[B/W] Tough Stuff.

[GolurkIsDaBomb]

Black and White addressed some tough issues concerning the Pokemon franchise. The major one being the treatment of pokemon, the right to capture them and take them from their habitat, pitting them against each other in battle etc (Team Plasma's views) but also the idea of a child journeying across a region alone (besides pokemon) so young and so far from home. (Bianca)

So I want to know what your thoughts were. Did you like the added realism to the game, or did you find it to be bothersome, getting in the way of your game play? Did the events in the game fulfill these questions of morality for you, or was it not enough? Do you think the ways in which these issues were addressed was done smartly, or do you think it could of been done better?

Discuss!

[jellicentfan1]

I loved it. It brought a new vision in the Pokemon world. It was nice not to have the same story as all the other games. Everything about it made it seem really realistic and I thought GF did a really good job implementing debatable topics in the storyline like the points you mentioned.

[Plumpyfoof]

I agree, it's a very refreshing step in the right direction for storytelling by the Pokemon franchise.
Perhaps they were just testing the waters with how fans would react to more interesting story lines, I hope they take it further and bring us deeper into the possible issues within the Pokemon world.

[jayjay9]

Completely Agree again it brought realism
and wasn't the same as other Pokemon Games.

[Kotowari]

I loved that element.
I Black/White is one of my favourite Pokémon games because it has a storyline which goes a little deeper than the usual "venture out and conquer." It touches upon the themes of capturing and using wildlife, the thin line between using them for your personal gain/because they want it (like Drayden said: Capturing a Pokémon with a Pokéball doesn't mean you captured its heart), the quest to find yourself (N and Cheren), the thin line between what you want and what your family wants (Bianca).

I think that GF should explore the possibilities of deepening their characters' personalities more. Black/White was a step in the right direction. If they keep it up, Pokémon might become a game which can be enjoyed on even more levels than currently, even outside the games.

[LividZephyr]

I really enjoyed the plot in this one, and what PETA Team Plasma tried to do was completely different even if it was hypocritical - it made for a much more unique enemy team than Team Rocket just trying to take over existing operations or making money for an attack, Team Aqua wanting to flood the planet, Team Magma wanting to erect a new continent, or Team Galactic just doing whatever their boss told them to. Although Cyrus in Platinum was great, N was even better - GameFreak is hopefully listening to us, and the more supernatural, eerie feel of Team Plasma made it more interesting. I also liked how your reinforcements were the gym leaders. I really have enjoyed seeing them be more than statues that command Pokemon.

I hope that in the future, we get more character development, and that your character has more reason for a journey than "I WANNA B TEH VERY BEST LIEK NO1 EVA WUZ." Like, make them go seek their father, now that they're a decent age to. Give them deeper motivation. Same goes for one's rivals. Do something like... you seek your father, your rival seeks their mother. You end up finding that they eloped and he went crazy, starting the enemy team, which was then targeted by a usurper. Something like that. It'd be a lot more to have conflicts within the enemy team - and more realistic too.

Originally Posted by Kotowari

I loved that element.
I Black/White is one of my favourite Pokémon games because it has a storyline which goes a little deeper than the usual "venture out and conquer." It touches upon the themes of capturing and using wildlife, the thin line between using them for your personal gain/because they want it (like Drayden said: Capturing a Pokémon with a Pokéball doesn't mean you captured its heart), the quest to find yourself (N and Cheren), the thin line between what you want and what your family wants (Bianca).

I agree with this too - finding yourself really needs to be a big deal. Our character doesn't even talk because it's supposed to be US, and they're not changing that - but if the supporting cast has such storylines, it makes everything more interesting. Imagine if there were eight of these going on at the same time, featuring rivals, gym leaders, heck, even Nurse Joy. Make more NPCs relevant. Flesh things out.

I think that GF should explore the possibilities of deepening their characters' personalities more. Black/White was a step in the right direction. If they keep it up, Pokémon might become a game which can be enjoyed on even more levels than currently, even outside the games.

And this is one thing I have wanted since Diamond and Pearl stunk. DP had NO personality AT ALL and that was one of the contributing factors to it being a poor entry; Platinum, thankfully fixed this and the trend was continued in Black and White. Strong characters that are also likable go a long way in games, though you also need someone to hate, such as Team Plasma. I don't hate N, and he's somewhat of a sympathetic character. GameFreak needs to do a lot more of those for people to keep interest. Give us more plot and you'll make up for the pathetic state of the battle system being tweaked only slightly over the course of 15 years.

[60]

Whether or not I agreed with Plasma or Bianca's Dad, the storylines did make me think a little about the actual concepts in Pokemon, which I really wasn't used to doing. That being said though it was nice to have that new perspective while facing a new generation.

[Razor Leaf]

I personally didn't really care. I thought it brought an unnecessarily complicated element to the game and, while it didn't hinder my enjoyment of the games, I mostly ignored it honestly. To me, Pokémon will never be a very realistic game, so why bother trying to add realistic elements? It was a nice idea and I get that some people liked it but it was wasted on me.

That said, though, very rarely do I care about the storyline and character development of any video game. I just want to have fun playing it - if I want a story then I'll read a book or watch a film. For me, I like it to be kept simple so I have some context of what's going on but also so I can mostly play attention to playing the game rather than reading too much into its story.

[Batel]

While I feel that the topics addressed by the inclusion of Plasma and Bianca's Father were clever, I have to say that the main lie of Pokemon games wasn't the place to put these.

Plasma's conviction was warranted, but regardless you had to stop N and Team Plasma with no thought paid to of how you felt about the subject because that is what the story demanded.
Because Pokemon is... Well, Pokemon, it's obvious that the player was going to be against the ideals of N and Plasma regardless of whether it was justifiable or not.
I won't go into whether I agree battling is right or not... But aren't Pokemon Rangers proof that there's a way of living with Pokemon without using them to fight?

As with Bianca's Father... This topic was handled poorly. Terribly so. There is no way a child of Bianca's age would be out on her own, Pokemon or not(as a matter of fact, animals with dangerous powers would ADD to why she wouldn't be alone at her age).

What GameFreak tried to do was address topics that would affect Pokemon if it was set in the real world and because of that, it suffered. There are lots of questionable goings on in Pokemon, but it's a world that shouldn't be taken so seriously in regards to some topics. Not when you're a kid whose end-goal is always going to be defeat the champion and catch them all. I'd rather actually interact with real people about these topics, rather than read speeches that I'm going to have to unconditionally agree with.

[redjacketalchemist]

I didn't feel like it was executed to perfection, but it was a step in the right direction. I doubt it'll get much more complex than this, however- at least not in the main games.

One thing does bug me, though- we were constantly shown the argument of "But I love my Pokemon I would never hurt them etc", but I really would've liked to see the other side of the spectrum. You know full well that there really are people out there who mistreat their Pokemon and aren't affiliated with any evil Team.

[Tranca]

I enjoyed it, it made me crave character development... N had so much depth that I was just waiting to see blossom.

[Hikari10]

I have to say this was one of the things I loved about Black & White, cos they really made the character development well-treated. Especially in the case of N, Bianca and Cheren.

I agree with Batel on the topic of Bianca's father trying to take her home from Nimbasa City. There was no way someone around Bianca's age would be out on a journey by themselves whether they had Pokemon or not.

Like what Kotowari said, I think Game Freak should bring more depth into the characters' personalities but I loved the added realism that B/W brought us.

[Forever]

Honestly I think they did a good job of all of that really. Like although the child travelling thing is definitely not a new thing it's just... with Plasma involved, I think they did really good. While they didn't take it to the PETA level I think they presented it in a really unique way, although it was disappointing Ghetsis turned out to be evil. It'd have been better if it was like, he was good all along and changed his mind at the end, and then the whole morality of Pokemon would've been less of an issue, but the fact that people were still so dedicated makes children question and I think maybe it'd have been better if it was different, if that makes sense.