Pokemon is a franchise that is hard to place for me. We’ve all had that era when we were kids when we doubted if it was “cool” to still play this series; that Pokemon was just a fad that we all grew out of. Most people I know have seemed to grow out of that phase, but only in a temporary sense. Now it seems that wave has come back to hit us again, with many fans of the series feeling a general malaise when it comes to playing these games. “It’s all the same. Why play a series that gets worse and worse each generation.” Comments I keep seeing constantly. I won’t deny there has been some seasonal rot within the franchise, specifically gen 6 and gen 8 are a series of games that I do not enjoy playing, but I often hear the notion that the entire series has no merit, something that just irks me. I guess it pokes at my nostalgia bone a bit too hard since like most detractors I did grow up on this franchise, yet unlike them I have found something to cling onto with these games, especially with the most unique main series game, Pokemon Black & White.
B/W are often considered one of the best games in the franchise. Seen as the last bastion before the slip to mediocrity, these games seem to have this magic that no other can capture. Yes, it’s easy to say it has the best gameplay, Pokedex, music or graphics; all of which I believe to be the case, but there’s another reason I find this game stands taller among its relatives, being the only Pokemon game to try to delve more into the story aspect rather than gameplay.
First let’s start with the titles of the game, which lay the groundwork to how the events of the game play out. Normally the title for each game just represents the cover legendaries in some way. Oh this one is orange make it gold, this one is blue make it sapphire. It’s a way to hype up the player towards what legendary beasts they can acquire on their journey, but these games seem to do it a bit differently. For the mascot of Black it’s a…white dragon? And for White it’s a…black dragon…Not normally what a player would expect from the usual fare, but instead of using it to shill the coolest new lizard on the block they use it to tell us what the game is about. B/W is about the balance of all things, with box art that subtly pays homage to the yin yang, a symbol we should all be familiar with. Just like how the yin yang embodies balance and how nothing is truly fully good or fully evil, B/W are games about the balance of philosophies, specifically of truth and ideals, and this seeps into many aspects within the story and characters.
Let’s start with your rivals. B/W is the first game to have more than one rival character, Cheren and Bianca. Cheren is studious, prideful, and has big aspirations for his future, while Bianca is energetic and cheerful while still being nervous about the outside world. Cheren keeps losing no matter how hard he strategizes and keeps saying he wants to get stronger, while Bianca realizes that while she cherishes the chances to be with Pokemon that being a Trainer just is not her strong suit and wants to live with them in a different way. This leads to Black & White 2, where after hard work and determination Cheren finally honed his skills enough to be a Gym leader, while Bianca settled down and became an assistant to the region’s Pokemon professor Juniper. Cheren’s idealism pushed him forward, never letting his defeats get him down, while Bianca realizing the truth that she is not cut out for battling Pokemon led her to an ultimately happier life. Both end up feeling like actual characters who grow instead of just a typical happy go lucky friend or an ass prick rival. Bianca is honestly one of my favorite characters in the series just because of her arc is something that should be said to anyone of all ages. If you find out what you’ve always wanted is something you struggle with or lose passion in, it’s always ok to back down from it, and maybe approach it from a different perspective like she did. It’s honestly one of the most impactful messages to me personally in any game I’ve played.
But what about if truth and ideals get conflated? What if idealism goes too far, to the point where the truth gets muddied? That’s where Team Plasma sticks in. Pokemon is a franchise that faced common criticism for its content. Capturing wild animals and fighting with them is something that can seem abusive from the outsider looking in, and Team Plasma feels like Game Freak acknowledging those concerns. To start off, I just want to point out how much I love their designs. The holy templar aesthetic works really well for a group of extremists devoted to a misguided cause; and that’s ultimately how I view them. Team Plasma’s goal to liberate pokemon from their owners does sound reasonable on paper, but only just that. In the Pokemon world it's shown that not only do Pokemon like and enjoy battling, but they have other uses in society besides just being entertainment. They can be used for construction, research, provide medicine and ferry people across the ocean. Hell, ice cream was basically invented because Vanillite exists. It does not help that their motivations seem a bit skewed, as early on in the game they are seen abusing a Musharna for their plans, painting them in a less than gray light. They’re obviously not good people, but they think they are, and no other person in their group exemplifies this than their leader; The King of Plasma, N.
N walks the fine line of another rival character and an antagonist. A mysterious young man who boasts about he will find the legendary dragon and with its power command all people of Unova to release their pokemon, yet he does not seem to bear malice or resentment towards the player despite them being a trainer themselves. I’ve heard him described as a pseudo protagonist before, with a design that certainly screams main character and like his army’s goals has seemingly righteous motivations. However what separates N from his grunts is naivete and strictness to his code of honor. Every battle not counting your final encounter with him has him use low level Pokemon native to the current area, as if he only catches them in case the need arises and discards them back into the wilderness afterwards. He truly does care about his goal to the end, and when he obtains one of the two dragons of legends he challenges the player to meet him at the Pokemon league. When you get there and revive the other dragon of legend the battle with N awaits, and the significance takes a different meaning depending on which version. In Black, you, with Reshiram, the dragon of truth, face down Zekrom, the dragon of ideals, showing N how his sheltered outlook on the world was faulty; but in White, the tables are turned. N having Reshiram wants to implant what he views as the truth, trying to shoot down your ideals that people and pokemon can live together as one. Bringing back that pseudo protagonist thing I mentioned earlier, white is often seen as a heroic color as opposed to black, and with Reshiram it can be seen as him seeing himself as the main character of this story, as Unova’s hero. It amazes me how the same battle can have two different meanings based on one simple change like this. And with his defeat the day is saved right? Well, no not exactly.
Enter Ghetsis, a rather controversial figure in the community. He appears several times throughout the game and is very much definitely the true antagonist, and what most people don’t like about him is how he clashes with the rest of what Team Plasma has. Instead of a zealot who fights for what he sees is right, he is an obviously evil character who reveals at the end of the game that yes he does want to remove all pokemon from their trainers…to take over the world. A lot of people felt like this was cheap and that it ruins the message of the game, but I just simply don’t think so, not fully anyways. I will say that while I do not believe Ghetsis is very interesting on his own, I love how much of a depraved asshole he is, especially in 2, but for this game I think what he does on his own is sinister enough and it does coincide with some of the more questionable actions that his grunts do. He effectively groomed N, secluding him in this castle where he is constantly pampered and instilling this mindset into him that having a pokemon is abusive, and I think what works well is moreso how N internalizes all of this and views those ideals genuinely. It can be implied that a lot of other grunts feel this way too as in B/W2 Team Plasma has split into two different identities. One is full of truly devoted followers of the belief to make pokemon’s lives better, yet they do these in unobtrusive ways and attempt to keep the other half of Team Plasma at bay. Clad in different, more sinister gear, the followers of Ghetsis no longer shackle themselves to the lies they pretended to care for and instead become absolutely ruthless. It shows a dichotomy that in the original team, there were those more naive like N, while there were others doing it simply for their lord Ghetsis.
After his defeat, N finally realizes how his entire life was built up as a life, and reflects on it in my favorite scene in any Pokemon game. N has one last heart to heart with the player while the Mother 3 love theme plays as he talks about how he now knows he can be more open in his beliefs, and leaves with his dragon to see the world and learn from others. It’s honestly a great ending to his arc, setting up the beginning to his betterment and abandoning his old life. I grew up in a family of racists and bigots, and it was only after I learned from others that I was able to change as a person for the better. N is just like that, with an abusive father that you help him escape from metaphorically, and I hope his story resonates with others just as much as it does with me.
Now it’s one thing for a game to have a great story, but Black and White also just feels comforting in its setting to me. Going to be real, I grew up relatively close to New York, where Unova is based. More specifically It was the parts of New Jersey that the opening segment of B/W2 takes place in, so I’ve been to New York a few times in my lifetime and it kind of just resonates with me. Unova as a region is brash and lively, just like how most romanticized versions of America are. The soundtrack is bombastic and it absolutely captures what northeastern America can be like, it feels homely in that regard. Yet the one location that catches my eye the most is the one that strays differently than the rest, Opelucid City.
Opelucid City is a town that has two separate themes based on the version you play. In Black, it’s one of the most futuristic locations in the series while in White it’s a place taking pride in its rich history. It's one of the most visually distinct towns in the series regardless of what version you play, and what I love so much is how it subtly ties into the game's themes. Depending on what version you play you face a different Gym leader, Drayden, an older man and mayor of the city, or Iris, an extremely young girl. What I love is how like the yin yang this game’s box art takes notes from, similar symbolism can be construed from this setup, as Drayden is the gym leader in Black and Iris in White. The older man in the idealistic future and the young girl living with the truth of the past just has this nice little note that makes me feel that extra thought and care was put into this game; and I feel that care exists a lot throughout the game.
As a game, there’s a lot of things that B/W just does right to the point that it feels impossible to list them all. I love that with more focus on story comes a more realized region. Most Pokemon games tend to have the bullet point issue of “Go to town, get badge, leave”, yet there is more to B/W that makes it feel less like a to do list. Besides the waiter trios, every gym leader ends up being involved in the plot in some way, usually dealing with Plasma who rear their heads in every location to make themselves a constant threat or just seeing parts of their routine outside of being a gym leader. It makes the world feel more realized and the characters more memorable even if they are still boss battles at the end of the day. Little details such as Bianca’s team being based on the events that happened up until the first gym, Cheren using items in battle after reading about them in trainer school may be tiny, but add that extra little polish to make the game feel like it was made by people who were doing more than just the bare minimum, which is something I wish I could say about later entries.
No other game in the series is like B/W, and after this game is when I think that fatigue with the franchise I mentioned at the beginning of this essay set itself in. Sadly, B/W were infamously hated on release, and I can only assume the fans were mad just because the game only allows you use their favorite mons from past gens, (Btw this is pure copium, Unova has my personal favorite dex), and part of me feels the negative reception influenced other games in the series. B/W2 while still very good games gave the story a backseat booster seat instead of putting it front and center, focusing on refining the gameplay which I think was already pretty solid in gen 5. After this the series got watered down overtime. I already mentioned that I don’t like gens 6 and 8, but gen 7 is a bit complicated for me. Base Sun and Moon feel like they were trying to take a more story focused approach to a mainline game, which I thought worked pretty well, though not as much as gen 5. This gets backhanded when Ultra Sun and Moon come out which butcher the story in half and make base S/M irrelevant due to the gameplay updates. It’s saddening to think about, but with each game coming out to more and more negative press from fans and critics I wonder just how bright is the future for this franchise. Sure, B/W are often seen as among the best in the series NOW, but its original reputation hurt the overall franchise so much that it hurts to think about at times.
I won’t pretend Pokemon Black and White are the end all be all of games or that they’re perfect, I think Ghetsis and some parts of Plasma could have been handled better, and as a story a lot more could be fleshed out, but for a Pokemon game, a series which i only play for the gameplay, I gladly accept this games efforts for what it does right. This is definitely a nostalgia game for me, and that may have impacted my overall opinions on it, but that attachment I have lends it to be more than the sum of its parts. As I stated in my first review on this site, I often like games more for what I get out of them, even if it's not in the base game. Sure, most of what I said may have been conjecture, but it’s how I interpret the plot given what is already there, and considering this is the only Pokemon game I can do that leaves a lot to say on how I view it. We may not get another game like Black or White ever again from this franchise, but I’m very grateful for them being here in the first place.
B/W are often considered one of the best games in the franchise. Seen as the last bastion before the slip to mediocrity, these games seem to have this magic that no other can capture. Yes, it’s easy to say it has the best gameplay, Pokedex, music or graphics; all of which I believe to be the case, but there’s another reason I find this game stands taller among its relatives, being the only Pokemon game to try to delve more into the story aspect rather than gameplay.
First let’s start with the titles of the game, which lay the groundwork to how the events of the game play out. Normally the title for each game just represents the cover legendaries in some way. Oh this one is orange make it gold, this one is blue make it sapphire. It’s a way to hype up the player towards what legendary beasts they can acquire on their journey, but these games seem to do it a bit differently. For the mascot of Black it’s a…white dragon? And for White it’s a…black dragon…Not normally what a player would expect from the usual fare, but instead of using it to shill the coolest new lizard on the block they use it to tell us what the game is about. B/W is about the balance of all things, with box art that subtly pays homage to the yin yang, a symbol we should all be familiar with. Just like how the yin yang embodies balance and how nothing is truly fully good or fully evil, B/W are games about the balance of philosophies, specifically of truth and ideals, and this seeps into many aspects within the story and characters.
Let’s start with your rivals. B/W is the first game to have more than one rival character, Cheren and Bianca. Cheren is studious, prideful, and has big aspirations for his future, while Bianca is energetic and cheerful while still being nervous about the outside world. Cheren keeps losing no matter how hard he strategizes and keeps saying he wants to get stronger, while Bianca realizes that while she cherishes the chances to be with Pokemon that being a Trainer just is not her strong suit and wants to live with them in a different way. This leads to Black & White 2, where after hard work and determination Cheren finally honed his skills enough to be a Gym leader, while Bianca settled down and became an assistant to the region’s Pokemon professor Juniper. Cheren’s idealism pushed him forward, never letting his defeats get him down, while Bianca realizing the truth that she is not cut out for battling Pokemon led her to an ultimately happier life. Both end up feeling like actual characters who grow instead of just a typical happy go lucky friend or an ass prick rival. Bianca is honestly one of my favorite characters in the series just because of her arc is something that should be said to anyone of all ages. If you find out what you’ve always wanted is something you struggle with or lose passion in, it’s always ok to back down from it, and maybe approach it from a different perspective like she did. It’s honestly one of the most impactful messages to me personally in any game I’ve played.
But what about if truth and ideals get conflated? What if idealism goes too far, to the point where the truth gets muddied? That’s where Team Plasma sticks in. Pokemon is a franchise that faced common criticism for its content. Capturing wild animals and fighting with them is something that can seem abusive from the outsider looking in, and Team Plasma feels like Game Freak acknowledging those concerns. To start off, I just want to point out how much I love their designs. The holy templar aesthetic works really well for a group of extremists devoted to a misguided cause; and that’s ultimately how I view them. Team Plasma’s goal to liberate pokemon from their owners does sound reasonable on paper, but only just that. In the Pokemon world it's shown that not only do Pokemon like and enjoy battling, but they have other uses in society besides just being entertainment. They can be used for construction, research, provide medicine and ferry people across the ocean. Hell, ice cream was basically invented because Vanillite exists. It does not help that their motivations seem a bit skewed, as early on in the game they are seen abusing a Musharna for their plans, painting them in a less than gray light. They’re obviously not good people, but they think they are, and no other person in their group exemplifies this than their leader; The King of Plasma, N.
N walks the fine line of another rival character and an antagonist. A mysterious young man who boasts about he will find the legendary dragon and with its power command all people of Unova to release their pokemon, yet he does not seem to bear malice or resentment towards the player despite them being a trainer themselves. I’ve heard him described as a pseudo protagonist before, with a design that certainly screams main character and like his army’s goals has seemingly righteous motivations. However what separates N from his grunts is naivete and strictness to his code of honor. Every battle not counting your final encounter with him has him use low level Pokemon native to the current area, as if he only catches them in case the need arises and discards them back into the wilderness afterwards. He truly does care about his goal to the end, and when he obtains one of the two dragons of legends he challenges the player to meet him at the Pokemon league. When you get there and revive the other dragon of legend the battle with N awaits, and the significance takes a different meaning depending on which version. In Black, you, with Reshiram, the dragon of truth, face down Zekrom, the dragon of ideals, showing N how his sheltered outlook on the world was faulty; but in White, the tables are turned. N having Reshiram wants to implant what he views as the truth, trying to shoot down your ideals that people and pokemon can live together as one. Bringing back that pseudo protagonist thing I mentioned earlier, white is often seen as a heroic color as opposed to black, and with Reshiram it can be seen as him seeing himself as the main character of this story, as Unova’s hero. It amazes me how the same battle can have two different meanings based on one simple change like this. And with his defeat the day is saved right? Well, no not exactly.
Enter Ghetsis, a rather controversial figure in the community. He appears several times throughout the game and is very much definitely the true antagonist, and what most people don’t like about him is how he clashes with the rest of what Team Plasma has. Instead of a zealot who fights for what he sees is right, he is an obviously evil character who reveals at the end of the game that yes he does want to remove all pokemon from their trainers…to take over the world. A lot of people felt like this was cheap and that it ruins the message of the game, but I just simply don’t think so, not fully anyways. I will say that while I do not believe Ghetsis is very interesting on his own, I love how much of a depraved asshole he is, especially in 2, but for this game I think what he does on his own is sinister enough and it does coincide with some of the more questionable actions that his grunts do. He effectively groomed N, secluding him in this castle where he is constantly pampered and instilling this mindset into him that having a pokemon is abusive, and I think what works well is moreso how N internalizes all of this and views those ideals genuinely. It can be implied that a lot of other grunts feel this way too as in B/W2 Team Plasma has split into two different identities. One is full of truly devoted followers of the belief to make pokemon’s lives better, yet they do these in unobtrusive ways and attempt to keep the other half of Team Plasma at bay. Clad in different, more sinister gear, the followers of Ghetsis no longer shackle themselves to the lies they pretended to care for and instead become absolutely ruthless. It shows a dichotomy that in the original team, there were those more naive like N, while there were others doing it simply for their lord Ghetsis.
After his defeat, N finally realizes how his entire life was built up as a life, and reflects on it in my favorite scene in any Pokemon game. N has one last heart to heart with the player while the Mother 3 love theme plays as he talks about how he now knows he can be more open in his beliefs, and leaves with his dragon to see the world and learn from others. It’s honestly a great ending to his arc, setting up the beginning to his betterment and abandoning his old life. I grew up in a family of racists and bigots, and it was only after I learned from others that I was able to change as a person for the better. N is just like that, with an abusive father that you help him escape from metaphorically, and I hope his story resonates with others just as much as it does with me.
Now it’s one thing for a game to have a great story, but Black and White also just feels comforting in its setting to me. Going to be real, I grew up relatively close to New York, where Unova is based. More specifically It was the parts of New Jersey that the opening segment of B/W2 takes place in, so I’ve been to New York a few times in my lifetime and it kind of just resonates with me. Unova as a region is brash and lively, just like how most romanticized versions of America are. The soundtrack is bombastic and it absolutely captures what northeastern America can be like, it feels homely in that regard. Yet the one location that catches my eye the most is the one that strays differently than the rest, Opelucid City.
Opelucid City is a town that has two separate themes based on the version you play. In Black, it’s one of the most futuristic locations in the series while in White it’s a place taking pride in its rich history. It's one of the most visually distinct towns in the series regardless of what version you play, and what I love so much is how it subtly ties into the game's themes. Depending on what version you play you face a different Gym leader, Drayden, an older man and mayor of the city, or Iris, an extremely young girl. What I love is how like the yin yang this game’s box art takes notes from, similar symbolism can be construed from this setup, as Drayden is the gym leader in Black and Iris in White. The older man in the idealistic future and the young girl living with the truth of the past just has this nice little note that makes me feel that extra thought and care was put into this game; and I feel that care exists a lot throughout the game.
As a game, there’s a lot of things that B/W just does right to the point that it feels impossible to list them all. I love that with more focus on story comes a more realized region. Most Pokemon games tend to have the bullet point issue of “Go to town, get badge, leave”, yet there is more to B/W that makes it feel less like a to do list. Besides the waiter trios, every gym leader ends up being involved in the plot in some way, usually dealing with Plasma who rear their heads in every location to make themselves a constant threat or just seeing parts of their routine outside of being a gym leader. It makes the world feel more realized and the characters more memorable even if they are still boss battles at the end of the day. Little details such as Bianca’s team being based on the events that happened up until the first gym, Cheren using items in battle after reading about them in trainer school may be tiny, but add that extra little polish to make the game feel like it was made by people who were doing more than just the bare minimum, which is something I wish I could say about later entries.
No other game in the series is like B/W, and after this game is when I think that fatigue with the franchise I mentioned at the beginning of this essay set itself in. Sadly, B/W were infamously hated on release, and I can only assume the fans were mad just because the game only allows you use their favorite mons from past gens, (Btw this is pure copium, Unova has my personal favorite dex), and part of me feels the negative reception influenced other games in the series. B/W2 while still very good games gave the story a backseat booster seat instead of putting it front and center, focusing on refining the gameplay which I think was already pretty solid in gen 5. After this the series got watered down overtime. I already mentioned that I don’t like gens 6 and 8, but gen 7 is a bit complicated for me. Base Sun and Moon feel like they were trying to take a more story focused approach to a mainline game, which I thought worked pretty well, though not as much as gen 5. This gets backhanded when Ultra Sun and Moon come out which butcher the story in half and make base S/M irrelevant due to the gameplay updates. It’s saddening to think about, but with each game coming out to more and more negative press from fans and critics I wonder just how bright is the future for this franchise. Sure, B/W are often seen as among the best in the series NOW, but its original reputation hurt the overall franchise so much that it hurts to think about at times.
I won’t pretend Pokemon Black and White are the end all be all of games or that they’re perfect, I think Ghetsis and some parts of Plasma could have been handled better, and as a story a lot more could be fleshed out, but for a Pokemon game, a series which i only play for the gameplay, I gladly accept this games efforts for what it does right. This is definitely a nostalgia game for me, and that may have impacted my overall opinions on it, but that attachment I have lends it to be more than the sum of its parts. As I stated in my first review on this site, I often like games more for what I get out of them, even if it's not in the base game. Sure, most of what I said may have been conjecture, but it’s how I interpret the plot given what is already there, and considering this is the only Pokemon game I can do that leaves a lot to say on how I view it. We may not get another game like Black or White ever again from this franchise, but I’m very grateful for them being here in the first place.
"Você disse que tinha um sonho, esse sonho... torne-o realidade... Adeus"
Que jogo magnifico, de longe disparado o melhor da franquia inteiro, tanto em sua Pokedex, Wordbuilding, Eventos, Cidades, Level Design, Elite Four e Boss Battle, todos esses conceitos são extremamente aprimorados a niveis astronomicos, apresentando cameras/cut-scenes tridimensionais pela primeira vez na série.
Também consiste em ter a melhor historia de um personagem/vilão que é o N, ele não é apenas o nosso rival mas é alguém que pensa diretamente diferente de tudo apresentado até então, ele colide seu pensamento de mundo com o protagonista de maneira orgânica, o plano de Ghetsis de o molda-lo desde pequeno com esses tipos de pensamentos e aprimora-lo para ser um símbolo de heroismo para ser reconhecido por Zakrom/Reshiram.
Totalmente Absurdo
Que jogo magnifico, de longe disparado o melhor da franquia inteiro, tanto em sua Pokedex, Wordbuilding, Eventos, Cidades, Level Design, Elite Four e Boss Battle, todos esses conceitos são extremamente aprimorados a niveis astronomicos, apresentando cameras/cut-scenes tridimensionais pela primeira vez na série.
Também consiste em ter a melhor historia de um personagem/vilão que é o N, ele não é apenas o nosso rival mas é alguém que pensa diretamente diferente de tudo apresentado até então, ele colide seu pensamento de mundo com o protagonista de maneira orgânica, o plano de Ghetsis de o molda-lo desde pequeno com esses tipos de pensamentos e aprimora-lo para ser um símbolo de heroismo para ser reconhecido por Zakrom/Reshiram.
Totalmente Absurdo
I don't have much to say about this game that hasn't already been said, I don't think. It's a Pokemon game and I'm 13 years late to it... but I do have a few things to say that aren't really connected, so I'll just say 'em.
N has what is probably the most uniquely compelling character arc in the entire series thus far, with a really unexpected payoff. I've not played anything past Gen 5, but I'm kind of scared to... because I know for sure they're gonna try and fail to capture this kind of vibe again.
My playthrough can be entirely summed up with "Gigalith is fucked up". Something's strong against the Pokemon I'm trying to train? Gigalith. Encounter rate getting me down? Gigalith. Underlevelled, stuck in a Trainer battle with better Pokemon and plenty of Hyper Potions? Good one- but unfortunately for them, Gigalith. My trump card was a literal fucking mountain, so it's not a huge surprise that no one could do anything about it. It was pretty great, so this is a great gen! That's the fun of Pokemon! Finding one guy that's your favorite of all the guys, then stomping all the guys that think they can beat your guy. I'm understanding that 100% correctly; if you disagree because spamming Rock Slide is "too easy" and I would be punished for it in a "good" RPG, you just don't get what Pokemon is about, man.
I kind of love how quaint the presentation of this game is. It's not particularly impressive graphics for 2010, but plenty of areas in the game take the time to zoom out and change camera angles, as if Game Freak themselves are going like "Look! We figured out how to do 3D! Look at this bridge! Look at these buildings! Isn't it great??" And y'know what, dude, it is pretty great. I'm proud of y'all.
Gen 3 was still better tho
N has what is probably the most uniquely compelling character arc in the entire series thus far, with a really unexpected payoff. I've not played anything past Gen 5, but I'm kind of scared to... because I know for sure they're gonna try and fail to capture this kind of vibe again.
My playthrough can be entirely summed up with "Gigalith is fucked up". Something's strong against the Pokemon I'm trying to train? Gigalith. Encounter rate getting me down? Gigalith. Underlevelled, stuck in a Trainer battle with better Pokemon and plenty of Hyper Potions? Good one- but unfortunately for them, Gigalith. My trump card was a literal fucking mountain, so it's not a huge surprise that no one could do anything about it. It was pretty great, so this is a great gen! That's the fun of Pokemon! Finding one guy that's your favorite of all the guys, then stomping all the guys that think they can beat your guy. I'm understanding that 100% correctly; if you disagree because spamming Rock Slide is "too easy" and I would be punished for it in a "good" RPG, you just don't get what Pokemon is about, man.
I kind of love how quaint the presentation of this game is. It's not particularly impressive graphics for 2010, but plenty of areas in the game take the time to zoom out and change camera angles, as if Game Freak themselves are going like "Look! We figured out how to do 3D! Look at this bridge! Look at these buildings! Isn't it great??" And y'know what, dude, it is pretty great. I'm proud of y'all.
It's too much linear(even for pkmn standards) until two thirds of the game, but the story and soundtrack remain the best in the franchise
I don't like the Gen 5 Pokemon games. The weird thing is, given when I played these games, I probably SHOULD.
These games were released in an era when my interest in Pokemon was at its peak. I was still a huge fan of the franchise at the time, and Platinum and HGSS were among the first games I actively followed announcements for on the internet. Hell, I was so hyped for B1W1, the password on my old laptop from that time was - and still is - Pokabu, the Japanese name for Tepig. If there were ever a game to blind my opinion with overwhelming nostalgia, it should be this one.
And yet, despite the odds, just playing it makes me writhe in hatred, and I have an enormous amount of trouble just mustering the willpower to continue to the next gym, even though (or perhaps BECAUSE) it's only a single stubby near-empty route away from the last.
Though I was excited for a region based off of my home country in the United States, Unova's structure is... not the most engaging. Granted, the road from your hometown to the Pokemon League twists and turns, but rarely do you find yourself doubling back - it's just a straight shot from Nuvema Town all the way to Victory Road. The few times you need to backtrack for story reasons, it's only short-lived, and you'll inevitably return to where you just came from to continue walking in that straight line.
The monotony and claustrophobia of your trek in a single direction is only exacerbated by just how little the game utilizes Routes. In a series all about hitting the road and surrounding yourself in the beautiful untamed wilderness, B1W1's natural areas are remarkably stumpy and always feel so lacking in substance, and you wind up spending more of your time in dungeons, most of which are manmade in this game.
But apparently, cramming the game full of an overwhelming number of dungeons and bridges wasn't enough to make up for the short routes. They needed an extra way to pad out the game. Which leads me to the story. And if I were to describe Team Plasma in a single word, that word would be "squandered."
Allow me to go on a not-so-brief tangent about recontextualization. In Platinum, it's established in your literal first encounter with the Team Galactic grunts that they want to use the power released when Pokemon evolve to achieve their goals. This seemingly inconsequential little detail completely redefines a crime that every team commits which we've all taken for granted - kidnapping and hoarding Pokemon. They don't just want troops, they want POWER. Is it really a coincidence that the bug Pokemon that Team Galactic want to draw in with that sweet, sweet Honey in Floraroma evolve at low levels? Or that the two Pokemon that Jupiter kidnapped in Eternea, Clefairy and Buneary, are among the easiest Pokemon in the game to evolve? Frankly, yes, they probably are coincidences. But, regardless of whether or not it's intentional, it still makes their plans feel more cohesive and fleshed out. They aren't just doing this as part of a bid for power; kidnapping Pokemon is actually directly furthering their ultimate goal of summoning a legendary Pokemon by creating a chain by kidnapping three lake elves by blowing up their lake using a bomb which they NEED THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION TO POWER.
I'm saying this because Plasma had even stronger potential for recontextualizing. For them, kidnapping Pokemon wouldn't have just tangentially linked to their goals, it would've BEEN their goal - stealing and releasing others' Pokemon out in the wild! A deed that's been taken for granted, given entirely new meaning by the team's motivations!
Unfortunately, the story decides to undermine this motivation by effectively retconning it from nearly every member of Team Plasma except N himself. None of them actually care about releasing Pokemon back into the wild. They only kidnap Pokemon because that's a thing evil teams do. They don't take the kidnapped Pokemon into the wild to immediately release them, they take them into dead ends in caves or empty buildings to use as hostages until they're beaten in a Pokemon battle by the main character.
In fact, despite their enormous presence throughout the game, Team Plasma doesn't really do a whole lot of anything for most of it. Most of your encounters with them are poorly explained. In the Wellspring Cave and Castelia City, you're just told that a Pokemon has been kidnapped and sent on your way. Your encounters with them in Chargestone Cave and the Desert Resort are both explained as Ghetsis wanting to "test" you... even though you've already opposed Team Plasma's plans countless times by this point in the story, and they should be fully aware of what you're capable of. Hell, in Driftveil City, you aren't even TOLD what Plasma was doing in town; you're just sent off to catch them because Clay is too much of a boomer to do it himself. The continuous run-ins with them exist only to add more cutscenes to the game and trick you into thinking the road you're walking down is longer and more adventurous than it actually is.
(EDIT: In retrospect, I'm starting to have a better understanding of how Plasma's two-faced nature tie rather nicely into Gen 5's overall theming of Truth versus Ideals. But, I still think more could have been done with them, and in fact that knowledge has only strengthened my belief in this. Like, imagine if, during the events of B1W1, they had actually established in-fighting between the Plasma members who believed in N's ideal and those who sought power like Ghetsis. Y'know, as opposed to only revealing that such a thing existed in the next games.)
It's not even an especially well-built video game in some areas, either! The first gym utilizes a gimmick which is admittedly pretty cool, where the typing is determined by the starter you chose. You're able to get a Pokemon in the nearby Dreamyard that's super-effective against the leader's ace... but the ace is four levels higher than that Pokemon. By the time you get this Pokemon, you'll only have a pitiful two trainer battles left until you get to the leader - not nearly enough to get strong enough to stand a good chance. Even if you avoid as many trainers as you can on the way there and then double back to refight them once you've gotten the Pokemon from the Dreamyard, it STILL isn't enough to get close to level 14. The game essentially forces you to either grind up some levels on this new teammate, or abandon it altogether in favor of brute forcing it with a Lillipup or Patrat. And good luck grinding without the luxury of Audino, which only begins appearing AFTER YOU BEAT THE FIRST GYM.
I've tried to beat Black more times than I can count, and each time my energy gets sapped and sapped until my runs fall to a close and I just give up. I do not have the willpower to beat this game - the only one standing between me and transferring my beloved Gen 4 Pokemon into the modern games.
Fortunately, thanks to Dexit, I can't get most of them into the modern games anyway. Meaning there's no longer any reason for me to try beating B1W1.
2/10. The worst mainline Pokemon games, bar none. Don't @ me.
These games were released in an era when my interest in Pokemon was at its peak. I was still a huge fan of the franchise at the time, and Platinum and HGSS were among the first games I actively followed announcements for on the internet. Hell, I was so hyped for B1W1, the password on my old laptop from that time was - and still is - Pokabu, the Japanese name for Tepig. If there were ever a game to blind my opinion with overwhelming nostalgia, it should be this one.
And yet, despite the odds, just playing it makes me writhe in hatred, and I have an enormous amount of trouble just mustering the willpower to continue to the next gym, even though (or perhaps BECAUSE) it's only a single stubby near-empty route away from the last.
Though I was excited for a region based off of my home country in the United States, Unova's structure is... not the most engaging. Granted, the road from your hometown to the Pokemon League twists and turns, but rarely do you find yourself doubling back - it's just a straight shot from Nuvema Town all the way to Victory Road. The few times you need to backtrack for story reasons, it's only short-lived, and you'll inevitably return to where you just came from to continue walking in that straight line.
The monotony and claustrophobia of your trek in a single direction is only exacerbated by just how little the game utilizes Routes. In a series all about hitting the road and surrounding yourself in the beautiful untamed wilderness, B1W1's natural areas are remarkably stumpy and always feel so lacking in substance, and you wind up spending more of your time in dungeons, most of which are manmade in this game.
But apparently, cramming the game full of an overwhelming number of dungeons and bridges wasn't enough to make up for the short routes. They needed an extra way to pad out the game. Which leads me to the story. And if I were to describe Team Plasma in a single word, that word would be "squandered."
Allow me to go on a not-so-brief tangent about recontextualization. In Platinum, it's established in your literal first encounter with the Team Galactic grunts that they want to use the power released when Pokemon evolve to achieve their goals. This seemingly inconsequential little detail completely redefines a crime that every team commits which we've all taken for granted - kidnapping and hoarding Pokemon. They don't just want troops, they want POWER. Is it really a coincidence that the bug Pokemon that Team Galactic want to draw in with that sweet, sweet Honey in Floraroma evolve at low levels? Or that the two Pokemon that Jupiter kidnapped in Eternea, Clefairy and Buneary, are among the easiest Pokemon in the game to evolve? Frankly, yes, they probably are coincidences. But, regardless of whether or not it's intentional, it still makes their plans feel more cohesive and fleshed out. They aren't just doing this as part of a bid for power; kidnapping Pokemon is actually directly furthering their ultimate goal of summoning a legendary Pokemon by creating a chain by kidnapping three lake elves by blowing up their lake using a bomb which they NEED THE ENERGY OF EVOLUTION TO POWER.
I'm saying this because Plasma had even stronger potential for recontextualizing. For them, kidnapping Pokemon wouldn't have just tangentially linked to their goals, it would've BEEN their goal - stealing and releasing others' Pokemon out in the wild! A deed that's been taken for granted, given entirely new meaning by the team's motivations!
Unfortunately, the story decides to undermine this motivation by effectively retconning it from nearly every member of Team Plasma except N himself. None of them actually care about releasing Pokemon back into the wild. They only kidnap Pokemon because that's a thing evil teams do. They don't take the kidnapped Pokemon into the wild to immediately release them, they take them into dead ends in caves or empty buildings to use as hostages until they're beaten in a Pokemon battle by the main character.
In fact, despite their enormous presence throughout the game, Team Plasma doesn't really do a whole lot of anything for most of it. Most of your encounters with them are poorly explained. In the Wellspring Cave and Castelia City, you're just told that a Pokemon has been kidnapped and sent on your way. Your encounters with them in Chargestone Cave and the Desert Resort are both explained as Ghetsis wanting to "test" you... even though you've already opposed Team Plasma's plans countless times by this point in the story, and they should be fully aware of what you're capable of. Hell, in Driftveil City, you aren't even TOLD what Plasma was doing in town; you're just sent off to catch them because Clay is too much of a boomer to do it himself. The continuous run-ins with them exist only to add more cutscenes to the game and trick you into thinking the road you're walking down is longer and more adventurous than it actually is.
(EDIT: In retrospect, I'm starting to have a better understanding of how Plasma's two-faced nature tie rather nicely into Gen 5's overall theming of Truth versus Ideals. But, I still think more could have been done with them, and in fact that knowledge has only strengthened my belief in this. Like, imagine if, during the events of B1W1, they had actually established in-fighting between the Plasma members who believed in N's ideal and those who sought power like Ghetsis. Y'know, as opposed to only revealing that such a thing existed in the next games.)
It's not even an especially well-built video game in some areas, either! The first gym utilizes a gimmick which is admittedly pretty cool, where the typing is determined by the starter you chose. You're able to get a Pokemon in the nearby Dreamyard that's super-effective against the leader's ace... but the ace is four levels higher than that Pokemon. By the time you get this Pokemon, you'll only have a pitiful two trainer battles left until you get to the leader - not nearly enough to get strong enough to stand a good chance. Even if you avoid as many trainers as you can on the way there and then double back to refight them once you've gotten the Pokemon from the Dreamyard, it STILL isn't enough to get close to level 14. The game essentially forces you to either grind up some levels on this new teammate, or abandon it altogether in favor of brute forcing it with a Lillipup or Patrat. And good luck grinding without the luxury of Audino, which only begins appearing AFTER YOU BEAT THE FIRST GYM.
I've tried to beat Black more times than I can count, and each time my energy gets sapped and sapped until my runs fall to a close and I just give up. I do not have the willpower to beat this game - the only one standing between me and transferring my beloved Gen 4 Pokemon into the modern games.
Fortunately, thanks to Dexit, I can't get most of them into the modern games anyway. Meaning there's no longer any reason for me to try beating B1W1.
2/10. The worst mainline Pokemon games, bar none. Don't @ me.
N made me realize I like men when I was younger.
So tempted to give this a 10/10 but it’s just held back by the usual Pokémon shenanigans like version exclusives and event Pokémon.
It's...okay.
This is the pokemon game everyone puts on a pedestal nowadays, and so I had a lot of hype finally playing it, but that likely hurt the experience for me a lot. The narrative was really underwhelming to me after years of hearing it talked up- I find Sun/Moon's message to be more unique and emotionally poignant, which despite both games having similar narrative shortcomings gives it a huge leg up on BW in my personal opinion. The ending did hit the notes it was striving for however, and if I had grown up with this game instead of SM, I'd likely adore it narratively, because there is a lot to love- just not much for my adult brain to sink its teeth into that I haven't seen done better elsewhere.
Gameplay wise it's pretty messy too. The small pokedex makes me really feel limited in my teambuilding options, which is more forgivable for the first two generations where the actual number of pokemon was lower and they were still finding their footing, but I wish they had had the same epiphany that they did when they attempted the same "Only new pokemon" thing with RSE and filled out the pokedex with relevant pokemon from past gens after realizing the variety was too low, while still putting the new ones in the spotlight. The evolution levels are also just as strange as they appear, with many pokemon evolving at or after the elite four, which feels strange and unsatisfying to me.
This is likely a controversial stance that will bring me heat, but in my mind, this game is akin to XY: It is a functional pokemon game that exists. Not the peak of the franchise, but playably fun. I still have the postgame to play, but I'd be doing it out of obligation at this point, because I feel ready to move on.
This is the pokemon game everyone puts on a pedestal nowadays, and so I had a lot of hype finally playing it, but that likely hurt the experience for me a lot. The narrative was really underwhelming to me after years of hearing it talked up- I find Sun/Moon's message to be more unique and emotionally poignant, which despite both games having similar narrative shortcomings gives it a huge leg up on BW in my personal opinion. The ending did hit the notes it was striving for however, and if I had grown up with this game instead of SM, I'd likely adore it narratively, because there is a lot to love- just not much for my adult brain to sink its teeth into that I haven't seen done better elsewhere.
Gameplay wise it's pretty messy too. The small pokedex makes me really feel limited in my teambuilding options, which is more forgivable for the first two generations where the actual number of pokemon was lower and they were still finding their footing, but I wish they had had the same epiphany that they did when they attempted the same "Only new pokemon" thing with RSE and filled out the pokedex with relevant pokemon from past gens after realizing the variety was too low, while still putting the new ones in the spotlight. The evolution levels are also just as strange as they appear, with many pokemon evolving at or after the elite four, which feels strange and unsatisfying to me.
This is likely a controversial stance that will bring me heat, but in my mind, this game is akin to XY: It is a functional pokemon game that exists. Not the peak of the franchise, but playably fun. I still have the postgame to play, but I'd be doing it out of obligation at this point, because I feel ready to move on.
this would've been my first pokemon game but it was on one of those 300 games in 1 cartridges and it was in german so I couldn't understand anything
Sick Pokémon game where the plot has actual stakes and doesn't spoon feed you with airplane noises. I remember this game getting universally pissed on at release for some of the Pokémon designs, but guess what SUCKER, some of those Pokémon are favorites of mine.
The music pops ALLLL the way off and it is by far and still the best art style in the series. I love the animated pixels and it's an actual crime that we only stuck with it for 2 games.
My only real complaint is that Poison no longer damages outside of battle. If I want my Pokémon to perish in a Nuzlocke, which I really don't, then they should be able to god damn it!! It is however on thin ice because Lickitung is in the game, but he's a late game edition.
Can't wait for Gamefreak to ruin this game with a remake and make it the ugliest thing they've ever produced.
The music pops ALLLL the way off and it is by far and still the best art style in the series. I love the animated pixels and it's an actual crime that we only stuck with it for 2 games.
My only real complaint is that Poison no longer damages outside of battle. If I want my Pokémon to perish in a Nuzlocke, which I really don't, then they should be able to god damn it!! It is however on thin ice because Lickitung is in the game, but he's a late game edition.
Can't wait for Gamefreak to ruin this game with a remake and make it the ugliest thing they've ever produced.
With expressive spritework, a creative new region to explore, and a story that'll actually grip you, it felt like the end of an era, a refined culmination of everything great about the series before moving onto unknown territory.
Peak pokemon to me
gen 5 has the best gyms and i will standby that, but otherwise there's not much it can call its own. unova is too weird of a region, limiting your pokemon to only gen 5 is a crazy decision (not a good thing)
krookodille adamant noises
i actually don't care for the story as much as a lot of people seem to but i mean it's still totally one of the better pokemon games
Best story and themes, the Pokedex has some pretty odd looking mons but most look very nice once you get used to them, lots of places to explore for this franchise and fantastic soundtrack.This is where objectively the mainline Pokemon games peaked
Pokémon Black and White hold a special place in my heart. They’re the first Pokémon games I pre ordered, but I first played the fan translations that came out months before. Even though some consider the new Pokémon designs lazy or uninspired, I still love all of the ones introduced. Having access to only new Pokémon makes the games feel unique, since you can’t just track down that Pikachu or Gyarados you always use. While HeartGold and SoulSilver are my absolute favourite games in the series, Black and White are such a close second place. If not counting remakes, then first.
...Absolute Cinema.
My Team for This game:
Donald (Seismitoad)
Kairi (Leavanny)
Zoe (Stoutland)
Carl (Emboar)
Leo (Archeops)
Rouge (Gothitelle)
My Team for This game:
Donald (Seismitoad)
Kairi (Leavanny)
Zoe (Stoutland)
Carl (Emboar)
Leo (Archeops)
Rouge (Gothitelle)
I have my nitpicks and my first run was an absolute slog in which the game hated me and gave me the worst rolls and RNG possible at each and every turn, but in spite of all that, I can see why people hold BW in such high regard, especially now as I'm doing a second run that has treated me way better.
reshiram's got a hairy dick
Minha experiência mais frustrante com pokemon
De inicio eu achei que esse jogo ia ser muito legal e divertido pra mim, porém foi totalmente o contrário.
Os gráficos dessa geração são muito bonitos, a gameplay perfeitamente melhorada e a construção de cenário então nem se fala, mas ai tu me pergunta
"Então por que tu não gostou de pokemon Black?"
E o que te respondo é o seguinte, eu não fui com a cara de jeito nenhum com os pokemons dessa Gen e nem muito menos com a história dele
Diferente dos outros títulos a história desse aqui é mais elaborada e conta com temas mais filosóficos e sérios, saindo daquela infantilidade dos seus antecessores, o que pra mim sinceramente não foi la tão legal, eu gosto muito da história simples e bobinha de pokemon e essa mudança no Black, que deu um ar de mais seriedade e edgy no jogo, deixou ele meio paia na minha opinião.
E sobre os pokemons eu nem sei o que falar, as animações deles são muito bem trabalhadas mas o design deles são péssimos. Nenhum me encheu os olhos pra adquirir (exceto o sandile) e suas evoluções são patéticas demais pra mim, sem contar que esse ar de reboot que o jogo deu, de te empurrar pokemons novos e quase nenhum dos antigos, deu uma certa quebra pra mim que me desanimou, pois os novos eram chatos demais e o único antigo que encontrei foi o Sandshrew.
Mas tirando essas partes ruins, a personalidade dos personagens pra mim são boas demais, todas bem construídas e com aquele ar de animezão.
De inicio eu achei que esse jogo ia ser muito legal e divertido pra mim, porém foi totalmente o contrário.
Os gráficos dessa geração são muito bonitos, a gameplay perfeitamente melhorada e a construção de cenário então nem se fala, mas ai tu me pergunta
"Então por que tu não gostou de pokemon Black?"
E o que te respondo é o seguinte, eu não fui com a cara de jeito nenhum com os pokemons dessa Gen e nem muito menos com a história dele
Diferente dos outros títulos a história desse aqui é mais elaborada e conta com temas mais filosóficos e sérios, saindo daquela infantilidade dos seus antecessores, o que pra mim sinceramente não foi la tão legal, eu gosto muito da história simples e bobinha de pokemon e essa mudança no Black, que deu um ar de mais seriedade e edgy no jogo, deixou ele meio paia na minha opinião.
E sobre os pokemons eu nem sei o que falar, as animações deles são muito bem trabalhadas mas o design deles são péssimos. Nenhum me encheu os olhos pra adquirir (exceto o sandile) e suas evoluções são patéticas demais pra mim, sem contar que esse ar de reboot que o jogo deu, de te empurrar pokemons novos e quase nenhum dos antigos, deu uma certa quebra pra mim que me desanimou, pois os novos eram chatos demais e o único antigo que encontrei foi o Sandshrew.
Mas tirando essas partes ruins, a personalidade dos personagens pra mim são boas demais, todas bem construídas e com aquele ar de animezão.
Jogaço! Uma das melhores histórias da franquia.
N SUPREMACY!
N SUPREMACY!
For many people, in the gaming industry there are two types of JRPGS: regular jrpgs.... and Pokemon-like jrpgs
regular jrpgs are your familiar Final fantasy, Dragon quest, Persona, Chrono Trigger..... titles that are capable of making you jump into a wonderful fantasy world, filled with characters and contexts that narrates stories on their own, while also creating a deep combat system and a narrative that inspires and is able to express messages and morals that will stuck with you forever.
Pokemon games...... also sometimes do that.... on a smaller scale..... in some instances.....
Don't get me wrong, the pokemon world is awesome and the ability to build up your team and the core concept of customizeing your adventure is the reason why it is the most successful media in the world..... but in terms of bringing up complex characters and deep messages.... doesn't really hit most of the time.
Black & White is one of the only instances where I can safely say that I am "playing a classic jrpgs": not only an amazing title where you explore an alive world, where even details like the music and the environment depends on you actions (to this day they are the only titles next to B2W2 to feature seasonal variants of the world, and have details like literal added instruments to the soundtrack AS YOU RUN OR TALK TO PEOPLE); but also a title where you are put to the test, and challenges with the various gym leaders and "bosses" are actually able to put you to the test. Add this to a full new map that opens the moment you finish the main story, for a post-game almost as big as the main campaign
And not only that, but it's not able to risk it all: it's a game that was supposed to be a reset for the whole series, with a completely new roster of pokemon and zero returning ones, and a story where all of the major characters matter, and are able to express something different regarding a world filled with magical companions.
The characters of Cheren, Bianca, N, the leaders of Team Plasma, the Gym leaders and even the Pokemon themselves are able to give so much depth to not only the story of the games, but the story of the franchise as a whole, turning Black & White into one of the best titles in the series.
If you are a Pokemon fan or a fan of jrpgs in general, you HAVE to try them!!!!
regular jrpgs are your familiar Final fantasy, Dragon quest, Persona, Chrono Trigger..... titles that are capable of making you jump into a wonderful fantasy world, filled with characters and contexts that narrates stories on their own, while also creating a deep combat system and a narrative that inspires and is able to express messages and morals that will stuck with you forever.
Pokemon games...... also sometimes do that.... on a smaller scale..... in some instances.....
Don't get me wrong, the pokemon world is awesome and the ability to build up your team and the core concept of customizeing your adventure is the reason why it is the most successful media in the world..... but in terms of bringing up complex characters and deep messages.... doesn't really hit most of the time.
Black & White is one of the only instances where I can safely say that I am "playing a classic jrpgs": not only an amazing title where you explore an alive world, where even details like the music and the environment depends on you actions (to this day they are the only titles next to B2W2 to feature seasonal variants of the world, and have details like literal added instruments to the soundtrack AS YOU RUN OR TALK TO PEOPLE); but also a title where you are put to the test, and challenges with the various gym leaders and "bosses" are actually able to put you to the test. Add this to a full new map that opens the moment you finish the main story, for a post-game almost as big as the main campaign
And not only that, but it's not able to risk it all: it's a game that was supposed to be a reset for the whole series, with a completely new roster of pokemon and zero returning ones, and a story where all of the major characters matter, and are able to express something different regarding a world filled with magical companions.
The characters of Cheren, Bianca, N, the leaders of Team Plasma, the Gym leaders and even the Pokemon themselves are able to give so much depth to not only the story of the games, but the story of the franchise as a whole, turning Black & White into one of the best titles in the series.
If you are a Pokemon fan or a fan of jrpgs in general, you HAVE to try them!!!!
Just gonna preface this one by saying that this review comes from someone who both grew up with Pokemon and still enjoys it currently, as an adult. Pokemon Black was my first mainline game in the series, and is the only one I feel holds through the flaws of its genre and presents a unique and worthwhile experience when compared to the progenitor games, Red and Blue. I cannot deny that gameplay is almost completely unchanged from the GameBoy titles, it's a formula I enjoy, however for the purposes of this review I will not be covering it as a positive. I feel the originality of this game lies in its visuals, music, and story (shockingly). As a game on the DS, "graphics" could easily be a detractor. 3d models were finally usable in handheld games, but instead of falling into the trap of making the game primarily 3d, they instead use it in deliberate and small ways that more enhance the locations around you. Large, endless skyscrapers in the games equivalent of NYC help to establish scale and draw connections to its inspiration. A loooong bridge above an active interstate, again drawing parallels to the US in ways that pixels just wouldn't allow for. Said pixels, however, are also used in deliberate ways. DS 3d has an issue with showing much detail, which is where the sprite work comes in. All of the characters and Pokemon are depicted using pixels, which allow for more detail and freedom of expression. The story, while made for kids (of course), is at the very least in its most interesting and cared for. The villains are not comically evil mobsters, climate warriors, or astronauts. They're essentially Pokemon PETA, existing in their mission to separate people and Pokemon from each other, as they view their captivity and use as battlers as inhumane. This, while basic, is the first time Pokemon has attempted actual commentary the likes of which could be seen, and in some ways are seen, in society then and now. There's more I could say but this is already getting too long.
Pokémon Black was the first Pokémon title I’d beaten, and to this day N is one of my favorite antagonists for a variety of reasons. I beat this game almost entirely with a Serperior, surprisingly.
smoothest pokemon has been maybe ever. game freak actually made concrete improvements over the last game in terms of the games engine? colour me shocked or something. but wow, does this game build of the beauty displayed by the gen 4 games and then some. probably the best pokemon has and will ever look. the story too, whilst a bit basic and seen a million times before in rpgs, is somewhat fresh for pokemon, even today.
if i were to give some issues its that, triple and rotation battles as a concept SUCK and have no clue as to why game freak thought they were a good idea.
if i were to give some issues its that, triple and rotation battles as a concept SUCK and have no clue as to why game freak thought they were a good idea.
Peak 2D Pokémon
I will never understand the hate this game got, this and black and white 2 are easily my favorite Pokémon games
A good game, probably the best Pokemon game to date, but this story everyone loves isn't all that.
It throws around a lot of vague terms that sound smart but they don't really mean much in the game itself. It's got a better narrative, and more heart, than every other Pokemon game, bar Platinum maybe, but it's still fairly middling and only works as well as it does because the monsters you catch and use throughout the game are easy to love and bond with.
Also, this game has the best balanced main story and is a joy to play through.
It throws around a lot of vague terms that sound smart but they don't really mean much in the game itself. It's got a better narrative, and more heart, than every other Pokemon game, bar Platinum maybe, but it's still fairly middling and only works as well as it does because the monsters you catch and use throughout the game are easy to love and bond with.
Also, this game has the best balanced main story and is a joy to play through.