The Official B&W/5th gen Discussion Thread - GAMES OUT EVERYWHERE

[Cornwad]

I got a Tangela too, so there must be a certain set of pokemon in each area or something. Nice art style though.

[Macawmoses]

Also, blu, I only train three Pokemon usually. Starter, bird (for transport mainly), and a sweeper of sorts.

[JrDude]

I try to do what the game wants and actually fill up my party for party purposes.

[bluaki]

A few more random details from me:

1. Landlos, the Ground/Flying legend, is handled similarly to Rayquaza in HG/SS. The other two Pokemon in its trio are version exclusive (and they're the only roamers in B/W) and you must have both of them in your party at once to catch Landlos in either version, so you have to borrow the other from a friend.

2. I now fully understand the changes in the trade system:
---You can trade directly from your PC easily. The trade screen shows you your party alongside all PC boxes.
---In this trade screen, you can select up to three Pokemon. This isn't a triple trade, however...
---After you and your partner are done selecting 1-3 Pokemon, you're each allowed to choose one from the other person. One more request of approval is done after this.
---Trade sequence is as slow as always. Maybe a couple seconds faster than D/P's, but not significantly.
---If you want to trade normally, only select one Pokemon instead of 3 to avoid confusion and save time.
---Serebii just updated today mentioning a "GTS Negotiation" feature, which apparently uses the same trade system but connects you to a random person without FCs.

3. Some TMs are expensive battle subway rewards, many of which are new moves. Most other TMs are very easy to obtain at some point during the game.
---Knock Down, a weak rock attack that has Gravity effect on foe.
---Sludge Wave, a poison-type Surf (95 power) with 10% chance of poisoning.
---Sing A Round, some Normal move with an effect I don't really understand
---Side Change, a move that makes the user switch places in the field with one of its allies in a double or triple battle.
---Incinerate, a very weak fire attack that destroys the foe's held berry, if they have one
---Postpone, a move that makes the selected foe move last
---Explosion
---Psych Up
---Swagger
---Pluck

4. Overworld speed in general seems so much faster than previous DS games. I tried going back and playing SS for a bit to prepare for a transfer and it just felt weird moving around so slow. Walking is a bit faster, running is much faster, and biking is much faster. Biking is so fast that it's hard to move only one tile to fit in a 1-width door without dismounting.

5. If you're biking back and forth outside the daycare in Route 3, the Daycare Man will call for your attention when he sees you passing by his house if he has an egg. Most convenient egg notification system yet.

6. Hitmontop has the worst animation ever. It doesn't spin. It just... swings back and forth, pivoting around its head point thing.

7. All old evolution stones, except Shiny and Oval, are used for Gen 5 Pokemon. The monkeys evolve with Leaf, Fire, and Water stones, Shibibiru uses Thunderstone for its final evolution, Munna uses Moon Stone, Churine and Monmen use Sun Stone, Chillarmy uses Shiny Stone, and Lampla uses Dusk Stone. Though Gen3 used Leaf/Water/Moon, the others have yet to be used since their introduction until now. Friendship evolutions include Koromori and Murumayu. Trade evolutions include Dotekkotsu, Gantoru, and the two bugs that must be traded for each other. All other evolution methods are level.

8. Japan's next Wi-Fi event is Komashun, the ice bear which is otherwise only available in Winter. The next Winter month is December, so otherwise Japan would have to wait a while to get one without cheating the system. Regarding the American launch, however, we typically get games in March or April, with April being a Winter month. So we're not likely to ever get this event.

[Neerb]

Why is April a Winter month?

[bluaki]

Why is April a Winter month?

Seasons change every month. I assume this is for the player's convenience, so you don't have to wait nearly as long to use another season's features.
Spring: January, May, September
Summer: February, June, October
Autumn: March, July, November
Winter: April, August, December

[Neerb]

Ah, I see; that makes it much more convenient. Odd, though, that they have real time months and years, real time days and nights, and real time... time, but they have this fast-forwarded seasonal change. More intense climate changes in the Pokemon world, I suppose.

[Rayquarian]

Ah, I see; that makes it much more convenient. Odd, though, that they have real time months and years, real time days and nights, and real time... time, but they have this fast-forwarded seasonal change. More intense climate changes in the Pokemon world, I suppose.

That, and if you bought the game in March, you'd have to wait nine months for winter-exclusive events to occur.  It's not Animal Crossing, so that wouldn't make much sense.

[Kayo]

Because I totally want to think about winter in August >_>

But whatever. Yeah, I noticed that when you turn on the game you get a 1 second little scene of a black background with the kanji name of a season with the english name underneath it. Hard to explain, but I want this to continue in the english version. With the kanji, i mean. Doubt it will though.

Egg system sounds. Awesome. Because in HGSS the DC man waits a few minutes after finding an egg before calling you. and biking south to see which way he's facing is annoying. I just hated the daycare location in general. There really wasn't a lot of place to run around around Goldenrod, always crashing into people or grass. My favorite is still Hoenn daycare. But whatever.

Does trading allow you to snoop into your partner's PC? o_O

Also the seasons IMO are one month too early. January should be winter, April spring, July summer, and October fall. Instead, it's positioned the worst way possible. You only get a week of ingame winter during the actual winter season, and the same is true for the rest of the seasons. Anyone else think that?

Stones yay. I have a poopload of Thunderstones and Fire stones from the underground on DPPt, and i could only use them for two-three pokemon each. Like I really need 43 Raichus and Jolteons. >_>

I could have sworn SOMETHING evolved with a shiny stone. I think Doubleran evolves into Ranculus with it. Nevermind, that's level 41.

Another thing. Level-based evolutions. WAY too late. I remember when there was that dozen or so pokemon that evolved after level 40. Off the top of my head:
Rhyhorn -> Rhydon, 42
Dragonair -> Dragonite, 55
Pupitar -> Tyranitar, 55
Lairon -> Aggron, 42
Vibrava -> Flygon, 45
Snorunt -> Glalie, 42
Sealeo -> Walrein, 44
Shelgon -> Salamence, 50
Metang -> Metagross, 45
Gabite -> Garchomp, 48

Now we have pretty much EVERYTHING evolving late. Many of the basic forms stay that way past level 40. Then we have Meralba who stays a little larva until level 59, and Monozu, who evolves at 50.... then has to evolve AGAIN, 14 levels later. Little unbalanced, don't you think? they should be more spread out, like 35 -> 64.

Meh.

[bluaki]

Kianglo, can you change the thread's title? We don't still need "Clarification on the new pokemon"

On a random note, I see occasional small lag when playing the cartridge on my DS Phat. I'm not sure if it runs smoother on DSi, but being a DSi-enhanced game, it wouldn't surprise me. One small walkway in Raimon City shows this a bit. The lag isn't bad and is barely noticeable.

But whatever. Yeah, I noticed that when you turn on the game you get a 1 second little scene of a black background with the kanji name of a season with the english name underneath it. Hard to explain, but I want this to continue in the english version. With the kanji, i mean. Doubt it will though.

Japanese symbols? In my English Pokemon? Never. Plenty of other localization teams might not mind leaving in a Japanese symbol for decoration, but Pokemon Company is not one of those.
When I had the Spring->Summer change, I saved in a building. Loading my save file, it said Spring, then after exiting the building, I saw that thing for Summer.

I just hated the daycare location in general. There really wasn't a lot of place to run around around Goldenrod, always crashing into people or grass. My favorite is still Hoenn daycare. But whatever.

The location in Route 3 doesn't have all that much room to bike back and forth (exactly 80 tiles, including small 1-tile stairs; 4~5 seconds by bike), but there's no obstacles or walking people or grass near that path.

Does trading allow you to snoop into your partner's PC? o_O

On the top screen during trades, you can see a couple box preview things of the box your trading partner is looking at as well as the adjacent boxes. But it's only one of those tiny things that has a colored dot for each Pokemon. You can't really snoop much. The only Pokemon you can see details of are the three or fewer your trading partner selects.

Also the seasons IMO are one month too early. January should be winter, April spring, July summer, and October fall. Instead, it's positioned the worst way possible. You only get a week of ingame winter during the actual winter season, and the same is true for the rest of the seasons. Anyone else think that?

I think Japan considers Spring to be the beginning of a new year or something like that. I've noticed at least Harvest Moon always starts in Spring. The school year and things like the Persona games seem to as well.

Stones yay. I have a poopload of Thunderstones and Fire stones from the underground on DPPt, and i could only use them for two-three pokemon each. Like I really need 43 Raichus and Jolteons. >_>

Oh, but you can't transfer items to B/W from 4th gen games. The transfer mechanism requires that you remove any HM moves and hold items.

Another thing. Level-based evolutions. WAY too late. I remember when there was that dozen or so pokemon that evolved after level 40.
Now we have pretty much EVERYTHING evolving late. Many of the basic forms stay that way past level 40. Then we have Meralba who stays a little larva until level 59, and Monozu, who evolves at 50.... then has to evolve AGAIN, 14 levels later. Little unbalanced, don't you think? they should be more spread out, like 35 -> 64.

Yeah, it's taking me a rather long time to grind these pokemon to evolve. In previous games, getting all starters to ~lv36 took longer than most other evolutions, but in B/W, those were some of the fastest evolving Pokemon. The places to train your Pokemon against post-E4 are higher level than previous games so at least it's faster from that.
The most recent Pokemon I trained for evolution are... Vaniricchi (lv35), Vaibanira (lv47), Denchura (lv36), Nattorei (lv40), Gigear (lv38), Gigigear (lv49), Shibibiiru (lv40), Lampla (lv41), and Wargle (lv54)

[Kayo]

When I had the Spring->Summer change, I saved in a building. Loading my save file, it said Spring, then after exiting the building, I saw that thing for Summer.

On October 1, it was still spring. Then after I
[spoiler]beat the Plasma Grunt at the end of Yagaruma Forest, right when everyone stopped talking it cut to the black screen and said "summer"[/spoiler]

Oh, but you can't transfer items to B/W from 4th gen games. The transfer mechanism requires that you remove any HM moves and hold items.

Yeah I know. Not gonna be able to do anything with my Thunderstones now. Wait... this means I'm gonna have to SOMEHOW find more Lucky Eggs >_>

Yeah, it's taking me a rather long time to grind these pokemon to evolve. In previous games, getting all starters to ~lv36 took longer than most other evolutions, but in B/W, those were some of the fastest evolving Pokemon. The places to train your Pokemon against post-E4 are higher level than previous games so at least it's faster from that.
The most recent Pokemon I trained for evolution are... Vaniricchi (lv35), Vaibanira (lv47), Denchura (lv36), Nattorei (lv40), Gigear (lv38), Gigigear (lv49), Shibibiiru (lv40), Lampla (lv41), and Wargle (lv54)

You shouldn't have a small pokemon like Washibon at level 50 while Salamence is already Salamence at that level. That's messed up.

[Cornwad]

The pokemon in this game are way more powerful than the old ones on average, so the higher levels make sense to me.

[Neerb]

The pokemon in this game are way more powerful than the old ones on average, so the higher levels make sense to me.

I hate that. I mean, is it just me, or is each consecutive gen getting over all more overpowered than the last? I especially noticed it in 4th gen with all the new evos and Garchomp and the starters and Lucario and everything, but now it seems to be getting even worse.

[Kayo]

Well, look at the first generation. Obviously competitive battling did NOT come to mind when GameFreak made the first 150. I mean, some pokemon were perfectly placed as far as stats and stuff (Mewtwo, Gyarados, Alakazam, etc) but those were just down to dumb luck. Look at Exeggutor. Cool typing? Sure, until you see the weaknesses. Seven of them. Second generation's pretty much the same. The non-evolving Pokemon in the first few gens were almost all weak (Dunsparce, Gligar, Lickitung, Tangela, etc) and most needed the evolutions they were given. And then, stats don't agree with types/moves. Entei's attack stat is huge. Too bad it's got no decent physical attacks. It needed a better special attack to use moves like Fire Blast and Crunch (pre-gen4) well, but too bad.

In gen 3 they introduced a pokemon with no weaknesses, Sableye. Stats are still low, but now it seems as if GameFreak actually got the hint that competitive battling existed. But then we have novelties like Volbeat, Illumise, Chimecho, etc.

Gen 4 came along. GameFreak FINALLY understands now that they were making a bunch of mistakes in the past. many new pokemon came with new unique type combinations (Hi Lucario) or good stat placements (hi Garchomp). The old pokemon what were previously inferior (Let's look back at Tangela) got evolutions. (Okay, Tangrowth isn't perfect. But it's only because it's outclassed by better grass pokemon. Nothing's wrong with its monster HP, Defense, and dual offensive stats. Ignore the low S.Def and speed.)

Gen 5. Hey look, let's get creative. We could give an Electric pokemon Levitate and it would have no weaknesses. BAM Shibildon.
Let's stop making ferocious looking pokemon that have less power than you'd think. Remember the fierce looking Nidoking? Good luck pulling its attack stat too far over 300. Let's make a prehistoric bird. We'll call it Archeos. We'll give it a legendary Attack and a great Special Attack, followed by amazing speed.
Let's do abilities next. Let's make one that gives you more HP just by switching out. Or one that hmm, makes you go first if you use a disruptive move like Will-O-Wisp or Toxic. Sweepers are caught off guard by Iron Defense making the super-slow pokemon up its defense in the face of an attack that would kill it without the boost.
Or this one. You knock something out, your attack rises. This keeps going with every kill.
Let's make the ever-popular Sandstorm raise the power of some Pokemon's Ground and rock moves.

Whatever, my i'msotired rant.

[Kayo]

I just fixed the first post in the messiest way possible and reduced it to a rectangle.