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5th Gen What's so special about N? [May contain B2W2 spoilers]

Glaceon_

Here today, [i]gone tomorrow...?[/i]
736
Posts
15
Years
Let's look at this from a different perspective; N is both a rival (to a degree) and the 'leader' of the Regions' criminal organisation.

As a rival, N is pretty weak, until later in the story, but by then, he's pretty much listed under the 'bad guy' category-- though in terms of how the story flows, he still holds you as a rival, as conversations with him tend to stem towards him feeling that your character is a chosen one. He's not all that much of a rival, as all he really wants is to see what kind of Trainer you are, and how you treat your Pokemon.

The world as it is has surprised him, as his past was not so clear-cut because of the influence that Ghetsis put over him, only allowing him to be around Pokemon that had been abused by their Trainers and such, leading him down a road that made him believe that all Trainers and by extension, people were the same. In his eyes, Pokemon would only truly be happy when away from people, though as the story progresses, N shows hints that it would pain him when the time came that he called for all people to separate themselves from their Pokemon, with the Legendary Pokemon Reshiram/Zekrom at his side.

As a villain, he... doesn't really sit very high, either. Frankly, he's simply a misguided boy who was brought up by Ghetsis to believe that all Pokemon caught by people were mistreated and beaten, all in a plot that would give Ghetsis the chance to declare himself the master of Pokemon-- as no one else would have Pokemon of their own. In the end, N was used by his own father and Team Plasma to gain the kind of influence they wanted over people to force them to part ways with their, in some cases, long-loved Pokemon. Not for the ideals that N followed, but for the plan that Ghetsis had obviously spent years preparing, raising his son so that he would one day liberate Pokemon from their Trainers so that he could be the master of them all.

I would say N is an interesting character for the way he acts; though he sees how people truly are with Pokemon, he still seems to have seen too much abuse for it to sway his emotions and his determination. Though I don't really agree with how he plans to go about it, it's obvious that he only has the best interests at heart for protecting Pokemon from the abuse that his Pokemon friends from when he was a small child had endured. He has an air of mystery about him that is never really cleared up-- in particular with his ability to talk to Pokemon, which I would say gave him a rather interesting quality.

So... as a character, I would say I liked N. It was always interesting to see what he would come out with when you met him throughout your journey and it was interesting to see his plans almost meet fruition. Sure, Team Galaxy almost got what they wanted, but it was a selfish end; N's plan was something that was not a selfish act, and I guess that's what really makes me like him.

...even if his plan would have been followed by the selfish act of his father.
 

ISA56 2.0

The one and only!
263
Posts
14
Years
After nearly 13 years of having completely flat villains whose goals are pretty much the same-"capture legendary Pokemon of _______ region and take it over with said Pokemon"-It's nice to finally have some story behind the villains and their motives. Personally, I like N because despite his terrible upcoming, he is still honest and true to his motives, extremist though they may be.
 
112
Posts
12
Years
New bloke here, my two cents on N. Yeah, ignore the avatar for now.


N is the most interesting character in Pokemon so far.

1) N isn't a strong adversary? Of course he isn't, but neither was Gary, and neither was Silver, etc. N, however, is the only person with a genuine reason not to be a strong adversary. He goes and asks local Pokemon to act as his bodyguards for the time he is in the area. The others have been using the same core team through their games and they're still easy to beat. To me, that puts N as being a stronger adversary than most other rivals.

2) Only N can talk to Pokemon. Enough said, really...

3) N turns out to be a good guy even though his dad is Ghetsis. The fact that he's been brainwashed and groomed to become the Useless and Powerless Figurehead Leader of Team Plasma his whole life is a testament to how much harder that was.

4) Throughout the game, N is applying his own ideals and directly confronting what he considers to be the evils of the Pokestablishment, which has been heralded as the absolute gospel truth by every Pokemon game from Red to Platinum. This culminates in his fiery argument against Professor Juniper's rather wishy-washy views in the Chargestone Cave. He gave a voice to everyone who ever thought it somewhat unethical to trap a Pokemon in a ball simply to complete a checklist, and then to leave it in stasis forever. Game Freak didn't have to do that. They could have glossed over it as they had for more than ten years. But they didn't, and N was their vessel to deliver this viewpoint. Furthermore, I was rather expecting Juniper's feeble argument to somehow convince N, or otherwise leave him without a valid argument - but no. Game Freak surpassed themselves by allowing an honest argument to take place. If anything, they artificially weakened Juniper's position.

5) N is confused. Hey, I said he was the most interesting, not the most competent. He believes that making Pokemon fight is wrong, but whenever he wants to have a little chat with you, it's often on the condition that you can beat him in a battle. What for? He wanted to talk in the first place. It shows that Ghetsis' teaching that Might Is Right really rubbed off on him. This culminates, interestingly to Ghetsis' downfall, when he bets the fate of Unova on his ability to defeat you in battle (in spite of the fact that you've probably never lost to him so far, but hey, that's game design for you). So these two ideologies, Might Is Right and Make Love Not Pokemon Battles, are shown as being in direct contrast to each other, which throws into light the startling fact that Pokemon has taught us that Might Is Right ever since Professor Oak warned us to beware of the tall grass. Everything you know is wrong.

6) You make N inwardly conflicted. All his life he's been made to believe that Pokemon in captivity are miserable and wretched; so much so that he's ready to force everyone in Unova to release their Pokemon for their own benefit. Then he meets you, shortly after his exposure to The Real World. Before long he's become fascinated with you because to him, you represent the clearly impossible; a trainer of happy Pokemon. Throughout most of the game, he's desperately trying to reconcile what he "knows" to be true, what you are proving, and what his own conscience is trying to say. This brilliant turmoil actually had me looking forward to the time when he would next send out the Shadow Triad to invite me to another little discussion.

7) N resolves his issues in a mostly-satisfying way right at the end, when everything reaches a climax. Ghetsis goes from Freudian slips to right-out admitting that he wants to Take Over The World, and mercilessly berates N for essentially being a puppet. But N proves his worth by turning against Ghetsis' plans and then, by setting out to make a new life for himself, with Reshiram/Zekrom. I would elaborate further, but it's been a while since I saw the end. I will say that with all the drama at the end, it wasn't until the next day that I realised, wait, am I the League Champion now?


In summary, my own feelings are that not only is N the most interesting antagonist in a Pokemon game, but in any game that I've played. Including the whole villainous roster of Final Fantasy.
 
532
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12
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You can make fun of his name XD. It's that memorable and catchy. Like his Spanish counterpart can be: Ñ

Jokes aside; he's one of the few antagonists in the games that want to actually do good for Pokemon however is very misguided. In short, he's not a generic villain character. I like the whole Team Plasma concept really.
 

Lord Varion

Guess who's back?
2,642
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Jan 6, 2015
me and my friend found him creepy ... almost like a perv ._.''
the way he says 'your pokemon are really happy hahahaha'
and 'Let me hear your pokémon one more time!!!'
druing battles ... it' like whaa D:'
 

ManaphyLv100

Legendary Ranger
69
Posts
17
Years
I quite like N, although it was easier to like him when I didn't understand the nonsense he spouts for half the game. I always saw him more as a rival than a villain, so all these Plasma goons calling him 'king' kinda ruined the dream. But he has cool hair, he's got a Menger Sponge on his belt, and he can talk to Pokémon! What's not to love?

I also think he fits the ancient legend perfectly (with Zekrom; I think he's fighting for his ideals, while you're fighting for truth), which is nice.

Besides, N's Farewell has to be the second-best theme in the whole game.
 
14
Posts
20
Years
  • Seen Jun 15, 2015
At first N reminded me of a home schooled kid who didn't know any social norms and was completely awkward. By the end of the game he wasn't too bad though.
 

feralig8rx

PokeFanatic
153
Posts
12
Years
Because he's just plain awesome?

He's got cool attire, music....N's actually got a reason to be in the storyline, unlike characters like Bianca or Cheren <.<
 

Ho-Oh

used Sacred Fire!
35,992
Posts
18
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Jul 1, 2023
6) You make N inwardly conflicted. All his life he's been made to believe that Pokemon in captivity are miserable and wretched; so much so that he's ready to force everyone in Unova to release their Pokemon for their own benefit. Then he meets you, shortly after his exposure to The Real World. Before long he's become fascinated with you because to him, you represent the clearly impossible; a trainer of happy Pokemon. Throughout most of the game, he's desperately trying to reconcile what he "knows" to be true, what you are proving, and what his own conscience is trying to say. This brilliant turmoil actually had me looking forward to the time when he would next send out the Shadow Triad to invite me to another little discussion.

That's the weird thing though, you'd expect with a storyline where N befriends you in such a way, that... you'd at least be able to input something, while no, he changes as a person because you never talk. I'd say that was kinda a letdown tbh.

As a villain, he... doesn't really sit very high, either. Frankly, he's simply a misguided boy who was brought up by Ghetsis to believe that all Pokemon caught by people were mistreated and beaten, all in a plot that would give Ghetsis the chance to declare himself the master of Pokemon-- as no one else would have Pokemon of their own. In the end, N was used by his own father and Team Plasma to gain the kind of influence they wanted over people to force them to part ways with their, in some cases, long-loved Pokemon. Not for the ideals that N followed, but for the plan that Ghetsis had obviously spent years preparing, raising his son so that he would one day liberate Pokemon from their Trainers so that he could be the master of them all.

I never really considered him a villian when playing through, since he never actually does anything evil. Though without knowledge of the games back in September I thought he was a villian...XD; Infact, his plot was kinda confusing at first more so than evil.
 

Dawn

[span="font-size:180%;font-weight:900;color:#a568f
4,594
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15
Years
Well, N is the first villain that reaches the level of depth he does. Team Rocket isn't that deep. Team Aqua/Magma isn't even that deep. Basically, his character design is a first that a lot of people really enjoyed seeing in a pokemon game, me included.
 
112
Posts
12
Years
Well, N is the first villain that reaches the level of depth he does. Team Rocket isn't that deep. Team Aqua/Magma isn't even that deep. Basically, his character design is a first that a lot of people really enjoyed seeing in a pokemon game, me included.

Precisely. Although it's true that, yes, you can seldom say anything back to him to influence his thinking (yep, saw that one, Forever), that is actually exceedingly rare in video games anyway; it's true that video games' narrative should be truly interactive every step of the way, and it can work to tremendous effect, but I'll say that with N they've done the next best thing, which is to put you, the player, into a situation where you are clearly a factor, but where you have little power to change things beyond those which the gameplay offers you.

I'll be the first to admit that I was role-playing my own responses to N's confused outbursts. It was a little frustrating not being able to convey them. But would I rather have a game where I can convince him of his errors, and thwart Ghetsis' plan in a moment? Of course not. I would rather play the game, and allow the narrative to raise the tension; much better than driving the narrative into avoiding a climax!

See: railroading vs derailing. Some people don't like to be railed and will de-rail an RPG as soon as they can find some leverage. Some people don't like to be de-railed because it ruins their hope for an epic plot.

For those who don't mind being railed in exchange for an engaging (by video game standards) character-driven story, N represents a good deal.
 

Chatot Lover

happy
88
Posts
16
Years
  • Seen Sep 1, 2013
I like N, he's a great character and the mere fact that he can talk to Pokémon is pretty awesome itself.

However, I don't get what's all the fuss about him either xD I mean, he's cool and all but nothing too special.
I still think Silver (in HG/SS) has more deph and I prefer his entire personality better.
 

DarkAlucard

Seek me. Call me...
752
Posts
14
Years
It is the first trainer / boss, of the team trying to conquer the world does not look strange, is personality is very important to give that depth it has in the game apart is pokemon team is so inconsistent that it appears to do the same thing as you: capture as many pokemon. But for me the best will be Gary and then Silver.
 

Joey's Rattata

Top Percentage
3
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13
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Xilfer123 said:
Ok, people. Just like the title says, what's so special about N?

What's "special" about N is that he's the first in the Pokemon games that has been able to talk to Pokemon. However, despite this fact we never really see him do it except to stalk White/Black. Sure, his background is apparently that he talked to lots of Pokemon who were abused and etc., but we never see him doing anything like that during the game.

So while it may be a cool idea, it was downplayed in the actual game.

Another thing that makes N "special" is he's a villain (of sorts) that actually captures their Legendary goal. Let's think about this for a moment.

Pokemon G/R/B/Y/FR/LG: Didn't really have a legendary goal, although they created Mewtwo... Who then apparently gave them the middle finger and left to live in a cave.

Pokemon G/S/C/HG/SS: Team Rocket was never really after a legendary in this game, all they wanted was to find their boss and then take over the world or something.

Pokemon R/S/E: (I'll go with Emerald's version of the story as it makes the most sense to me) Team Aqua/Team Magma were the first to be after a legendary (in the main series). However, they failed and wound up causing the worst natural disaster in Hoenn since whenever these Pokemon were last awake. However, somehow a 10 year old convinces another Legendary to stop the fighting and all is well. No capture here either.

Pokemon D/P/Pt: I'll admit I never did beat Platinum, but as far as I'm aware they failed to capture the legendary like in D/P. Yay 10 year olds!

(I'm not going to comment on side games, although I am aware that several dealt with legendaries such as Gale of Darkness.)

Then, finally, in B/W we have a villain that achieves his goal of having a Legendary by his side. Although his plan failed in the long run, he got the closest to his true goal out of all games. (excluding perhaps GSCHGSS, as their goal was to try and find Giovanni... which they almost did, but yay time travel!)

Xilfer123 said:
Do you like him?

I like him all right, but I'm not super attached to him. I didn't really find myself growing attached to any B/W characters except White because her design is awesome.

Xilfer123 said:
Do you more than like him?

He isn't physically attractive enough for me to develop a crush on a fictional character.

Xilfer123 said:
What's your opinion on him?

I think he's an okay character, but they should have fleshed him out more. He felt half-completed. :/ (This comes from somebody who writes ORIGINAL stories in her spare time, so she's super picky about stuff like that.)

However, when I walked into his room I just kinda stopped and was silent for a while... I probably spent at least 5 minutes in his room just going "._." at the whole thing. I honestly can't describe the feeling I had when I saw that, and that is what makes such a thing awesome.

Xilfer123 said:
Why do you think he's so special apart from his looks?

Uh. He looks like a hippie. Unless we're talking about a different kind of "special", that doesn't make him a particularly special character.

Xilfer123 said:
Is he a retard or a dream?

I wouldn't call him a retard, I'd call his whole life freakin' messed up. I want to punch Ghetsis in the face (okay, maybe a little more than just that) for the whole thing.


-

I'd say N isn't 'special' beyond the fact he's done a few things not done in the main games before... But is overused in other media.
 
42
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Jan 26, 2012
i don't mind him,
but he made the storyline a bit better than the original bad guys :P
 
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