I’m sure many of you are knee deep in Pokemon X and Y. Most of you have probably even beaten the main story by now and are moving on. But there’s one thing that’s been causing quite a stir with fans of the series.
I am talking, of course, about the new EXP. Share.
For those of you that don’t know the way the new EXP. Share works is that it gives all of your Pokemon a percentage of the experience points you gathered in the last fight. Because of this it’s quite easy to level up an entire team of Pokemon in less than half the time you could have in the other games. However, this has also presented what some people see as a problem. Your team of Pokemon is usually vastly overleveled when compared to your counterparts. This causes players to more often than not completely saunter through the main story with little to no challenge.
I am talking, of course, about the new EXP. Share.
For those of you that don’t know the way the new EXP. Share works is that it gives all of your Pokemon a percentage of the experience points you gathered in the last fight. Because of this it’s quite easy to level up an entire team of Pokemon in less than half the time you could have in the other games. However, this has also presented what some people see as a problem. Your team of Pokemon is usually vastly overleveled when compared to your counterparts. This causes players to more often than not completely saunter through the main story with little to no challenge.
I’m here to say that’s completely ok.
A game doesn’t need to be difficult to be enjoyable. There’s a staggering amount of players out there that simply just want to be able to complete the game. There’s many that just want to sit back, feel good about the progress they made and be an unstoppable force.
"But what are the rest of us supposed to do?" Well luckily for the rest of you this Pokemon game has presented many different options for you to have a more challenging game experience. You just need to think outside of the box. Here’s some ideas:
-Turn the EXP. Share off: This is probably the most simple solution. Turn the thing off and simply play through as if the object never existed. That’s why this is presented to the player as an option, not a necessity.
-Do a Wonder Run: That Wonder Trade feature is pretty nifty right? Well why not trade for a bunch of random Pokemon? And why not make those random Pokemon your team for the entire game, regardless of type disadvantage? That should be interesting, especially since there may come a point where those traded Pokemon refuse to listen to you. That’s far more realistic in my opinion.
-Don’t use Mega Evolution: Some people like it, some people don’t but there’s no denying that mega evolution is insanely strong. If you decide not to use it that should surely up the challenge of your game.
-Nuzlocke Run: Nuzlocke is a popular way to play Pokemon that emerged around the Ruby/Sapphire era. If a Pokemon faints you can never use it again. This has lots of variations but no matter what you do you can be sure that the game will be more difficult as a result. In fact, why not combine this with a Wonder Run?
These games are far more accommodating to all of the players far more than we realize. The game itself has its own rules, but we can also impose are own rules on ourselves to make things more challenging. So many gamers are so used to games telling them what they can and can’t do that they often forget that they can impose their own rules when the occasion calls for it.
With all of these options available to the player can we really call this bad game design as so many have? I’m prepared to say quite the opposite. Pokemon X and Y are forcing players to think outside the box. They are being forced to use their imaginations to provide themselves with a greater challenge. Could it be that this was the developer’s intent the entire time? Who knows. But I’m convinced that it might have been.
-Do a Wonder Run: That Wonder Trade feature is pretty nifty right? Well why not trade for a bunch of random Pokemon? And why not make those random Pokemon your team for the entire game, regardless of type disadvantage? That should be interesting, especially since there may come a point where those traded Pokemon refuse to listen to you. That’s far more realistic in my opinion.
-Don’t use Mega Evolution: Some people like it, some people don’t but there’s no denying that mega evolution is insanely strong. If you decide not to use it that should surely up the challenge of your game.
-Nuzlocke Run: Nuzlocke is a popular way to play Pokemon that emerged around the Ruby/Sapphire era. If a Pokemon faints you can never use it again. This has lots of variations but no matter what you do you can be sure that the game will be more difficult as a result. In fact, why not combine this with a Wonder Run?
These games are far more accommodating to all of the players far more than we realize. The game itself has its own rules, but we can also impose are own rules on ourselves to make things more challenging. So many gamers are so used to games telling them what they can and can’t do that they often forget that they can impose their own rules when the occasion calls for it.
With all of these options available to the player can we really call this bad game design as so many have? I’m prepared to say quite the opposite. Pokemon X and Y are forcing players to think outside the box. They are being forced to use their imaginations to provide themselves with a greater challenge. Could it be that this was the developer’s intent the entire time? Who knows. But I’m convinced that it might have been.
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