I was disappointed with Pokemon Black and White.

They were good games, but they had such a lacklustre line of new Pokemon. The fact that it took a while to get going, oh and the fact that you would never see any old Pokemon until after you beat the game made the game not as fun as past games. So when they announced this and said it would be set in the same region, with the same starter with the same characters I was like oh great ANOTHER one of these. But I just spent the past three hours playing it, because guess what, it's awesome!

So I admit, the first hour kind of sucked, ok so it got going really fast and you had Pokeballs almost immediately. The problem was for the first hour the only Pokemon I could find was those stupid Patrats and those stupid cats, throw in a Bidoff and I would have chucked this 3DS across the room. But hey guess who I found that gave me hope, I found a fucking Pysduck, followed by a Asurill and a Mareep. I found old Pokemon! I know this may seem like a small thing, but its great how these old Pokemon suddenly make the game. I've just beat the second Gym leader, with a party of two. I would have loved to add the Psyduck to my party, but I chose Oshawott as my starter and didn't want two water types. There was a brief minute or so where I was debating starting again, but I said screw it and added a Mareep (One of my favourite Pokemon from the second gen).

I'm really enjoying the game, I can't wait to see what other Pokemon i can find, I'm holding out for a Pidgey! What do you guys think about the latest Pokemon adventure?

Yup, there's 300 Pokemon now in the Unovadex for Black/White 2. I'm having a tough time planning out my main 6 because I'm still not familiar enough with the newer Pokemon (I only played through Black once and that was only 'till just after the Elite 4). To be honest though, I'd rather be using Pokemon I'm unfamiliar with than the same old ones I've been using for countless games now. Also, there's some weird typing and move combinations that are fun to play around with.

Definitely less time spent tossing the throwaway Patrats/Ratattas/Sentrets/Zigzagoons/Bidoofs at you, with more decent Pokemon you might actually want to use. I usually run with my starter for most of the beginning of the game until I finally get to an area with an interesting Pokemon, but this time I've picked up a Sewaddle and a Sunkern and I'm having a tough time deciding which to stick with. Not to mention you're thrown an uber right out of the gate with the day 1 "DLC," and the Dream Radar gives you even more free Pokemon you'd otherwise have to catch much later in the game.

@AndrewB: I appreciate the fact that there is more variations on what Trainers are using instead of the Pokemon that are in the area you are in. I found one trainer with a baby Electrabuzz and another with a baby Magmar.

Yup it's pretty awesome, the first Pokemon I captured was a Riolu which is pretty cool, also met a Magby, but started with Tepig. I've played all Pokemon games and enjoyed them all.

@Hizang: Yeah, but there's still too much of the "I have a single level 4 Patrat!" trainers around. I guess every Pokemon game obligatorily has to be accommodating for new players, but ugh... It's called Black 2 and White 2.

@AndrewB: I thought it got going really quick, they did the "Hey let me show you how to catch Pokemon thing" but it was done with in the first 5 minuets.

And yes those trainers suck, but thats to be expected, its always been like that. But I remember Rattata being so much cooler!

@Hizang: That's because at least Ratatta had some powerful moves at low levels. Super/Hyper Fang tore things up. Make no mistake though... the only time I ever used one was my first playthrough of Blue and never again.

I really enjoyed Black specifically because it felt like such a self-contained game, constructed out of its own Pokemon rather than filling it out with all the ones I've seen before. Kinda recaptured the sense of exploration and "I wonder what Pokemans I'll see in this area?" that I hadn't really felt since the original Red/Blue. But, I also thought this new batch was the strongest yet (after the original bunch), so... there you go. I actually bothered to go and catch 'em all, where I never felt that urge in the past few generations. I 'unno. SHRUG!

Still, no point in retreading that completely in the sequel. Why not throw in more Pokemon to retread upon? Seriously though, I'm interested in giving this a go. Dunno when I'll play it, but I already have my copy since I'm that much of a sucker. More than anything, I'm interested in seeing them advance the world -- kinda reminds me of going back to Kanto in Gold/Silver. Hopefully having a mismatch of random Pokemon from different eras won't be a turn-off to me. Maybe I'm interested enough in Pokemon again that I'll find myself welcoming it.

It's nice to hear you can meet old Pokemon almost from the get-go in this one, but that still doesn't fix all of the other problems I had with Black & White. Boring areas, disgusting sprite scaling in the battles, lots of little load times that make the overall experience extremely sluggish, those little segments where they do stuff with the camera angles that's supposed to be cool but just shows off how poor the polygonal environments really are... not to mention stuff that's always been a problem in the series, like how the random battles can be really annoying when you just want to move along (yeah, you can solve this, but to do so you have to keep buying and using Repels which is also a bother).

Glad to people are enjoying BW2. I'm dying to play this! I need to experience Challenge mode! The bigger starting Pokedex and the Pokemon World Tournament sound like great additions to the game.

I loved Black because it was the first time since Silver where I felt that all there was out there was Pokemon to discover. It had incredible soundtrack and I felt that the animated sprites really added something to the battles made them feel more dynamic. Also, it brought along a lot of refinements to the formula. So if BW2 are just expanding on the awesomeness that the original brought forth then so be it. That's fantastic IMO.

Black and White are the first group of Pokemon games to keep my interest since gen 2. I really like that game because like @Superkenon stated all the Pokemon were new. Meaning no more bloody Zubats in every cave. Instead we got Woobat who is way cooler (no sarcasm). I think Gen 5 Pokemon are the best since Gen 2, granted I never played much of gen 3 or 4. Many of the smaller issues were addressed too such as reusable TM, Black and White actually felt like a new game to me.

What excatly has changed for Black and White 2? Is it still the same unova with the same towns? How about gym leaders? Yes the trainers and Pokemon are different, but are the environments the same, just with those changes?

Black is my favorite since emerald......

not too deep in BW2 but I do like the feel of it so far

@ImmortalSaiyan said:

What excatly has changed for Black and White 2? Is it still the same unova with the same towns? How about gym leaders? Yes the trainers and Pokemon are different, but are the environments the same, just with those changes?

• Old and new Pokemon available from the start.
• New towns, the first three you come across.
• The first gym leader is Cheren.
• You get your Pokemon from Bianca.
• The Pokedex now has a habitat button, when pressed it will show you all of the Pokemon you have seen in that area, when you have seen them all it will gie you a stamp.

I've not made it to the old areas yet, I will see how it turns out.

still not different enough for me

I'm also really enjoying it. I was so happy when I saw a wild Growlithe. And oh, Eevees are wild pokemon now.
 
Wait till you get the bicycle. I laughed my ass off at how the game gives it to you.
 

I haven't played Black and White, but what does it say about the series when finding Pokemon you've seen already is the highlight of the game?

Pysduck made me titter.

It's been lots of fun so far. The variety of Pokemon, combined with Dream Radar and Dream World, as well as trading with my White game means I have a crapload of Pokemon even with just the 2nd badge. I don`t really know jack shit about how to build your Pokemon or your team, so catching them all is the fun part for me.

Really? Black and White weren't as fun because the drawings on the screen didn't look like any of the drawings on the screen you were previously used to?

@The_Nubster said:

I haven't played Black and White, but what does it say about the series when finding Pokemon you've seen already is the highlight of the game?

Because in the last game there was zero old Pokemon until after you beat the game. What Nintendo thought was a huge selling point turned out a stay away point when it turns out a lot of the new Pokemon were junk.

@Hizang said:

@The_Nubster said:

I haven't played Black and White, but what does it say about the series when finding Pokemon you've seen already is the highlight of the game?

Because in the last game there was zero old Pokemon until after you beat the game. What Nintendo thought was a huge selling point turned out a stay away point when it turns out a lot of the new Pokemon were junk.

Okay, point me out a Pokemon that was "horrible" aside from Trubbish and its evolution or Vanillite and its evolutions. Because I can point out quite a few from the previous Generations that are just as stupid as those two.

Trubbish is awesome and anyone who says otherwise is a communist. Yeah, some of the newer designs aren't brilliant, but a lot of the older ones weren't either. Red and Blue had a Pokemon that was just an egg, for example, so I don't see why people kick up a fuss when they see a few they don't like from the newer games.

One of my favourite aspects of the original Black and White was the fact it was entirely new Pokemon. It's the closest the series has come to capturing the same feeling as the original games and it felt like an entirely new adventure, not just another rehash. That said, the variety you can capture in B/W2 is a lot better than it has been in other games. I'm just disappointed there's less of a focus on the story, after the original B/W went to great lengths to make something a bit more deep and mature, we're straight back to "har, har, we're an evil team trying to steal your Pokemon!".

A lot of the game mechanics seem needlessly clunky too. It's neat to see an ingame achievement system, but they feel the need to explain it through in-game means and it requires you to go back and talk to NPC every time you earn one, which is completely ludicrous. But all in all, it's more Pokemon games. Those that enjoy the series will enjoy it and those that are tired of it will still be tired of it.

@WinterSnowblind said:

Trubbish is awesome and anyone who says otherwise is a communist. Yeah, some of the newer designs aren't brilliant, but a lot of the older ones weren't either. Red and Blue had a Pokemon that was just an egg, for example, so I don't see why people kick up a fuss when they see a few they don't like from the newer games.

One of my favourite aspects of the original Black and White was the fact it was entirely new Pokemon. It's the closest the series has come to capturing the same feeling as the original games and it felt like an entirely new adventure, not just another rehash. That said, the variety you can capture in B/W2 is a lot better than it has been in other games. I'm just disappointed there's less of a focus on the story, after the original B/W went to great lengths to make something a bit more deep and mature, we're straight back to "har, har, we're an evil team trying to steal your Pokemon!".

A lot of the game mechanics seem needlessly clunky too. It's neat to see an ingame achievement system, but they feel the need to explain it through in-game means and it requires you to go back and talk to NPC every time you earn one, which is completely ludicrous. But all in all, it's more Pokemon games. Those that enjoy the series will enjoy it and those that are tired of it will still be tired of it.

Simple: nostalgia. Most of the people who complain about the designs of newer Pokemon grew up with Red and Blue as a kid. They are blinded to the fact a lot of the Pokemon in Generation I were quite bad (I mean you've got a Pokeball, a Vagina, a Mime, and a woman in black-face). Each generation has its share of stupidly designed Pokemon, so I don't see why Generation V gets such the hate it does (still waiting on your answer Hizang).

And yes, Trubbish and Garbodor are awesome (so is Vannilite and its evolutions). It really annoys me when people constantly go on about how the Generation V Pokemon are bad, and they are the only examples people can offer when asked for an example.

@Hizang said:

@The_Nubster said:

I haven't played Black and White, but what does it say about the series when finding Pokemon you've seen already is the highlight of the game?

Because in the last game there was zero old Pokemon until after you beat the game. What Nintendo thought was a huge selling point turned out a stay away point when it turns out a lot of the new Pokemon were junk.

This is precisely my point. Shouldn't the high point of an entirely new line-up of Pokemon be those new Pokemon? It seems really weird to me that you would buy a new game expecting to see old content, and then be disappointed when the developers go out of their way to create 100% new content and assets.

@The_Nubster said:

@Hizang said:

@The_Nubster said:

I haven't played Black and White, but what does it say about the series when finding Pokemon you've seen already is the highlight of the game?

Because in the last game there was zero old Pokemon until after you beat the game. What Nintendo thought was a huge selling point turned out a stay away point when it turns out a lot of the new Pokemon were junk.

This is precisely my point. Shouldn't the high point of an entirely new line-up of Pokemon be those new Pokemon? It seems really weird to me that you would buy a new game expecting to see old content, and then be disappointed when the developers go out of their way to create 100% new content and assets.

The thing that annoyed me about Black and White was when they bought back the older Pokemon into the mix. As much as I like Pokemon as a series, you have to admit it has gotten a little unwieldy lately. I thought Black and White turning around and saying "alright, this is completely separate from the older Pokemon games. You can only catch and see new Pokemon here" was a step in the right direction. It meant being able to actually catch all the Pokemon in a Pokemon game was, once again, a realistically obtainable goal. But then, of course, they botched it up.

Oh and off topic, but this needs to be said: can we cut out the Event-exclusive Pokemon? Pokemon that you can legitimately catch, but come with a move they cannot learn outside of an event is fine, but keeping Pokemon locked away behind events is just a dick move. There is no challenge behind it: you just go down to a store, and download them over the Internet. You're not getting to show your mad Pokemon skills by getting these Pokemon; you're just showing you were in the right place at the right time to hear about the events. Personally, I think there should be one event-exclusive Pokemon, and the unlock this pokemon, you need to catch all the other Pokemon of that generation (So like, you catch all 150 Pokemon in red/blue, and then you can catch Mew).

DONT YOU LIE TO ME, THIS GAME SUCKS!

Really though, it's telling that your enjoyment is hinging on whether or not you see Pokemon from the first couple generations. This will never happen, but they should just forget all the Pokemon except the first two generations and just make a game that isn't the same old bull shit that they've been putting out for the last decade and a half.

also@Hizang said:

new Pokemon were junk.

Always the truth.

heh I was considering getting Pokemon from the moment I got my 3DS last year, but after browsing the Pokedex 3D and seeing a garbage bag, an ice cream, a deer, and various other shitty Pokemon I passed on it until about a month and a half ago.

I was stoked when I caught a Koffing, Eevee and Growlithe so early in the game. I hated not being able to get old pokemon in Black/White 1

You guys sure let your nostalgia get in te way of your judgement. What's wrong with trubbish being garbage? How is that different from grimer or koffing being pollution based? How is it any better than rattata being just a fucking rat? The new Pokemon are great if you just get over your nostalgia.

Black and White's exclusion of old Pokemon was the best part about those games. You people are crazy.

This is my first Pokemon game since Red, and I am really enjoying it. Looks pretty, even on the larger 3DS XL screen.

This is the first game that I'm skipping in a while. As someone who transferred my dudes from the first versions to the last one (Black) I think I'll take this a break from this game. I'll be all over the 3DS debut Pokemon game though.

I actually felt like Black and White were the best Pokemon games since Gold and Silver. Diamond/Pearl was diabolical by comparison.

@sissylion said:

Black and White's exclusion of old Pokemon was the best part about those games. You people are crazy.

I agree with lion here the exclusion of the old pokemon in BW1 was really the best part about the game. It really made you think on what pokemon to use instead of just going back to the old ones during the story of the game.

@Grim_2_ said:

@sissylion said:

Black and White's exclusion of old Pokemon was the best part about those games. You people are crazy.

I agree with lion here the exclusion of the old pokemon in BW1 was really the best part about the game. It really made you think on what pokemon to use instead of just going back to the old ones during the story of the game.

Thirded. If they hadn't made the first part of the game exclusive to new pokemons, I probably would've just stuck to my Elekid, Abra, Houndoom/Rapidash, Staryu/Gyrados, and whatever starting pokemon I chose which means I would've not experienced the majority of what has actually changed in the new pokemon game. It's just easier to find a winning formula and stick with it rather than explore new formulas. The criticism I have for Black/White is that all the legendary pokemon are not that hard to get. There's no challenge of having to catch the 4 legendary pokemons when they're all contained within the main "story"(if you can call it that).

@Grim_2_ said:

@sissylion said:

Black and White's exclusion of old Pokemon was the best part about those games. You people are crazy.

I agree with lion here the exclusion of the old pokemon in BW1 was really the best part about the game. It really made you think on what pokemon to use instead of just going back to the old ones during the story of the game.

Thirded. If they hadn't made the first part of the game exclusive to new pokemons, I probably would've just stuck to my Elekid, Abra, Houndoom/Rapidash, Staryu/Gyrados, and whatever starting pokemon I chose which means I would've not experienced the majority of what has actually changed in the new pokemon game. It's just easier to find a winning formula and stick with it rather than explore new formulas. The criticism I have for Black/White is that all the legendary pokemon are not that hard to get. There's no challenge of having to catch the 4 legendary pokemons when they're all contained within the main "story"(if you can call it that).

@Jazzycola said:

@Grim_2_ said:

@sissylion said:

Black and White's exclusion of old Pokemon was the best part about those games. You people are crazy.

I agree with lion here the exclusion of the old pokemon in BW1 was really the best part about the game. It really made you think on what pokemon to use instead of just going back to the old ones during the story of the game.

Thirded. If they hadn't made the first part of the game exclusive to new pokemons, I probably would've just stuck to my Elekid, Abra, Houndoom/Rapidash, Staryu/Gyrados, and whatever starting pokemon I chose which means I would've not experienced the majority of what has actually changed in the new pokemon game. It's just easier to find a winning formula and stick with it rather than explore new formulas. The criticism I have for Black/White is that all the legendary pokemon are not that hard to get. There's no challenge of having to catch the 4 legendary pokemons when they're all contained within the main "story"(if you can call it that).

As far as I can remember, only Zekrom(W)/Reshiram(B) was caught as part of the story. You had to find Kyurem, Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion in certain areas, Tornadus(B)/Thundurus(W) were roaming Pokemon you had to unlock to start them roaming. Landurous could only be unlocked by having both Tornadus and Thundurus, and Victini, Meleotta, Keldeo and Genesect are event-exclusive Pokemon.

So really only one was contained in the story, and the rest you had to get through other means. That's 12 other Legendaries (8 if you don't count the event exclusives) you need to find outside of the main story.

@Hizang said:

Ok so I see your points, it was fun discovering new Pokemon. But you would never have that team you mentioned, because your team depends on where in the world they are placed. For instance Pysduck has usually been a mid-late Pokemon find.

It's not that difficult to wait until you find the Pokemon you're looking for, or to use a different Pokemon until you find the one you want. The thing that made Black and White interesting was that we didn't exactly know each Pokemon's type. We could make educated guesses based off its name and attacks, but we could never be 100% sure until we caught it (or looked it up online I guess).

I just want Pokemon 2 to come out already. I've been waiting 15 god-damn years.

It will have all the Pokemon in it.

@FlarePhoenix: I didn't have to look past the beaten trail for any. I got 5 within the stories path (aka all listed except thundurus/tornadus). Even Tornadus/thundurus only took me flying to a specific area while it was raining to catch him. This was the first Pokemon game I've played that I was able to get all legendaries. In crystal it took me hours upon hours to just get 2 of the 4 and you couldn't get Ho-Oh unless you caught all 3 legendaries before him.

pokemon's always awesome.

everyone learns that at some point

@Jazzycola: @Grim_2_: @sissylion: @FlarePhoenix: Ok I understand now why I like old Pokemon reappearing.

So in every Pokemon game you are only allowed to carry 6 Pokemon with it you any time, the way I play the games is once I find a Pokemon I like I add it to my party, as soon as my party of 6 is complete I will then never remove or change any members of my party. So I added an Onix to my team this morning, I was very happy because I have always wanted to add an Onix to my team as I never have before. Onix is like a new Pokemon addition to me because I have never experienced him before, so thats why its important that they keep re-adding old Pokemon. Once I start a new Pokemon game I try and never have any Pokemon I have had before. so each time its a new experience even if there old Pokemon.

@Jazzycola said:

@FlarePhoenix: I didn't have to look past the beaten trail for any. I got 5 within the stories path (aka all listed except thundurus/tornadus). Even Tornadus/thundurus only took me flying to a specific area while it was raining to catch him. This was the first Pokemon game I've played that I was able to get all legendaries. In crystal it took me hours upon hours to just get 2 of the 4 and you couldn't get Ho-Oh unless you caught all 3 legendaries before him.

There is a difference between you managing to find them, and the story just throwing them in your face. You can play through the story without encountering Cobalion, which means you will not find Terrakion or Virizion as they do not unlock until you encounter Cobalion. You still have to actively search for them to be able to find them. Regardless, you've still got two you cannot get on each game without trading (3 if you count Landorus). And, of course, 4 of the legendaries are Event-exclusive with one you cannot get in Black and White (at least, I believe you cannot download Genesect into Black and White) and one hasn't been offically distributed in the west yet.

As I said, there is only one legendary that the game makes impossible to miss and it's not the first time it's happened. Gold and Silver had it where you couldn't proceed until encountering Ho-Oh/Lugia, and I believe Diamond and Pearl had a similar thing with Dialga and Palkia (haven't played Ruby/Sapphire in a while, so I cannot remember if you had to encounter Groudon/Kyorge). It is not the same thing as you exploring, and stumbling upon them.

@Hizang said:

@Jazzycola: @Grim_2_: @sissylion: @FlarePhoenix: Ok I understand now why I like old Pokemon reappearing.

So in every Pokemon game you are only allowed to carry 6 Pokemon with it you any time, the way I play the games is once I find a Pokemon I like I add it to my party, as soon as my party of 6 is complete I will then never remove or change any members of my party. So I added an Onix to my team this morning, I was very happy because I have always wanted to add an Onix to my team as I never have before. Onix is like a new Pokemon addition to me because I have never experienced him before, so thats why its important that they keep re-adding old Pokemon. Once I start a new Pokemon game I try and never have any Pokemon I have had before. so each time its a new experience even if there old Pokemon.

So, go play one of the older games again. I'm sorry, but it just seems like you're desperately trying to come up with excuses to hate on the Gen V Pokemon. I mean what you basically just said was "I don't like the fact Black and White only had new Pokemon, because to me old Pokemon I haven't used before are like new Pokemon". That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

@FlarePhoenix said:

@Hizang said:

@Jazzycola: @Grim_2_: @sissylion: @FlarePhoenix: Ok I understand now why I like old Pokemon reappearing.

So in every Pokemon game you are only allowed to carry 6 Pokemon with it you any time, the way I play the games is once I find a Pokemon I like I add it to my party, as soon as my party of 6 is complete I will then never remove or change any members of my party. So I added an Onix to my team this morning, I was very happy because I have always wanted to add an Onix to my team as I never have before. Onix is like a new Pokemon addition to me because I have never experienced him before, so thats why its important that they keep re-adding old Pokemon. Once I start a new Pokemon game I try and never have any Pokemon I have had before. so each time its a new experience even if there old Pokemon.

So, go play one of the older games again. I'm sorry, but it just seems like you're desperately trying to come up with excuses to hate on the Gen V Pokemon. I mean what you basically just said was "I don't like the fact Black and White only had new Pokemon, because to me old Pokemon I haven't used before are like new Pokemon". That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Because its fun to play with old Pokemon in new scenarios? I don't think I have to justify my reason for liking old Pokemon more, I think you'll find there are many more in my position than in yours.

Good day sir!

@Tebbit said:

I just want Pokemon 2 to come out already. I've been waiting 15 god-damn years.

It will have all the Pokemon in it.

Gold and Silver were originally just called "Pokemon 2".

These games has 300 in the main game, not counting ones that are available after beating the main story. I think that's as close as you'll get to having all of them in it for a long time.

@Hizang: It's not really a good sign when your only defense for your opinion is that it may be the popular opinion (though I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out the Gen V haters were just louder than the others), now is it?

@Hizang said:

@Jazzycola: @Grim_2_: @sissylion: @FlarePhoenix: Ok I understand now why I like old Pokemon reappearing.

So in every Pokemon game you are only allowed to carry 6 Pokemon with it you any time, the way I play the games is once I find a Pokemon I like I add it to my party, as soon as my party of 6 is complete I will then never remove or change any members of my party. So I added an Onix to my team this morning, I was very happy because I have always wanted to add an Onix to my team as I never have before. Onix is like a new Pokemon addition to me because I have never experienced him before, so thats why its important that they keep re-adding old Pokemon. Once I start a new Pokemon game I try and never have any Pokemon I have had before. so each time its a new experience even if there old Pokemon.

If that's how you play the game it's cool I'm not telling you how to play it anyways to each their own right, but if you feel like using one of the gen 5 pokemon may I recommend Volcarona it's powerful not to mention beautiful.

@Grim_2_: I'm using whatever one I come across and go "Huh that looks cool". I tend to choose my Pokemon depending on what it looks like, I don't care how weak/strong it is. Although I never use any Legendary Pokemon and I put them straight into my PC.

They took out cold storage. How am I supposed to have my ice cream Pokemon now.

At least I got my joltik back. I love that little guy.

I agree with everyone saying that only having Gen 5 Pokemon for the story was one of the best things about B&W. I went into those games with basically no information, and discovering all these new pokemon and trying to decide on a team was the best part of the game.
 
Pokemon really brings out nostalgia as its worst. Gen 1 has a lot of poor designs, and a good chunk of evolutions just make the pokemon bigger and slightly more angry. All of the original 151 still exist, now you have another 500 or so to pick and choose from to make your favourite party.
 
I completely forgot this was out though, will hopefully be able to pick it up next month!