Zero Punctuation: Pokemon White

[Magnalian]

You got your game strategy thrown off by EMOLGA enough to complain about it? Pokemon wasn't EASY enough for you that a Gym Leader you COULDN'T sweep with one move is a negative point against it?

The bane of Yahtzee's existence.​

Besides, "catching them all" is no longer viable...or even the point, really. It's all about competitive play, with the advent of wi-fi in D/P/P.

And the game has changed a lot. The basic 8 gyms, 4 moves per pokemon, Rock/Paper/Scissors combat system hasn't. But the other mechanics have.

From the infinite TM use of B/W, to the infinite item bag after R/B/Y's STUPID limit, to the addition of Abilites in Gen 3, The Special split in Gen 2, the Special/Physical MOVE split in Gen 4, and even the removal/addition of new HMs for world exploration, to the key item mapping for easy Bike use.

To be fair, he's only played Pokémon Yellow, and Emolga is a massive douchebag.

 

[randommaster]

You really should have picked up Pokemon Black, Yahtzee. It focuses on story rather than collecting a bunch of critters. At one point you have to choose whether to choose between your friend and your journey, with a branching story for each path. It's pretty much two entirely different games and it puts the Bioware writing staff to shame.

I'm sorry you had to get the wrong version to get back into what has become a great series.

Are you joking? Or are you just that thick? Or maybe you are just 6 years old and can't keep up with good writing just yet. Because I think you just compared Bioware to Pokemon. Excuse me I gotta go clean this blood pouring from my nose just from saying that.

Man, I seem to have picked the wrong day to make a joke. I was just having some fun with Yahtzee saying that the version he didn't play was probably the exact same game. I think you're the fifth person to get angry at be for this comment.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

Heh, figures he wouldn't even comment on the competitive scene of pokemon.

I suppose his patience would die halfway through just reading about what you're supposed to do to get a competitive team.

Funny vid all the same though. It's just sad that he really doesn't get what pokemon is supposed to be for people who are not 10 or younger.

Are you surprised? Yahtzee's one of the most outspoken critics of leaning on multiplayer ever. The single player game is pretty basic, so commenting on it is fair game for reviewers.

It should still have a lot of challenging stuff though.


I haven't gotten into B/W yet but both D/P and the G/S remakes had a ton of single player challenges for which you needed an EV-trained competitive team. Those were the battle arenas which you got after you beat the game. B/W should have something along those lines too, if not even deeper.

 

[randommaster]

You got your game strategy thrown off by EMOLGA enough to complain about it? Pokemon wasn't EASY enough for you that a Gym Leader you COULDN'T sweep with one move is a negative point against it?

Yup.
Yahtzee contradicts himself here; whining about how there's only one strategy and then turning about and whining that his preconception didn't work 100% of the time. That's award-winning comedy right there.

I think it's more the fact that the hints are so heavy-handed. The game seems like it's holding your hand, on par for many games, then it throws a curve ball. It probably wouldn't have been so bad without all the obvious hints.

 

[Cenryk]

Heres the question he missed, what do the people in that world eat since every animal and most of the damn plants are pokemon?

I think a miltank would be quite tasty. Pikachu would probably be kind of stringy. They will probably resort to "iceberg lebtuce" soon.

I'm not gonna lie, there's one of the new ones that looks like ice cream. http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/582.shtml

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

That shows how far I've got into the game and I've had it since release. The inane "fuckwittery" of everyone in that game makes me want to scream at the screen every time I play. Everyone in that world is a high functioning zombie, they have nothing of value to say and often resort to the most absurd worthless rambling about their favourite cloud formation.

It's also ridiculously easy in so far and hasn't shown any signs of significant growth since the first generations. I dispute strongly anyone that says what they have changed is core mechanical changes; what they've added and altered are surface features, the algae on the pond, i.e., inventory screens, TM reuse, abilities. It's all trinkets stapled to the carcass of red / blue.

I'm sure I'll finish it at some point, if anything that occurs in the next 20 hours of gameplay is revolutionary and changes the way I play Pokemon forever, I'll eat my words.

 

[samaugsch]

Heres the question he missed, what do the people in that world eat since every animal and most of the damn plants are pokemon?

I think a miltank would be quite tasty. Pikachu would probably be kind of stringy. They will probably resort to "iceberg lebtuce" soon.

I'm not gonna lie, there's one of the new ones that looks like ice cream. http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/582.shtml

Quoted the wrong post. >_>

 

[Cenryk]

Heh, figures he wouldn't even comment on the competitive scene of pokemon.

I suppose his patience would die halfway through just reading about what you're supposed to do to get a competitive team.

Funny vid all the same though. It's just sad that he really doesn't get what pokemon is supposed to be for people who are not 10 or younger.

Are you surprised? Yahtzee's one of the most outspoken critics of leaning on multiplayer ever. The single player game is pretty basic, so commenting on it is fair game for reviewers.

It should still have a lot of challenging stuff though.


I haven't gotten into B/W yet but both D/P and the G/S remakes had a ton of single player challenges for which you needed an EV-trained competitive team. Those were the battle arenas which you got after you beat the game. B/W should have something along those lines too, if not even deeper.

Yea, they got the battle subway thing. It's basically the same as the B Frontier/Tower/whatever and it even throws in the triple and rotation battles, which are crazy different. And as for infinite TM's, it's good cuz there are some TM's that you can spam (Volt Switch, which is like U-Turn but it's Electric type, so you can switch between any 2 electric types that you taught the move) and others that gain power if more than one pokemon used it in a turn (Round).

 

[samaugsch]

Heres the question he missed, what do the people in that world eat since every animal and most of the damn plants are pokemon?

I think a miltank would be quite tasty. Pikachu would probably be kind of stringy. They will probably resort to "iceberg lebtuce" soon.

Idk about Pikachu, but I'll bet a Piloswine wouldn't taste too bad. Or a Kingler.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

That shows how far I've got into the game and I've had it since release. The inane "fuckwittery" of everyone in that game makes me want to scream at the screen every time I play. Everyone in that world is a high functioning zombie, they have nothing of value to say and often resort to the most absurd worthless rambling about their favourite cloud formation.

It's also ridiculously easy in so far and hasn't shown any signs of significant growth since the first generations. I dispute strongly anyone that says what they have changed is core mechanical changes; what they've added and altered are surface features, the algae on the pond, i.e., inventory screens, TM reuse, abilities. It's all trinkets stapled to the carcass of red / blue.

I'm sure I'll finish it at some point, if anything that occurs in the next 20 hours of gameplay is revolutionary and changes the way I play Pokemon forever, I'll eat my words.

To notice the changes you need to have been as serious as you can get from the beginning. That's the only way to begin comprehending just how huge the shift from same-type physical or special moves into a system of specific moves being physical or special regardless of what type they were.


That single shift changed the viability of pretty much every pokemon that was created up to that point.

 

[Poomanchu745]

There are three types of people who watched this video:

1) The ones who are pissed that Yahtzee would actually make fun of something that is so dear to them.
2) The ones who are now rocking back and forth in a corner, denying that anything bad was ever said about their precious pokemon.
3) The ones who don't give a fuck about pokemon.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

There are three types of people who watched this video:

1) The ones who are pissed that Yahtzee would actually make fun of something that is so dear to them.
2) The ones who are now rocking back and forth in a corner, denying that anything bad was ever said about their precious pokemon.
3) The ones who don't give a fuck about pokemon.

And

4) The ones who realize he's a troll and aren't particularly affected by his statements but just enjoy it from a humor-appreciation standpoint.

 

[The Apothecarry]

I lost interest in Pokemon after Gold/Silver/Crystal. Thanks for the update, good sir. 600 Pokemon? Nobody though that was even slightly overboard?

 

[Brawndo]

Great review Yahtzee. I haven't played pokemon since Blue/Red, and it's nice to know I haven't missed anything in 15 years.

I was going to say the exact same thing. I'll still fire up Red for nostalgia purposes every now and then, but then I get sick of it around the 50th time I have to heal my Pokemon and I want to murder the attendant asking me the same thing over and over

 

[Atmos Duality]

I think it's more the fact that the hints are so heavy-handed. The game seems like it's holding your hand, on par for many games, then it throws a curve ball. It probably wouldn't have been so bad without all the obvious hints.

It's a learning experience, that's for sure.
And this still doesn't excuse Mr. Croshaw's blatant self-contradiction.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I lost interest in Pokemon after Gold/Silver/Crystal. Thanks for the update, good sir. 600 Pokemon? Nobody though that was even slightly overboard?

100some a gen, this is the 5th. Not that crazy lol.

 

[ace_of_something]

I gotta tell ya my nieces and nephews have made me hate pokemon with a passion. When they would list everything they know about 150+ 300+ pokemons it was Sooooo annoying.
Don't get me wrong I love my nieces and nephews but christ and a half.... it's so boring...

 

[James Raynor]

This seems to be a review of pokemon in general rather than a review of black and white, seems like he didn't get past the third gym before he decided he was far enough.

 

[jak1165]

This basically confirms what I long suspected about Yahtzee

He's really bad at video games.

 

[ran88dom99]

"theres really only one strategy. use what enemy is weak to. I build core group of 7-8 lads representing most of the elements and there was little that could touch me" Is this true? Or level just one almost always as a poster said?