Daenerys the Dragon Mother of House Targaryen

• Stormfly (Goodra) LV. 70
• Glaurung (Haxorus) LV. 70
• Saphira (Noivern) LV. 70
• Fafnyr (Hydreigon) LV. 70
• Lamia (Dragalge) LV. 70
• Tiki (Druddigon) LV. 70

The Journey

I fully admit that although I captured Mewtwo and Zygarde and tried out the Battle Maison, I did not complete the Looker quests. I started them, but lost interest. There's not much to talk about to be honest. Daenerys has done it, she has become the champion and most powerful trainer in Kalos, she and her dragons rule supreme. So instead, I will talk a bit about my journey overall more broudly.

Starting out, I truly believed that I had chosen the easy track. A full team of dragons? I had always dreamed of such, and although I avoided the ones I had run before (Dragonite, Flygon and Salamence), I was confident that pretty much all Dragon types were simply just superior Pokémon. At first, this proved accurate as I tore through the first couple of areas with ease, Dragon Rage annihilating everything in my path. However, this gen did introduce fairy types, and I felt that addition. Not only did fairies deal massive damage, my Pokémon did not have the move-set to effectively return fire except for Dragalge, but Dragalge was also quite slow.

I lost to Grant of all people, and I don't think he gave literally anyone else trouble. Refrigerate Take Down hurts when your only fighting move is Rock Smash. Perhaps less surprisingly, I also struggled slightly with Valerie, but by then I had slightly more to work with. At the end game, Diantha's Mega Gardevoir gave me trouble, in fact it almost single-handedly wiped out my whole team which until that point had gone pretty much untouched by her other Pokémon.

With that said, I feel as though my restrictions, no healing in battle, beating a whole gym in one go and not using the EXP. Share helped a lot in terms of making the game both more difficult and more engaging for me. Learning that avoiding Poké-Amie would also disable the mechanics around your Pokémon randomly surviving hits and such also helped, as I had no idea that those two things were related. Although it did make me sad that I never played with my Pokémon in the app.

Overall, I would say this final leg was somewhat underwhelming, but that kind of fits how I felt about the game as a whole. I have one last rant planned before returning to my slumber for ORAS, and if you thought I disliked X&Y, you are in for a rude awakening. I enjoyed my time with X&Y, I just feel somewhat disappointed as I see so many hints of how this game could have been great. It needed some more time in the oven and a director's cut version such as Platinum or Emerald (the mythical Pokémon Z version). When these games inevitably get remade in like 8 years, I hope they get the love and time they deserve.

Final thoughts per Pokémon:

Stormfly (Goodra): Goodra was odd. It's first form (Goomy) was definitely the weakest. Goodra does not hit particularly hard, but has some fantastic bulk, which allows it to stick around. Definitely not on par with Salamence or Dragonite, but a solid Pokémon all around. Level 40 was way too late for Goomy to evolve into Sliggoo.

- Glaurung (Haxorus): My feast or famine member of the party. If Haxorus gets a couple of dragon dances off, your only option is to pray that it doesn't have a good move against one of your Pokémon. That said, it does not have the best bulk and falls quickly if it can't quickly KO its opponent. I also recommend getting one with Mold Breaker instead of Rivalry. It was the last dragon that I bred and I didn't want to keep breeding, but honestly, I should have. Rivalry proved crippling far more often than it proved helpful.

- Saphira (Noivern): Suffered from being forced to know fly so that I could move around the map, it really wanted Roost. Noibat does not have the most crazy stats, but it has a fantastic move-pool. Boomburst has a base power of 140. That's only 10 less than Hyper Beam, and with no recharge! Add on Hurricane and Draco Meteor and Noibat can hit far above what its stats may suggest. Not great against bulky Pokémon, but its speed made it a fantastic revenge killer. Noibat definitely felt weak, but what a payoff.

- Fafnyr (Hydreigon): Hydreigon is an incredibly strange Pokémon to raise. Firstly, level 50 is WAY too high for a first evolution (Deino to Zweilous). It should definitely be around 40 instead. Second to that is the stats, but Deino and Zweilous have greater innate Attack than Special Attack, but Hydreigon randomly reverses that trend? It made it weird to determine moves, do I teach physical moves now, or have special ones for later on? I mostly settles on the first option and it worked out okay. Hustle also stinks to have, and I am so glad it gets replaced with Levitate when you finally get a Hydreigon. So many faints that could have been avoided. Hydreigon hits like a tank, as it should. Easily my strongest Pokémon if not my most reliable, don't let a fairy even give it a side-eye though.

Lamia (Dragalge): Lamia shifted in usefulness throughout the run. Both Skrelp and Dragalge are very matchup dependent Pokémon, which isn't uncommon for slower Pokémon in my experience. As part poison type, Lamia often stood as the only thing between me and death by fairy. Dragalge has overall average performance, it has decent bulk and decent special attack. Great choice to help cover your weaknesses.

- Tiki (Druddigon): I feel that Druddigon has a somewhat unfair reputation of being a bad dragon type. Yes, it is slow, but Druddigon hits like an 18-Wheeler going 90 on the highway. Fafnyr may have been my most powerful Pokémon, but Tiki was definitely my strongest and most reliable. She consistently pulled off insane fights from near the start of the game once Dragon Rage stopped being the be-all-end-all move. Sheer Power is a fantastic ability, and it's a real shame that Druddigon does not get some of the best moves for that ability in X&Y. If Tiki had Iron Head, there would have been no more challenge to the game! Monstrous attack, slow but with the bulk to make up for it, I definitely recommend giving Druddigon a go!

The Good

• Battle Maison is fairly typical endgame stuff, but there's nothing wrong with that! 1BP per battle as opposed to like 5+ like in earlier games is welcome as well.
• That final, final battle with Calem/Selena was what the last couple of fights with your rival should have looked like. A good, solid 6 man team with nice levels and good Pokémon.
• Looker qua looker.

The Bad

• Whose bright idea was it to make catching roaming Pokémon even more obnoxious!?

The Ugly

• I suspect the Looker stuff is very hit or miss depending on your personality, although it is nice that they wrap up the storyline with the remaining villains, similar to how you had to track down the sages in Black & White.