[August off-topic]Until Neo decides - Page 28

Gen IV: For nostalgia reasons, Heart Gold or Soul Silver are excellent choices. They are very faithful remakes of the original Gen II games but with a massive amount of quality of life improvements and additional content to boot that really extends the story while also adding in a lot of post-game content such as the Battle Frontier. There's also gym leader rematches, daily and weekly events, revamped safari zone, a new Pokealthon sports competition you can play and more. The music remixes are all very faithful and super awesome, such as Violet/Olivine City and National Park. The only one I prefer from Gen II is Goldenrod because it doesn't feel as bouncy but the new one is still good. And have I mentioned the Eyecatch Splash Art when you enter special zones? The handpainted water colours are amazing.

If you still remember the original Gen II games, then you'll remember there was somewhat of a levelling problem and while that still exists, it's not as severe as it once was. It's a very fun lively game. Btw, did I mention your Pokemon follow you around outside of their Pokeballs? Like, all the time? It's the only game that does so and it is amazingly sweet. Every Pokemon has its own sprite and you can talk to them at any time when wandering around too. There's even some mini-quest rewards for doing so too!

The Diamond/Pearl/Platinum trio in Gen IV is okay but it didn't leave a very strong impression on me. DPP has its fun moments but it feels a lot more limited and contained compared to the vastness that is HGSS. They're still fun, but if you had to choose between HGSS and the DPP sets, I would recommend HGSS every time. Still, if you want to go for DPP then getting Platinum (the third one) is always the correct choice (the same way choosing Emerald over Ruby/Sapphire is always correct).

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Gen V: The Gen V universe is amazing and is definitely a great choice to make. There are two choices to make here though. The first is whether you want to play the first set of games Black/White or go for the sequels in Black/White 2. The second choice is choosing between Black and White themselves. The choice is actually much more important than you'd realise.

If you noticed earlier I said sequel. That's right, BW2 is a full on sequel to BW and not just "the next round of games that puts together the first two in a bigger package the way Platinum or Emerald did". The Black/White games are actually fairly dark when you think about it rather than just superficially playing through and you really let yourself immerse in the story rather than just ignoring it. It revolves around the idea of "Wait, isn't capturing Pokemon and forcing them to battle cruel?" which is championed by Team Plasma, who obviously have their own hidden agenda. I won't go further because I don't want to spoil the story. In BW2, you pick off 2 years after the first set of games where Team Plasma is making a come back and the hero from the first games has since disappeared.

Strictly from a game perspective, BW2 is superior because there are more areas to explore, expanded Pokedex and Pokemon to catch and also a LOT more post-game content. Like, there's an insane amount of post-game content. However, it also makes sense to go into BW2 after having at least played or knowing BW. BW is also a very good stand alone game in and of itself, and it's really enjoyable to go through BW2 having played BW and noticing all the similarities and differences as you retrace routes but also explore the same routes differently. Plus, there are some bonuses to having cleared BW when playing BW2 and you can treat playing BW2 as playing an expansion that's practically its own standalone game. Honestly, if you have the choice, get one from both. If not, then go for BW2 just to have the full post-game content and new locations and extra goodies, but try to get a chance to play through the original game as well through some means.

Now, as for choosing between Black and White (for both the original and BW2). Normally the choice between the two games is fairly superficial, only changing the legendary you catch and maybe some minor character difference. Not here buddy. Choosing between Black and White can actually significantly alter the actual layouts and designs of several cities and Routes you travel, the music in those locations, as well as one of the major post-game content pieces (no spoilers) in addition to all the regular version-specific legendary stuff. (e.g. Opelucid City Black Mix and Opelucid City White Mix)

Black goes for the more Modern approach, while White takes the more natural and heritage look. It doesn't affect the core gameplay massively, but it does mean a lot of aesthetic differences as well as layout changes of various locations (including Victory Road). The differences are rather minor in BW, but much more pronounced in BW2. These differences are actually semi-story and theme driven too and you learn more about it if you spend the time really taking the chance to explore and talk to random NPCs.

Here, it's really a personal choice. It doesn't truly matter whether you pick Black or White, but it's important to note!

As for the core game mechanics, one really cool thing to note is the new addition of Doctor and Nurse trainers. After beating them, they can be used as mini-Poke Centres to heal your Pokemon. You also get the Lucky Egg hold item (which gives 50% exp boost to the Pokemon holding it) about half way through the game too. There are also Audino Pokemon that can be found in shaking grass that are like exp buckets and also have a move that heals the Pokemon it targets (in wild battles, that means you) and you can get double battles in grass too. There are also sections where you partner with one of the named NPCs in tackling/exploring a cave where they heal all your Pokemon after every battle (whether it's a single or double battle and trainer or wild Pokemon battles). Grinding has literally never been easier. And that means getting to quickly blast through and get to all the fun bits instead of grinding wild Pokemon.

Also, another thing is that once you beat BW2 once, you unlock the Easy (White 2) and Challenge (Black 2) Modes where you can replay the whole thing but with scaled easier and harder difficulties (trainers and gym leaders will have higher/lower levelled and more/same number of Pokemon). If you have someone who's already beaten BW2, you can also import those difficulty levels into your game with the Unova Link system.

There you have it. Now go get something and have fun~