Afterwards, I got a pep talk from "N" about pursuing my dreams or some nonsense like that.
And then the credits rolled...
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I'm not sure how I feel about Pokemon White being over--on the one hand the writing was heavy-handed and the plot was fantastically bad, but the pokemon designs were interesting and the world layout was...satisfactory. Okay, I guess coming up with things I liked is a little difficult.
Now, I'm just being critical because I love the Pokemon series so don't take this the wrong way, but Pokemon White was not a good game. I'm not saying it was bad, it was just average.
Why do you play pokemon? The story? I sure hope not, the story for this game was good, but not great: it definitely suffered from "Decent Premise, Terrible Writing Syndrome". The idea of whether or not Pokemon training is ethical was great to bring up--and injected an excellent bit of self-awareness for a series which has always been "Shoot First, Ask Questions Later".
The problem with this is that the whole "pokemon battles as arguments of ideals" allegory that this game was pushing the whole time (Zekrom and Reshiram themselves, representing dissenting opinions) fell absolutely flat on its face along with the entirety of the game's dialogue, which ranged from "bad" to "unforgivably bad". I wonder if the entire game was written on "Take your kid to work day"...
No, you play a pokemon game for the battling and the pokemon design and selection. Here, the game wasn't terrible, but it still didn't shine. For every cool-looking Leavanny or Scraggy, there was a dumb-looking Stunfisk or an uninspired Klink, Vanilluxe, or Cryogonal. As a matter of fact, the total number of stupid-looking pokemon definitely outnumbers the cool ones that I remember--and the negatives from this game are most definitely the things I recall the most.
I can't remember one bad thing about Red and Blue version...wait, I just remembered Rock Tunnel...
nevermind. But Silver Version--there we are, that's the example I will use. Silver version was perfect I think. I can't recall a bad section of the game: awesome pokemon design, access to good pokemon early (but not overpowered ones) in order to get you hooked--constantly changing environments and a story that was compelling and not in-your-face the whole time banging-on about friendship or dreams or arguments or some nonsense like that.
Ruby was good I guess--less homogenous in terms of pokemon access (as in, you tended to get about 40 cool new pokemon at a time followed by hours of gameplay where no new monsters appear) and a bit too plot-heavy (I never DID get behind that "legendary pokemon as a main plot point" thing), but overall solid.
Diamond and Pearl I can't for the life of me remember--must not have liked them very much--and I never DID like those three starter options. Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup: Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. While I know many people will disagree with that last statement, it is my opinion and I would just like to say: nanna-nanna-boo-boo, stick your head in doo doo.
So Pokemon White? Put it above Diamond and Pearl but below Red and Silver versions. Maybe just below Ruby and Sapphire.
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But today isn't about goodbyes, it is about new beginnings. I thought I was done with Pokemon--but Nintendo just keeps me hanging on. A new game is out--and that means a new Pokemon Playthrough. Therefore, I am proud to announce the start of:
I have reset my trainer card to reflect the change:
Of course you can continue to expect witty commentary, snide remarks, and what I consider humor.
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