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Warning: this is gonna be a pretty long read, so prepare yourself for my opinions that may be different from yours.
So there have been some things that i've posted and watched recently, most notably my thread in Pokémon Gaming Central about why I tend to prefer the newer Pokémon games more than the older ones, and TamashiiHiroka's video that she just posted recently on her order of the generations. If you watched the latter, then you saw that her #1 generation was, to i'm sure the surprise of many, Generation V, with Black and White, and Black 2 and White 2.
And in case I didn't make it clear in that thread, Generation 5 is also my favorite generation, too, with the sequels being my favorite games in the series. But here on PC, this generation tends to get a lot of hate from people for so many reasons (the new Pokémon, linear region, easy Gym Leaders, etcetera). So, what makes this seemingly infamous generation #1 for me? Let's talk about it.
First, I want to talk about how I feel about Black/White vs Black 2/White 2, because this is a very controversial subject, or at least it's felt that way to me. I did like Black and White quite a bit around when they first released in English, given the Pokémon I used. I wasn't too big for how you only use new Pokémon for the story, but I did like my first few plays of it. It was fun to play through it multiple times, even if the post-game wasn't all that great. Although overall I liked Platinum and HGSS more.
But then we get to Black 2 and White 2. Now before I start raving about this game, I will address the one big thing that this game is probably infamous for: the story. A little too infamous, it feels like.
First of all, Pokémon has never been really known for serious storylines (except with BW, which I will discuss later, don't worry). I don't know about you guys, but I myself have never cared for them. I mean, I like Hugh, and how he wants to fight for something, and they actually gave some previous characters, like Cheren and Bianca, some good development. There are people who say "this isn't a story" because it's little more than just Hugh demanding his sister's Purrloin back from Team Plasma, who wants to freeze Unova and steal the Pokémon for themselves, but here they're more open about what they're out for than they were in Black and White. And I like Hugh because he's not a stalker, super-obnoxious or hyper like most other rivals are. And Colress, too, he was a character I liked the goals of. So that's that.
I used to see so much of "bw: story is amazing and only new pokemon best game ever!!! *raves more about everything in the game* bw2: story is trash there's nothing new f*** this game!!!" on places like Marriland and Serebii. If you're someone like that, who judges the games completely based on the story and not the gameplay, then what's your problem? It's very rude to judge a game 100% based on its story and completely ignore everything else it has to offer, especially when it has so many other things to do. Those people, for a time, made me retroactively dislike BW for that alone. I don't dislike BW anymore, though - they've become among my favorites also, but i'll talk about that later.
But there were some people who, while not judging the game completely based on the story, claims that Black 2/White 2 were Game Freak the most out of ideas they've been, and that it introduces nothing new to the series and is more of the same old same old than ever. That's not true. For starters, unlike Emerald and Platinum, these games go way beyond a simple remake, with an extension to the story instead of just a few simple revisions. For that matter, they had for the time more Pokémon to find in-game than any other did. (Yes, XY does greatly outdo it, but that's not what we're talking about here.) And they actually try to motivate you to complete the National Pokédex for the first time...well, ever, with the Shiny Charm. Granted, some people didn't find that a very worthwhile reward, but it's more than just a diploma. Emerald gave you a Johto starter for the Hoenn Pokédex, but that's different. For a minor detail, every trainer has animated sprites, and in addition to the 3D Pokémon pixels, the visual backgrounds got much better, and the grass moves in the background for one. Little things like that are what I tend to enjoy.
And how about the fact that Ghetsis goes beyond the general level of evil and becomes the first character in the (main) series to try to kill/physically harm you? That is something that definitely deserves credit. And between both games they have differently designed areas, like the Reversal Mountain, which I like, and I sometimes consider the Iron Island of Unova. There's also Victory Road, which I REALLY enjoy going through, and it mirrors the cavern in both games. Not only does it have multiple areas throughout, including a ghost cavern, forest, and a dragon's chamber, but it stems from the ruins of N's Castle, which does tie in a bit with the previous game's story. To add to that, you have the trainer marathon Black Tower/White Treehollow, which you can scramble about and fight tons of trainers, gain a bunch of levels, and wrap it all up with a guaranteed shiny (inb4 everyone talks about how lame shiny Garchomp is). And of course I have to discuss the Pokémon World Tournament, don't I? That's another controversial topic, but I do like getting visits from previous Gym Leaders and Champions, some of which we may never see again (yeah yeah, I know we're getting ORAS but shut up). Finally, the Medal Rally can motivate you to do things you probably wouldn't bother to do in other games (to me, the medals are like finding easter eggs). Yeah, nothing says "more same old same old than ever" like nearly being killed, trainer marathons, Pokédex rewards, all the Gym Leaders in one place, and easter egg hunting.
Getting back to Black and White, for a little while the BW praisers/BW2 haters were turning me off from playing the game again, until I played a fun Nuzlocke of it a year ago. As I said, I didn't really like how you could only use new Pokémon until after beating the game, but that concept did grow on me, because you realize you're meant to like the new Pokémon as they don't give you anything else before then. And for the story, what I like it for is how the game plays you up to believe that N is right, but it gets especially tense at the end. As I've said, I like the climax of the game for not only the fact that it stems on a different route than you simply becoming the Champion, but being thrown a trainer controlled legendary. The final battles were amazing, and probably my favorite part of the whole game. I mean being thrown a legendary isn't something you see every day, and don't even get me started on Ghetsis' Hydreigon. However, while I do love both Pokédexes, I'll still take BW2's variety any day.
So yeah, I do love both sets of games. But nowadays, here on PC I tend to find more BW haters/BW2 praisers, which is contrary to what I had been used to finding. Although at the same time, over time i've come to feel that many of the fans that were upset by Black 2 and White 2 were the big fans of Black and White, and claim that it killed the two big things that made BW what they were to them (the story and only using new Pokémon). But really, I just wish people would look past the story, actually play the sequels and see what they really have to offer, or at least compare them to other games and say WHY they offer nothing new in comparison. Despite that, Black and White are definitely in my top 5 main series games, maybe even greater than Platinum for me, and the sequels, again, are my favorites of all of them.
Now for this generation in general. First of all, I will admit the region is indeed linear and attempting to cater to newer players, but it's not like every other region is perfectly designed too, and I'd rather have that than a mess that stems through so many places.
But I feel it's worth that because this generation actually makes you think like no other has: is battling with Pokémon wrong? What would it be like if we weren't doing this? It really attempts to push the series forward and takes you seriously enough to challenge your loyalty to the franchise.
It also made the competitive battling scene even more dynamic to me than it was in Gen IV. With Hidden Abilities, the way many Pokémon were used was changed, and there were also the reusable TMs, which, while not that relevant to this, were also a big thing people liked. Granted I can't say much about this because I don't battle competitively per se, but I know a lot of people do, and Gen VI did expand on what Gen V started.
Some people also flack this generation for its Champions, Alder and Iris, for being too uninvolved and easy to battle. I actually love them both. Alder for the fact that he travels the region and has does attempt to insight you on enjoying the time with your Pokémon, and he actually attempts to step up and fight the main villain. Even if N's legendary does beat him into next week, it is worth mentioning, what being a Champion you actually don't fight until the post-game (getting back to how BW's ending is different from every other Pokémon game). He also has a story to him, in the sense that his Pokémon, Volcarona, died. While his team isn't exactly Champion material, I do like him for those things. As for Iris, admittedly she does very little during the storyline, but I just like her for how amazingly her battle is presented, using the full body art for the VS opening, which is something no other game prior did. And the epic battle scene with her mind-blowing battle theme (I know some people don't like that, but I love it). That and the fact that every single Pokémon she uses are ones I really like, but that's another story. Admittedly she's not the hardest Champion out there, especially not on Normal mode, but I still have almost always found her to be a very fun battle, especially on Challenge Mode with her overpowered attacks. But even at that, I actually found her creative and not a character a typical fan would probably anticipate as such.
Then we have the Pokémon. There's stuff that gets trashed for their designs and being ripoffs of certain subjects *cough Garbodor and Vanilluxe cough*. I'll be honest, this is also my favorite generation in terms of Pokémon introduced. While it doesn't have my #1 favorite Pokémon of all time, it does have one of my top three, Scolipede. This generation had powerhouses galore, like Krookodile, Darmanitan, Haxorus, Chandelure, Excadrill...I could go on. And I even like most of the stuff that gets hate. Garbodor gets hate for being "a pile of trash", but there are people who've said it's supposed to be based off the issues of today's trash that plagues dumpsters. (And watching Turkey from Marriland's Black Wedlocke certainly helped change my opinion on the thing.) I even like the starters, too – granted, they're not competitive Pokémon (well, at least until Contrary Serperior gets released), but they're good for in-game, definitely. There are very few Pokémon from this generation I can say I actually dislike, and I just wish that people would stop saying that Game Freak is running out of ideas - seriously, let's see you <insert insulting name here>s come up with something then.
I feel like I might be trying to be too much like Tamashii was in her video, or just being defendant or what not. But again, after what i've seen, I wanted to do this. So to wrap this up, i'll say that this generation is my favorite for a variety of reasons, and I don't like when people trash it for stupid ones. Oh, and vote Ghetsis 2012. I mean, 2016. 2016!!! …Nevermind.
Wow, over 2000 words. Did I really type all this up? This feels like a typical research assignment. Discuss.
So there have been some things that i've posted and watched recently, most notably my thread in Pokémon Gaming Central about why I tend to prefer the newer Pokémon games more than the older ones, and TamashiiHiroka's video that she just posted recently on her order of the generations. If you watched the latter, then you saw that her #1 generation was, to i'm sure the surprise of many, Generation V, with Black and White, and Black 2 and White 2.
And in case I didn't make it clear in that thread, Generation 5 is also my favorite generation, too, with the sequels being my favorite games in the series. But here on PC, this generation tends to get a lot of hate from people for so many reasons (the new Pokémon, linear region, easy Gym Leaders, etcetera). So, what makes this seemingly infamous generation #1 for me? Let's talk about it.
First, I want to talk about how I feel about Black/White vs Black 2/White 2, because this is a very controversial subject, or at least it's felt that way to me. I did like Black and White quite a bit around when they first released in English, given the Pokémon I used. I wasn't too big for how you only use new Pokémon for the story, but I did like my first few plays of it. It was fun to play through it multiple times, even if the post-game wasn't all that great. Although overall I liked Platinum and HGSS more.
But then we get to Black 2 and White 2. Now before I start raving about this game, I will address the one big thing that this game is probably infamous for: the story. A little too infamous, it feels like.
First of all, Pokémon has never been really known for serious storylines (except with BW, which I will discuss later, don't worry). I don't know about you guys, but I myself have never cared for them. I mean, I like Hugh, and how he wants to fight for something, and they actually gave some previous characters, like Cheren and Bianca, some good development. There are people who say "this isn't a story" because it's little more than just Hugh demanding his sister's Purrloin back from Team Plasma, who wants to freeze Unova and steal the Pokémon for themselves, but here they're more open about what they're out for than they were in Black and White. And I like Hugh because he's not a stalker, super-obnoxious or hyper like most other rivals are. And Colress, too, he was a character I liked the goals of. So that's that.
I used to see so much of "bw: story is amazing and only new pokemon best game ever!!! *raves more about everything in the game* bw2: story is trash there's nothing new f*** this game!!!" on places like Marriland and Serebii. If you're someone like that, who judges the games completely based on the story and not the gameplay, then what's your problem? It's very rude to judge a game 100% based on its story and completely ignore everything else it has to offer, especially when it has so many other things to do. Those people, for a time, made me retroactively dislike BW for that alone. I don't dislike BW anymore, though - they've become among my favorites also, but i'll talk about that later.
But there were some people who, while not judging the game completely based on the story, claims that Black 2/White 2 were Game Freak the most out of ideas they've been, and that it introduces nothing new to the series and is more of the same old same old than ever. That's not true. For starters, unlike Emerald and Platinum, these games go way beyond a simple remake, with an extension to the story instead of just a few simple revisions. For that matter, they had for the time more Pokémon to find in-game than any other did. (Yes, XY does greatly outdo it, but that's not what we're talking about here.) And they actually try to motivate you to complete the National Pokédex for the first time...well, ever, with the Shiny Charm. Granted, some people didn't find that a very worthwhile reward, but it's more than just a diploma. Emerald gave you a Johto starter for the Hoenn Pokédex, but that's different. For a minor detail, every trainer has animated sprites, and in addition to the 3D Pokémon pixels, the visual backgrounds got much better, and the grass moves in the background for one. Little things like that are what I tend to enjoy.
And how about the fact that Ghetsis goes beyond the general level of evil and becomes the first character in the (main) series to try to kill/physically harm you? That is something that definitely deserves credit. And between both games they have differently designed areas, like the Reversal Mountain, which I like, and I sometimes consider the Iron Island of Unova. There's also Victory Road, which I REALLY enjoy going through, and it mirrors the cavern in both games. Not only does it have multiple areas throughout, including a ghost cavern, forest, and a dragon's chamber, but it stems from the ruins of N's Castle, which does tie in a bit with the previous game's story. To add to that, you have the trainer marathon Black Tower/White Treehollow, which you can scramble about and fight tons of trainers, gain a bunch of levels, and wrap it all up with a guaranteed shiny (inb4 everyone talks about how lame shiny Garchomp is). And of course I have to discuss the Pokémon World Tournament, don't I? That's another controversial topic, but I do like getting visits from previous Gym Leaders and Champions, some of which we may never see again (yeah yeah, I know we're getting ORAS but shut up). Finally, the Medal Rally can motivate you to do things you probably wouldn't bother to do in other games (to me, the medals are like finding easter eggs). Yeah, nothing says "more same old same old than ever" like nearly being killed, trainer marathons, Pokédex rewards, all the Gym Leaders in one place, and easter egg hunting.
Getting back to Black and White, for a little while the BW praisers/BW2 haters were turning me off from playing the game again, until I played a fun Nuzlocke of it a year ago. As I said, I didn't really like how you could only use new Pokémon until after beating the game, but that concept did grow on me, because you realize you're meant to like the new Pokémon as they don't give you anything else before then. And for the story, what I like it for is how the game plays you up to believe that N is right, but it gets especially tense at the end. As I've said, I like the climax of the game for not only the fact that it stems on a different route than you simply becoming the Champion, but being thrown a trainer controlled legendary. The final battles were amazing, and probably my favorite part of the whole game. I mean being thrown a legendary isn't something you see every day, and don't even get me started on Ghetsis' Hydreigon. However, while I do love both Pokédexes, I'll still take BW2's variety any day.
So yeah, I do love both sets of games. But nowadays, here on PC I tend to find more BW haters/BW2 praisers, which is contrary to what I had been used to finding. Although at the same time, over time i've come to feel that many of the fans that were upset by Black 2 and White 2 were the big fans of Black and White, and claim that it killed the two big things that made BW what they were to them (the story and only using new Pokémon). But really, I just wish people would look past the story, actually play the sequels and see what they really have to offer, or at least compare them to other games and say WHY they offer nothing new in comparison. Despite that, Black and White are definitely in my top 5 main series games, maybe even greater than Platinum for me, and the sequels, again, are my favorites of all of them.
Now for this generation in general. First of all, I will admit the region is indeed linear and attempting to cater to newer players, but it's not like every other region is perfectly designed too, and I'd rather have that than a mess that stems through so many places.
But I feel it's worth that because this generation actually makes you think like no other has: is battling with Pokémon wrong? What would it be like if we weren't doing this? It really attempts to push the series forward and takes you seriously enough to challenge your loyalty to the franchise.
It also made the competitive battling scene even more dynamic to me than it was in Gen IV. With Hidden Abilities, the way many Pokémon were used was changed, and there were also the reusable TMs, which, while not that relevant to this, were also a big thing people liked. Granted I can't say much about this because I don't battle competitively per se, but I know a lot of people do, and Gen VI did expand on what Gen V started.
Some people also flack this generation for its Champions, Alder and Iris, for being too uninvolved and easy to battle. I actually love them both. Alder for the fact that he travels the region and has does attempt to insight you on enjoying the time with your Pokémon, and he actually attempts to step up and fight the main villain. Even if N's legendary does beat him into next week, it is worth mentioning, what being a Champion you actually don't fight until the post-game (getting back to how BW's ending is different from every other Pokémon game). He also has a story to him, in the sense that his Pokémon, Volcarona, died. While his team isn't exactly Champion material, I do like him for those things. As for Iris, admittedly she does very little during the storyline, but I just like her for how amazingly her battle is presented, using the full body art for the VS opening, which is something no other game prior did. And the epic battle scene with her mind-blowing battle theme (I know some people don't like that, but I love it). That and the fact that every single Pokémon she uses are ones I really like, but that's another story. Admittedly she's not the hardest Champion out there, especially not on Normal mode, but I still have almost always found her to be a very fun battle, especially on Challenge Mode with her overpowered attacks. But even at that, I actually found her creative and not a character a typical fan would probably anticipate as such.
Then we have the Pokémon. There's stuff that gets trashed for their designs and being ripoffs of certain subjects *cough Garbodor and Vanilluxe cough*. I'll be honest, this is also my favorite generation in terms of Pokémon introduced. While it doesn't have my #1 favorite Pokémon of all time, it does have one of my top three, Scolipede. This generation had powerhouses galore, like Krookodile, Darmanitan, Haxorus, Chandelure, Excadrill...I could go on. And I even like most of the stuff that gets hate. Garbodor gets hate for being "a pile of trash", but there are people who've said it's supposed to be based off the issues of today's trash that plagues dumpsters. (And watching Turkey from Marriland's Black Wedlocke certainly helped change my opinion on the thing.) I even like the starters, too – granted, they're not competitive Pokémon (well, at least until Contrary Serperior gets released), but they're good for in-game, definitely. There are very few Pokémon from this generation I can say I actually dislike, and I just wish that people would stop saying that Game Freak is running out of ideas - seriously, let's see you <insert insulting name here>s come up with something then.
I feel like I might be trying to be too much like Tamashii was in her video, or just being defendant or what not. But again, after what i've seen, I wanted to do this. So to wrap this up, i'll say that this generation is my favorite for a variety of reasons, and I don't like when people trash it for stupid ones. Oh, and vote Ghetsis 2012. I mean, 2016. 2016!!! …Nevermind.
Wow, over 2000 words. Did I really type all this up? This feels like a typical research assignment. Discuss.