I know I just posted a whole list about Pokemon this week so putting up a second Pokemon piece in such a short time-span seems ridiculous but this is my blog so I shall do as I please. And also because I expected to be too busy to get as far as I did, I've surprised myself that I've gotten my 4th badge already. Some of you may already have your 8th and think you're so cool but the rest of us have to work in offices that don't let you play DS at your desk. It's a sad, cruel world after all. We can't all work at the Battle Company where they just do Pokemon battles all day. How do they even make money? The world may never know.
Anyway, on with the first impressions. And mild spoilers ahead for those who don't read Serebii every day like I do.
I have to say that I'm actually a little surprised. I expected the only real changes to be the new gyms and maybe a tweaked team here and there even despite devouring all news about the game from it's announcement. Though as I've played almost 12 hours now I can see that there are a lot of little upgrades that make the game actually feel like a sequel.
I think the biggest surprise was how much changing the starting town did for the game. Just having to traverse a different route to get started on your journey made you feel like you were in a new region all over again. The old Pokemon you can catch along the way, and especially at a starting area called Floccesy Ranch, add to that sense of novelty in a way. Despite them being from previous generations, not having seen them in Black and White makes their appearance very fresh. Add that to the fact that you actually do more than just get your Pokedex and Running Shoes in the first town make this really feel more like a new game and not just a rehash with some upgrades. I mean, there's a Gym in your hometown now!
With that change to the beginning also came the first changes to the Gym order. Now you get the Basic Badge first and your second badge is one that's brand new. This slight reshuffle at the beginning of the game really tells you that this is a region that has changed during the two years between now and the previous game. Now you're seeing development of areas that didn't have towns in them and experiencing side quests and characters who are all totally new because you're on a slightly altered Gym path. I like it.
The other thing I knew about but wasn't expecting were the changes to the cities from the previous game. Castelia City now has sewers you can explore! It seems so minor but it opens up a new adventure in a city you already have memorized. Now you can plumb the depths of the sewers for all the crappy Zubats and Rattatas that you want. Which, okay, that SEEMS bad (because Zubat sucks) but without the sewers you'd just run around the same city doing the same stuff you did last time. The same thing occurs in Nimbasa when you notice that the Gym from the previous game is now an additional amusement park ride so you can battle there as well as at the ferris wheel. It's a small change but it shows that time has actually passed which, really, is what you want in a sequel.
To go along with those changes to the cities, the old Gyms now have new puzzles and layouts. Burgh has you traveling around in webs while Elesa has you walking the catwalk. Again, minor changes that seem trivial actually serve to make the game more fun. It shows that the Gym Leaders change up their gyms every now and then to keep things interesting and this rounds them out just a tiny bit more as characters. Especially with Elesa since she just up and had a new gym built. The addition of the Gym music remixes for each gym also makes you excited when you enter one because you now are expecting to hear that familiar tune redone to match the theme of the new gym.
The addition of Join Avenue and Pokestar Studios is also a lovely way to enhance the game. Join Avenue is so simple and yet I can't stop going there to make sure I'm pleasing customers. Basically, you get put in charge of a strip of shopping kiosks and build it up by bringing over your friends from your trades and battles (or just people walking through) to open up shop. Then you can recommend your shops to passersby to get your reputation to go up. It's a simple little management sim but it's addictive. Just like how Pokestar Studios is kind of addictive. While the stupid Musical has remained, you can now also have your Pokemon star in short movies and make them into stars. If your Pokemon becomes a big enough star he/she even gets a special animation when released from a Pokeball (sort of like a shiny Pokemon). This is a far better mini-game than the Musical because you actually get to do something and make a little film. It can't replace Contests, but it's decent.
Then there are the tiny things that make the game just feel that much more polished. Every Trainer has an animation at the start of battle and the Pokemon animations now have extra frames. It seems so small and insignificant but I'm always eager to see what the Trainers do when battle commences. Plus the extra frames for the Pokemon make their movements so much more fluid and nice to look at. It really shows that the studio took the time to update as much as they could to make the game feel fresher. Even just being able to use multiples of the same item at once from the Pokemon screen and move hold items without moving them into the bag make the game just feel smooth.
I haven't found much that I don't like just yet. I'd say that the dialogue feels a bit cheesy but this is Pokemon. It's a game of charm and eye rolls at silly things. It's light and fun and you're not supposed to ask for realism. So when some Trainer spots you and [!]'s you know you're in for some kind of silly dialogue about the Trainer's Pokemon or something they found. I even rode the ferries wheel where the dialogue from my co-rider was a bit... suggestive.
This next gripe is outside of what I've played so far, but I know it's coming. Well, actually it's not coming. The VS Seeker is still out. Though the sports domes are still around and there are some new Trainers who will battle you every time you pass by them. That does help when training in post-game but nothing was as fun as wandering around Sinnoh after you completed the game as you looked for Trainers to fight and level up Pokemon you hadn't used. That's how I clocked in at least 150 hours in Diamond anyway so I'm sad that it hasn't returned.
Though overall I'm finding it to be a slightly better experience than last time. The old Pokemon make the game feel a lot more cohesive to the series than the previous one. The whole awkward reboot feeling isn't there this time which means that you can actually sink your teeth in and savor the rich flavor of Unova. You can wander that tall grass and find that an Eevee or a Riolu is there waiting for you without it being post-game and thus relatively pointless (unless you're a super competitive player looking for new Pokemon for a team.)
Before I wrap up I do want to make one more point that I know I'm reading too much in to but that I actually kind of like. This game has an air of fabulousness about it. Now, I may not use that word very often but I feel that it fits. The studio head of Pokestar Studios is full of "dahling"'s and breaking up words for dramatic effect so he definitely has the posh, fabulous vibe about him. Burgh is still around as our fashionista-artist Gym Leader, having redecorated and enters battle by sassily throwing a cloak off of him. Elesa's built a totally new Gym to house a catwalk and giant screens for fashion shows. Her Gym's music even sounds sassy now. The only word I can think of to describe it all is fabulous.
Now, I'm not saying they made Pokemon gay. I'm not stupid. What I am saying is that the game is big and bold and going out of it's way to create personalities that are the same. I think we can find characters that we can identify with even just within the start of the game. Sure you can only ride the ferris wheel with the opposite sex and all that but the oomph that this game packs sometimes just resonates with me.
So those are my first impressions. I'm very pleased and surprised by how fresh the game feels. Perhaps that will wane as I get deeper in but I think that Game Freak has done a good job on this game. It was something of a risk to do a sequel but I think so far they've done a good job. They may even have paved the way for 6th Generation. I can't say they'll do this again, but it's possible given how good this sequel is.
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