D/P vs. B/W vs. HG/SS- Which to purchase?

[Mr. Aware Eagle]

Hey there, pokemon fans. This is my first post on IGN in ages, but I seek some gaming advice.
Preface: I stopped playing the Pokemon games after Gold/Silver. I was about 10-11 when they came out. Since then I've dabbled in red/blue and g/s, just for nostalgia's sake. I recently decided to buy a used copy of Ruby, and I just finished playing it. I really loved it, and am considering playing either diamond/pearl or black/white. Most people I've spoken to say I should just skip d/p and buy b/w. I don't know if I like the idea of skipping, plus I'm sure I'd be able to find a decently priced used copy of d/p somewhere, compared to all of the new, higher-priced copies of b/w. But everyone says the d/p is not nearly as good as b/w. Maybe you have a different opinion!
Then again, HG/SS interests me as well. I'm more interested in brand new content, but I'm so intrigued by the idea of being able to visit Kanto on my DS.

What would you do if you were in my situation? My love for Pokemon has been re-kindled, and I need your help using it. Obviously, this is a Pokemon forum and I'll likely be encouraged to buy all of them. But for now, I'd just like to purchase one game.
Thanks!

 

[Charmageddon]

Personally, I think that Black/White is by far the best Pokemon game to date. It trumps every other game on almost every count - story, characterisation, region design, etc. I can't pimp it enough, if I start then I'll go off on a lengthy love-letter to the games, so I'll just say that they are brilliant and leave it at that. HG/SS is also very well made, and IMO the second-best of the games. Although if you've already recently played G/S, maybe you want to try out a new region instead of a remake of an old one. DPPt is good - it falls rather short of the other two games in terms of quality, but it's still great fun and perhaps is a better option with the lower price.

How important is nostalgia to you in this purchase? Because if it's integral to your enjoyment, then maybe HGSS or DPPt would be preferable over BW, as BW features entirely new Pokemon, none of the older ones. That said, the new Pokemon are great and it's worth just diving in and gaining a whole new load of love for new Pokemon.

One solid piece of advice I can give you is this - do not buy Diamond or Pearl. If you want to play those games, buy Platinum instead (it's the third version, ala. Yellow and Crystal). Platinum is basically the same game, but improved massively. The game runs faster (a major problem with DP is its slow speed), a much larger variety of Pokemon are added, the plot is made more coherent and the villain is given more backstory and motivation. Trust me, it's objectively a much superior game to Diamond/Pearl.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I think you should get HG/SS first, just to see the older Pokemon first. Then you can move on to B/W to implement the Gen IV strategies there (like transferring Pokemon that know Gen IV tutor moves from HG/SS to B/W).

 

[.Alvin]

Are you planning on trying them all in the future anyways? If you're gonna do it in order, you might as well start with platinum, then move on to HG/SS and finally, Black and White. That's how I'd do it.
I feel after playing B/W, the other games felt too slow so I didn't really feel like playing them anymore. Idk, maybe that's just me.

 

[Mr. Aware Eagle]

Are you planning on trying them all in the future anyways? If you're gonna do it in order, you might as well start with platinum, then move on to HG/SS and finally, Black and White. That's how I'd do it.
I feel after playing B/W, the other games felt too slow so I didn't really feel like playing them anymore. Idk, maybe that's just me.

Haha, that's the thing! I haven't decided yet! I'm really bad at making decisions that SHOULD NOT be hard to make. I'd like to eventually play them all, but summer only lasts for so long. Pretty soon I'll be back in school and working and having a college social life. It's gonna be tough. That's why I'm only wanting to focus on one game right now.

I think I'm going to hold off on Black/White for now, upon learning that there are all new pokemon in it. After playing through Ruby, with almost no familiar pokemon, I'd like to feel at least a little nostalgia and familiarity. Thus I'm either going to go with SoulSilver or Platinum for now.

Anyone else have an opinion they'd like to share??

 

[Genesect]

If you want to see the storyline of the one you missed (D/P/Pt) I suggest you should buy Platinum instead of (D/P), or you can buy (HG/SS), even though its a remake of G/S, it have some pretty good addition to it. You shouldn't rush to B/W because if you haven't seen any Pokemon in Gen IV, you'll be kind-of inexperienced in Gen IV Pokemon and Moves.

 

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

Well you should get both of them but go with Heart Gold and Soul Silver first due to the fact that you dont want to jump right into POkemon over again without knowing the 4th generation Pokemon. With HG and SS, there are some 4th generation Pokemon which you want to get to know about them before trying to figure out and learn about the fifth generation of POkemon


:t354:TG

 

[Sydian]

Get White! It has Petilil. Plus more people are trading in gen V now. Gen IV is nearly obsolete. Anyway, there's something new I'm implementing, and you can read about it here. If you want further opinions, feel free to ask in either the 4th gen help thread or the BW Q&A thread. :)

Locked.