History YMMV / PokemonXenoverse

** The first time you fight against Rapidash X is quite challenging, mostly due to its nigh invulnerability towards physical attacks with Cotton Guard and Roost, but it's ''nothing'' compared when you fight it a second time in its Tempest form. It's Electric as opposed to Flying, it knows the moves Thunder, Hurricane, Discharge and Weather Ball, and thanks to its ability Drizzle, the former two moves will ''never'' miss, and the latter one will inflict massive Water damage which will knock out in one hit any Ground-type not named Palossand. If you're unprepared, Rapidash X can easily wipe out your entire team.

** Speaking of Fuecoco, a [[https://youtu.be/B5V7z4Lxc1E?t=448 video]] depicting scrapped designs for ''Xenoverse'' included a joke "beta design" for Trishout X in the form of a fat, fiery crocodile that bears a surprising resemblance to a bigger version of Fuecoco.

* TheUnTwist: [[spoiler:The player's father "Versil" is actually [[TheRival Silver]] from [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold and Silver]] (particularly [[Manga/PokemonAdventures the manga version]] of the character). He looks almost identical to his younger self and [[StrongFamilyResemblance is even starting to resemble his father Giovanni both in looks]] [[GenerationXerox and actions]]. And to top it all off, [[PaperThinDisguise his alias is just swapping the syllables in his name around]]. The reveal that he is Team Dimension's leader however was a legitimate surprise.]]

* TheUnTwist: [[spoiler:The player's father "Versil" is actually [[TheRival Silver]] from [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold and Silver]] (particularly [[Manga/PokemonAdventures the manga version]] of the character). He looks almost identical to his younger self and [[StrongFamilyResemblance is even starting to resemble his father Giovanni both in looks]] [[GenerationXerox and actions]]. And to top it all off, his alias is just swapping the syllables in his name around.]]

* TheUnTwist: [[spoiler:The player's father "Versil" is actually [[TheRival Silver]] from [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold and Silver]] (particularly [[Manga/PokemonAdventures the manga version]] of the character). He looks almost identical to his younger self and [[GenerationXerox is even starting to resemble his father Giovanni]]. And to top it all off, his name is just swapping the syllables in his name around.]]

* TheUnTwist: [[spoiler:The player's father "Versil" is actually [[TheRival Silver]] from [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold and Silver]] (particularly [[Manga/PokemonAdventures the manga version]] of the character). He looks almost identical to his younger self and [[GenerationXerox is even starting to resemble his father Giovonni]]. And to top it all off, his name is just swapping the syllables in his name around.]]

* TheUnTwist: [[spoiler:The player's fater "Versil" is actually [[TheRival Silver]] from [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Gold and Silver]] (particularly [[Manga/PokemonAdventures the manga version]] of the character). He looks almost identical to his younger self and [[GenerationXerox is even starting to resemble his father Giovonni]]. And to top it all off, his name is just swapping the syllables in his name around.]]

** Speaking of the Apollo Tournament, Pass 4 brings one more guest into the fold in the same way that recent main series games have--[[spoiler:[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyandSapphire Arena Tycoon Greta]] from ''Emerald''. She, however, has lost her memories and looks much younger than she should be at this point in the timeline, which can only mean she has become a Faller like [[VideoGame/PokemonSunandMoon fellow Hoenn Frontier Brain Anabel]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus Subway Boss Ingo.]]]]

* BreatherBoss: After the absolutely brutal fight with [[spoiler: Alter]] Trey, [[spoiler: Sergeant S]] is a massive breeze. He only has four Pokémon (for reference, Trey had six and the 7th and 8th gym leaders had five, all of which are weak to Ground. Additionally, three quarters of his team have ''quadruple'' weaknesses, making it relatively easy to sweep him with a decent mon packing a Ground-type move.

* BreatherBoss: After the absolutely brutal fight with [[spoiler: Alter]] Trey, [[spoiler: Sergeant S]] is a massive breeze. He only has four Pokémon (for reference, Trey had six and the 7th and 8th gym leaders had five, all of which are weak to Ground. Additionally, three quarters of his team are ''quadruple'' weak, making it relatively easy to sweep him with a decent mon packing a Ground-type move.

** This game features a drop mechanic in which the player obtains a wild Pokémon's held item upon defeating it, without needing to steal it during battle. A year after Xenoverse's current release came out, the same mechanic debuted in the mainline series games, being one of the core gameplay changes in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus Pokémon Legends: Arceus]]''.

** A lot of new Pokémon's movepools are arbitrarily stifled, especially with their stat distributions. One of the worst offenders is regional bird Harrowk, who has good Special Attack and abysmal Attack, yet learns a whopping ''two'' Special attacks via level-up (one of which is the weak Thunder Shock, and the other is Hurricane, which it doesn't learn until level ''52''). While the Virtual Move Tutor somewhat offsets this, it's ''incredibly'' expensive, especially before the postgame where money grinding opportunities are few and far between.

** Speaking of problems shared with the Johto games, the level curve has been criticized by many as being tedious and annoying, with wild Pokémon often being at least 10 levels below the trainers. This can be offset somewhat by enabling "Modern mode", which applies a permanent Exp. Share, but this poses even more issues. First off, any new Pokémon you catch will have [[CantCatchUp trouble catching up]], always being a few levels behind your party unless you box the higher-levelled party members. Second, Exp. Share is enabled or disabled ''permanently'' unless you go into the game's files and manually change it. And good luck doing ''that'' since the game files are encrypted.

** Team Dimension's battle theme is one to [[Music/DaftPunk "Around the World"]]. Given that the team's aesthetics, especially Agent A and B's designs, are heavily inspired by Daft Punk, this is likely deliberate.
** One to the canon Pokémon games: if you listen closely, the G.E.I.S.T. battle theme takes more than a few cues from [[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2andWhite2 Iris's Champion theme.]]

** The first time you fight against Rapidash X is quite challenging, mostly due to its nigh invulnerability towards physical attacks with Cotton Guard and Roost, but it's ''nothing'' compared when you fight it a second time in its Tempest form. It's Electric as opposed to Flying, it knows the moves Thunder, Hurricane, Discharge and Weather Ball, and thanks to its ability Drizzle, the fomer two moves will ''never'' miss, and the latter one will inflict massive water damage which will knock out in one hit any Ground-type not named Palossand. If you're unprepared, Rapidash X can easily wipe out your entire team.
** [[spoiler: Alter]] Trey, whose team is jam-packed with a variety of powerful Pokémon that are likely to be a couple levels above yours. The worst offender is his [[spoiler: Sabolt-X]], which has stats on-par with pseudo-legendaries as well as impressive bulk on top of Intimidate, making it hard to kill even with a supereffective attack.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Pikachu X is a RidiculouslyCuteCritter designed to be the friendly rival's partner Pokémon, but in-game, it's nothing to phone home about. It has a subpar movepool and the same base stats as a regular Pikachu, but it cannot evolve [[spoiler:(as made obvious by what Raichu X looks like and how it came to be.)]] and ''it doesn't even reap any stat boosts from the Light Ball''. Furthermore, you only get one of them right before challenging the game's equivalent of the Elite Four, at a meager ''level 30'', and unlike the rival's can, your own Pikachu X cannot [[HeadPet travel on your head.]] Considering that the game was being overhauled for its current release at the time ''[[VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuandLetsGoEevee Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee]]'' came out, one must wonder why the Xenoverse version of the official franchise mascot wasn't given a treatment akin to that of the Partner Pikachu - higher base stats than average, an expanded movepool, a few signature moves and the ability for it to walk around with the player in the overworld.

** The final Eldiw Gym Leader is none other than [[spoiler: an elderly Lt. Surge, confirming that this game is a StealthSequel to ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldandSilver Pokémon Gold and Silver.]]'' His appearance, however, also cements that the game is set in the ''[[Manga/PokemonAdventures Pokémon Adventures]]'' continuity - because he reveals himself to have once been part of Team Rocket, just as he was in that manga.]]

** Speaking of the Apollo Tournament, Pass 4 brings one more guest into the fold in the same way that recent main series games have - [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/PokemonRubyandSapphire Arena Tycoon Greta]] from ''Emerald''. She, however, has lost her memories and looks much younger than she should be at this point in the timeline, which can only mean she has become a Faller like [[VideoGame/PokemonSunandMoon fellow Hoenn Frontier Brain Anabel]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus Subway Boss Ingo.]]]]

** Team Dimension's battle theme is one to [[Music/DaftPunk "Around the World"]].

** The first time you fight against Rapidash X is quite challenging, mostly due to its nigh invulnerability towards physical attacks with Cotton Guard and Roost, but it's ''nothing'' compared when you fight it a second time in its Tempest form. It's Electric as opposed to Flying, it knows the moves Thunder, Hurricane, Discharge and Weather Ball, and thanks to its ability Drizzle, the fomer two moves will ''never'' miss, and the latter one will inflict massive water damage which will knock out in one hit any ground type you may send out. If you're unprepared, Rapidash X can easily wipe out your entire team.

** The Apollo Tournament in the post-game has another slew of unexpected cameos, bringing [[spoiler:a much older ex-Champion Lance, Kanto Gym Leader Erika, and Johto Gym Leader Whitney's son Leo into the fold.]]

** This game features a drop mechanic in which the player obtains a wild Pokémon's held item upon defeating it, without needing to steal it during battle. A year after Xenoverse's current release came out, the same mechanic debuted in the mainline series games, being one of the core gameplay changes in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus Pokémon LAlthogh V Arceus]]''.

** This game features a drop mechanic in which the player obtains a wild Pokémon's held item upon defeating it, without needing to steal it during battle. A year after Xenoverse's current release came out, the same mechanic debuted in the mainline series games, being one of the core gameplay changes in ''[[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus Pokémon Legends: Arceus]]''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Pikachu X is a RidiculouslyCuteCritter designed to be the friendly rival's partner Pokémon, but in-game, it's nothing to phone home about. It has a subpar movepool and the same base stats as a regular Pikachu, but it cannot evolve [[spoiler:(as made obvious by what Raichu X looks like and how it came to be.)]] Furthermore, you only get one of them right before challenging the game's equivalent of the Elite Four, at a meager ''level 30'', and unlike the rival's can, your own Pikachu X cannot [[HeadPet travel on your head.]] Considering that the game was being overhauled for its current release at the time ''[[VideoGame/PokemonLetsGoPikachuandLetsGoEevee Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee]]'' came out, one must wonder why the Xenoverse version of the official franchise mascot wasn't given a treatment akin to that of the Partner Pikachu - higher base stats than average, an expanded movepool, a few signature moves and the ability for it to follow the player around in the overworld.

* ScrappyMechanic: Unlike the official games, this game [[RequiredPartyMember requires you to keep the Starter Pokémon in your party to advance the plot]], because it obtains new forms based on story progression. Many players, especially those attempting Monotype runs that don't involve any of the Starters' types, have found themselves displeased with this mechanic, because it doesn't allow them to build a team that is completely in line with their chosen theme.

* {{Narm}}: Playing as Alice can result in a few moments of unintentional hilarity, particularly when certain characters in the game such as Abraham [[spoiler:or Lt. Surge]] remark on how similar the player character looks to their father Versil. Unlike [[StrongFamilyResemblance Kay]], Alice looks ''nothing'' like either of her parents, which makes one ponder upon how the aforementioned characters put two and two together to conclude that she was Versil's daughter.
** Even more hilarious is the fact that Kay shows up as Alice's rival if she's the player character. Just like it would happen if Kay were the player, Alice develops a mutual crush on him. [[LikeParentLikeSpouse Take that]] [[SurpriseIncest whichever way you will.]]

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Team Dimension's battle theme is one to [[Music/DaftPunk "Around the World"]].

* UnexpectedCharacter: The game seemed to follow an AlternateContinuity from the mainline Pokémon series [[spoiler: until an elderly Lt. Surge showed up as ''the missing final gym leader'' of Eldiw]], revealing that Pokémon Xenoverse is actually a StealthSequel [[spoiler: of PokemonGoldAndSilver]].

** After [[spoiler: Surge]]'s appearance and the revelation that [[spoiler: your father Versil is actually Silver]] it was expected that many other characters from the mainline game series would have shown up eventually. But for sure no one could expect that [[spoiler: ''Youngster Joey'']] was in the game as well.

** The first time you fight against Rapidash X is quite challenging, but it's ''nothing'' compared when you fight it a second time in its Tempest form. It's Electric as opposed to Flying, it knows the moves Thunder, Hurricane, Discharge and Weather Ball, and thanks to its ability Drizzle, the fomer two moves will ''never'' miss, and the latter one will inflict massive water damage which will knock out in one hit any ground type you may send out. If you're unprepared, Rapidash X can easily wipe out your entire team.

* ThatOneSidequest: The Vintage Dex. What is your reward for completing both the old Regular Pokédex and the new Xenodex? A brand new Pokédex to catalogue the Vintage Pokémon you might encounter in Eldiw because of Dielebi's shrines. You might already have caught a couple of them thanks to the Mystery Gifts codes and the short travel in the Mysterious Town, but that's it. Why? Because in most of circumstances [[LuckBasedMission it is more likely to encounter a Shiny Pokémon than a Vintage Pokémon]]. However, [[LuckManipulationMechanic you can raise the chance to 1/500 to encounter one]] by defeating the regular version of that Pokémon 500 times. However, there are some unique Vintage Pokémon who have no match among the Pokémon you can meet in Eldiw, meaning that you must count on the regular 1/4000 chance to meet them. Oh, and there is a chance to meet a Shiny Vintage Pokémon, but the chance for it to happen is 1/67000. Have fun!