5th Gen Castelia City: Too large or not large enough?

[Ho-Oh]

We all know by now that Castelia City, aka the place representing lower Manhattan is the main selling point of the games. It offers 3D views, lots of buildings, etc, but is it more than just fancy graphics and 3D effects?

Do you feel that for such an important location it could have been larger? Or maybe that the games didn't let you go far enough, in relation to when you reach the edge of the city you kinda can't go further? Do you think it deserved being the "main" city as far as advertising was concerned - would've Nimbasa been more appropriate?

Did you get lost? Have you been down all the streets? I mean, I certainly didn't know a certain street existed until I discovered that's where you got a certain item from, or something along those lines - and that was only just recently!

Anyway, discuss Castelia in relation to whether it could have been larger/suited being the main city/etc.

 

[vaporeon7]

I think Castelia City is at a good size to be the main city of the game. I just think it would have been nice if more buildings were enterable with more floors enterable because of its size as well. I also think something more could have been done with the park thing in the middle. I think it would be hard to get lost, with only four streets. I was sure to go down all four as soon as I got there.

 

[gvgisdi]

It was a bit too large for me. I have a weird habit of visiting every building and talking to every person in every place, and it took me about 2 hours to go through the whole Castelia City. I got lost a few times. D: Goldenrod's much better... :P

 

[Andydark]

It's probably my least favorite area in that entire game. Every time I've tried to replay the game I get stuck there because I hate trudging through just how much crap there is to do.

What's ridiculous is there isn't that much more to do than in other towns...

 

[Tox]

To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of it. The '3D' effect isn't really my thing anyway but I just found it really awkward. While there was a lot there, it seemed like nothing. The absence of a department store really bugs me. What kind type of city wouldn't have one of those? I know it could probably have something to do with having access to TMs too early in the game since they're now reusable, but they could have just made the floor out of access until a later point. As far as the big cities go, I was disappointed. I much prefer Goldenrod and Lilicove.

 

[TheRedeemed]

The place was just the right size for me, but I would have liked it if they had their department store and more to do there as well. They could have had the Battle Subway running under the city, and at night you could watch the Pokemon Musicals (I always hated how they wouldn't let you watch other people do them... >:( ) Was a good try, but wasn't executed as well as it could have been...

 

[Mentalii]

Castelia City, what a beautiful place. We can't say it's small. But, I admit that I would have prefered if it was a bit bigger. After visiting every nook and cranny of thie town (and I really enjoyed it), that left me a little disillusioned... There aren't enough "open" building, if you see what I mean. For a city like that, they should have put more shops, and so on !
But anyway, it's so beautiful that I forgive them :pink_tongue:

 

[Maple Leaf]

Although I wouldn't want it to be, it could have been larger. Maybe for design purposes only, so you wouldn't have to go in more buildings.

 

[~*!*~Tatsujin Gosuto~*!*~]

I think the size of Castelia is very appropriate for Pokemon Black and White. I think with such a huge city, I think they could of added a lot more stuff into this city such as more task to do inside of Castelia City.


:t354:TG

 

[Overlord Drakow]

Initially I thought it was too big to be honest. I arrived there quite late at night and I was planning on sleeping but I thought nah, I'll just explore this city, won't take too long.

Boy was I wrong lol. I did get horribly lost a fair amount of times too! THOSE VERTICAL STREETS . . . THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME! There was also a lot of different things to do in that city too, much to my initial dismay lol. Once I got the hang of it though, it wasn't that bad at all.

 

[Melinda]

I actually felt disappointed when I saw Castelia. I thought it was going to be much bigger than it is.

 

[Musashi]

I like Castelia City, but wish there were more things to do there aside from the survey place (which I almost never utilize), Name Rater, and weekly Castelia Cones. I really wish you could go into more buildings and floors--that would probably make thing a little more interesting.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I think Castelia is big enough already. It has the Gym, the Casteliacone stand, the GameFreak HQ, the massage lady, the Royal Unova and the boat to Liberty Island (all of those make Castelia look big enough as it is). One thing Castelia could use, though, is citizen residences.

 

[Raichupacabra]

It was big. Since there was a lot of things to do I would hate going through that horrible city.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

I liked the fact that Pokemon finally got a large metropolis, but for a large metropolis, there was surprisiong little to do. Many of the buildings were blocked off, major institutions like the Department Store weren't there, and it just felt empty considering it was supposed to be the major city in the region.

The size of the city was right, but there should be more stuff to do within it.

 

[Kotowari]

It is pretty big as it is, but I kind of felt that it missed something. Once you go through it (and I mean through it) there's not much left to do when you come a second time. It's one of the bigger cities of Unova, but compared to Nimbasa, it's practically dead. Sure, lots of people running around the city, but it misses something. Contests, Battle Tower, I don't know... Just something to make the city more lively and worth returning to. :V

I do liked how you got random people saying things when you were running through the Main Street, though. : >

 

[dannyboy601]

Seeing as it was supposed to be the main city in the region, it was far too empty, there was too much wasted space and buildings full of nothing. If they'd just taken some of the aspects form Nimbasa and put them in, it would have been much better.

 

[Kenshin5]

I felt it was large from the appearance of it by the Sky Arrow Bridge, then in the forefront with all the Sky Scrapers. But the exploration once I got there was lacking for me. Compared to big cities of the past it was just not up to them imo. Kanto: Saffron - You have essentially two gyms Psychic and Fighting, and my favorite part was exploring the Silph Co., Magnet Train, Copy Cat, Fan Club. Celadon - There is the Gym, Department Store, Game Corner, Rocket Hideout, Condominiums this all led to much exploration within the buildings and things to do in those two cities. Johto: Goldenrod - Gym, Department Store, Radio Tower, Game Corner, Bike Store, Global Terminal, then the Bug Catching Contest is just right outside the city. Olivine - Gym, Lighthouse, Port, and is close by Johto Battle Frontier. Hoenn: Lilycove - Department Store, Contest Hall, Lilycove Museum, City Harbor, Fanclub, and close to the Magma/Aqua hideout. Sinnoh: Jubilife - Jubilife TV, GTS, Poketech, Trainer School. Hearthome - Gym, Super Contest Hall, Amity Square, Poffin House, Fan Club, Bebe House, Pokemon Hotel, Foreign Building. Veilstone - Gym, Department Store, Team Galatic HQ, Game Corner. Unova: Castelia - Gym, Harbor, Center Plaza, Team Plasma Hideout(which I thought was a joke), other buildings like Gamefreak and Battle Company, then over course all the streets and whatnot. Nimbasa - Gym, Amusement Park, Battle Subway, Battle Institute, Musical, Battle Stadium and Courts.

For me I felt like I could do more in all the other aforementioned cities as I could in Castelia which was supposed to be so big. If you did get to explore the building it was only a couple floors and it was limited to a small room. It may seem bigger then other huge cities, but I doubt it is much bigger then Saffron, Goldenrod, Hearthome, Veilstone. They are just more spread out, Castelia on the other hand seemed way too or way more condensed.​

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

I liked the fact that Pokemon finally got a large metropolis, but for a large metropolis, there was surprisiong little to do. Many of the buildings were blocked off, major institutions like the Department Store weren't there, and it just felt empty considering it was supposed to be the major city in the region.

The size of the city was right, but there should be more stuff to do within it.

I'd have to agree with this. It's nice that the Pokemon universe has an NYC-equivalent city, but did feel it was slightly desolate in comparison to the rest of Unova. However, to play devil's advocate, to have so much happening in Castelia City would probably imbalance the game's story process. That things like the Department Store weren't located there does seem a tad unusual, though.

 

[Yoshikko]

I liked the fact that Pokemon finally got a large metropolis, but for a large metropolis, there was surprisiong little to do. Many of the buildings were blocked off, major institutions like the Department Store weren't there, and it just felt empty considering it was supposed to be the major city in the region.

The size of the city was right, but there should be more stuff to do within it.

I think Saffron City in RBY came pretty close to a Metropolis too, it was 10x better than Castelia imo and it did have so much more to do and features to it. I just find Castelia a hot mess, I'm not really stoked on the 3D thing in general, Castelia probably was my least favourite place of the whole game haha. There was so much ambience and design and so little to do that it just seemed a little pointless to me.