Even if they're widely regarded as good entries in the Pokémon franchise, Diamond, Pearl and Platinum felt very much in line with what has been done before in the series. So after the excellent Gen 2 remakes, Game Freak decided to shake things up and made the best entry in the series.
Pokémon Black and White are what I would qualify as a soft-reboot, as it is a continuation in the Pokémon lore and gameplay, but tries and succeed to innovate by taking much more needed inspirations from other JRPGs. Therefore, the focus on the series has now shifted toward the stories and characters, rather than exploration and discoveries.
The region is now much more linear the previous ones, but provides an endearing plot with more characters having actual backstories and motivations. For example, the gym leaders actually help the player during our journey and our rivals have different goals (Bianca progressively becomes a scientist while Cheren tries to become a great trainer).
Now as for the story, it is the imo the best the series has to offer, even if it's still pretty basic. The game mainly tackles the theme of opinions/difference point of views, by confronting the protagonists against Team Plasma, a group of individuals believing Pokémon should be free from trainers and that everyone should agree with them. N is introduced as a new rival and is undoubtably the most important character in the game, because of his origins and arc, which I won't spoil.
As for everything else, the game takes and improve the 2.5D aesthetic of the last games but visually shines during battles with the gorgeous 2D animated and expressive sprites for ALL of the Pokémons. The combats are now really snappy unlike the 4th gen games which were notorious for being too slow (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gCvQiFUyC4), and EVERY SINGLE 151 MONSTERS BEFORE POSTGAME ARE BRAND NEW. That last point is absolutely nut. The OST and postgame are also great as usual.
Overall, Pokémon Black and White are perhaps the best game in the series and an amazing way to get into the franchise. They marked the start of the 5th generation of Pokémon games which is also unfortunately widely considered to be the last great gen before a rapid decline of quality started to plague the series.
Pokémon Black and White are what I would qualify as a soft-reboot, as it is a continuation in the Pokémon lore and gameplay, but tries and succeed to innovate by taking much more needed inspirations from other JRPGs. Therefore, the focus on the series has now shifted toward the stories and characters, rather than exploration and discoveries.
The region is now much more linear the previous ones, but provides an endearing plot with more characters having actual backstories and motivations. For example, the gym leaders actually help the player during our journey and our rivals have different goals (Bianca progressively becomes a scientist while Cheren tries to become a great trainer).
Now as for the story, it is the imo the best the series has to offer, even if it's still pretty basic. The game mainly tackles the theme of opinions/difference point of views, by confronting the protagonists against Team Plasma, a group of individuals believing Pokémon should be free from trainers and that everyone should agree with them. N is introduced as a new rival and is undoubtably the most important character in the game, because of his origins and arc, which I won't spoil.
As for everything else, the game takes and improve the 2.5D aesthetic of the last games but visually shines during battles with the gorgeous 2D animated and expressive sprites for ALL of the Pokémons. The combats are now really snappy unlike the 4th gen games which were notorious for being too slow (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gCvQiFUyC4), and EVERY SINGLE 151 MONSTERS BEFORE POSTGAME ARE BRAND NEW. That last point is absolutely nut. The OST and postgame are also great as usual.
Overall, Pokémon Black and White are perhaps the best game in the series and an amazing way to get into the franchise. They marked the start of the 5th generation of Pokémon games which is also unfortunately widely considered to be the last great gen before a rapid decline of quality started to plague the series.