disable against your will.

I was okay with it, until I found out that you can't have the 3D ON in the overworld, which meant that people like me who wanted to see 3D graphics had to wait til we exit the overworld.

No wonder why they created the 2DS and release the exact same day (October 12, 2K13) as Pokémon X & Y with a free digital download code to get a free digital copy of Pokémon X or Y.

I hope they either Patch the 3D effect, since you need the latest Firmware to access the eShop to even get any Patch at all.

Plus Pokémon Z & Pokémon 7th Gen in 2K15 or 2K16. I hope to get real story again in at least 7th Gen, like we had in 3rd & 5th Gen.

Does anyone think the remake will be the rumor Rainbow Edition containing the first 4 Gens Regions. I would prefer this over 3rd Gen remake, but I already loved the idea of a 3rd Gen remake. But I think Rainbow Edition is more realistic because of Stereoscopic 3D.

I think they released this game without all the post-game content it could have had so they could sell you the typical third version which contains everything the original game could have had, just compare Platinum to Diamond/Pearl or Emerald to Ruby/Sapphire.

It was simply too easy! I didn't lose a single battle until after the E4, and I didn't have to grind once for levels.