Pokemon White & Black 2

[Abe Sargent]

Light spoilers ahead...



Anyone here playing it though right now? Is it just me, or are you getting a massive amount oif amazingly strong pokies early? After beating the 3rd gym I have:

My starter, Dewott
Espeon
Magnemite
Crobat
Lucario
Either Darumaka or Growlithe, not sure which I want to build up yet

And I've encountered pokies like Magby, Elekid, Mareep, Koffing and Evees are wild and you can evolve an Umbreon now and many of the others later. You can easily take Wheezing, Amphardos, Eveeutoins, Magnezone, Arcanine, Magmortar, Electivire, Daramanitan to the end. These are amazing Pokemon, and it seems like there are all over th early game. I'm still shocked that you could get riolu to evolve into Lucario before the first gym

[Chubby]

White 2 here.

If you get Pokemon Dream Radar you can get more strong pokes early too. I have a hidden ability Riolu i'm using now too (and could use Tornadus from DR or Genesect from the giveaway thats active now)

[sterlingice]

White 2

A game or two ago, I just gave up with what I could find and just went with a fun team. This time out, I went with three easily available ones (starter and two recent events). Then I went out and grabbed 2 more that I have been wanting to play with for a while.

Starter Tepig
Event Keldeo
Event Genesect
Traded Metang
Traded Deino

SI

[Abe Sargent]

I'm stuck at the 4th film of the giant woman series, I can;t figure out how to stay alive for six rounds. Anyone else do the films?

[sterlingice]

I only did the time traveler series (as well as the first one you have to do)

I had to have help on the second one of those, more because I kept getting crit'd. Gamefaqs is where I'll usually go for that.

Found a video on youtube:
Pokemon Black 2 & Pokemon White 2 - PokeStar Studios - The Giant Woman Series [All 4 Movies] - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS0vIqc6RgE)
Sounds like you have to pick the right choices or you get slapped to death

SI

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks

[Abe Sargent]

I just left Reversal Mountain and entered Undella Town. Am I underleveled or okay?


Auratic, Level 39 Lucario, holding Leftover, Force Palm, Quick Attack, Counter, Swords Dance

Psydog, level 37 Espeon, holding Lucky Egg, Psychic, Bite, Morning Sun, Sand-Attack

Diremoth, level 39 Volcarona, holding Shell Bell, String Shot (ugh), Gust (2x ugh), Fire Spin, Signal beam

Cyclopiron, level 39 Mangezone, holding Magnet, Thunder Wave, Spark, Electro ball, Flash Cannon

Batastic, level 39 Crobat, holding nothing, Acrobatics, Fly,Confuse Ray, Mean Look

Miyamoto, level 40 Samurott, holding Amulet Coin, Encore, Aqua Jet, Surf, Slash


Sometimes it seems like I'm under leveled and other times I'm right on target. I was just wondering.

[sterlingice]

I just breezed through the Ancient Ruins at ~20 and then showed up in Nimbasa with everything 25+. The leveling seems a bit uneven this game.

That said, a bit behind you so I'm no help

SI

[Abe Sargent]

It does, I was very underleveled in one gu and lost and had to run it through again.


Just ran into my rival, and he was at 39, 39 and 41, so I fell okay.

[Julio Riddols]

I am still unsure if this is a highly cooperative parody thread or not.

[Julio Riddols]

Dola: Don't get me wrong, I like me some Pokemon.

[Abe Sargent]

Anyone else frustrated at the lack of development with shops and customers at your Join Avenue?

[sterlingice]

I only saw one person in my Join Avenue. I haven't looked much into what happens there.

I really do think that Pokemon is running perilously close to where if they don't have any substantial upgrades in the next iteration or two, the popularity falls off the cliff in the US.

They are extremely well polished games and do a great job of introducing new features but when was the last time they did something that you felt was more than incremental? Online trading and battles in Diamond/Pearl? Where are the Pokemon: Stadium style 3D battles? I think there's going to be some sort of "online" convergence where Pokemon looks more and more like Animal Crossing and the Join Avenue and Dream stuff from the last game are more and more like that but they still feel like something silly you do for like an hour and never care about again. Like ribbon contests or that part where you could mine for stuff in D/P or the Pokemon Studios stuff this time out.

At least last time they tried to beef up the plot. But this time they took a step back by making a direct sequel. And, from what I've seen you basically have a simple world domination plot with Cobra Commander and Destro-- er... Ghetsis and Colress.

SI

[Chubby]

I think you see full 3D next gen, with the podedexs it's clear that seems to be where they are going

[sterlingice]

I think that's what they really wanted with the bridges (oh, how they loved their bridges in B/W) and Castelia. They do a good job of trial rolling a lot of stuff out in each new iteration: it's amazing all the new stuff they try. But they never go anywhere with so much of it.

SI

[Julio Riddols]

I think some things I would like to see are:

1. Something in the vein of pokemon cohesion and affinities. The longer a pokemon is in your party continuously, the better they perform. Also, maybe some pokemon are natural predators and prey to each other and may not get along without certain precautions being taken.

2. Ways to fight other than battling where you can choose how you want to battle specific opponents. (maybe something similar to the contests they had a few iterations back, among other things like an obstacle course or some other kind of athletic event)

3. Maybe make it possible for some Pokemon to get jobs that help them increase certain stats while they're not in your party?

4. MMORPG

5. Randomize the starting pokemon and the order of the gyms

6. Another faction or two that allow the player to make choices that matter with regards to the end game. A branching story line.

Edit - 7. Mixed Pokemon breeding capabilities.

That's all I can think of for now.. It's been a while since I have played, mostly due to the repetition of it all.. I wish I was a game developer.

[Abe Sargent]

Similar to you, if I had my own Pokemon:


1) I would add the Sonic type, some existing moves and pokies would get it (Jiggypuff, Exploud, Whismur, Kricketune, etc). Moves such as Roar, Belly Drum, Sing, and such would move over. Sound or Sonic is strong vs Rock and Ice (Shatters them like glass) and psychic (nothing physical to stop the attack with psychic levitation), weak to ghost (not fully physcial to experience weakness), dragon and steel (too strong to break).

2). I would add triple type pokemon, and some would be given a third type. Some pokemon are clearly concepted as having three typos, but can;t Charizard should be a fire, flying dragon, and so forth. An attack that is weak to one type has normal weakness. The same math applies as now to two type,s but if an attack is strong or weak to all three types, then it's eight times as effective or no effective. Also, if an attack is against a poke with two weakness and one strength, it's like its two weaknesses.


3). Make the game bigger than a normal handheld and place it on a console, adding elements to make it more of a traditional RPG ,with a more open ended world and such.

[Abe Sargent]

Just beat the Elite Four and the Champion -easist run I ever had. I chose to stick with my 6 and not slide ot any legendaries and I never needed a revive, or any major heal items like full restore or ether or any X items. I blew threw everyone very quickly, despite being about hte same level with my guys. Post victory, here is my team


Miyamoto, level 59 Samurott, holding Splash Plate and with Surf, Waterfall, Slash, Encore

Batastic, level 57 Crobat, holding nothing (used Flying Gem for final boss and slew it's dragon in two turns), with Acrobatics, Fly, Confuse Ray and Mean Look


Diremoth, level 57 Volcarona, holding Shell Bell, with Flamethrower, Silver Wind, Signal Beam, and Whirlwind


Psydog, level 55 Espeon, holding Twistedspoon, with Psychic, Bite, Morning Sun, and Sand-Attack


Cyclopiron, level 57 Magnezone, holding Shell Bell, with Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, Flash Cannon, and Electro Ball


Auratic, level 56 Lucario, holding Leftovers, with Aura Sphere, Strength, Swords Dance, and Heal Pulse

[sterlingice]

1) I would add the Sonic type, some existing moves and pokies would get it (Jiggypuff, Exploud, Whismur, Kricketune, etc). Moves such as Roar, Belly Drum, Sing, and such would move over. Sound or Sonic is strong vs Rock and Ice (Shatters them like glass) and psychic (nothing physical to stop the attack with psychic levitation), weak to ghost (not fully physcial to experience weakness), dragon and steel (too strong to break).

2). I would add triple type pokemon, and some would be given a third type. Some pokemon are clearly concepted as having three typos, but can;t Charizard should be a fire, flying dragon, and so forth. An attack that is weak to one type has normal weakness. The same math applies as now to two type,s but if an attack is strong or weak to all three types, then it's eight times as effective or no effective. Also, if an attack is against a poke with two weakness and one strength, it's like its two weaknesses.


3). Make the game bigger than a normal handheld and place it on a console, adding elements to make it more of a traditional RPG ,with a more open ended world and such.

Like the idea of a sonic type but aren't Dragon and Steel already too beefy? How about giving some help to some of the other underutilized types: poison and bug maybe?

Also, like the triple type possibilities: x2, x4, x8. Just stack like any type. That said, I'm guessing with 3 types, you'd have to be really careful with balance or you could create some nearly invincible Pokemon. That said, you've really opened up the number that could exist (and never will exist). There would almost need to be a bonus to mono-typing, tho. What the hell good is a normal type in this scenario?

Or do a lot of evolution based typing: Charmander starts out as fire, then gains Fire/Dragon at Charmeleon, then Fire/Dragon/Flying at Charizard. Something where you really give some benefit to evolving Pokemon. They've made a concerted effort to go back and make more 3 evolutions out of things like Magmar that really seemed to be single initially. I mean, I liked the concept in RBY of "single evolutions are stronger at first but surpassed by double and triple evolutions". So there was a real decision to be made between Magmar and Ponyta.

As to a full version: Pokemon Colosseum (and XD) was kindof like that. I enjoyed Colosseum, frankly, and thought it got a bad rap for being on Gamecube. It was a legit, fully formed jRPG. That said, I like having it handheld and I think the 3DS has enough power to host it.

SI

[sterlingice]

I think some things I would like to see are:

1. Something in the vein of pokemon cohesion and affinities. The longer a pokemon is in your party continuously, the better they perform. Also, maybe some pokemon are natural predators and prey to each other and may not get along without certain precautions being taken.

I like the idea, in theory. I'd really be curious about what kind of mechanics this would have, tho. There's the whole single vs multi player balancing to keep in mind, too. Pokemon is ridiculously balanced and upsetting that balance will need some careful thought.

2. Ways to fight other than battling where you can choose how you want to battle specific opponents. (maybe something similar to the contests they had a few iterations back, among other things like an obstacle course or some other kind of athletic event)
Or just avoiding battles altogether. Or allowing you to challenge the same person multiple times to power level, etc. Would you give XP for other battles?

3. Maybe make it possible for some Pokemon to get jobs that help them increase certain stats while they're not in your party?
Like a souped up breeding area? Maybe if you have a particular hold item at the Pokemon breeder, it will add a particular stat. I don't want this too strong or else you really neuter the IV/EV folks and game clocks can be so easily manipulated.

4. MMORPG
They've been so careful to not make it an MMORPG so far and only gradually introduce elements. They've had the technology for a while now and you want to instantly dump 10M people on a Nintendo online service, this would be the way. However, how exactly would you do this? What would it look like? Would there truly only be one person in the game who gets some fancy legendary? That hacking is pretty much part of the game now so do you lock it down so you can't play online or do you let people get away with whatever Pokemon they want and don't care what hits the server?

And, more importantly to Nintendo, what would be your next iteration after the MMORPG? This is a series that has now been going for 15 years and is like printing money for them. They make a Pokemon MMORPG, how do they keep that going? You'll be competing against your previous giant product. So, either you force people to pony up like $150 up front for the MMORPG, only give them a limited set of the game open up from the start, or you do monthly subscriptions. Is Pokemon ready for that kindof of business model shift? How's that working out for Final Fantasy?

5. Randomize the starting pokemon and the order of the gyms
Not really a fan. I like there to be a gauntlet that you have to go through that has a particular order to it and requires you to be good at all types of elements to get through the game. Tho, I will admit they need to lay off starter types for the first couple of gyms. How fair is it for the guy choosing Charmander to face Misty so early in RBY versus a player who picked Bulbasaur.

However, I do think if you make a giant Pokemon opus MMORPG, you could do something like this: you get to pick which region you start in (Johto, Kanto, etc) and can choose from those starters.

6. Another faction or two that allow the player to make choices that matter with regards to the end game. A branching story line.
Also do not want. Pokemon plots are not all that complex- it's definitely a weak point. I really don't think they could handle going aRPG. I get bored enough with most American RPGs where there is too much offshoot random plots and fetch quests and crap. They can't hold together a plot with what they do now and you want to dilute that further?

Edit - 7. Mixed Pokemon breeding capabilities.

That's all I can think of for now.. It's been a while since I have played, mostly due to the repetition of it all.. I wish I was a game developer.

Not sure what you mean by that one.

SI

[terpkristin]

I am so far behind. It's embarrassing, given that you all have full time jobs and are so far along. And I'm not. I think my problem is that I haven't decided what team I'm using, even though I'm through the third gym. So I keep switching it up...

/tk

[Chubby]

hey i only have 2 badges :D having fun with dream radar and leveling, usually i power through the main story so it's a nice change of pace

[sterlingice]

Beat E4 at ~55-58 a couple of nights ago:

Emboar: Willowisp, Flamethrower, Hammer Arm, strength
Event Keldeo: Surf, Sacred Sword, False Swipe, Swords Dance
Event Genesect: Techno Blast, Bug Buzz, Magnet Bomb, Ice Beam
Traded Metagross: Meteor Mash, Zen Headbutt, Hammer Arm, ???
Traded Zweilous (not Hydreigon yet): Dragon Pulse, Crunch, Body Slam, Lightning Wave
(And a Golurk that I had just picked up and used for the sole purpose of one turn getting beaten down so I could use some status recovering item on one of my actual Pokemon. Such a cool Pokemon typing but such awful stats. Typically, my 6th spot is an HM whore and this game is no different with a Drifblim with Cut, Fly, and Flash)

It was a stat impressive group, making up for crappy typing. Two fighting type Pokemon were way too much and I didn't really have anything that dealt with flying (which hit my fighters hard), hence the ice beam on Genesect. I also didn't have anything to deal with the common types of water or grass

Trying to decide how I feel about there being stuff after the "main" game as there are still some major plot elements to wrap up but it always felt like beating the champ was the most important thing. It's got me playing after the E4, which is the first game since Silver (or trying to complete my Pokedex in Pearl) that I did that.

Also, I've noticed that my Join Avenue has started to grow. I've been using GTS to fill in some Pokedex holes (i.e. basically will put one trade up per night that's reasonable) and I've probably made about 30 trades. I went to Join Avenue and saw those people there and so I started developing it. I now have one of every shop but the highest shop level I have is 2 and my avenue is 3. There are some interesting shops there, tho.

That said, with this new announcement, we'll see how much steam I have to finish up over the next month or so as I don't want to be burned out come October:
Pokemon X and Y Coming in October - IGN (http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/08/pokemon-x-and-y-coming-in-october)

I'll post some more thoughts in the DS/3DS thread

SI

[Izulde]

I still need to pick up one of these.

[Draft Dodger]

reading this reminds me of listing to my kids talk about Pokemon - I have absolutely no clue and just sort of nod my head. I know know what it was like when I talked to my parents about Star Wars or D&D.