5th Gen Starting all over again

[Ho-Oh]

Think back to 2010, the whole thing that was being promoted was that Black and White were a new beginning, that this generation was to be the brand new start to the Pokemon world. A new beginning. Do you think this generation achieved that? Did Generation 5 have enough to be considered a new start to the Pokemon world? If so, what things made it seem like a new start to you personally? If not, how else could've it done the whole new beginning thing? More Pokemon? Or something else? In other words, was it enough to really... push the other four generations aside, to launch into a new saga of Pokemon? Share your thoughts!

 

[Amore]

I do, for various reasons I can't fully explain in this post (There are just so many) think it was pretty good at being a fresh start but without doing what Gen III did and just ditching the previous generations' pokémon.

One thing I would say makes it feel like a fresh start despite the ability to transfer pokémon from Gen IV is that you can't shift over your items, meaning they need to be collected all over again (and also that I know have 3 Choice Scarf surplus on my Diamond file).
The whole thing about having a new 151 and no older pokémon available made it feel very much like when you get your first game and don't know much, and also very Gen I-like. Pikachu appearing multiple times despite all that's being said was just...y'know, Pikachu. Basing it on a region not in Japan (New York, no less) also helped get make the feeling that it was a shift away from the past, although I'm glad they didn't then decide to just keep doing parts of America as new regions. Although the Great Lakes area could be the next Hoenn waterworld xD
Changes such as a female professor, two rivals, a complex antihero as opposed to an outright villain (well, we get one of those too, but isn't that in itself awesome?), Professor Oak not turning up, and most significantly to me The Champion isn't the final battle of the main story!...these all gave the feeling of a restart, well away from the series past without completely ignoring it.

So yes, they definitely did the whole "Starting all over again" thing well enough for my liking.

 

[Pendraflare]

I would say yes, they do begin a new era for Pokémon.

To begin, Unova is meant to be a region far off from all the others, with only the new Pokémon for you to use and battle for the story. More Pokémon than any other has introduced, none of them with any connections to previous ones. So yes, with it being the first games since RBY (well, FRLG) to do that, the new Pokémon do make you feel in a world separate from the others.

The reusable TMs were something that did not exist in the previous generations, so that is another nice feature I would give a mention to the new time. And given how serious the story challenges you to think of your bonds with Pokémon, which is something not many others prior really did, you feel like Pokémon is really entering a different and more dynamic adventure than it has had before.

I've heard that BW was supposed to take the elements of the past generations and make it feel like what Generation I would've been with them. With Pokémon that resemble Generation I's, along with more varied areas such as a desert, electric and icy caves, swamps, and a fair bit more, it may be linear but throws some nice mixes into it.

So yes, this is more of a new beginning, and it may not show but it's a good one at that.

 

[Yato]

I believe Black/White did provide a fresh experience. Unova's far from the other regions, giving it a foreign feel. The number of Pokemon introduced in Gen. V exceeds any other generation, and you're prevented from finding any old Pokemon in the games until post-game. BW's plot breaks the trend of fighting the eight Gym Leaders, taking down the evil organization, and becoming Champion. On a related note, the evil organization actually brings forth a moral conflict and doesn't completely focus on world/region domination. The fully animated sprites were a huge change and were the closest things to models prior to XY. Lastly, many of the new/updated features (such as the reusable TMs and Triple/Rotation Battles) made the games really unique from the rest. Overall, BW does a splendid job providing a fresh new experience for new and veteran players alike.

 

[Altairis]

Yup, I definitely think so. Along with there being no old Pokemon in sight, there were also several features that were introduced that provided everyone who played the games with a new experience, not just those new to the franchise. There was a new EXP system, introduction of seasons, several mechanics like unlimited TMs, and a region that was designed differently and thus had a different focus (linearity forced plot over exploration like I feel the previous games had). Plus, for these reasons:

Changes such as a female professor, two rivals, a complex antihero as opposed to an outright villain (well, we get one of those too, but isn't that in itself awesome?), Professor Oak not turning up, and most significantly to me The Champion isn't the final battle of the main story!...these all gave the feeling of a restart, well away from the series past without completely ignoring it.

So yes, they definitely did the whole "Starting all over again" thing well enough for my liking.

If I remember correctly, there also weren't any throwbacks like previous characters from other games showing up (feel free to correct me on this one), and this game provided enough change for the veteran players that it felt like a nice new start to me.

 

[Aether★]

Okay, V generation was a pretty big thing back then. Lots of new things and I must agree that it was a completely new start and new experience. However, I hated the fact that gamefreak pushed all previous generations aside and I had to play with only gen V Pokemon. I really wanted to use some old gen ones with the new gen ones. This wasn't a really exciting experience for me, so I rarely played this gen (practically skipped it to Pokemon X). Also V gen is my least favorite and I didn't like the region at all.

 

[Amore]

If I remember correctly, there also weren't any throwbacks like previous characters from other games showing up (feel free to correct me on this one), and this game provided enough change for the veteran players that it felt like a nice new start to me.

Cynthia, Caitlin and Looker are the only ones, but they're not just thrown in, there's at least some explanation - Caitlin's an Elite Four member now, Cynthia knows Caitlin from Sinnoh and spends summer in Unova (I wonder if Unova's supposed to be in a different hemisphere? I know the north is cooler, like in Sinnoh, but what if that's actually south? Cynthia could be in Unova just to get away from harsh Sinnoh winters, which is acceptable as no challengers can be arssed making it up to the Pokémon League in a blizzard?).

Looker though...he's never really done much. Clearly he took all the credit for foiling Team Galactic's plan, so was allowed to still receive missions, hence arriving in Unova.

 

[Gulpin]

Yes, Generation V did offer a lot of different things from the previous four but I don't think it really fulfilled the 'brand new beginning' idea. In my opinion, Black and White were a really good start for this goal, not having any previous gen Pokemon but still having enough Pokemon available to make the region and the journey enjoyable. However, Black 2 and White 2 ruined this fresh start by introducing all of the older Pokemon into the region early in game.