5th Gen Your favorite part of Gen V

[Sydian]

I've been playing White 2 for a challenge the past couple of days and I'm remembering all these things I love about Gen V. I already knew I loved it before I picked this back up, but you know, actually playing it helps refresh my mind, haha. So what are your favorite parts of generation V games?

Personally, I think the music is some of the strongest in the series. The battle music is all high paced, catchy, and just...distinct. Like you just know it's Unova music. I also just like the general look and flow of the game. The pace of battles is great, I love the animated sprites (I still prefer these to the XY/ORAS models honestly), even the health bars look nice, as weird as that sounds. I like that this generation took quite a few risks and did things differently. Gen V brought us true sequels, a much more deep plot than before, and in the first installments, we were only allowed to catch Pokemon from this new generation, just to name a few of those risks. While in the end, they may have not worked on everyone, but I'm someone that enjoys them.

Also, the greatest thing to come out of gen V is Petilil, the most fierce little green nub with leaves. Basically a queen among us.

So what are your favorite parts of generation V? I'd like for this to just stay as favorites, so please don't use this thread to bash things you don't like or slam things someone likes that you don't like. Like they say in Bambi, "If ya can't say anything nice...don't say nothin' at all!" I think this generation is under a lot of heat at the moment so I'd like for us to be able to look at the good and what we appreciate from these games.

 

[Odyssey]

The story and the Pokémon. The story is nice and refreshing, as it doesn't really follow the "collect badges, defeat the evil team, be the champion" method. I also found the character development to be enjoyable, especially in B2W2.

The Pokémon of Unova are really great battling wise. While it isn't as surprising as Gen VI, (e.g., Greninja, Talonflame, Aegislash) many of these Pokémon are still usable. I also find the designs of most Unova Pokémon to be great. Why people hate characters simply because they're based on an inanimate object is way beyond me.

 

[Maharet]

I've first played Gen V after hearing a lot of bad things about it, mainly about the pokèmon design. I decided to try it out to see for myself if it was true, and I fell in love with this generation.

The music is my favourite, I honestly think that Black/White and the sequels have the best music in the franchise, not only the battle music, but also the background music of cities and paths/caves. I liked the musicians added in the cities to put some more music in the game, i found it really nice.
Some of the locations are beautiful, in general all of them were very well made. Castelia, for example, wasn't exactly my favourite, but it really gave me the impression of a giant city, with all the people walking in the streets, and the various speech bubbles popping up randomly giving you the feeling of the cacophony of a giant city. And this is just one example, I won't even start talking about Opelucid, Icirrus or Nimbasa, or this post may go on for ages.

The story was very mature in both of the games in my opinion, and I liked how the story wasn't League-centered. I love the characters and their actions, I find them more complex than in other installments, and to date Alder is my favourite Champion, even though he may not have the greatest team.

Gameplay-wise, this gen gave us some of the greatest changes. The decision of inserting only fifth-gen pokèmon in the first installments was risky, at it was probably the reason why many didn't love this gen, but I think they did the right thing. Maybe some of us would have never used some of the fifth gen pokèmon, or we would just box them after a while because some pokèmon take forever to evolve in fifth gen, more than others in previous generations. Triple and Rotation Battles were a refreshing new way to fight without changing things too much, and Dream World abilities gave old pokèmon something new without having to change their typing.

I can't understand all the hate towards some of the fifth gen pokèmon. It wasn't the first time that they took inspiration from non-living things, so I really can't see why in Gen V this was an issue. Some of them have great concepts behind them, just as older and newer pokèmon have. There are some pretty powerful pokèmon, too, which made their way into competitive battling and are still used.

Well, this turned out long enough, I think. I've tried to say everything I could for this gen, because it does deserve more love in my opinion. It's too bad that most people only focus on the bad things, or what they don't like and consider it a mistake while it's only a matter of taste, thus forgetting of all the good things.

 

[Nah]

I think what I liked most about Gen V was the fact that they were willing to, at least a little bit, deviate from the formula that Pokemon had being following for years. Things like making you only use the new pokes in B/W, the slightly more mature story, battling someone who's not the Champion as the final story boss, Ghetsis straight up trying to kill you in B2/W2. Stuff like that.

I also very much liked the music overall, as well as PokeStar Studios, the PWT, and the move tutors.

And of course, Gen V has my favorite Pokemon of all time, Zekrom. And Syd, let's get real, Zekrom > Petilil. :P

 

[Hikamaru]

5th Gen has so many things I love in Pokemon, most of it was probably stuff Zekrom said but I'll list what I love so much about this generation, in a handy dotted list for your convenience.

• The very epic final battle against N and Ghetsis in B/W
• So many awesome Legendaries, especially the Tao Dragons
• Loads and loads of cute Pokemon, and also Victini and Meloetta
• There's a lot of Pokemon with fun, unique type combinations
• Has the coolest Gym Leaders and Elite Four ever
• N is pretty much the most mysterious character in the games to date, and his backstory is so interesting
• Triple and Rotation Battles gave us new ways to battle
• Both the female protagonists (Hilda and Rosa) being super adorable, typical for a lot of recent female protags. The males (Hilbert and Nate) are definitely not an exception either.
• Has the best soundtrack of all the Pokemon games
• Cheren and Bianca, along with Hugh have such huge development compared to most rivals
• So many beautiful locations, and has a great mixture of environments
• The Pokemon designs are all really unique, even if some get hated so much
• Much darker storyline than any other Pokemon game
• Being forced to use Unova Pokemon in B/W helped you learn to love them
• All the starters look cute, and evolve into total badasses
• Introduction of hidden abilities took competitive play to a new level
• Oh, and did we mention it gave us Oshawott? My fave Pokemon ever!

I could go on and on about all the reasons I love this generation, but I feel so thankful Game Freak actually tried to deviate from the usual formula that makes up Pokemon games, and also that scene in B2/W2 where Ghetsis attempted to kill you with Kyurem is definitely something you don't see everyday in a game marketed towards kids. And I know that even as this generation gets older, it will always remain a staple of the Pokemon franchise in my heart forever.

 

[Emboar]

Everything. I don't agree with most negative opinions of Gen V. I don't see why everyone hates Trubbish and Garbodor, I mean, they're designs are actually creative compared to some of the crap Gen I gave us. Also, Gen V gave us Emboar, which is my favorite Pokemon ever, and Krookodile, which is my second favorite Pokemon ever. Gen V is also fun, 'cause in Gens I-IV, it's so tedious and boring training your Pokemon after you beat the Pokemon League, but in Gen V, you get Unova's Challenge, rematches with N, the Shadow Triad, Cynthia, and many others. And then there's the characters, who by far have the most creative designs in Pokemon. The only problem I have with Gen V is the evolution levels are so high compared to the other generations.

 

[Sydian]

I forgot to mention challenge mode. While I don't think it was really that difficult and it does have its flaws, it was nice to see GameFreak try to give the more experienced players a more difficult playthrough of the game. I appreciate it and have played it through at least once and I did enjoy it. This is something I'd really like to see fixed up and implemented in future Pokemon games.

 

[Evening]

Zekrom's post was everything I was gonna type. Gen V wasn't as good as other games, but it was, at the very least, an evolution of the games and the start of Gen VI.

 

[Pendraflare]

For my 3,000th post...you're asking me to name one favorite part of this generation? When I have so many that I could go on and on about? Even though some of what I have to discuss was already mentioned by previous posters, there is so much I could talk about here... (WARNING LONG POST coming)

Well, for starters, i've played Black 2 and White 2 so many times, since they have so much to like, including their amazing variety of Pokémon to play through the game with, and the post-game they have to offer such as the PWT, Black Tower/White Treehollow and other new areas. They made the region more broad and gave it even more enjoyable material than it already had. While the plot wasn't BW's and did kinda go back to the same thing we've had in the post-GBC era games, it's still something, most notably with Ghetsis in the Giant Chasm and his attack with Kyurem, but N coming in to save you from it. But to me, that's not the best part of it - that would be the fact that Ghetsis had that planned on as to use Kyurem's Absofusion with N's legendary. Yeah, process that for a second.

Aside from the awesome new music that came with the new areas, of course there's the Champion, Iris, who I always look forward to battling and not just for that music and battlefield, but because her team is full of Pokémon that I really like, some of which are high among my favorites, especially on Challenge Mode. While she's no Cynthia, it's almost always a fun time for me. I still remember when that Salamence really threw me for a curveball... And while Challenge Mode could have been done better, it was at least a nice touch even if it's basically confirmed we won't be seeing it again anytime soon. Join Avenue was another fun thing to be able to build up over time, and there was Pokéstar Studios too.

As for BW? While I do love the games today, there was a period of time where I outright refused to play BW because the B2W2 haters were hamming it up as the best thing ever with its only new Pokémon, while trashing B2W2 basically entirely for its plot, and not acknowledging all its content. Back when I was prime to Marriland in early 2013, I felt like the only person who liked B2W2, aside from Marriland himself, which left me quite upset and furious that there was next to nobody that saw the vast amount of content the game had to offer.

But in time I thought, maybe BW really do have things worthwhile to them? Am I just jaded because of the selfish haters?

The answer is yes - while I still want to punch anyone like that (who blows off B2W2 based on the story, says it's the same as BW or that it has nothing new) in the face, that doesn't mean they're not at least somewhat right with BW. The thing with only using new Pokémon is that, as mentioned previously, it makes you come to appreciate the new Pokémon more than you would in, say, Hoenn or Sinnoh, which had a mix of old Pokémon in them too. While I still prefer B2W2's more broad choices, this was the first time since RBY (unless you count FRLG) they've done this, so I can most certainly understand why people thought it was a good decision.

But that's to say nothing of the ultimatum of the plot, with N's Castle - first, the Champion actually tries to take on the main villain, which is a first (although Cynthia is still my favorite Champion, I find it disappointing that she does nothing productive against Team Galactic). Then it has the game throwing a trainer controlled legendary at you! Which is the first main series game (battle facilities notwithstanding) that they do, and just when you think all is done in they throw your legendary into the picture, but if you don't use it that makes it even more of something. And when it comes to the final battles...ho boy, these battles are something else, and with Ghetsis' Hydreigon, I would possibly go so far as to call it arguably the second hardest battle in any main series game, only behind Cynthia, but that may be stretching it. Battling that Hydreigon is really tense, as it requires either extreme strategy or luck to get past it (I still remember when my Conkeldurr's Quick Claw activated against it in my Wedlocke...).

And speaking of Cynthia, it was nice of them to give her an appearance in the post-game of both games. And the funny thing is, I wasn't initially planning to get B2W2 at first, but after watching Marriland's Japanese videos for them I absolutely couldn't wait another minute. And when I finally got to play the game, it really was everything I thought it would be. While it wasn't perfect, no game in this world is, so it was more than enough for me to be happy with.

Let's not forget the Pokémon, there are so many from this that I like a LOT. Such include Scolipede (which, anyone who knows me should know how much I like this thing), Hydreigon, Haxorus, Volcarona, Conkeldurr, Darmanitan, Reshiram, Whimsicott, Crustle, Chandelure...I seriously could go on, there are very few from this generation I can honestly say I don't like.

Even after maxing out my Trainer Card on my main White 2, I am still playing it today and get just as much fun out of its post-game as ever. B2W2 still stand as my favorite games in the series (although i've only played ORAS once so far, so we'll see if that changes in due time), and BW aren't too far behind. One of these days i'll get the last of the loose ends (strange endings on all Pokéstar films, Doubles trophy on the Battle Subway, all the Type Champ medals...), but I can't see myself ever giving up on this generation anytime soon.

And that was my 3,000th post, one that I think I wrote out with more than I needed to, haha.

 

[Cerberus87]

The framerate, the Pokémon, the story.

It's fast-paced, especially in DSi mode.

Most of the designs are interesting, but what I liked the most was that even the derps like Watchog seemed useful. This wasn't the case in quite a few generations.

The story is the best in the Pokémon series, even if the Ghetsis twist in BW was predictable. And Colress is a very interesting character.

 

[Bounsweet]

I liked some of the Pokémon that were introduced - namely Sawsbuck, Frillish/Jellicent, Minccino/Cinccino, and... that's kinda mostly it haha. I actually kinda liked the Global Link too, it was a little unconventional even if it did become a bit tedious sometimes.

Idk really, Gen V is my least favorite gen although a fair share of things were enjoyable, like the difficulty settings in BW2, although the way they were implemented was ehhh and it's a shame they didn't carry on through Gen VI.

 

[Sydian]

Forgot to mention this. I really loved the gen V Pokemon so I did my most ambitious challenge to date. I went through the Elite Four with every final stage Unova Pokemon to put them through the Hall of Fame. So I raised every Unova Pokemon and it was super fun. Time consuming and taxing and at times, frustrating, but fun altogether. If anyone is interested in it, I have all of my teams blogged and there's a tag for that challenge where you can read about it. It was also fun because I involved the community in picking my teams.

 

[Galmar]

The sports stadiums in Nimbassa Stadium which allowed you to get alot of good training after beating Gthetsis, and Trubbish.

 

[magicalgirlj]

How Unova is based on New York
The Music, N's castle theme is my favorite BGM in the game, it is brilliant
N, he is so cool
Oshowatt- cutest starter ever ^-^
The musical theater
You can use TM's as much as you want

 

[Palkia]

As much as I overall disliked Gen V, it did introduced a few elements that I dug the hell out off.

- The Unova region was the most metropolitan region we've had in the series
- Reusable TM's
- More version differences than any other game (different locations depending on each game, different 8th gym leader etc.)
- The postgame for B/W was pretty damn solid
- Introducing the Battle Subway before the elite 4
- Animated sprites
- Gym leaders were more fleshed out

 

[Hiatus]

There are many things I could say, but first and foremost would likely have to be Pokémon themselves.

Although some of the ones they had introduced in generation five weren't precisely accepted by fans, myself included (with couple of examples being Garbodor and Vanilluxe families, for various reasons), there are still a lot which I believe could be considered great. From top of my head, one is Volcarona; it's a combination of bug-fire, which is a rather unique typing (we've never had anything like it before). Above this, it's also got an excellent design (at least in my opinion), and also access to some decent moves.

Another thing I've enjoyed about fifth gen are features and mechanic improvements, such as removal of number-based TM usage. If you ask me, this has made attack-learning and whatnot a whole lot more easy, as we now don't have to go out of our way to search and collect TMs every time we want to teach one to some Pokémon.

 

[CoffeeDrink]

Pokemon excluded, I think I enjoyed some of the new Mechanics the most. triple Battles and rotation battles, wild double battles, the seasons, reusable TMs, the Music, and I'm sure others that I forget.

"I was irked that Poison doesn't hurt Pokemon outside of battle. I'm going to miss that" - Koga

 

[curiousnathan]

I'm not a massive fan of Generation V as a whole. However, it does have quite a few redeeming features. It introduced a number of my favourite Pokemon (Reuniclus, Liepard, Beartic and Volcarona) as well as my favourite Pokemon character , Grimsley. Not to mention, the Elite Four battle music and Team Plasma 2.0 music was epic.

My biggest disappointment with Gen V was the Pokemon overall. A lot of their designs looked incredibly odd, and not really like Pokemon (hate me). Not only that but the Plasma story line, particularly revolving around N was pretty bland and the Gym Leaders felt cheap. Although XY tops this.

 

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I didn't care much for this Gen but somethings I didn't mind were:
Battling was faster paced then Gen 4, story in the original BW games was aright.( BW 2 story was awful). Legendaries was good and Serperior is one of my fav starters.

 

[Starry Windy]

I have some handful of favorite parts of Gen V. One of them being having N as part of the story. His interesting personalities, and his backstory, makes him one of the stars of the game despite being on the side of Team Plasma at some point.

Gen V also has interesting and appealing Pokémon starters as well. Both Snivy, Oshawott and Tepig are so cute looking that I was bothered which one to pick at times. Also, it introduces me to my favorite Pokémon, Victini, which I caught myself thanks to the Liberty Ticket event, which is also special, because it's my first event that I ever get.

As for Black 2 and White 2 exclusive, it's the first time that I ever see any Pokédex (not counting National variant) which have contained around 300 species in the Dex, even though X and Y decided to top it even more. Having so much Pokémon in the Dex proves that it's jam-packed with adventure.

There are lots more that I loved about Gen V, and kudos to Game Freak because they make one of considered the best Gen among Pokémon series.