Pokemon X&Y: A rocky Summer 2023 Season

Let me set the scene, dear fellow gamers: August was coming to an end, and I still hadn’t polished off a single run of X&Y. Was I suddenly not in the mood to indulge in that beloved summer habit of mine? Oh yes, I was most definitely in the mood, and I did try to get myself some X&Y; but bad luck, destiny, the Universe, whatever, conspired to spoil these runs. Time to bring in the popcorn and listen to my X&Y woes, dear fellow gamers!

 

 

I first started a Honedge solo run in Pokemon Y, way back in July. Cruising in Kalos again was as delightful and heart-warming as ever, and Honedge proved to be a stellar lone ranger. I was on my merry way to the fourth Gym, when the unthinkable happened and doom crashed upon me. Picture this: as I exited the local post office with a parcel, I needed to rearrange the contents to my bag to fit said parcel. My black&blue New 2DS XL was part of my bag’s contents; I put it on the side along other stuff, and shove everything back in the bag with the parcel — or so I though. Because, lo and behold, I actually forgot my precious New 2DS XL on the curb. That fateful moment of inattention was bound to have dire consequences: by the time I realised what I had done and hastily backtracked, Paris had already swallowed my piece of kit! 

 

 

That faux pas was costly, let me tell you. Not only did I lose a great save file starring a great ‘Mon, but I also lost my Y cartridge, my black&blue New 2DS XL, its matching pouch, and the UltraSun and Aqua Sapphire cartridges that were tucked in said pouch. Most of this can be purchased again; as for my Honedge run, it can obviously be tackled again. Still, that event put a dent in my desire to play X&Y; I decided a brain refresher was in order, and turned to Gen III (more on that in upcoming posts).

 

 

After polishing off two back-to-back Delcatty runs of Ruby and Sapphire, the time was ripe to play some X&Y again. For that second try of the summer, I decided to cruise with local dragon Goodra, a ‘Mon I had been curious about for the longest time. Goodra being a pseudo-legendary and a Dragon type to boot, I expected some epic fighting prowess from the whole line; however, Goomy sorely failed on that front, and routinely failed to one-shoot the opposition. As I reached Cyllage City, I started to worry: my Lv.25 Goomy got utterly destroyed by Fisherman Shad’s Lv.20 Shellder, and I struggled mightily against the Gym Trainers. Then came Grant, whose lv.25 Amaura used super-effective Aurora Beam on the first turn. My Goomy got obliterated — along with any illusion of smooth progress. Being able to face Amaura would have required insane amounts of grinding, luck and strategizing; all things I was not in the mood for. 

 

 

That event allowed me to realise that I wanted a slick and smooth run, which would allow me to blaze through Kalos effortlessly. I also wanted some Frenchness, somehow; as I was spending the whole summer in Paris, I wanted to bathe in all things French, and crank the French Cliché meter to eleven. And then came the epiphany: I was going to cruise again with female Meowstic, a.k.a. the most badass yet Chanel-esque feline of them all, the perfect mix of class&grit. That run led to other runs; needless to say, I wrote run reports for them all, which I'll post here in the next days. Stay tuned! ^^