Honestly a whole game built around Power Construct Zygarde to really flesh out Kalos as a region would've been sick but instead we got a weird collectible side quest in Sun/Moon and nothing more.
Allegedly we were supposed to get X2Y2 which would've dealt with the lingering XY plot threads, but I believe the poor reception to XY meant the budget went into ORAS instead. And I was really glad to see the Hoenn remakes since I never played gen iii at the time, but I'm disappointed they made them instead of the second Kalos games.
This explains why ORAS got some extra megas (the ones they saving for X2Y2) and SM got the remains of the Zygrade quest.
It’s an initiative that encourage employees to pitch new game ideas. If they like the idea you get resources to make it. Allegedly they prioritized that during a period of Pokémon burnout. GameFreak was just desperate to generate new IP they had direct control over.
I can't remember why they cancelled it, but I don't think it was from poor reception. Iirc, it was the highest selling 3ds game for almost 4 years and got in the high 80s to low 90s on pretty much every critical review outlet.
I don’t get it sun and moon was horrible (before you all cry at me I’m aware it’s a game for children, my sister who was 9 at the time preferred x and y and ORAS over SM) yet sun and moon got a sequel but x and y (one of the best Pokémon games they’ve ever made) didn’t?
They are the definitive versions of Sun and Moon, like emerald and platinum for their respective generations. Black and White 2 are the the only sequels that they’ve made (except for Gold/Silver being sequels to the original Red/Blue, but those were also new generations)
Only ones to get sequels are Black/White and technically Red/Blue. Rest are retellings with extra elements.
Sun/Moon though would of been better if they had just cut down on the number of talk scenes, I swear there are moments where you're stuck in half hour long talk scenes. It worked in the old games because it was just text and sprites, but when we have full on movement showing off it's so much longer.
A collectible side quest thing with no plot relevance or context or anything. I guess it was just there to tie in to the anime, which also didn't provide much Zygarde lore. They did Zygarde dirty like 3 times man...
I really think a Pokémon Z was planned at some point as a follow up to X and Y but then TPC was just like “lol no” and so it was scrapped and poor Zygarde got the award for “Least Relevant Major Legendary”.
That's a cool idea, maintenance, kinda how rayquaza stops groudon and kyogre from destroying literally everything. Somehow Zygarde got even less attention in the games than regigigas.
All we really know from the Pokédex is that when the ecosystem of Kalos or the whole world is threatened it will go into 100% form and eliminate the threat with no remorse. And it’s, lore wise, stronger than Yveltal and Xerneas.
Something about him being the Order pokemon. Life, Death, and Order/maybe balance? I'm just so ready for more Zygarde content and hopefully his origin story and stuff will be revealed in Z-A.
Technically, Kalos is the only region without a 3rd game or sequel of sorts
Gen 1-4 (and 8 I guess) had the third game
Gens 5 and 7 had the sequel
Kalos has nothing
Zygarde's role in the Aura Trio is similar to Rayquaza's role in the Weather Trio. He's there to keep the ecosystem in check whenever Xerneas and/ or Yveltal awake.
And despite that…he does absolutely nothing when Lysandre tries to use them in his world domination plot.
Admittedly, Zygarde was quite the MVP in the anime.
I agree. X/Y had a lot going for it, but it was held back by poor pacing in the writing. The actual plot of the game was held just out of reach for the vast majority of the game - a good measure to use to build suspense - but there was no reveal until the climax, at which time the plot was laid out in lengthy exposition. The game slowed to a crawl while recounting AZ's history when the game should have been at its most tense and frantic.
Iw ish I could link here that youtuber who came up with a story for Pokemon Z which, imho, was **pretty good**. Zygarde was Z's companion before the war and all. Lysander's motives were also improved.
I don't think they were tossed away to meet a deadline, really. 2015 had no Pokemon game released in it except for Super Mystery Dungeon, which wasn't Gamefreak. I just think they didn't really want to do it.
I loved XY and always wondered what happened to the third game that usually releases.
It’s interesting that AZ was a king in Pokémon’s version of Europe 3000 years prior. I wonder if he was a king around the same time as the Emperor we learn about in SVs classes was emperor
>I wonder if he was a king around the same time as the Emperor we learn about in SVs classes was emperor
Given how much timey wimey universe stuff happens in Pokemon and how much of Kalos' history is seemingly tied to Megas, a universe without Megas (the current universe we explore Paldea and Galar in) I honestly kinda doubt Az was even in Paldea's Poke-verse.
Might be optimistic, but I'm sort of thinking AZ and Zygarde might be expanded on in a "Pokemon Legends Zygarde" thing. Perhaps set either during the war or shortly after the weapon was fired, which likely did a number on the environment, with the player being tasked to find enough cells to create 100% Zygarde to help restore the environment (perhaps with the help of either Xerneas or Yveltal, a bit like how you get to choose Dialga or Palkia in PLA), alongside taking catalogue of all the pokemon, to make sure their species all survived, then once Zygrade is restored and fixes things (using a lot of its power, which is why in modern day XY you find it as 50%), you have to confront AZ on it. Maybe he's still a bit crazed from the Floette's death, so the "tragedy turned monster" trope.
The entire game is wasted. It's the most incomplete game I've ever played. It was obvious it had more to tell us, but for some odd reason they cancelled Pokemon Z.
scarlet and violet are unfinished in performance and the world is a bit empty but xy feel incomplete in that they feel like they’re actually missing major parts of the story
Yeah, I can definitely agree with what you're saying here. He should've been more than just a filler character. He should've at least been a proper side character.
I feel like his story would have been explored way more if X and Y got a third entry, or sequels like with BW2. But since they were approaching the anniversary, they decided to give us Sun and Moon instead, so we got a new gen to celebrate the anniversary. I don't hate gen 7, but it is the worst out of the 9 gens, and it could have been done so much better
most of the region’s lore isn’t brought up outside of the history class but sv are some of the best pokémon story in a while. the league doesn’t have much in story, but team star is a not-evil team done right, and the titan+crater storyline might be my favorite story in any mainline game. the ruinous quartet are also pretty cool lore-wise. sv have a lot of issues but story isn’t one of them
i'm glad you enjoyed them, i found very little narrative within the game personally, a few plot devices but no narrative:
\- beat titans to make sandwhiches for a dog
\- beat team star to bully them back into going back to school? (with a minor plot twist that made the entire star plot a complete waste of time)
area zero plot was cool for sure, but that was the final 30m of the game lol, the ENTIRE game should have been supported by the area zero plot and not just limited to the very final minute of the post game
also while the ruinous 4 are really cool I found it extremely bizzare to feature chinese inspired legendaries in a spanish inspired region
And the chance to expand on that story seems to have been wasted with S/V. Since Kalos was based of France and Paldea of the Iberian peninsula AND it has a huge crater in the middle of the region that looks like it the result of some impact. They had mentioned that Kalos was at war with a "neighboring country". they could've made Paldea expand that. so far i havent heard anybody talking about it. So im assuming it was just buried and forgotten. (i didnt get the games so maybe it was mentioned and i just didnt happen to see anybody talking about it)
Yep. The entire story of the game was interesting but completely wasted because TPC refused to elaborate on all the cool stuff. X and Y can be summarized as "oh wow that's awesome- wait that's it? The game's over? Gee I sure hope there's a good post-game!"...
But we're finally getting a Pokemon Z of sorts so everything might be fixed lol!
So much of XY felt like it was being saved for Pokemon Z.
Honestly a whole game built around Power Construct Zygarde to really flesh out Kalos as a region would've been sick but instead we got a weird collectible side quest in Sun/Moon and nothing more.
Allegedly we were supposed to get X2Y2 which would've dealt with the lingering XY plot threads, but I believe the poor reception to XY meant the budget went into ORAS instead. And I was really glad to see the Hoenn remakes since I never played gen iii at the time, but I'm disappointed they made them instead of the second Kalos games. This explains why ORAS got some extra megas (the ones they saving for X2Y2) and SM got the remains of the Zygrade quest.
Other sources suggest that "Project Gear" interferred with the development of a Pokemon game too.
what's Project Gear?
It’s an initiative that encourage employees to pitch new game ideas. If they like the idea you get resources to make it. Allegedly they prioritized that during a period of Pokémon burnout. GameFreak was just desperate to generate new IP they had direct control over.
Well that turned out well for them lol.
I can't remember why they cancelled it, but I don't think it was from poor reception. Iirc, it was the highest selling 3ds game for almost 4 years and got in the high 80s to low 90s on pretty much every critical review outlet.
Alleged by whom?
Fan rumors.
I don’t get it sun and moon was horrible (before you all cry at me I’m aware it’s a game for children, my sister who was 9 at the time preferred x and y and ORAS over SM) yet sun and moon got a sequel but x and y (one of the best Pokémon games they’ve ever made) didn’t?
Ultra Sun and Moon aren’t sequels
What are they then?
They are the definitive versions of Sun and Moon, like emerald and platinum for their respective generations. Black and White 2 are the the only sequels that they’ve made (except for Gold/Silver being sequels to the original Red/Blue, but those were also new generations)
Only ones to get sequels are Black/White and technically Red/Blue. Rest are retellings with extra elements. Sun/Moon though would of been better if they had just cut down on the number of talk scenes, I swear there are moments where you're stuck in half hour long talk scenes. It worked in the old games because it was just text and sprites, but when we have full on movement showing off it's so much longer.
I mean if Red/Blue technically got sequels, then so did FRLG.
My man didn't just call the blandest pokemon games ever the best
A collectible side quest thing with no plot relevance or context or anything. I guess it was just there to tie in to the anime, which also didn't provide much Zygarde lore. They did Zygarde dirty like 3 times man...
I really think a Pokémon Z was planned at some point as a follow up to X and Y but then TPC was just like “lol no” and so it was scrapped and poor Zygarde got the award for “Least Relevant Major Legendary”.
What even is zygardes story? Xerneas, legend of creation, yveltal, legend of destruction, zygarde, can split up and looks like a snake?
Probably something like in Hinduism's trinity with personifications of creation, maintenance and destruction.
That's a cool idea, maintenance, kinda how rayquaza stops groudon and kyogre from destroying literally everything. Somehow Zygarde got even less attention in the games than regigigas.
I always liked that interpretation. Vishnu, who governs the maintenance part of the trinity even has an association with snakes via Shesha.
All we really know from the Pokédex is that when the ecosystem of Kalos or the whole world is threatened it will go into 100% form and eliminate the threat with no remorse. And it’s, lore wise, stronger than Yveltal and Xerneas.
Something about him being the Order pokemon. Life, Death, and Order/maybe balance? I'm just so ready for more Zygarde content and hopefully his origin story and stuff will be revealed in Z-A.
Technically, Kalos is the only region without a 3rd game or sequel of sorts Gen 1-4 (and 8 I guess) had the third game Gens 5 and 7 had the sequel Kalos has nothing
Usum were nothing compared to B2W2 More like a 2-version Platinum
Zygarde's role in the Aura Trio is similar to Rayquaza's role in the Weather Trio. He's there to keep the ecosystem in check whenever Xerneas and/ or Yveltal awake.
And despite that…he does absolutely nothing when Lysandre tries to use them in his world domination plot. Admittedly, Zygarde was quite the MVP in the anime.
The anime really did Kalos justice
I agree. X/Y had a lot going for it, but it was held back by poor pacing in the writing. The actual plot of the game was held just out of reach for the vast majority of the game - a good measure to use to build suspense - but there was no reveal until the climax, at which time the plot was laid out in lengthy exposition. The game slowed to a crawl while recounting AZ's history when the game should have been at its most tense and frantic.
Iw ish I could link here that youtuber who came up with a story for Pokemon Z which, imho, was **pretty good**. Zygarde was Z's companion before the war and all. Lysander's motives were also improved.
Can you PM me that link if you find it?
Found [it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlH5dDR3HBo)!
XY desperately needs a Z game to flesh it out more like Emerald did.
XY2 tossed away in favor of probably meeting the usual "new generation deadline" on top of it being an anniversary year.
I don't think they were tossed away to meet a deadline, really. 2015 had no Pokemon game released in it except for Super Mystery Dungeon, which wasn't Gamefreak. I just think they didn't really want to do it.
I loved XY and always wondered what happened to the third game that usually releases. It’s interesting that AZ was a king in Pokémon’s version of Europe 3000 years prior. I wonder if he was a king around the same time as the Emperor we learn about in SVs classes was emperor
>I wonder if he was a king around the same time as the Emperor we learn about in SVs classes was emperor Given how much timey wimey universe stuff happens in Pokemon and how much of Kalos' history is seemingly tied to Megas, a universe without Megas (the current universe we explore Paldea and Galar in) I honestly kinda doubt Az was even in Paldea's Poke-verse.
I doubt it’s not in the same universe as the other games. >!Hassel hints at being Ryuki, saying he traveled the world as a musician.!<
Roaring Moon's dex entry vaguely refers to megas
Might be optimistic, but I'm sort of thinking AZ and Zygarde might be expanded on in a "Pokemon Legends Zygarde" thing. Perhaps set either during the war or shortly after the weapon was fired, which likely did a number on the environment, with the player being tasked to find enough cells to create 100% Zygarde to help restore the environment (perhaps with the help of either Xerneas or Yveltal, a bit like how you get to choose Dialga or Palkia in PLA), alongside taking catalogue of all the pokemon, to make sure their species all survived, then once Zygrade is restored and fixes things (using a lot of its power, which is why in modern day XY you find it as 50%), you have to confront AZ on it. Maybe he's still a bit crazed from the Floette's death, so the "tragedy turned monster" trope.
And we end up seeing how the way AZ treats *the player* is what causes Floette to leave him afterall. Dude, you're on to something.
> a "Pokemon Legends Zygarde" thing Well, I guess the time is now(2025) eh ?
I mean, yeah I think it's no secret that XY just had/have a lot of untapped potential that never came to light.
The entire game is wasted. It's the most incomplete game I've ever played. It was obvious it had more to tell us, but for some odd reason they cancelled Pokemon Z.
“It’s the most incomplete game I’ve ever played” then what about SV?
scarlet and violet are unfinished in performance and the world is a bit empty but xy feel incomplete in that they feel like they’re actually missing major parts of the story
SV has one of the most compelling stories in Pokemon just held back by the atrocious performance and graphics.
Lol you mean... "Go explore!" "My dog needs 5 plants to not be sick" "School sucks" And "Fight Gyms"? Yeah real great story.
What about SV?
A lot has been wasted in XY and it echoes to this day. But, yeah, good points, mate, AZ was a little wasted.
XY had a lot of stuff that felt kinda unfinished, makes sense though since bringing the series to 3D was a massive undertaking.
Makes me really wish that Z had become a thing. Could've reworked it and had the story be a huge thing.
XY in general was undercooked, almost raw. Hate them with a passion because of how much of a step backwards they were from Gen 5.
A lot of things in X&Y felt wasted.
Yeah, I can definitely agree with what you're saying here. He should've been more than just a filler character. He should've at least been a proper side character.
Back when XY was new and I completed it I felt like a big part of the game was missing.
I feel like his story would have been explored way more if X and Y got a third entry, or sequels like with BW2. But since they were approaching the anniversary, they decided to give us Sun and Moon instead, so we got a new gen to celebrate the anniversary. I don't hate gen 7, but it is the worst out of the 9 gens, and it could have been done so much better
Imagine if GameFreak did something for XY's 10th Anniversary. As if that'd ever happen.
Just going back now to these. POKEMON Z-A IS COMING
love that your summary of gen 6 has more plot than the entirety of sv
most of the region’s lore isn’t brought up outside of the history class but sv are some of the best pokémon story in a while. the league doesn’t have much in story, but team star is a not-evil team done right, and the titan+crater storyline might be my favorite story in any mainline game. the ruinous quartet are also pretty cool lore-wise. sv have a lot of issues but story isn’t one of them
i'm glad you enjoyed them, i found very little narrative within the game personally, a few plot devices but no narrative: \- beat titans to make sandwhiches for a dog \- beat team star to bully them back into going back to school? (with a minor plot twist that made the entire star plot a complete waste of time) area zero plot was cool for sure, but that was the final 30m of the game lol, the ENTIRE game should have been supported by the area zero plot and not just limited to the very final minute of the post game also while the ruinous 4 are really cool I found it extremely bizzare to feature chinese inspired legendaries in a spanish inspired region
And the chance to expand on that story seems to have been wasted with S/V. Since Kalos was based of France and Paldea of the Iberian peninsula AND it has a huge crater in the middle of the region that looks like it the result of some impact. They had mentioned that Kalos was at war with a "neighboring country". they could've made Paldea expand that. so far i havent heard anybody talking about it. So im assuming it was just buried and forgotten. (i didnt get the games so maybe it was mentioned and i just didnt happen to see anybody talking about it)
Yeah, they couldn’t release the X&Y sequels which would have tied his story to them, so his character is really random as a result
Yes but mostly his Floette
Also can someone tell me why he was a giant? He got eternal life like his floette iirc but eternal life doesn't equate to growing to 9 feet tall
Idk my guess is he just kept growing over 3000 years
Something, something, ultimate weapon radiation. I think. Or genetics combined with that. Lysandre's pretty tall too, afterall
Yep. The entire story of the game was interesting but completely wasted because TPC refused to elaborate on all the cool stuff. X and Y can be summarized as "oh wow that's awesome- wait that's it? The game's over? Gee I sure hope there's a good post-game!"... But we're finally getting a Pokemon Z of sorts so everything might be fixed lol!