impressions Black and White General Impressions Thread

[Guested]

As information slowly continues to be released, we can use this thread to discuss our own opinions and impressions on how the first set of games in Generation V is shaping out.

However, please try to post something more detailed than a single-sentence post.

Please keep the conversation civil. Let others state their opinions.

[Tbird]

I get the impression that the new generation is aimed to target some old-time fans and bring them back in for the fun. I think this because of how the characters are older than they have been in previous generations (so 18 year olds don't have to play with the awkward realisation they are moving a ten year old boy around a weird world lol) and that the region is set in a more city like way - from what we can see. Similarly I think Game freak tried to rope us back in by bringing in the old time favourite remakes of GSC so that we would give more thought into playing the next generation - that might explain why it has been announced so quickly after the release of the remakes - so that us older players don't get bored of waiting.

It looks to be good though, because I like both the ideas that have been incorporated into the new generation so I think I'll give it a look see .

[wraith89]

To be honest with you I prefer playing as the little kid wandering in a gigantic world... I just love that sense of adventure... and the feeling of accomplishment of a little kid stopping the whole entire world (or region) from destruction!

I'm not sure why but I'm not too intrigued with this new generation. First generation was just very exciting, and even now it feels pretty amazing to play around with (I just beat Yellow version again for the millionth time last night). Second generation rocked and had that sense of adventure, and HGSS was the perfect game I could have never asked for anything better. Third generation... well, sure it was a new start and everything felt different, but it was still Pokemon. Then came fourth generation... honestly, I felt excited to see that some old Pokemon would evolve and all, but somehow, once I started playing DPP, it seemed as if Pokemon lost its touch. Was it the bland characters? The storyline? I don't even know... Team Rocket was more exciting to me to be honest. I don't know what about them was though... even if there was no legendary Pokemon involved... something about Gen IV was lacking. Again, I am not sure what it is. I did somewhat like the main characters' designs... although Lucas looked too much like his predecessors... Dawn's Platinum outfit was kind of cute... Team Galactic were more of clowns than serious bad guys. Cyrus seems like a psychopath and very serious, but overall... they're too clowny to be bad guys. I guess they can screw the rules since they have green hair. I think Pokemon started falling apart once FRLG came out. Don't get me wrong... FRLG was pretty good, but there were MANY failed aspects in that game I don't feel like ranting about... it was a HUGE lazy rehash of Gen I... VERY lazy I could easily notice it. Many things were fixed in HGSS but for the most part... but some stuff carried over to the future gens.

Screw the rules! I have green hair!

You may be right about the "attract the old veterans" thing Tbird... since I think that was a theme from Generation IV. I don't know what it was, but from what I gather, fourth generation was made to attract competitive battlers. For example, look at the Champion's Pokemon... unlike Steven's or Lance's team, it is really champion material! In fact, in DPP, my Pokemon actually fainted in-game a bunch of times... I rarely had that problem in the previous three generations (aside from my first playthrough in Gen I when I was really nooby). Introduction to Wifi battling? Sounds like Pokemon BNet to me! There are also wild baby Pokemon (to get some new moves) and wild Steelixes and if you dongle, even wild Gengars so you can have powerful Pokemon to start with! And funny how the evolved Pokemon are more common than their baby forms. And let's not forget the fourth generation introduced "stat trainers" so you can easily EV train with them. I mean, those are some cool innovations, but a point I've always been stressing is... they are burying some old problems with new Pokemon. Yeah, you're tired of hearing this, but Staraptor chased Pidgeot out of the scene (not that Pidgeot was anything special back then either mind you). Those perfectly placed stats, Close Combat, Intimidate... all of that is enough to make Pidgeot turn green with envy. They did not even TRY to fix Pidgeot in HGSS either. Its level up moves were worse... only base 40 power moves... until you hit level 38... 38 to learn Wing Attack... when Pidgeotto EVOLVES at 36, while STARLY learns that same move at level 9 and learns some other moves like Aerial Ace naturally. Check it out yourself. In fact, many Pokemon introduced in Gen IV makes old Pokemon obsolete. Although Flygon still has levitate and U-turn over Garchomp, Garchomp was the ultimate Dragon/Ground ever to be created... I mean really? Base speed of 102? It seems like they did that on purpose... 2 points above Flygon's 100... really? And Blaziken/Infernape comparison... UGH... I don't want to go over that. Floatzel has just the right stats in the right places... it's an amazing hyper offensive water Pokemon... which is something Gamefreak rarely did before (Water Pokemon tends to be defensive in general... but there are exceptions like Starmie/Gyarados/etc). I mean kids still play DPP as if it were the old generation, but as kids start talking about their Giratina now, the stuff that we all used to brag about (like Mewtwo) is gone. HGSS brought back Mewtwo thankfully, but with the WORST moveset ever (Psycho Cut/Power Swap/Guard Swap/Amnesia) and it was not even significant in the storyline. Heck, he didn't even have his own theme (same with the legendary birds of Kanto)! Upsetting, considering Mewtwo was something people talked about a lot back then. Oh well, what can I do? I guess I'm too stuck in the old times that I pay no attention to the new Pokemon.

Water Pokemon are awesome and all, but just... what are you?

Yeah, Gen IV had its ups and downs, but it wasn't all bad. Introduction to a more competitive battling system is a good thing... especially with new items, but I just don't like how they had to bury some old problems and go through the same direction every other metagames do nowadays... make it more "standard" and less flexible. Now for Gen V... okay. First of all, starters... STARTER Pokemon I was actually quite excited to see the new starters in Gen II (even if their stats sucked which I found out later), Gen I starters just owns everyone else, Gen III starters were exciting too... Gen IV starters even looked quite innovative. Yeah, I even liked the first appearance of the Gen IV starters... and their final forms when revealed didn't appear bad at all either. Of course I prefer Gen I starters over anything else... but that's just my preference. Now comes Gen V... huh? Why am I not as excited anymore? Why does it appear so bland to me? Even the silhouettes did not look promising. I don't know... I remember saying how I wanted Gen V to be weird... but this is just a bit... different for even my tastes. The grass Pokemon though looks kind of cool... I don't know why everyone is complaining about the Fire pig, but I don't mind it at all. But the water one... the WATER ONE... what is that thing? I mean, I will forgive Gamefreak if the final form turns out awesome looking (doubt it though). I mean while it seems like I'm praising the Grass and Fire starter, they're not THAT exciting. It didn't captivate me like the rest. When Gen II came out, the looks were promising AND it TURNED out promising. Gen III was pretty similar... looked promising... turned out all right. Gen IV looked great in presentation... but turned out dull. Gen V is looking dull and I have no idea how it will turn out... dull again? And I'm wondering how the metagame of Gen V will turn out. Zoroark's ability looks beyond broken right now (I don't know HOW that ability will work out) and I'm hoping the new Pokemon doesn't completely outclass the old that it will make Gen IV Pokemon look obsolete. I hope the Fire pig turns out defensive, because that would be quite awesome. I don't want another glass cannon of a fire Pokemon that they keep releasing... Charizard, Typhlosion, Blaziken, then all outclassed by the monkey king Infernape.

Just don't get your pig on fire or it will look like this.

... and will eventually become THIS

The protagonists... oh boy... something is weird about them. The guy looks all right now that I re-examine him... but still a bit bland. Meh, he passes I suppose. The girl though... o_o... yeah sorry if I sound like those grown ups complaining about girls' attires in modern times, but... that's a little too far? She looks very assertive for one thing but those shorts... those shorts are WAYYYYY too short! Would it hurt to give these girls something to cover at least up to their knee length? I mean, yeah, you can try to conform with modern standards of what's awesome and what's not... but sorry, it bothers me... I hope I don't have to fight her (don't want to see her game sprite either). Oh and just HOW MANY HAIR CAN SPRAYS did she put? That's some crazy hair you've got there miss! Sometimes I twist and play as a girl (I did that on Sapphire/Leaf Green/Platinum) while playing as the guy on the rest of them... this time... I'm just gonna pick the guy as usual. Oh wait, never mind, I don't know if I'm even getting this game. Hmm... at least they still wear hats, which seems to be the general motif for the main characters, they ALWAYS wear hats... and the RIVAL never does. Speaking of the rival... oh man. I hope to God he doesn't turn out looking bizarre...

You know you two look AWFULLY similar...

It's just my general impression I'm writing. I was lost in thought writing all this however. My verdict? I probably won't be playing this game unless someone convinces me it's a good game otherwise. I'm stopping at HGSS for now. But don't let MY opinion completely sway you. We don't know enough about the game to judge... but this is my impression right now. Oh, and sorry if I sounded like a competitive battler. I do concern about the metagame in many ways... and I hate when it overcentralizes and disallows certain Pokemon to even compete at all (stares at Eliminate Pro's Menacer/Starcraft II's Zerg Roaches/Pokemon's Scizor/Salamence/etc...) The only thing that MAY make me play this game is if they pay attention to Pidgeot... MAYBE... nah like that will ever happen. A powerful physical fire move for Flareon please? :3 *sees Zapdos with Ice Beam and Aura Sphere and Nasty Plot* What the? I'm outta here... this is getting way too broken. But what will happen? Mhh... we'll wait and see. I may even be COMPLETELY wrong and the game will turn out better than the rest... but this is what I'm thinking... since it seems they're beating on a dead horse. Pokemon has been losing its touch for quite a while.

(realizing that NO one will read this I just give up...)

[RenegadeShroom]

I read all of it, although it got a bit rant-y towards the middle/end. Oh yeah, it makes it easier to read it if it's formatted properly. Paragraphs FTW! : D

Although, I do agree with you on the starters. Eww, water...thing, I am never going to choose that thing and it's little weird stomach thing.

Anyway, I'm pretty much in agreement with Tbird here, except that I hope that the water starter isn't meant to be the cute one. Maybe it'll be more about stats in this one than older generations?

[wraith89]

Water WAS meant to be the cute one

But if they change its design (too late for that) I wouldn't mind...

[ASuch]

With the save file thing, these games could bring in a new era of Pokesaving. What if now, that you don't need a flashcart at all or AR to edit your save? With uploading your save, you could edit your save file at the source, so this could be a great moment for Pokemon history!

[deishido]

Hmm. although its very possible to retreive the save file once they get online, im willing to bet that nintendo will have some pretty good security to prevent this.

On another note: the water type is an Otter... i like it :3

AND finally, is there any translation team set up for these? If so, i would gladly offer to help. i speak and read

Japanese pretty well. And i'd love to help out anyone i can. If i'm not needed, then good luck anyway.

[Midna312]

Its great that the Black & White games are going to be in 3-d! Im gonna get this game 100%

[BuffJoe]

Its great that the Black & White games are going to be in 3-d! Im gonna get this game 100%

I respect your opinion, but completely disagree.

3D just sounds so gimmicky, and I have extreme doubts that Black and White will pull it off since the Pokemon are still just sprites.

[Psychodon904]

A flaming pig, wow thats just wow. And i thought the flaming monkey was bad enough.

[Danika294]

From what I have seen so far I am throughly impressed. The new battle mechanics look awesome. I might enjoy battling all over again! As for some of the new pokemon, ehhh, far as I can tell you either love them, hate them, or love to hate them. I have to admit though I do love Tsutaja, it looks like it could be an interesting pokemon to start out with.

Graphically this looks...I'm not going to say perfect but it does look impressive. I'm actually looking forward to playing the games to find out just how much these two will blow the other gens out of the water.

Overall though, I'm excited for these games!

[shinygroudon]

some of the pokemon look cool others not but they seem to grown on me

[carl2017]

hmm.....well some of them are cool.the originals are always the best!

Edited September 12, 2010 by carl2017