Monday, November 11, 2013

Storytelling in X/Y: one step forward, two steps back

I've already showered the game with praise regarding the gameplay element, and didn't hesitate to refer to it as the definitive Pokémon game. Kalos did away with everything Unova did wrong, it's just a blast all around. One thing gen 5 excelled at, though (at least by Pokémon standards), was the storytelling aspect. Most of the characters (the Plasma sages notwithstanding) were given enough screentime for the player to understand them, and Ghetsis especially shone with the portrayal he was given over the course of both games. But I've already explained all that, so here's the question: how do X and Y compare?

First, let's take a look at the rivals. You have no less than FOUR of them, so clearly at least one of them would hit the spot, right? Well... they're better than Hugh (not that it's that difficult), for what it's worth. Unfortunately, it ended up in heavy dilution of screentime and significance. Tierno is especially guilty of this, as his goal is to assemble a Pokémon dance team. That... has ZERO relevance to anything in the game, and as a result I wouldn't even call him a filler character, because there's nothing to fill in the first place. One theory I've heard is that he may have been related to a feature that was axed in development (something I would get behind completely if it was the return of musicals), and simply removing Tierno would've altered the script too much. But how much could it be, though? He did absolutely NOTHING of note! Sure, you do fight him twice, but if fighting a character made him important by default, then every random trainer could be considered a major character.

Trevor... is better, but not by a whole lot. His dream is to fill the Pokédex, which you can actually relate to because it's one of the objectives you can choose to achieve. However, he still doesn't do all that much. Most of the times you encounter him you just compare Pokédexes, and it makes no difference whatsoever whether you win or lose. At least in previous games, when an NPC rated your Pokédex in such a fashion you'd get something for having a certain amount of Pokémon. Not here. Just a sentence or two, and that's it. So Trevor is one I would call a filler character. Shauna is slightly more interesting, as she actually does something every now and again. She assists you in Parfum Palace, and she's the one who saves the day in Team Flare's HQ with the deus ex machina Chekhov's gun she got from Clemont. In terms of screentime and purpose she doesn't suffer quite as much as Tierno and Trevor, though it would've been nice if you battled her a bit more often. I think axing Tierno completely and making Trevor and Shauna into one character would've been the best thing to do, honestly.

That leaves Serena, the game's main rival, the one who desperately wants to beat you and will challenge you at every turn. So if any of the rivals are going to be memorable, it should be her, right? Unfortunately, that's not really the case. Most of the time, she'll just arrive, challenge you, throw herself a pity party when she gets thrashed, then leave. She's just not all that much of a character. Sure, she's not as much of an empty shell as May (she actually lasts until the end of the game too, which helps), but in no way is she as memorable as Blue, Silver, Barry, Cheren or Bianca. At least she assists you against Team Flare, and doesn't act nearly as annoyingly as Hugh did, instead choosing to diss Celosia's math skills and the grunts' outfits. Shame she didn't have any more zingers up her sleeves, else she might have actually have gotten my stamp of approval. Oh well.

While we're on the subject of Team Flare... can you say, Team Galactic Redux? They are strikingly similar in a number of ways, chiefly how their god-complexed leaders aim to wipe the slate clean and reshape creation according to their selfish whims, simply because they're sick of certain aspects of human nature. Heck, their overall structure is nearly identical. Replace Mars, Jupiter and Saturn with Aliana, Bryony, Celosia and Mable, Charon with Xerosic, and Cyrus with Lysandre, and you basically have Team Galactic reborn.

With that said, there ARE a few differences. For all that Lysandre is the second coming of Cyrus, he is also a foil to him, in that whereas Cyrus is cold and emotionless, Lysandre is fiery and passionate. The latter also plays ball with his underlings, and has no qualms about telling them exactly what he plans on doing, whereas Cyrus uses Team Galactic as a tool to reach his ends, and no one else within it has any idea of what he really wants to do. While this makes Cyrus a more effective and despicable villain, the fact that everyone within Team Flare doesn't mind at all what Lysandre wants to do and will do everything to help him makes them scarier in a way.

Even scarier is the easily missed fact that if you want to enter Team Flare, you have to fork over some serious dough. If you try heading out to route 15 before doing the Pokéball Factory, one of the grunts tells you that only Team Flare members can go through, and that he'll charge you five million for that. I thought it was sort of a joke when I first saw that piece of dialogue, in a "I'll never let you pass" sort of way, but as it turns out, if you talk to certain grunts in Lysandre Labs after beating them, they will tell you that it really IS how Team Flare recruits members. You want to pass over into the next life? Then pay a shitton of money. In a way, they're like a really creepy cult for that reason. If Team Plasma was PETA, then Team Flare is Scientology.

So what about Lysandre himself? Surely someone who sets up that kind of cult and aims to destroy humanity and Pokémon is the worst scumbag ever, right? Well... no. That's because the game itself has no idea what it wants to depict Lysandre as. As I just said, you can't get much more villainous goals than his. However, other characters, especially Sycamore and Serena, try to build him up as a sympathetic character, who's more misguided than actually evil (like Archie and Maxie, in a way). After all, his whole diatribe against human greed and the notion of the planet having the resources to support only so much life are hard to argue against. But... come on, guys. HE TRIED TO KILL EVERYONE. How can that be sympathetic? Furthermore, he always goes on about how humans are terrible beings for seeking to take stuff from each other, yet he intends to take everyone's LIVES away. This... is as hypocritical as it gets. And, get this, NO ONE calls him out on this.

So ultimately, Lysandre's quality as a villain is done in primarily by haphazard writing. Not only that, but in the grand scheme of things he doesn't accomplish all that much. He causes blackouts in most of Lumiose, steals Pokéballs, and topples a few houses in Geosenge. Ultimately, he turned out to be pretty ineffective. Now let's look at what Ghetsis did in his own quest for power. He took in a child that was raised by Pokémon, and as such could make a bond with Reshiram/Zekrom, using him as a puppet to control them because he was too vile to ever do so himself. He subjected him to psychological abuse by surrounding him with Pokémon that were hurt by humans (and it can be presumed that Ghetsis did that too), lied to the other six sages and everyone within Team Plasma as to his real intentions, successfully stole an unspecified but presumably large amount of Pokémon from various people, and froze Opelucid City over. A lot more effective, wouldn't you say? But it's his relationship with N, and the way the whole thing was written, that firmly established him as the biggest scumbag to come out of the Pokémon series. Beyond just your intentions, you're only as good as the writing staff that made your script.

Another area where I think X and Y represented a step back from the gen 5 games is the fact that the gym leaders no longer have the increased presence they did in Unova. They're back to their roles of strictly being bland gatekeepers, to the exception of Korrina who makes recurring appearances and is bound to the mega evolution plot thread. But the other seven? Nope. Well, I suppose Clemont is responsible for thwarting Team Flare with the puzzle-solving machine he gave Shauna, and Viola and Wulfric have slight appearances outside of their gyms, but they're practically negligeable. Heck, they had an Elite Four member who was part of Team Flare, which could've been played up a lot more than it actually was, but no such luck.

So is there a saving grace at all? As it turns out, there is! And it comes from the most unlikely source - a returning character whose previous appearances have been very minor. I'm referring to none other than Looker, who in Platinum and BW1 did exactly what you'd expect of a Sinnohian, namely absolutely nothing. Here, despite the fact that he's featured in a single sidequest, said sidequest is heavily story-driven, so his screentime actually goes up greatly, and as a result he becomes a much more fleshed out character. Not only that, but he actively helps you this time around, despite the fact that he no longer has any Pokémon, with his Croagunk buying the farm at some point between Platinum and X/Y. Really, it seems like they decided to condense all the actual storytelling in the Looker sidequest, and it shows, because even Emma seems like a better character than most of the major ones you've met throughout the game. That part of the game represented a nice change of pace from the rest of the game, and I wouldn't mind seeing more story-driven scenarios like this in the future, as long as it doesn't end up disrupting the flow of the game. That coming from a guy who typically doesn't care much for story in a video game.

And for a guy who doesn't care much for story in a video game, that was a LOT of text. But hey, going on and on about stuff is what I do best. Besides, is it really a surprise after how I ripped FF8 a new one a few months ago? Either way, in no way do these minor flaws deter from the fantastic experience the newest entry to the Pokémon franchise delivers, and if you think they do... then maybe Pokémon isn't the game for you.

34 comments:

  1. You never mentioned AZ in that post. He's important to the story, and backstory. What's your take on him?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Even so, he's more a plot device than anything else. He has virtually no presence, so one can't really bring himself to care either way. He's basically a lot like the two brothers who owned Reshiram and Zekrom eons ago, except he actually appears in the game.

      Delete
  2. Yeah, you don't play a Pokemon game for its story... but that was one of the weak spots of X/Y's main plotline. Cool-looking Team that ultimately didn't do much. Poor inegration of the mascot Legendary. Bland ultimate rival. Champion who did even less in terms of the plot than Cynthia of all people!

    If they do a deluxe version instead of a sequel this gen, I'd be interested to see what they change or expand on those points.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I personally thought Korrina was more effective as a rival than Tierno and Trevor combined. I prefer Hugh's MUH RAGE over Tierno's MUH DANCING any day of the week, and winning Trevor's "challenges" just comes second-nature to completionists like me who clear out every route of catchable pokemon as a matter of instinct.

    My nitpicky completionist side also hates the fact that you never get to see Serena's starter's first form. If you kill off her Espurr in the early-game multi battles you're in with her, her starter will already be at its second stage. I don't think you ever see Shauna's starter's second form either. It's a shame. I rather liked Shauna, but she was just upstaged for most of the game by Serena's constant "I MUST FIGHT YOU, NEIGHBOR!" routine.

    Speaking of which, right off the bat, I noticed a major parallel between Serena/Shauna and Cheren/Bianca, in that one was a more serious "I MUST FIGHT YOU SO I CAN BE DA BES" type while the other was a more goofy "I don't know what I'm really doing, so let's just go make memories!" type. But at least in Black and White 1, Cheren let Bianca fight you a few dozen times too! In X and Y, you have to wait for Serena to go running off by herself to get any development or interaction whatsoever out of the other 3 rivals!

    Continuing with the Gen V parallels, I did everything I could to avoid spoiling myself on X and Y's story, and I could still immediately tell that Lysandre was going to be the Team Flare leader from the moment he was introduced. Like N before him, and even Ghetsis with his "I-I mean Team Plasma" Freudian slips, he was just so transparent with his intentions and beliefs that his future role in the story was incredibly obvious. Also, anyone who looks angry all the time and has the same hair color as the villainous team's grunts is immediately suspect #1 for "secret team leader". Subtlety, Game Freak, subtlety.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cheren and Bianca had a heck of a lot more character in just BW1 than Serena and Shauna did, too. It's like they realized that there was no way to go but downhill, and just gave up entirely.

      Fun fact: I had a chat with my brother the other day, and he wasn't even at the sixth gym and he already knew Lysandre was the leader of Team Flare. I guess we can partially blame the localization team, because NO ONE would expect a character named fucking FLEUR-DE-LIS to be the main villain. With that said, "Lysandre" still sounds infinitely more threatening, which can't be all bad.

      Delete
    2. I'm actually so much of a completionist I didn't even think it was actually possible to lose Trevor's challenges...

      Delete
    3. That's the thing with Trevor. One of his "challenges" is practically right after you get the Mountain Kalos pokedex. I don't know what the cutoff is, but apparently I beat it after only clearing out a single route. Unless you go through the routes without encountering a single wild pokemon or battling any of the trainers, I don't think it IS possible to lose to him! It's a shame. If Trevor's challenges had some sort of reward to them, and if they were difficult enough that you would have to go out of your way to backtrack or find a rare encounter or 2 to beat them, then I'd be able to take him more seriously. As a side note, he has a Pikachu. Considering it's the rarest thing in Santalune Forest, I'd like to think for his sake that he was persistent enough as a pokedex collector to catch it there as opposed to having it just be his starter (considering it's his highest-levelled pokemon, the latter is more likely since "starter" tends to correspond to "ace" in these games). Alas...

      Delete
  4. I get the same feeling from X & Y that I got from Diamond & Pearl. The feeling that there's something missing and that it's been left out intentionally. The story feels incomplete and that the real good stuff is being saved for a third version, which is what I think we'll get this generation and not sequels.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's absolutely true, now that I think about it. Between this and Zygarde's name, it's safe to assume they'll be going back to the deluxe version format this time around.

      Delete
  5. That blog post has inspired me. Unlike alot of people, you actually know that game's text, even if it is well crafted, doesn't take away from the experience. Heck, the first game I played was Crash Bandicoot and that had practically no storyline.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree with pretty much everything you said Slow. Particularly in regards to Lysandre; as soon as I saw him I knew he would be the leader of Team Flare, I mean he is a mysterious figure who has some weird views about life (see his dialogue with Diantha when you meet them both in Lumiose) and not to mention his hair and outfit make him look like a clear choice for admin of a villainous team. Also, what was with the whole "Doc Ock" outfit in the final encounter with him? I didn't get what purpose it was meant to serve, except to make him look MOAR EVILER!

    On another note, I was also disappointed with the lack of post-game content. No secret "mega boss" (why the hell didn't they do that with AZ instead of putting him into that anticlimactic fight during the post-League celebrations), no new routes (with the new areas being explored in very short order) and with only the Looker stuff (which was fun, I'll admit) giving any semblance of structure. I wanted to start the game again rather than continue playing, so bad was the lack of content. And also, why wasn't the league levelled up for rematches? That has been a standard feature of Pokemon games since Sinnoh, and one that I really enjoyed; it gave me something to work for after I'd completed the rest of the trainers etc. I mean I guess they wanted to push Wi-Fi battling, but they shouldn't have done it at the expense of actual content.

    All that aside, I did REALLY enjoy the game, and agree that it's definitely the best title in the series to date. Hopefully the sequel/deluxe edition have a better postgame and more fleshed out rivals, gym leaders and Elite 4 members than these ones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Am I the only one who understands that there's little post-game content because of how freakishly long the main game is?

      Delete
    2. I disagree on one little thing. I think polishing multiplayer battling is the most important thing. They finally brought back flat battles with six pokemon! You still can't do exact flat IV checking like you could in gen 4, but it's good enough.

      That said, they could have delayed the games back a couple of months for more cooking before pushing it out for a fast international release.

      Delete
    3. True, the main game was pretty long, but it was pretty lopsided. I mean the pace was so slow in the first half, that I was surprised when I blinked and I'd done the last 4 gyms already. And I know you'll probably hate me for saying it, but my favourite postgame was the HG/SS Kanto. I mean, having gyms to do after the Elite 4, and a whole set of rematches (not to mention the Red battle) gave me a reason to try and level up my pokemon.

      Anyway, my point is the main game didn't feel very long, but that's possibly a testament to how good it was. And honestly, how much effort does it take to program a levelled up roster for 5 trainers in the game?

      And in regards to the Wi-Fi battling, I agree, the changes they've made have been fantastic with EVs and IVs being much easier to keep track of, not to mention the ease of connecting with other players. But let's be honest, most people don't buy cartridges for competitive play, they go on simulators.

      Delete
  7. I completely missed that Malva was a Team Flare member on my first playthrough, that's how understated that little thread was.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I haven't even finished the story yet, and I'm pretty certain I already know who the champion and evil team leader are from the moment they were introduced (both at the same time, as a matter of fact). It would have been more subtle to just put neon signs over their heads instead of letting them talk.

    There's an important NPC named AZ? As in the Letters A and Z? At least in black and white you could do a lot more with character names that are references to colors.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (I totally missed this comment for some reason, hopefully you still get this.)

      Well... yeah, they're kinda slowly running out of names that are only one letter. First we had J, then O, then N, then E, and now X and Y. So now we get TWO-letter names! Awesome, huh? No? Thought so.

      Delete
  9. I didn't care for this gen's story AT ALL. It felt like it completely lacked motivation from the main characters. I liked Trevor and Tierno because they actually felt like they were trying to accomplish something besides the "I want to be the greatest trainer!" shtick that you get from your rival every generation. I'm glad they brought characters like that into this generation, because I felt like Bianca was something that Game Freak did right in Black/White, that being having an extra "rival" who wanted something other than to be the greatest trainer in the world.

    Team Flare and Lysandre were just awful. As soon as I ran into Lysandre it was obvious he was the leader of Team Flare. And Team Flare as a group was pathetic. It felt like only a select few actually knew what the group's goals were, and the rest were just around to talk about how stylish they were. I know the villain group is supposed to come off as idiotic and single-minded, but Team Flare's plots and plans seemed sickeningly boneheaded. The story ends abruptly after the weapon is shut down, and the game feels a bit empty after that and you think that maybe Lysandre will pop up out of somewhere, but he never does and you just go beat the Elite Four and finish that pathetic mess of a story with that surprise appearance by AZ. I liked his story for the most part, if not for the nice piano music during the cinematics.
    And the Pokemon League Champion? I don't even remember who the hell she was, I think I saw her once or twice throughout the game with two lines of dialogue each time. I could be wrong, but she certainly didn't make an impression on me enough to remember who she was when I saw her.

    Speaking of which, what did you think of this gen's soundtrack? Nothing really impressed me like Opelucid City/N's Theme/Route 10 did in Black and White. Victory Road and the Elite Four and Lysandre's battle music sounded good enough. I guess maybe I just didn't spend enough time listening to individual route music because of how often it was interrupted by the wild Pokemon battle music since there were SO MANY god damn new Pokemon in every route you entered.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Funny, that's the way I felt about Cynthia in gen 4. I knew I interacted with her before the champion battle, but I couldn't remember it (until I watched slowflake's LP). This time I predicted exactly who it is based on what I learned: She seems to have no relevance whatsoever, but has a unique character design from the NPCs and interrupts you with a cutscene to spout forgettable lines of monologue to you. The weird thing about this one is she's touted in the game world to be some beautiful movie star, but... maybe this is just my opinion... but... her looks are scary beyond all reason! Cynthia is normal and this is a supermodel?

      As for the music, I like most of it, except for the gym leader theme. This is the most boring gym leader theme they ever composed. It doesn't even sound like battle music, really.

      Delete
    2. Absolutely loved the music. Kalos route 15 puts Unova route 10 to shame, and that's saying a lot. There are a lot of other gems too, like Dendemille Town and Snowbelle City. The two that really didn't do much for me are the Team Flare theme and the gym leader battle theme. They kinda dropped the ball there, but for the rest, it's what you'd expect from a Pokémon game.

      I also never expected to hear a sad version of Looker's theme. It caught me totally off guard, but it worked really well for the mood it was trying to set.

      Delete
    3. Personally, I'm a big fan of the Elite Four's battle theme even though I think Unova's one was slightly better. And I actually kinda liked Team Flare's theme... it was really ominous and creepy and would have worked wonderfully as the theme of a serious evil team... had that team NOT been Team Flare. I liked Snowbelle City's theme too and also disliked the Gym Leader Battle theme. The latter's beginning was promising, but then became completely underwhelming.

      Delete
    4. My absolute favorite was Geosenge Town's theme. When you first get there, it's perfect "quaint little happy town" music, and then after Team Flare does their thing it's perfect "everything's back to normal" music.
      Second best is Yveltal/Xerneas/Zygarde battle theme. And I can play it during wifi battles! YES.
      Also loved the champion theme, although I find it a bit of an odd choice of remix. Hoenn confirmed, anybody?

      I thought the story was good at doing what was required of it, and the music sold it to me. There was always a perfect song for the occasion, like Lysandre's pumped-up version of the Team Flare theme and the aforementioned sad Looker. That made the story feel much better while I was actually playing it. I think the story, for me at least, is one of those ones that is really good while I'm playing it but then I hate it when I'm typing things on the internet.

      And am I the only one who noticed that Kalos had a parade in your honor and your mom watched it on TV? Worst Pokemon mom EVER.

      Delete
    5. Wait, where in blazes do you hear RSE music anywhere in Diantha's battle theme?

      Delete
    6. Part of it is a remix of the Hoenn gym leader battle theme.
      Listen to them back to back.

      Delete
    7. On this video:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvuSBcWQ0A4
      0:31 - 0:41

      On this video:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtyfIAk8bhU
      2:25 - 2:35

      In addition, 1:02 - 1:17 in X and Y is the same as 0:17 - 0:27 in the Black 2 version.

      And this one's harder to hear, but 0:46 - 0:56 in X and Y is a stretched out, cooler-sounding version of 0:12 - 0:14 from the Black 2 version.

      Delete
    8. Oh, it's just ten seconds, not a full remix.

      Delete
    9. People are still using that as a reason to scream HOENN CONFIRMED even when stuff like thats appeared in other tracks
      either way I'd say Shalour City's music is a pretty underrated gem as well, I like the Elite 4 theme once it gets into the guitar riff, but nothing beats the BW Elite 4 theme for me. Other favorites would be Snowbelle, Pokemon League, and Route 19.

      Delete
    10. and Xerneas/Yveltal/Zygarde, completely forgot

      Delete
    11. I guess I should mention, the gen 5 E4 theme had a part that was very reminiscent of the RSE one too. You probably know the one. And we all fondly remember the RSE remake that happened within gen 5...

      Delete
    12. I never caught that, actually. I'll have to give it another listen.

      Delete
  10. Well no matter how much you hate on Lysandre you have to admit... that his battle theme is probably among the best of the entire game's soundtrack. (well in my opinion anyway)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Alright, no giving publicity to attention-starved cretins who only do what they do to get just that, okay?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great review, anyways, I do gotta say that, team GALACTIC was WAY better then flare, team rocket was even better then flare, at least flare was better then aqua and magma (because team aqua and team magma where stupid beyond comprehension, I mean come one you think your gonna better the world by FLOODING IT, OR GETTING RID OF ALL WATER!?)

    ReplyDelete