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Quick Look: Pokémon Black

Ryan and Vinny extol the virtues of catching them all, especially those of the flammable porcine variety.

Sit back and enjoy as the Giant Bomb team takes an unedited look at the latest video games.

Mar. 30 2011

Cast: Ryan, Vinny

Posted by: Drew

In This Episode:

Pokémon Black/White

274 Comments

Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

@Mikazukinoyaiba said:

"
It doesn't matter if you've played even a million games.

You're a casual player in context of the subject of Pokemon and the evolution of the series and metagame. As an outsider, you're ignorant to how significant these changes have been to the series or even the competitive scene.

Having a podcast doesn't change that fact either, anyone can have a podcast these days.
"

Has it occurred to you that just because a person does not partake in competitive-level pokemon, it makes them neither ignorant of the changes in the games, nor invalidates their opinion of them?

I've owned every generation of Pokemon game up until Black & White, which I will not buy because the incremental changes are no longer enough for me.

For a person who enjoys putting hundreds of hours into each pokemon game in order to slowly create the most min-maxed, top tier, elite squad of pokemon badasses, the changes to Black & White could be very significant, sure.

But not everyone enjoys playing pokemon in that way, and for someone like myself, these changes are not enough to justify buying yet another familiar, uninspiring gradation on a series I've been playing since I was in grade school. For now, I'm hitting the snooze button on the Pokemon franchise. Wake me when someone feeds that Pikachu a Thunderstone.

13 years ago

Mikazukinoyaiba

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Edited By Mikazukinoyaiba

@Kyle said:

" @Mikazukinoyaiba said:
"
It doesn't matter if you've played even a million games.

You're a casual player in context of the subject of Pokemon and the evolution of the series and metagame. As an outsider, you're ignorant to how significant these changes have been to the series or even the competitive scene.

Having a podcast doesn't change that fact either, anyone can have a podcast these days.
"
Has it occurred to you that just because a person does not partake in competitive-level pokemon, it makes them neither ignorant of the changes in the games, nor invalidates their opinion of them?

I've owned every generation of Pokemon game up until Black & White, which I will not buy because the incremental changes are no longer enough for me.

For a person who enjoys putting hundreds of hours into each pokemon game in order to slowly create the most min-maxed, top tier, elite squad of pokemon badasses, the changes to Black & White could be very significant, sure.

But not everyone enjoys playing pokemon in that way, and for someone like myself, these changes are not enough to justify buying yet another familiar, uninspiring gradation on a series I've been playing since I was in grade school. For now, I'm hitting the snooze button on the Pokemon franchise. Wake me when someone feeds that Pikachu a Thunderstone.
"

Okay, but while the changes implemented may have no significance to your interests they are still there nonetheless.

Changes that you don't care about are still changes.

13 years ago

Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

@Mikazukinoyaiba said:

"
Okay, but while the changes implemented may have no significance to your interests they are still there nonetheless.

Changes that you don't care about are still changes.
"

......Okay? And just because a change is significant to you doesn't mean it's significant to everyone. See how we're just going in circles now? I can do this all night, I've got nowhere to be tomorrow.

Just kidding, I'm going to sleep. Bye.

13 years ago

LordAndrew

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Edited By LordAndrew

@Mikazukinoyaiba said:

" Guess what, Twilight Princess and the original Legend of Zelda are the 'same' too by your logic. "

Ocarina of Time, sure. But the original Legend of Zelda? Get the hell outta town. No freaking way.

13 years ago

deactivated-6050ef4074a17

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Edited By deactivated-6050ef4074a17

@Kyle said:

" @Mikazukinoyaiba said:
"Okay, but while the changes implemented may have no significance to your interests they are still there nonetheless.

Changes that you don't care about are still changes."
......Okay? And just because a change is significant to you doesn't mean it's significant to everyone. See how we're just going in circles now? I can do this all night, I've got nowhere to be tomorrow.

Just kidding, I'm going to sleep. Bye."

This is ridiculous. Just because you personally don't care about the changes don't alter the fact that they are there and are large changes. Whether or not there have been changes to the game isn't a matter of opinion, it's empirical. You can look and see them. Whether or not you care doesn't, however, change the fact that they exist.

As for the series over 13 years though, there's really nothing they can do to completely change it just for the sake of it. The reason it always looks the same is because, hey, you're always battling pokemon. And hey, you're always in a top-down perspective. The game carries alot of procedural and stylistic similarities simply because of the limitation of the platform it exists on.

It would either be impossible, or extremely difficult to do well, to have a world the size of each of the regions, but in third person on the current platform, just to look different. And removing the battling of pokemon removes the entire point of the games altogether. I agree they should make alot more changes in the style and presentation of the game on the 3DS, with larger capacity and power that it carries, but that doesn't mean they haven't done a great deal to change the game over the years.

It's easy to look at the similar style, presentation, and procedural aspects to each of these games from an outsider's perspective and purely on surface-level judgment come to the conclusion that "ha! this looks exactly the same, they haven't changed anything since Red/Blue!" but you're being willfully ignorant for the sake of bandwagoning onto the cool-as-a-cucumber anti-pokemon snark that pops up everytime there's another one released.

If you actually cared about making such declarative statements, you would look into more, and actually play the games enough, to know that there have been significant changes in the way the game has been played since the first generation.

13 years ago

Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

@Marokai, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer honestly. Did you actually read what I wrote, or did you just skim a bit at the beginning, and then jump to the end of the conversation and write that whole thing?

13 years ago

deactivated-6050ef4074a17

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Edited By deactivated-6050ef4074a17

@Kyle said:

" @Marokai, I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer honestly. Did you actually read what I wrote, or did you just skim a bit at the beginning, and then jump to the end of the conversation and write that whole thing? "

I wouldn't do something so stupid as to charging into a conversation all half-cocked without reading it first.

13 years ago

Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

@Marokai: Well then I don't really know what else to tell you. You obviously didn't seem to get much out of what I said, as I clearly stated that I own every generation of pokemon game up to HG/SS, and that I simply no longer feel that the rate of change in each game is enough to get me to continue buying each installment, which I feel is a pretty reasonable opinion.

However, you and Mikazukinoyaiba seem dead set in the thinking that my opinion of the series is somehow less valid than yours. You just need to accept that it has nothing to do with "knowledge of the series" and instead is simply a matter of personal preference.

Let me give you an example: I am a huge fan of the Symphony of the Night style of Castlevania games. I would be pleased as punch to go on playing a never-ending string of yearly-released, nearly identical iterations of the formula. There's just something about it that I find endlessly appealing.

But if I hear someone say that they think these games are all too similar or, god forbid, even go as far as using hyperbolic hate speech like calling them all "the same," do I tear my hair out in rage at this blind infidel not recognizing each installment as its own special snowflake? After all, did this mindless fool not see how Soma's soul powers completely changed the experience of exploring the castle in the Sorrow games? Do I even need to get started on how much of a drastric impact the portrait world mechanic had on Portrait of Ruin? No, because I understand that not everyone is as big of a fan of that exact game formula as I am, and that just because someone has a less enthusiastic opinion of the series' current state does not mean they are some kind of know-nothing outsider, completely ignorant of Castlevania games.

People have different opinions. Because the human race is not a hive-mind. I'm sorry you had to find out this way.

Well, at this point I'm honestly a bit embarassed my how many times my posts appear on this comment section, so I'll no longer be responding to anything written here, as I feel I've said more than enough to make my point clear. If anyone still thinks I'm an unreasonable person, then I just really don't know what to tell you. See ya.

13 years ago

Mikazukinoyaiba

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Edited By Mikazukinoyaiba

" However, you and Mikazukinoyaiba seem dead set in the thinking that my opinion of the series is somehow less valid than yours."

When it is based off of ignorance, yes it was. Much like how a oil driller's opinion on evolutionary theory is less valid if he has never taken a Biology course of high-school level and above.

The changes are there, that has been the point of the argument from the beginning, not that the changes aren't significant (which is partially subjective and also untrue when considering the metagame of the series).

You can have an opinion, but making a statement "this series hasn't changed since Red/Blue" is simply false. You can't constantly pull the "it's my opinion" defense when you originally were making a statement and play victim, just own up that you're speaking from your opinion and weren't stating a fact. Nothing more, nothing less needs to be said.

Certainly not an essay.

13 years ago

Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

@Mikazukinoyaiba: You are a fucking crazy person. In the very first response I made to you, I admitted that saying the series had never changed was an exaggeration, yet you're still arguing that? I would have to literally have a mental illness to think that. Just look at my last my post. I talked about "the rate of change" in the series. See? "CHANGE."

I'm making reasoned arguments and you're arguing semantics, saying "But you said! But you said!" like a child. Grow up, man.

Broke my own no response rule. God damn it...

13 years ago

Tsukiyomi

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Edited By Tsukiyomi

Wow, so many little kiddies that can't accept that the last Poke'mon game worth purchasing was Poke'mon Gold/Silver. :(

13 years ago

mewarmo990

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Edited By mewarmo990

Based on past experience/buyer's remorse, I don't think it's a stretch to assume an enhanced Gray version is going to come out at some point, so I shall save my money for now...

@Mikazukinoyaiba:@Kyle:
Here's an idea - how about the both of you shut the fuck up so people can actually see the comments worth reading?

13 years ago

Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

@mewarmo990 said:

"Mikazukinoyaiba:@Kyle: Here's an idea - how about the both of you shut the fuck up so people can actually see the comments worth reading? "

Oh, I'm sorry, did you have trouble finding the page 2 button, fucker?

13 years ago

Potter9156

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Edited By Potter9156

Someone is mad.

13 years ago

Scribbly

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Edited By Scribbly

Trust Ryan to love the move that can hit multiple times, like Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh.

In other news, the game is very good if you have ever really liked Pokemon, I'd say it's the best since the original two. The complete lack of old Pokemon in the first playthrough means you're discovering everything again rather than running into a bunch of ones you've seen before.

13 years ago

Pharos_Chan

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Edited By Pharos_Chan

I don't know if anyone already added this
but you can view a description of a pokemon's moves
Go to (when in battle) 'Pokemon" ===> click on whichever pokemon you want to check ===> then it has the option to 'check moves'
and you can check any move listed :'D

12 years ago