Zero Punctuation: Pokemon White

[pepitko]

I played Pokemon red or blue on a emulator on the PC like 10-15 years ago? Damn, that makes be feel rather old. Anyway, god to know I haven't missed much. IMO, Pokemon is all about leveling, it's the same story with almost any RPG. Grind, level up, beat a boss, repeat. That can get quite addictive after some time.

 

[Caliostro]

So chess or any card game in general is something nobody can be serious about?


Gotta inform all those people who actually are serious about those things, quick, run!

In chess both players have 16 pieces, and a 64 square board, with very specific movement constraints for each piece.

In card games, the ones taken seriously that I can remember at least, the players hands aren't showing.

Pokemon is like a chess match with 2 lanes and 1 queen each, or a poker game where everyone's hands are showing. It's not "strategy", it's memorizing a spread sheet.

 

[hoockhand]

This review was unexpected

 

[Nostalgia]

Pokemon Black/White felt like a step backwards from HG/SS , can't have your Pokemon follow you, you have to hold 'B' to run, and they replaced the convenient touch screen menu with the 'C-Gear', which, I still have no idea what Im supposed to do with it.

Oh no! Pokemon can't follow you? Whatever will you do! Have to hold B to run? You poor soul.

Seriously though. I always see people cite these reasons. I just kind of chalked it up on those quality of life changes that didn't make too much of a difference.

I found my Pokemon ALWAYS following me to be annoying. Why the hell is my Nidoking out all the time anyway? How does this bastard fit through doors? Does he need to come back out right after I dismount my bike, even if I was just going to get on it again after coming out of this building? It's cute, but that's it. I wish there was an option to turn it off, but hey, it didn't really affect anything.
Also, having grown up on an SNES and particularly games like DKC which required me to hold Y to run, it's so second nature at this point that I felt so weird about not doing it in HGSS (ended up holding B regardless a lot of the time ._.), especially since every Pokemon game before then required you to hold the button if you want to run. Step backwards? Maybe. Detrimental? No.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/C-Gear

 

[garjian]

this is a poor review :/

he claims he was overpowered because he used an super-effective based strategy, then complains that certain fights are too hard.
and assumes the only aim is collection, because again, he hasnt fully explored the ins and outs of combat.
'this zebstrika sucks!' 'why does anyone play this game?' 'i lost to a guy with green hair, this game is for mad people!'
riiiiiight...

 

[Queen Michael]

"I like to pokemon on a sunday afternoon"? Is that some sort of reference? I don't get it.

 

[oneshotfinchy]

Disliked the review.

He made sweeping statements about the fanbase (again). He said that the game has only one strategy and was too easy then complains when hard fights and well typed pokemon show up. I'll agree that random encounters are lame but he could have just bought around 30 repels at the start of the game. Oh well, at least he didn't say it was for kids.

His assessment of the story was... odd. I'm not going to say that the story was any good, far from it, but to say that Team Plasma is the same as Team Rocket or that nobody questions the whole 15 year olds going out into the wilderness is well, wrong. Team Plasma have the whole PETA ideals going on and that token female character had a father who reacted like any normal father would when he daughter asks him if she can travel the country by herself. I'm not saying any of this is very well done but it feels like Yahtzee just overlooked these completely.

Can't wait until the Extra Punctuation where he'll completely bash the metagame because it hurts a lot of his points.

 

[NietzscheKat]

I just think it's awesome that Yahtzee showed a D20 in this review.

 

[Nostalgia]

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.... scuse me I gotta go clean this blood pouring from my nose just from saying that...

I think you're the thick one here.
I mean, this isn't even pure sarcasm. It's playing right off the video. Did you even watch it? Some humor is lost on some.

 

[DuskTMoon]

Honestly, I enjoyed the game. I was loathing the approach of a fifth generation of Pokemon but honestly, especially for someone who followed the series, I find Black and White an improvement on at least the last two generations. Now, I understand that being an improvement from previous sequels does not make a game, but honestly, minor nuisances aside, Pokemon White is fairly interesting. It has a better plot, better visuals, shit tons of good music and makes it possible to get almost every single Pokemon without needing ANY of the other generations, unlike the older ones, who banked on the idea that new buyers were also old buyers. I also enjoyed the fact that the game content far exceeded the roll of the credits- no, I'm not talking about catching all the Pokemon, but plot devices and various forms of closure are placed for those who dare adventure past the Elite Four. I suppose it depends on the person really. If you can get passed the smaller problems of the game, this is a great way to spend your time and hang with friends that also play....


http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/3/30424/1634419-587emonga_large.png
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!

 

[randommaster]

>.>
.>

C'mon, work those eyeballs! Up! Up! Down! Down! Left! Right! Left! Right!

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.

Wait there's a major difference between the two versions? What is this madness?

Ah, this is a very common mistake. Madness, most often of the unusual events variety, has been used as the description for something which, in actuality, is a prominent city-state in ancient Greece.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

So he definitely didn't dick around with the multiplayer or his comment about lack of any real strategy would not have reared its head. Though I agree for the story mode there is a lot less thought involved to building your party.

 

[Nostalgia]

Disliked the review.

He made sweeping statements about the fanbase (again). He said that the game has only one strategy and was too easy then complains when hard fights and well typed pokemon show up. I'll agree that random encounters are lame but he could have just bought around 30 repels at the start of the game. Oh well, at least he didn't say it was for kids.

His assessment of the story was... odd. I'm not going to say that the story was any good, far from it, but to say that Team Plasma is the same as Team Rocket or that nobody questions the whole 15 year olds going out into the wilderness is well, wrong. Team Plasma have the whole PETA ideals going on and that token female character had a father who reacted like any normal father would when he daughter asks him if she can travel the country by herself. I'm not saying any of this is very well done but it feels like Yahtzee just overlooked these completely.

Can't wait until the Extra Punctuation where he'll completely bash the metagame because it hurts a lot of his points.

Well. I don't think anyone should really take Yahtzee seriously. I actually get kind of exciting when he reviews things I like so I can see what he complains about.
A lot of his complains either come from controller issues or just plain ignorance rather than any genuine reason (and it's usually things we already heard about because they were so bad), and while I laugh about it with my friends about how some of it just comes to how bad he is, we still really enjoy watching his videos.
Honestly, if people are nodding their heads and agreeing with every single thing Yahtzee says about anything, then they probably won't like much of anything. We all like to exaggerate the things that are bad in games, even the ones we might like, and humor them. I take Yahtzee the same way.

People who shrug off Pokemon now after not playing it for years most likely grew out of it long ago and don't really care how much it changed anyway. Formula is admittedly the same, but it's gotten really complex. With the appreciation of multiplayer these days, it's funny how Pokemon never received the same attitude others games get from it.

 

[DarkRyter]

He finally reviews Pokemon and surprise, surprise, he doesn't like it.

I actually thought he'd hate it more, what with it embodying so many things he doesn't like, ie overfranchising, lack of innovation, turn based strategy, etc.

 

[jak1165]

So chess or any card game in general is something nobody can be serious about?


Gotta inform all those people who actually are serious about those things, quick, run!

In chess both players have 16 pieces, and a 64 square board, with very specific movement constraints for each piece.

In card games, the ones taken seriously that I can remember at least, the players hands aren't showing.

Pokemon is like a chess match with 2 lanes and 1 queen each, or a poker game where everyone's hands are showing. It's not "strategy", it's memorizing a spread sheet.

Quick, how many 6-pokemon teams can you make from 649 pokemon?

Even if we limit to the competitively useful pokemon, that leaves you with about 100. Now each one of those Pokemon learns between 25-50 moves, if we factor in TMs and Breeding. Each of these pokemon could be holding 1 of probably a dozen items using 1 of up to 3 abilities, and can possess one of like 20 or so natures that can potentially affect the outcome of a battle. For example, a pokemon that's speed natured could potentially strike before and kill a pokemon it would not be able to otherwise.

Now your task is to create a team of 6 pokemon that is capable of deal with approximately any of 100 other Pokemon, each of whom could potentially have any various combination of moves, natures, held items etc....

And you've got that all figured out on a spreadsheet? Haha....I bet.

I understand that Pokemon might be too complex for some people. But don't knock just because you can't handle the intricacies and nuances POKEMON of all things. No strategy? LOL

 

[Lucie]

I want to know why some people think Pokemon is a super-complex game. Raising Pokemon is complex, but when it comes to battles between similarly-raised Pokemon it's just crossing fingers and hoping the other guy doesn't send out scissors when paper is in play.

Or hope he doesn't send in a level 1 Rattata.
Tip: turn your volume down

 

[randommaster]

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.

I don't have too big a problem with it, but that's just me. Maybe he should have used "simple" instead of easy. After all, the First Order Optimal Strategy (thank you, Extra Credits) is all you really need for the single player, so when it suddenly changes, it can come out of nowhere.

 

[Doomcat]

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.​

Actually i had a LOT of trouble with these frigging things, my team was: Grass (starter) Fighting, Ground/dark, Flying, Electric, and Fire/Psychic. Basically the only two who even had a chance at killing it were the last 2, and the first of those was MAJORLY underleveled (i was waiting for something better to come up)

Basically, two emolgas was a gigantic "FUCK YOU" to me. one was bad enough...i had to actually go and retrain almost an entire new team for this gym

Back to Yahtzees thing: The only reason i got Pokemon black at all, was the fact that there is random battleing. the fact that i can go on the internet and go to respecive war with someone else in the world at random appealed to me. If it weren't for that i wouldn't have gotten this game at all.

However alot of the things he said are also true...while I can pretty much punch anything in the face in this game, theres been three fights that screwed me over: Electric gym, Dragon gym, and the elite four which by the way, are WAY GOD DAMN OVER LEVELLED THIS TIME.

 

[Komute]

I am one of those mad people

 

[garjian]

I want to know why some people think Pokemon is a super-complex game. Raising Pokemon is complex, but when it comes to battles between similarly-raised Pokemon it's just crossing fingers and hoping the other guy doesn't send out scissors when paper is in play.

Or hope he doesn't send in a level 1 Rattata.
Tip: turn your volume down

thats why you have scissors, rock and paper all on one pokemon.

this rattata strategy is easily beaten by any pokemon with any increased priority move, or status effects.
also, ghost types.
you fail.

edit: also, the only way to guarentee that focus sash would activate (as endure is no longer a TM and rattata cants learn it) is if spikes, etc. arent present.