5th Gen Were the Gyms too easy?

[The Noob Hacker]

I've been playing through White 2 for the first time recently, as I'm typically really late to get the newest Pokémon game yet for one reason or another I end up with it. I've just beaten the final gym and something struck me, and I just wanted to ask if this became apparent to anyone else as well, mainly to validate whether or not I'm crazy. The thing that occurred to me was that not only were the Black and White 2 gyms incredibly easy, but they were, in my opinion, by far the easiest gyms of any Pokémon game to date. Now, gyms were never really too difficult in any Pokémon game, but the major thing that ticks me off is how each leader is restricted to three or less Pokémon, four or less on Hard mode, but I can't vouch for how hard that actually makes them. (Black and White 2 also demonstrates what is quite possibly one of the worst implementations of a difficulty system in any video game of recent times, by the way. But that's something for a different thread.) So, I guess what I wanted to ask was if anyone else found the gyms in Black and White 2 unusually easy.

Actually, before submitting this thread, I did a little research to see how the Black and White 2 gym leaders stacked up to leaders of previous games. I found that in most of the prior games the leaders didn't really have any teams with more than four Pokémon. So that kinda puts my complaint of the gym leader's lack of Pokémon into perspective. Maybe it's just because it's been a while since I've last played some of the fourth generation and earlier games, but I still think that the gym leaders not having many Pokémon felt more prevalent in Black and White 2 then it did before. (I remember as I fought Merlin I said questioningly out loud "This guy only has three Pokémon too?" I don't recall ever doing something like that before, and I don't know why this is.)

In spite of my quick searches, I still feel that the Black and White 2 gym leaders feel easier than past gym leaders, but now I wonder why it is I think this way. It's not because I was too strong, in fact, all of my Pokémon were always one or two levels below any of the gym leader's Pokémon during any fight, so, if anything, I was underleveled. Yes, I did have a Pokémon with either a type advantage or resistance that made it so I rarely had to switch during gym battles, but that's how it has been for every Pokémon game. This leaves me wondering why I seem to have found the White 2 gym battles so ridiculously easy. Maybe it's because I've gotten older and better at the games, maybe it's because the last times I had played the older games it was during either Nuzlockes or Monotype runs so I perceived the challenge to be higher, but I don't really know.

Anyways, what is your guys' opinions of the difficulty concerning the Black and White 2 gym leaders?

 

[bugsy555]

I was surprised at how easy the last gym was. i was expecting something half decent but i was sorely disappointed. Drayden gave me a little bit of a challenge but that was about it. i certainly think the gyms could have been more challenging

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

The reason the gym leader rosters were limited to three or less in Gen V was to lower the chances of gym leaders either reusing the same Pokemon from the same line or another Pokemon that wasn't associated with their themed type. They also wanted to make sure that the gym leaders have at least one non-Unova Pokemon in their roster for BW2 to be more like Hoenn's gym leaders. Their difficulty depends on knowledge on the series in general. If you're a veteran fan, then of course they're going to be easy, because you've been playing these games for years. If you're a newcomer, then you'll experience some challenges to deal with these gym leaders.

 

[Firox]

I only found them easy since I knew which Pokemon I would use, and had them a little over leveled than the gym leader's Pokemon - if mine weren't smart and overleveled, then I would probably struggle.

I remember when I first faced Roxie, I lost many times.

I forgot what city, one with the platforms, leader with ground Pokemon, he was easy with Dewott, but I struggled getting to him. I got lost in the gym at least 9 times, I ended back to the start.

Easy if Pokemon are smart, right types, and over leveled, other wise it may be a struggle.

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

Everyone beside Clay were easy.
Clay...? Wasn't.
Unless you had water starter who might as well be killed by Excadrill's Bulldoze, your starter was useless and it all depended on the rest of your team...
Since in my Japanese playthrough, I actually trained Pignite, I beat him after 3 tries...
In my USA playthrough I trained Lucario more so I beat it on the first try...
But still... Clay wasn't easy...

 

[Hikamaru]

I have to say the Gyms were too easy during my playthrough, but that's because I used a lot of strategies. Not even Clay was that hard, but I guess it was because Oshawott was my starter and his entire team were weak to Water.

The only challenge was probably the Triple/Rotation Battles in Drayden's Gym, but Drayden himself was a pushover because I had a Lucario with Ice Punch. When said Lucario was still a Riolu I did the tricky level grinding to Level 15 prior to Aspertia Gym and ended up beating Cheren very easily.

I also used the Magnemite and Sandslash strategies recommended by Marriland against Roxie and Elesa respectively, which was probably why they weren't hard at all. Marlon was also a piece of cake because I had Roserade and also Lucario having ThunderPunch.

I always struggled with at least one Gym in past games but not-so-much in this case.

 

[bilzandpap]

Hm, you bring up an interesting point here, Noob Hacker. I agree that B2/W2 had some really easy Gyms, but I think they were more challenging than in B/W. I tend to have my Pokemon slightly overleveled, cuz I do a lot of grinding and make sure I play through every optional area... maybe because of that, I had a team of six Lv. 45's facing Drayden's Lvs. 41, 41, and 43 on my last playthrough of B/W (The One That Got Away Challenge).

B2/W2 fixed this... kind of... when they boosted all the Gym Leader's Pokemon up in levels. It didn't make that much of a difference, but it did seem to me like the Gyms in B/W were a lot easier. I dunno, all the Gen V gyms were pretty easy.

That's funny that people are complaining about Clay. I found Clay to be one of the easier ones.

 

[bugsy555]

That's funny that people are complaining about Clay. I found Clay to be one of the easier ones.

same. I found him quite easy

 

[Xander Olivieri]

All gyms have always been the same level of easy for me, except Normal type Gyms. So I've never had any issue with them. More than half of the 43 total gyms I solo'd with my starter alone. So, outside of challenge mode, I didn't find B2W2 Gym leaders any easier than gym leaders from any other region.

 

[Cerberus87]

I think, compared with the third versions of older generations, the gyms were easier. Emerald and Platinum had good gym battles and varied rosters.

Elesa was the hardest for me, because I decided to go with Trapinch as my Ground-type and, while it's sort of capable, it's also slow as molasses. In general, though, I think some of the rosters are the fault of 5th gen itself. If you want to create a hard gym battle, you don't give a Leavanny and a Swanna to the leaders as their ace Pokémon. Leavanny has too many exploitable weaknesses and Swanna is mediocre at best.

 

[Kikaito plush]

the gyms were kind of easy if you ask me. The easiest one was Marlon sadly.
My toughest gym was Roxie cause she keep poisoning my team and I did not have anything to heal poison.

 

[Renemesis]

The gyms always seem a bit easy to me. Check out pokemon MMO for more challenges

 

[Dansparce]

For me, most of them were easy, except Roxie & Elesa. There was literally no way (for me) to beat Roxie without either using a Magnemite or grinding. I felt that using Magnemite would be cheap, so i grinded.

As for Elesa, her stupid Flaaffy kept spamming Thunder wave on my entire team, and took them out easily with Zebstrika (and hax).

 

[Shining Lericon]

Roxie was actually quite easy for me, since my Riolu evolved into Lucario just before getting to Virbank City.

 

[GarlandDaHero]

Raiden, my once Riolu and then Lucario, made short work of basically everything that it could hit. Truth be told, I raised it, and only it, and it was practically stronger than my starter!