Spoiler Which Do You Prefer: Black/White or Black 2/White 2?

[Sydney]

What’s up everyone? Today I wanted to ask you about which game you preferred: Black / White or Black 2 / White 2. Let’s go take a look at what they had to offer before coming to conclusions, don’t you agree? Before I begin I would like to inform you that this thread WILL contain spoilers. So if you are aware of that and wish to continue reading; do so.

Characters​

Starting off with some great characters, Black and White had me on the edge of my seat with so many overflowing and energetic personalities. You have Bianca; a very excited young girl who adores Pokémon. Then there’s Cheren; a calm and collected young man. Next is N; a mysterious man who has a kind heart. Then you have Ghetsis; a demanding and powerful man. Even each of the Gym Leaders had some bright personalities as well. You could tell that they were passionate about what they do. Overall, B/W did very well with their characters.

Next, let’s have a look at Black 2 and White 2. They didn’t do so bad considering the characters are basically the same as they were. Something I liked though, you could tell some characters have matured. Some notable characters being Bianca, Cheren, and even N. Bianca, despite her hyper-active tendencies, grabbed a hold of herself and ended up pursuing something she truly enjoys. The exact same thing goes for Cheren, knowing his true love for Pokémon; he eventually became a Gym Leader. And finally there’s N, he realized what he really wanted and was able to comprehend this clearly. He did so by seeking the truths if you were playing White 2 or by seeking the ideals if you were playing Black 2, which is practically the reason he was recognized by a Legendary Pokémon in the first place, Reshiram in White and Zekrom in Black. I was personally happy with the characters, but everyone has different opinions. What about you? Were you also satisfied or did you find some problems with them?

Pokémon​

There’s really no difference between the Pokémon in each game. Sure you have version exclusives, but that’s really it. Although many people were already disappointed with Generation V’s Pokémon, you can’t necessarily expect much of a change with a sequel. The only notable differences were the form changes of a handful of Pokémon. I thought this was interesting, but really made no difference with my experience. The fusions between Kyurem with Zekrom/Reshiram were neat, but I also thought it was somewhat messy. Take a look below and you’ll see some of the new forms that were not seen in the original B/W.

Interesting, no? Are you still satisfied with the Pokémon? Do you like the new forms that were introduced? If you did dislike them; how come?

Villains​

The villains from Black and White are not quite the same when they appear again in Black 2 and White 2. One could argue that Team Plasma was exactly the same as they were before, but that’s not exactly true. In fact, Team Plasma made some obvious changes between the two year differences of the games. First off, there’s an evident outfit change. I for one like the outfit change, it gives them a more dark and sinister vibe. Aside from their choice in apparel, Team Plasma has split into two!

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The Team Plasma from the original Black and White refused to go under the leadership of Ghetsis, and remained loyal to their original Lord, N. On the other hand, those who were still looking to “liberate” Pokémon, sided with the other Lord, Ghetsis. I was surprised to see this, and I very much enjoyed the confrontations between the two teams. I also liked when N confronted his so called “father” after two years had passed by. I was also very curious as to what the role of the new character, Colress, was. He’s obviously a researcher, but he sided with Lord Ghetsis in order to further his research. Strange… Anyways, what are your thoughts on Team Plasma? Do you prefer the previous or the present?

Rivals​

Moving on now, let’s discuss rivals. In the original Black and White, they revisited a concept that was first seen in Ruby / Sapphire / Emerald. They gave the player two rivals instead of one. Your rivals for this game were both Bianca and Cheren. Not only did they provide a more difficult adventure, but they also provided rather decent entertainment. Black 2 and White 2 went the traditional route with only one rival, Hugh. Although there was somewhat less of a challenge than before, Hugh was still undeniably a handful. His emotions were overflowing, and sometimes got the best of him. Not only that, he wasn’t a half bad trainer either. What about you? Do you prefer two rivals against one? What are your thoughts on Bianca and Cheren as rivals? What are your thoughts on Hugh as a rival? Who would you prefer to have as your rival?

Locations​

Black and White started out on a good foot. Many new locations arose with the unveiling of the new region, Unova. Places such as Castelia, Nimbasa, and Opelucid were magnificent and thriving cities. Of course you have your starting town, Nuvema, which contained Juniper’s Lab. The designs of each city, town, cave, ect, was almost flawless. Over all, it was a very large region with tons to explore and left me quite satisfied.

The above shows the difference between Burgh’s Gym between the first two games (left), and the most recent two games (right).You can see a distinct change in design between the two. Not only have designs changed, but the region has gotten even larger! New towns such as Aspertia, Flocessy, and Virbank were added onto the map and can be visited at the very start of the game. Aspertia, the player’s starting town, is much larger than what Nuvema was. This town even included the first Gym of the game! Those three towns weren’t the only new additions; some others would include Humilau City, Reversal Mountain, Clay’s Tunnel, Lentimas Town, and more! What do you think? Are you happy with the new additions, or do you prefer the original Unova?

Overall, Black 2 and White 2 made some extraordinary changes for a two year sequel, but not everyone may think that way. Some prefer B/W over B2/W2; that’s fine. My question for you is which you preferred and why. Discuss.

*Note: I did not go over the Story. If you'd like to discuss the story in your response, feel free to do so.*

 

[Sir Quaffler]

Ok I'm gonna go over my personal experience. Note that I did not play Black or White 1, so my knowledge of it isn't quite up to par with everyone else. Nevertheless, I have gleamed enough from what I have seen in Black 2 and elsewhere to get a cursory knowledge of what happened.

Pokemon
Starting off with the most important aspect, the Pokemon themselves and the new fighting system.
I'll be honest... there's quite a large percentage of the Gen 5 Pokemon that I really don't care for. Garbodor and Klinklang in particular are the two worst Pokemon ever. A garbage bag and gears, are you kidding me?! And most of the other ones either look stupid or just uninspiring. I've seen previous iterations of their designs, they were mostly pretty boring. The ones I do like, though, are freaking awesome! Scolipede, Galvantula, Zoroark, Genesect, black Kyruem, and Samurott are among my favorites now.
The new fighting systems, Rotation and Triple Battles, are very interesting indeed. Switches up gameplay every now and again, keeps me on my toes.

Characters
Definitely much more developed and involving than what I'm used to in a Pokemon game. I can tell Gamefreak's stepping up their game in the character and story department, even if the general Pokemon designs are starting to diminish. I may not have known exactly how the characters acted in the first one, but I can tell they've matured by the time 2 rolls around. I'm really liking this sequel treatment, it allows for the creators to try out new things with already established characters.

I'm grouping gym leaders in here as well. I like most of them. Instead of being simply the normal, poison, electric, ground, flying, and dragon leaders they're the school teacher, lead guitarist, fashion model, city developer, pilot, and mayor. (I'm not counting Burgh or Marlon because they really did feel like just leaders, a disappointment considering everybody else.) Also... I'm just gonna come out and say it, Elesa and Skyla are freakin' hot.

Villains
I like what they did. The new designs make them look less like goofy knights and more like the French Special Forces. At first, they seemed even less of a threat than previous teams, even considering the effects the team had on Unova two years ago. I didn't see hardly anything of them until after beating Clay. Then it started to get interesting. Perhaps it's due to me not fighting them until much later in the game than usual, but the team as a whole seems much more well-trained. Even the lowly grunts wouldn't be caught dead with any Pokemon under lvl 25 or so, for starters. Then you start fighting them head-on, and they are much more difficult. On the ship, you fight Colress the Neo Team Plasma leader, and while the rest of the game he gives off a slightly benevolent feeling of simply wanting to research Pokemon, you see that he is actually an amoral, strictly calculating indiviaul, willing to destroy even the land itself to get Pokemon to reach their potential, and it shows when you fight him.

He kicked my *** so hard. I was not expecting an all-Steel team at all and in fact that was the one blind spot in my otherwise well-rounded team. While the rest of the game up to this point was mostly easy with some slight more thought into some of the gym battles, I was pulling every trick out of my book just to stay alive fighting him, had to use up almost all of my Revives, and barely scratched a victory with one Pokemon left at half-health. Very nerve-wracking fight.

And then Ghetsis. Holy S**t
I've seen stereotypic Italian mobsters, pirate captains, and delusional narcissists, but this is the first time I've seen a true monster for a villain. I mean holy crap he tried to outright KILL you! Gyah! This is the first time I've actually been terrified of the villain. From what I can tell, he's pretty much the same way in B/W1, so mad props to him for actually being intimidating for a change.

Rival
Again, I can only really speak from what I know, since I don't know what happened with Cheren and Bianca. Liking what they've done here with Hugh though. I was on the edge of my seat figuring out just how this thing with Hugh would play out. There was a very dark side to him that I was afraid was gonna burst out and hurt somebody at some point. I honestly thought that the Liepard I fought earlier would turn out to be his missing Purrloin and that he would snap and turn his rage against me. Thankfully that didn't happen, but just imagine if it had? Oh boy that would be hell to deal with. Bravo Gamefreak for making me care about the rival and his problems.

Although, in terms of actually being a rival, he's got nothing on Gary Oak. But then nobody does.

Locations
I can't really say much on locations, given I don't really know how they looked in B/W1 and I still haven't even seen everything yet (I just beat Ghetsis - like, this afternoon) but it all looks pretty good. Still not my favorite region (that would be Hoenn) but still pretty solid.

Music
I'm gonna throw this one in as well. Very solid, as is expected from Pokemon games at this point. I like both versions' soundtracks, but I'm ever so slightly in favor of 2 over 1.

And the main reason I bought the game: The Pokemon World Tournament
I've still got a ways to go before I'm able to compete in the actual worldwide tournament, but I'm loving what I am able to right now. Can't wait until I'm actually competing in the online tournament!

Overall a very solid game. Don't care for many of the new Pokemon but everything else more than makes up for that.