• Our software update is now concluded. You will need to reset your password to log in. In order to do this, you will have to click "Log in" in the top right corner and then "Forgot your password?".
  • Welcome to PokéCommunity! Register now and join one of the best fan communities on the 'net to talk Pokémon and more! We are not affiliated with The Pokémon Company or Nintendo.

5th Gen Anyone Else Hate Castelia City?

78
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Mar 16, 2014
On my second playthrough of White(about a year after my first), I've gotten to Castella city. I had forgotten how ugly this city was. It's so pixelated, foggy and the camera unnecessarily zooms out massively. Not only that but most of the city is made up of placeholder buildings to make the city seem bigger. Sure, it's good that it seems like a real city but it's really annoying how hard it is to find the important buildings that you can actually enter. And finally, there's so many different little areas in the city when in pretty much every other city, there is only one area for the exterior. It's really annoying walking into blue fog and waiting a few seconds for the next area to load. So, does anyone else hate Castella city, or is it just me?
 

Iceshadow3317

Fictional Writer.
5,648
Posts
13
Years
It's a huge city thats how it is,ugly. It was also the first time they ever did something like that,so it will probably be fixed in White 2/Black 2. The only reason it zooms out is because the makers wanted to show you how massive the building were.
 

Ho-Oh

used Sacred Fire!
35,992
Posts
18
Years
  • Age 31
  • Seen Jul 1, 2023
Ooh good, something potentially discussion worthy though we don't necessarily need threads on every city in B/W in case anybody has that planned! n_n

I'm quite the opposite, really. I love Castelia City. I wish the zoom outs would be further, actually. :( I like seeing what's in the distance, and I was kind of disappointed we originally couldn't go further in Castelia City because I'd have liked to see the strange angles from the docks and stuff. I was also kinda annoyed that we couldn't access every single building but there was a lot more than normal that we could actually access so it turned out pretty fine. I dunno, I'm fine with the waiting times, too.

lmao I have that issue too at finding things, Mango. I remember when I first played the games it was like idk, MANY months later that I even discovered more buildings in Castelia (the Zorua one I'm p sure was undiscovered by me for a while :x)

I hope lots of people jump in and contribute thoughts!! Just sayinggg. :3
 

Sydian

fake your death.
33,379
Posts
16
Years
I find it annoying to traverse through. I don't hate it, but it's just...a bit annoying. I like what they were going for, but it's just so grey there! lol I may not live in the city irl, but I thought they were covered in lights and weren't that grey. It's a hassle getting into some buildings too, especially the ones on the sides like where the name rater is. Overall, I like what they were going for, but in some aspects, I think it fell a little flat. But I think it's generally well liked among fans so, eh. It's outshined by Nimbasa City!
 

Altairis

take me ☆ take you
5,188
Posts
11
Years
I really disliked the city. It had a cool idea but... I couldn't find anything, it was hard to go through because of the many areas that didn't really have anything in them. I don't really like the camera zooms myself imo.

Yeah, Sydian, I live in a city and they're not really that grey :c they could have put a lot of color in it but I guess they didn't.
 

Mystical Mermaid

Resident Mermaid
66
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 35
  • Seen Jul 22, 2012
As a native of the Tri-State area, I have to say Nintendo nailed it when designing Castella City. Unless you grew up in Manhattan (and I didn't), the skyscrapers are drab, every street looks the same and it's impossible to find where you want to go. However, I really don't have much issue with it otherwise. The zoomed out camera and multiple areas really give it a "big city" feel that the other towns don't have, much like how Manhattan's buildings tower over the other boroughs. While this may hurt the gameplay value, I think it really works for atmosphere.
 

Plasmette

Master of Mediocrity.
347
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Jan 12, 2013
The minute I saw Castelia City in the first B/W trailer, I crapped my pants. But now, I just find it difficult to find places you need to go. I like that they tried to do something different, but it just wasn't executed as well as it could have.

Also this is a small nitpick, but wouldn't the dancer trio be a perfect opportunity to have a triple battle? Seriously.

I've never liked the city. It smells like smoke, crime everywhere, construction ALL THE TIME, it doesn't look nice (Its grey and miserable), its a pain to get around, its crowded, and its hard to live in. Trust me...
 

Starsprite

This is how we live!
290
Posts
11
Years
  • Age 26
  • TN
  • Seen Dec 25, 2016
When I first saw the city I thought it was going to be absolutely amazing. Of course, it was not absolutely amazing, but I don't think I hated it either. It was something of a pain to navigate through, though, and the camera made me run in to a lot of things.

Despite that, I think that, with some improvements, I'd like to see a city like it, or some unique kind of city, in the future. I think a lot of good ideas were put in to Castelia City that could have been better tied together.
 

Halcyon

peace and serenity
1,208
Posts
16
Years
Castelia City has amazing potential. I do like the passersby feature; it creates a nice city-like atmosphere. However, like the others, I had an unfortunately painful time getting lost (especially the name rater, oh my, he's hard to find). I think the designers should come up with a map directory.
 
2,777
Posts
16
Years
  • Age 31
  • USA
  • Seen Mar 30, 2024
All I hated about it was how difficult it was to find your way around. I got used to it eventually, though. The fogginess is probably because the air is so polluted (like a typical big city). And I thought the people running by was an interesting little look at how we're all together, but at the same time we're all off in our own little worlds.

But honestly, Castelia offered me one of the most memorable scenes in any of the Pokemon games: receiving Flash in the small alley from a guy who jumps out at you from behind a Dumpster.
 
458
Posts
13
Years
  • Age 34
  • UK
  • Seen Jan 29, 2013
I actually really like the idea of it. Perhaps it wasn't perfectly executed, but I still like it. It's unique, potential to be improved on, and... yeah. The "big cities" in the games are always my favourites, and Castelia City is no exception.
 

Mr Cat Dog

Frasier says it best
11,344
Posts
20
Years
I really like Castelia, but I do wish there was more stuff to do once you've finally arrived there. As the OP says, a lot of the buildings are just empty space and pixels, and I really do feel like a lot more stuff could have been done with it. In that sense, while I really do like Castelia, it was kinda of a disappointment, as I was expecting so much that it couldn't possibly deliver. But other stuff like wandering around and the zooms were things that I was a really big fan of, and hope to see in future games. To me, they seemed like great innovations and a good usage of the DS' capabilities.
 

Zephele

✧ leave it to me!
240
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Jan 11, 2013
Visually, I thought Castelia was pretty good. I thought it presented the idea of being a really big city, bustling with people very well. Zooming in and out of the tall buildings was a cool way to show the sheer scale of everything, and having all the busy people running through the streets was a nice little touch. And it made for a fun 'mini-game' for me to try and run into everyone, hehe.

I do agree with those that pointed out how difficult it was to find your way around at first, though.
 

droomph

weeb
4,285
Posts
12
Years
I kinda love the views of Castelia City. It's beautiful, in a way. But my only problem with it is that it changes camera angle based on where you are (down to one line). So if you cross that line really fast again and again (and trust me that has happened so many times) it gets you somewhat dizzy.

Annnnnnnd also it's kinda hard to find your way around because of the side-entrances (a game with a perspective like Pokémon should never have side doors) so it's 1) hard to find doors and 2) hard to find doors that actually lead somewhere.

Also the same goes for Skyarrow Bridge.
 
26
Posts
14
Years
I love it- I've been living in Tokyo for the past year, and I think it's pretty accurate... When you get in to the central business region of Tokyo, especially Shinjuku, it gets pretty ugly and confusing in real life too.
 

OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire

10000 year Emperor of Hoenn
17,521
Posts
14
Years
It's not really my favorite city, I perfer Nimbasa to it but I wouldn't say I hate it. I just think they ruined the chance to make an awesome city, but rather it was mostly just...there. There was really little reason to go there anymore despite being "the Capitol" of the region... Though it seems they fixed that ' no reason to go there' in the sequels :3
 
21
Posts
11
Years
I thought I was the only one..

I hate that city with a passion, mainly because it's so big, but doesn't have enough to offer for me although I do love my Zorua.
If I do go there, it's to try and cut off the people running up and down that street for as long as possible.
 
6
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Jul 6, 2012
When i first saw Castelia City i thought it was gonna be one of my favourites for sure and i would visit there often, now its just ugly, boring and hard as hell to find certain buildings -.-
 
Back
Top