Think about it. Black and White were based around the concept of ying/yang, had many version differences compared to other games and Kyurem had two special attacks which related to Zekrom/Reshiram. Thinking about that... there's no way there could've been a third game to put that all together, even things like White Forest/Black City - why consolidate something based so heavily on opposites and differences into just one game?
In other words, do you think we should've seen the signs sooner, and that this move by Game Freak was actually predictable, rather than completely unexpected? Discuss!
I thought the theoretical "Gray Version" would have
both Black City and White Forest, kind of how
Emerald and
Platinum let you catch
both version mascots of the prior paired versions, along with their own version mascots. Similarly, the 8th Gym could be a double battle against Iris
and Drayden...
I thought Ice Burn and Freeze Shock were just there to reference Reshiram and Zekrom (by the Burn and Paralysis status effects, which are
usually fire-induced and electricity-induced, respectively), and we would just get to choose whichever one we wanted. But they do make way more sense when one takes Black Kyurem and White Kyurem into consideration, as
both of them now have potential signature moves.
But the point of Yin Yang is not that something is either one or the other, but that it consists of both. It would have made sense for a third version to unite the two concepts.
But I do agree that there are some parts of the games which physically could not be produced together. The last gym leader could have been a double battle though. And some things could have been redesigned completely instead of directly lifting something from either Black or White.
Alternately, it would also have made sense for there not to be a Generation 5 third version, as yin-yang is kind of a singular entity when thought of together (I didn't even know the concept of
wuji even existed until I learned about Kyurem; I've always envisioned yin-yang involving strictly 2 elements completing each other, with no necessity of a "third pillar" whatsoever). Yeah; I was wondering how they were going to do the overworld for the cities...maybe do a mashing of both 'technological' and 'natural' styles in each city/town, or have some areas 'technological' and others 'natural'.
Finally, Game Freak has been hammering it into our heads that they want to break away from certain
Pokemon traditions, and this
is a rebirth generation of Pokemon... So it's fitting that we don't get
one "third version", but technically
two! :cer_laugh: Furthermore, they seem to be more sequel-based, unlike most third versions that are "retcon"-based/retreads. And we've never been able to really predict the next "Pokemon game" to great success (i.e., people thinking "Opal Version" when
Diamond/Pearl's counterpart turned out to be "Platinum Version"), so it makes sense that Game Freak wouldn't just go for the "Gray/Grey Version" that multitudes of fans were guessing. XD
