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5th Gen The Story

Nah

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I couldn't come up with a good title for the thread, sue me

Black and White were the first games in the series to attempt to have a deeper/more mature/not crappy/insert the right phrase here story. While I feel that Game Freak didn't develop the story to its fullest, Black/White's storyline and such is one of the main reasons why Gen V might be my favorite generation.

How did you all feel about Black and White's story? Discuss, people, discuss.
 
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I really loved BW's deviation from the standard storyline and wished BW2 and XY followed suit. (Given, I felt BW2 had a good storyline as well, even if it followed the same pattern as most other storylines.) Team Plasma's arguments did make people (well, NPCs, at the very least) think about how they were treating their Pokemon, and they did have strong arguments. And even though these arguments hid Ghetsis's true motives, I found that finding out that Ghetsis's true goal was to dominate the region had a huge impact on me and made me want to defeat him more than ever. I also really liked N's character and how ingenuous he was, and I enjoyed how he had a different team each battle, as he kept to Team Plasma's ideals and didn't keep the same Pokemon (aside from the ones that had been with him since he was a child) around. Lastly, I loved how most the Gym Leaders got involved with the plot rather than stick around in their gyms. I find it sort of silly how a young, new Trainer is doing exactly that while the leaders, who have much more experience that said Trainer (even if they may not have defeated them), do nothing but sit around in their gyms even after they've been defeated.
 
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I do like how Black and White had tried taking a different approach towards the story; instead of having the bad guy--who, in this case, would be N--seem evil, they made him look rather misunderstood. He was actually very good at heart, and wanted whatever he thought was best for Pokémon, from my understanding. No other game has ever done this. Well, at least from main series. Though, they still managed to keep all basic things alongside, such as involvement of an organization (Team Plasma), and I do respect that.
 

Sabeleyes

Pokemon breeder
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I personally loved Black and White, I have played through them atleast 4 times and still find new things to do, Storywise I liked it but at times felt a little over strectched for my liking such as when the shadow triad (Correct me if they are not called that) appeared, that slightly killed team plasma but appart from that my second fav gen.
 
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As I mentioned on my blog, there are quite a few things I like the story in these games for:

1. It stems on a different route from the "get all eight badges and become the Champion" route that every other game has done. Granted you are fighting the Elite Four, but having it end on such an intense note and fighting for Pokémon rights is something not many people expect, and you're also thrown a legendary.

2. It challenges your loyalty to the series, and makes you wonder if battling with Pokémon is wrong. This may not exactly be what Ghetsis was out for to begin with, but you do end up considering it before then.

3. The Champion has more prominence in the story than any other has. To start with, Alder has a story to him in the sense that his Pokémon died, and that's left him out of practice and he hasn't battled at full strength in a while. Despite that, he actually steps up and attempts to take on the main villain. Even if N's legendary does rip him a new one, it's still something that I think is pretty cool to even check out.

4. As mentioned above, the Gym Leaders actually play useful parts here, for one it was pretty rad near the end when they bust into N's Castle to fight the sages. They're also always showing up where Team Plasma is, so it shows that they want to help you take them down.

Those are the main reasons I can think of what this story is surely notable for.
 
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  • Age 28
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Its good but for me I hated the experience mechanic in in the games. The thing about me is I love getting levels ahead upcoming trainers just to be prepared but the experience mechanic kept ruining it for me because it started to take me hours to raise levels.I got frustrated. That just ruined the story for me. I can't like a game if I don't like the game play. Also the story seemed a bit cliche to me. I personally enjoyed the story line in Gold Silver and Crystal more and there wasn't much to it but it made you imagine their was. Also the story didn't really catch me. The story wasn't bad. This is just my opinion on it. I don't mean to offend people who did enjoy the story I just don't like it. I did like the theme's of the story though.
 
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Hey that's your opinion, I imagine not a particularly popular one on this thread xD

Like everyone seems to be mentioning, the more fleshed out character personalities were a big one. I mean, even Bianca's dad gets a scene with some emotional music :P
But seriously, Alder and N are great characters. N particularly went well for me as I'm really into Assassin's Creed, where most of the Templar Order also believe they're doing the right thing despite their methods (and likewise, the Assassin's kill loads of people because they believe they're right too). The mixing-up of his team, and more frequent battles, was really cool too. I hated how you only got one battle each with Archie and Maxie, and Cyrus in DP. It also served to highlight some of the pokémon you may have msised in an area if the high encounter rate started to get to you.
The whole thing with the Pokémon League in particular was very well done, highlights of it for me were; Reshiram / Zekrom appearing to not believe in you - and the idea that you might have to fight N with just your normal team, Reshiram and Zekrom's signature moves being powered up with cooler animations against eachother, and Ghetsis' reveal (he had really atmospheric battle music too).
The latter point in particular - there are loads of little verbal slips from him throughout the story, but by this point you get so caught up you've forgotten about them so the twist still works.
 
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  • Age 31
  • Seen Nov 2, 2014
4. As mentioned above, the Gym Leaders actually play useful parts here, for one it was pretty rad near the end when they bust into N's Castle to fight the sages. They're also always showing up where Team Plasma is, so it shows that they want to help you take them down.

This was really one of the main things that made me love B/W. I'm a big fan of characters and character development, and I just loved that we actually go to know who the gym leaders were as people, and that they actually used their strength for something other than just... standing in the gym and battling.

I loved Cheren, Bianca, and N, as well. I thought they all had interesting personalities and struggles and I really enjoyed seeing how they developed.
 

Nah

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The whole thing with the Pokémon League in particular was very well done, highlights of it for me were; Reshiram / Zekrom appearing to not believe in you - and the idea that you might have to fight N with just your normal team, Reshiram and Zekrom's signature moves being powered up with cooler animations against eachother, and Ghetsis' reveal (he had really atmospheric battle music too).
That was something I liked a lot too. It was a nice change to end the main storyline by battling Team Plasma instead of defeating the evil and team and THEN taking on the Elite 4+Champion. Especially the bolded bit. I liked how you finally make your way to N's throne room, and despite the fact that you've been carrying your dragon's stone around for a while, it still hasn't awakened and you need it now more than ever. And you start to think "What if I'm not the hero after all?" "What if I'm just some dumbass with illusions of grandeur and got myself in over my head?" "Can I really take on such a powerful Pokemon?....What if this is the end for me?" And then, BAM, Zekrom/Reshiram awakens and you have an epic showdown with N and Ghetsis.

gaaaaaah, now I really wanna replay my White but I have all this other gaming crap to do.....
 
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I don't have much new to contribute to the discussion, but I really do wonder why Gamefreak went back to the more shallow story formula we're all used to for X/Y (Haven't finished the game yet, but I'm about halfway)... B/W 1 & 2 felt like a step in the right direction in terms of story and characters but then they seemed to have taken a 180.
 
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