Pokémon Y Playthrough Pt. 9 - The Elite 4

What was even more frustrating was the amount of Full Restores they had. If you got them even into yellow range, they would use them. It was like they tried to make up for the poor strength with Full Restores. This did not work, in my opinion. It just made the battle feel frustrating. You’d use a clever strategy to take down a Pokémon, or use chip damage from a setup, and it would all be reverted with several Full Restores. Don’t get me wrong, other Pokémon games did use Full Restores, but they weren’t used to the extent that they were in this game.

Most frustrating was the champion. Her team was mostly easy, but then Mega Gardevoir happened. This is fine. I don’t mind Mega Evolution being used in this battle. That’s kind of the point. The game sets it up to be this grand thing, and then the champion uses it. However, once again, a plethora of Full Restores happened. I haven’t used Mega Evolution at all due to not wanting to replace a held item when most of the opponents don’t require the usage of the mechanic to defeat them. She used a total of FOUR FULL RESTORES on her Gardevoir. I tried to set up several times with Toxic with my Venusaur so I could use Venoshock, but she would spam attacking moves before using a Full Restore to negate Toxic.

I cannot put into words how frustrating this fight was. No amount of set-up or chip damage would accomplish anything. This was really disappointing. I was strategizing and working hard to be smart, but all she had to do was spam Full Restores. It turned into a battle of Who Has More Healing Items: Me Or The Champion? The conclusion was that I had more. I just had to wait until she had nothing left so I could throw everything I had at her Gardevoir.

Overall, very disappointing Elite 4. Even after I defeated the champion, it still did not feel earned. It felt like I had to resort to her tactic of spamming Full Restores. It also felt very disappointing how the previous Elite 4 members took no thought or effort to blaze through. I remember as a kid loving this ease, but I don’t anymore. This was a pretty huge letdown for the game, in my opinion, especially in comparison to SoulSilver, which I’ve been playing pretty extensively. The final Elite 4 lineup still challenges me, despite the fact my Pokémon are almost level 80. I still have to heal between each battle sometimes. Going from that to this was... not satisfying.

So, overall, not thrilled with the Elite 4 this time around.

Amount of in-game time: 42 hours 54 minutes

Gym Badges: 8

Pokémon:

• Montu - Simisear - Level 66 - Hardy Nature - Gluttony Ability - Met in Santalune Forest on November 13th, 2022 - Moveset: Yawn, Bite, Flamethrower, Return - Somewhat of a clown.
  
• Frogger - Greninja - Level 65 - Modest Nature - Torrent Ability - Met in Aquacorde Town on November 13th, 2022 - Moveset: Water Pledge, Strength, Hydro Cannon, Surf - Hates to lose.
  
• Poppy - Florges - Level 66 - Calm Nature - Flower Veil Ability - Met on Route 4 on November 15th, 2022 - Moveset: Wish, Magical Leaf, Dazzling Gleam, Petal Blizzard - Likes to thrash about.
  
• Bulbapedia - Venusaur - Level 66 - Modest Nature - Overgrow Ability - Met in Lumiose City on November 15th, 2022 - Moveset: Petal Dance, Toxic, Leech Seed, Venoshock - Likes to relax.
  
• Slushie - Aurorus - Level 65 - Adamant Nature - Refrigerate Ability - Met in Ambrette Town on November 16th, 2022 - Moveset: Ice Beam, Nature Power, Ancient Power, Aurora Beam - Good endurance.
  
• Lucha - Hawlucha - Level 65 - Careful Nature - Unburden Ability - Met on Route 10 on November 17th, 2022 - Moveset: High Jump Kick, Flying Press, Fly, Swords Dance - Takes plenty of siestas.