5th Gen Older! But Same Experience?

[Dragon]

Remember when we first heard news that our characters in Black and White were going to be older than ten, and so many of us got excited about that idea?

Well, we were older then, yet what was so different compared to when we were ten? We still live by our parents, we still have no Pokémon, and still treated like complete newbies (Prof. Juniper showing us what the Pokémon Center was like, and how to catch a Pokémon for the first time).

So what do you guys think the importance of being an older character was in Black and White compared to the previous generations? Sure didn't impact the story of the game, and there was no significant difference to being older, but really, if we hadn't been told that the characters were now older, do you think that we would still believe we're just ten years old starting their first journey?

Feel free to discuss!

 

[Nah]

I think it's that it was nice to finally have characters who were a bit older because they are slightly more relateable is what it was for many people. It's easier to relate to someone who's closer to your own age. I was 18 or 19 when Black/White came out. The age gap between me and Hilda/Hilbert then was only 4 or 5 years, as opposed to the 8 or 9 that there was between me and say, Dawn or Brendan.

But what it was more for me was that it was nice to think that maybe, just maybe, Game Freak was acknowledging that the core fanbase of Pokemon was getting older and was trying to grow up, so to speak, with that aging fanbase (which you can also see with the better story that Black/White has). Something like that.

But now it's years later and I'm old and there's an 8 year gap between me and Hilda/Hilbert again.

 

[Necrum]

I don't think there's any logic flaw in teens being as noobish as they are in gen 5. I mean, the game takes place in the Pokemon equivalent of the US, so it would make sense that some of the customs would be different too. So having teens be the right age to explore, as opposed to the less strict Kanto Region, which is a much more rural area than the industrious Unova, actually makes some sense.

 

[Pendraflare]

I found the older characters to be a nice new touch to the game, I mean I do like the younger characters but this gave the games a mature new feel to them. Pokémon isn't just a children's game anymore, or maybe that's what they wanted to convey to us with these two.

 

[Hikamaru]

I found the older characters to be a nice new touch to the game, I mean I do like the younger characters but this gave the games a mature new feel to them. Pokémon isn't just a children's game anymore, or maybe that's what they wanted to convey to us with these two.

See, he's right. I actually liked the concept of older protagonists in a Pokemon game and that's probably why I enjoyed Hilbert and Hilda, because they weren't the stereotypical 10/11-year-old kids but aged more around 16.

Black & White really deviated itself from most Pokemon games and that's probably what I enjoyed, the fact it somehow tried to cater towards an older audience because I had only just turned 19 when I got my copy of Black and I was pretty much excited to be playing what would eventually become the generation that I claim is the best in my opinion. So I give props to Game Freak for recognizing the older fans when it came to designing these protagonists.

 

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

I agree that Game Freak did a good job on making the protagonists in Pokemon Black and White being older. When it comes to how I rank Pokemon protagonists, Hilbert and Hilda are certainly near the top of my list. I recall I was 22 when the games came out in the US.

 

[CliCliW]

I'll be perfectly honest, I don't understand why it makes a difference. Ok, the story is more grown up, but that's to do with the story and not the character. To me Hilda/Hilbert are still a silent avatar that don't impact on my experience of the game at all. Truthfully I wasn't even aware they were any older until I saw this thread.

I guess I've always just thought of the in game protagonist as a mid-teens character anyway.

I do like Bianca's struggles with her father though. It's a nice real world touch :)

 

[Altairis]

I didn't give it that much thought because I normally think of other protagonists as older than 10 years old anyway, and it's not something that is mentioned in the storyline so it's really just an arbitrary thing. I think that it definitely tied to the fact that in general, BW has a more "mature" storyline but in the end the audience is still the same, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

I didn't give it that much thought because I normally think of other protagonists as older than 10 years old anyway, and it's not something that is mentioned in the storyline so it's really just an arbitrary thing. I think that it definitely tied to the fact that in general, BW has a more "mature" storyline but in the end the audience is still the same, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

This so much haha. I don't care if they protagonists look like little babies I am still going to be in the mindset they are almost my age because it's me playing it! I guess it was nice to know the characters were indeed older but in the end it doesn't change the experience of the games. At least for me.