CT Chia
Smash Obsessed
This is something I would have done in User Blogs, but UBs isn't working atm. I tried to contact the mods here to see if they would mind me making a thread like this, but I couldn't get a hold of them. I don't see a problem with it, so I'll go along with it for now.
Either way, I'm doing a play through of Pokemon Black now on my DS. Up until now I have been posting periodically in the normal BW thread with various updates, but all of it is just going to get lost in there and it will clutter up the topic.
I'm going to somewhat keep track of what I do in the game with thoughts on it and such in this thread. All updates will be edited into the OP, leave comments or questions!
I'll work on getting some screens up soonish and maybe video
Caution: I don't know any Japanese lol
Also I don't have any of the japanese names memorized lol, so I'm going to refer to everything by nicknames
To recap so far...
The game starts off kind of interesting. There are two mini CGI cutscenes at the start of the game before the title screen. They almost felt like a trailer instead of an opening, idk kind of odd. However it doesn't matter, skip along and go to the title screen.
Everything is really straight forward, like every Pokemon game. I was able to navigate through basic menus and get going with ease despite not being able to read a darn thing on the screen lol.
Since this is an initial playthrough on my Japanese version I decided to do the opposite of what I'm going to do when it comes out in the US. Ideally I want to play White version as a guy and start with Pignition, so this time I'm playing through Black as a girl with a Smugleaf.
The game is really chatty at the beginning, kind of annoying. There is however a good sense at starting out to travel with both of your rivals/friends.
The game was feeling really hard, especially the N fight early on since I was still at Level 5 because...
It turns out getting EXP was disabled! I thought I was in the midst of a tutorial of sorts still until I hit the first normal trainer battle with a Lv7 Chipmunk to my Lv5 Smug. I lost kind of bad lol. I lost twice in a row, and I knew something was up. That's when I found out about the exp prevention and found a solution.
Now my game is fine (albeit with some intermittent freezes like the early HGSS) but I can play normally.
I got the running shoes finally and I'm saddened that there is no auto run feature. That, coupled with nothing being on the bottom screen while walking around makes this game feel like a big step back compared to HGSS.
---
The dynamic camera in battles is reaaaally awesome, especially when it pans around if you don't do anything. For a bit. Also part of Smug's back animation is him crossing his arms and shaking his head. Looks mad smug lolol
---
The music in battles is very dynamic now. Your low percent sound is no longer just a sound effect, it's a different music that fades in and takes over and the transition is very smooth and nice.
Battles progress very fast in this game, certainly faster than HGSS. It's like being used to fast battles in RSE, then going to a snail pace in DP, and then seeing battles fast again in PtHGSS. BW is even faster and smoother than those games. Makes battles not as boring.
---
Bout to enter first gym, I have a lv9 Puppy and a lv10 Smug
---
Got side tracked, so that + gym trainers before the leader I have a lv11 Smug, lv11 Aqape (woulda liked to put Aquape but theres a 5 char limit) and a lv10 Puppy.
Can't wait to get more Pokemon to kick this Aqape off my team before it evolves lol. It's evolution is like my least fav pokemon this generation.
---
Forgot to mention one of the gym trainers chipmunks randomly ***** my smugleaf lol. stupid crits n stuff
Anyway my Lv12 smug almost swept the gym leader's puppy and fire monkey and would have if it werent for his clutch potion. The AI seems to be kind of stupid lol, at least at this part of the game. Stupid Aqape leveled up to 12. The gym leader music switched when he got to his final pokemon and the music was rly rly awesome. Very dynamic and awesome. I enjoy battling in this game more than 3D pokemon titles lol. Feels more hyped. Take notes Pokemon Battle Rev.
---
I got Cut and I gave it to my Aqape because I hate Cut and I hate my Aqape.
---
Wild Dream Elephant (evolved one). When my Smug is asleep his eyes on his sprite are closed.
---
Starting the fight with the second gym leader now My team is:
Lv 18 Smug (Evo of grass starter)
Lv15 Puppy (The dog pokemon)
Lv 13 Dream (The evolved dream elephant)
Lv 14 Aqape (The water monkey)
I found out on a Pokedex that Dream won't be learning anymore moves, it's the kind of evolved poke that stops and only its unevolved form learns moves. :/
---
The gym leader's (middle dog evo) destroyed me lol, need to go grind.
---
While fighting some wild pokemon to the right of the town with the second gym leader I found one of those blue fighting karate guys. Caught him and nicknamed him MrBLU
---
While battling more I found two new wild pokemon. A Mamepato that I caught and a (fighting thing that carries a plank of wood). I accidentally killed the fighter before I was able to catch it. Ready to go up against the 2nd gym leader again, here is my team:
Lv20 Smug
Lv16 Puppy (middle dog evo)
Lv13 Dream
Lv14 Aqape
Lv16 MrBlu
Lv12 Birdy (mamepato)
---
Here is a video of the intro and the second gym battle:
Note: Unfortunately using the audio recording method I did (plugging the DS right into my camcorder) made it so it only recorded in mono, so you can't hear any sound effects from the opponent's side of the field. Not that big of an issue, just something to note when you may notice some things missing.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WKlMuEHfw18?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WKlMuEHfw18?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
---
A few things have happened since last time. I traveled through a forest where I fought Team Plasma again, and caught some new pokemon like the grass/bug caterpillar. After leaving the forest I traversed across a giant bridge, and the camera was in dynamic 3D the whole time going across it. Really feels a lot different than the normal walking around. Nothing special about it, just epic.
I got to the big city and after looking around, I find myself now in a building with 3 floors full of trainers in there going through battle after battle. My team is currently:
Lv 23 Smug
Lv 20 Puppy
Lv 19 MrBlu
Lv 17 Dream
---
Traveling through the big city is pretty awesome. The camera for it is unlike anywhere else in the game and the town is huge. Easily the biggest town in any Pokemon game yet. I'm glad the camera isn't overused like this, but it fits great here. It took a bit of looking around and asking my friend to find out how to start the gym challenge, since the leader isn't there initially. After a run in with Plasma and venturing beyond the city to get a look at the Desert area (where I caught one of those dark fighting pokemon and nicknamed him Pants), I'm here to face the Bug gym. I really wish I had a Fire pokemon... I haven't ran into a single one yet in the wild. Ready to square off vs the gym leader, my team is:
Lv 27 Smug
Lv 20 Puppy
Lv 21 MrBlu
Lv 18 Dream
Lv 16 Pants
---
It's been a while. A lot of my playing has been away from a computer so it's been tough to update as I go along. I just arrived at the town with the sixth gym leader after going through a long cave fighting Team Plasma. I did a lot of work on my team and finally settled on the final team I will be using for the rest of the game. Two of the pokemon are under-leveled, but it's because I just caught them. My team is:
Lv 36 Smug (Jaroda)
Lv 32 Daru (Darumakka)
Lv 32 MrBlu (Dageki)
Lv 30 Desu (Desumakku)
Lv 27 Buggy (Bachuru)
Lv 20 Unown (Shinpora)
Time to use my newly aquired lucky egg to get my unown and buggy up to speed and take on the 6th gym. Can't wait for everyone to make their evolutions in the 30s.
---
any way, just finished the game, soooooo epic. even though I couldn't read anything, it was just amazing. especially the end going into the credits. felt a lot more like a normal JRPG which is why I'm guessing things like Famitsu liked it more and it's appealing to more ppl overall. Single player wise it's my favorite pokemon game yet. The entire ending part is so great.
The ending was soooooooo hard wow.
Well, I guess it wasn't that insane but it was worse than anything in a pokemon game yet. All without saving catching Reshiram (in Black version), battling N, then battling the Plasma leader - both having full balanced teams of 6 with the highest leveled pokes uv seen yet.
I luckily caught Reshiram on my first attempt after like my 4th ultra ball and breezed through N. I chose not to put Reshiram on my team (assuming that's what it asked me). I switched my Jaroda in on N's Zekrom which completely walled it. I had leech seed zapping it's health the whole battle while I coiled six times and then finished it off at low health. My Jaroda then swept his whole team. It was the first time I saw a Zoroark in battle too, which was really cool how it illusioned into his Gigigear.
The last game had me shakin cause I didn't wanna do it all over, and my DS was on a red bar and I was without my charger! I was doing well keeping a strong lead but then his 3rd or 4th pokemon he sent out was Sazando. Woooooow that thing is so hard to fight, I really wasn't ready for it. Luckily I took it down with a combination of my Desukan burning it and my Dageki takin' it down with a Brick Break after I chipped off some health.
My team ended with the highest being Lv55 and the lowest being 43. I gained so many levels in the whole E4-Plasma sequence, I originally started with them all between 43 and 48, only two of them above 45 iirc. I was gaining levels so quick. The ghost E4 member was by far the hardest, and taking down her Shanderra took about 7 tries. I beat the other 3 E4 members though on my first try.
Final Team:
Team Thoughts: The team worked out very well together, I was pleased by that. Towards the end I thought I was missing something and finally realized what it was: I was missing a water type. I was shocked I didn't have one, I normally do. There really weren't many to choose from however...Shinporra was an odd choice, though the only reason I chose it was because I wanted a flier on my team so I could fly anywhere without swapping Pokemon. Shinporra was the only one I remotely liked. Case and point: All the flying and water Pokemon suck in this game prior to getting the National Dex. In terms of pulling weight on the team, Desukan definitely fell behind. Everyone was kept up leveling wise, but Desukan was really meh. His movepool from what I had access to up to Lv43 and the TMs I had left me with only Will-o-wisp + attacking ghost moves. If they have a normal or dark type I was screwed, and had Night Shade on until the end lolol. If it weren't for my Shadow Ball TM I woulda really been done. I really liked his design before the game came out, but started to not quite as much when I saw his front sprite (back sprite + artwork are cooler) and his animation. He moves around a lot and seems crazy which I didn't like. His Shadow Ball packed a punch and he could take some hits, but his speed was soooo terrible. When battling against the Elite 4's Shanderra even after putting it's speed at -3 it was still outspeeding my Desukan which is atrocious. Shinporra was my second worst Pokemon, but got me out of some jams with good defenses and Air Slash crit hax. The starts of the team were... everyone else lol. Jaroda coil spams and gets dat Leech Seed in, Hihidaruma is AMAZING with decimating Flare Blitz and Hammer Arm attacks, Banchuru (I think it's called) has a cool typing and great speed and attacks to go with it like getting Signal Beam early on (though the best Electric attacks I were left to were Electric Web and Volt Change, both cool but I would have liked to get Thunderbolt for the E4 and ending). Dengeki kind of went up the middle road. Not completely amazing, not bad at all. He was great mid game since he was fully evolved with amazing stats when I got him early on landing strong moves like Brick Break. By the very end he started to lack a little, but with a decent Dark weakness thanks to Shinporra and Desukan, Dengeki really solved that and he beat em down.
Time to continue my quest...
Either way, I'm doing a play through of Pokemon Black now on my DS. Up until now I have been posting periodically in the normal BW thread with various updates, but all of it is just going to get lost in there and it will clutter up the topic.
I'm going to somewhat keep track of what I do in the game with thoughts on it and such in this thread. All updates will be edited into the OP, leave comments or questions!
I'll work on getting some screens up soonish and maybe video
Caution: I don't know any Japanese lol
Also I don't have any of the japanese names memorized lol, so I'm going to refer to everything by nicknames
To recap so far...
The game starts off kind of interesting. There are two mini CGI cutscenes at the start of the game before the title screen. They almost felt like a trailer instead of an opening, idk kind of odd. However it doesn't matter, skip along and go to the title screen.
Everything is really straight forward, like every Pokemon game. I was able to navigate through basic menus and get going with ease despite not being able to read a darn thing on the screen lol.
Since this is an initial playthrough on my Japanese version I decided to do the opposite of what I'm going to do when it comes out in the US. Ideally I want to play White version as a guy and start with Pignition, so this time I'm playing through Black as a girl with a Smugleaf.
The game is really chatty at the beginning, kind of annoying. There is however a good sense at starting out to travel with both of your rivals/friends.
The game was feeling really hard, especially the N fight early on since I was still at Level 5 because...
It turns out getting EXP was disabled! I thought I was in the midst of a tutorial of sorts still until I hit the first normal trainer battle with a Lv7 Chipmunk to my Lv5 Smug. I lost kind of bad lol. I lost twice in a row, and I knew something was up. That's when I found out about the exp prevention and found a solution.
Now my game is fine (albeit with some intermittent freezes like the early HGSS) but I can play normally.
I got the running shoes finally and I'm saddened that there is no auto run feature. That, coupled with nothing being on the bottom screen while walking around makes this game feel like a big step back compared to HGSS.
---
The dynamic camera in battles is reaaaally awesome, especially when it pans around if you don't do anything. For a bit. Also part of Smug's back animation is him crossing his arms and shaking his head. Looks mad smug lolol
---
The music in battles is very dynamic now. Your low percent sound is no longer just a sound effect, it's a different music that fades in and takes over and the transition is very smooth and nice.
Battles progress very fast in this game, certainly faster than HGSS. It's like being used to fast battles in RSE, then going to a snail pace in DP, and then seeing battles fast again in PtHGSS. BW is even faster and smoother than those games. Makes battles not as boring.
---
Bout to enter first gym, I have a lv9 Puppy and a lv10 Smug
---
Got side tracked, so that + gym trainers before the leader I have a lv11 Smug, lv11 Aqape (woulda liked to put Aquape but theres a 5 char limit) and a lv10 Puppy.
Can't wait to get more Pokemon to kick this Aqape off my team before it evolves lol. It's evolution is like my least fav pokemon this generation.
---
Forgot to mention one of the gym trainers chipmunks randomly ***** my smugleaf lol. stupid crits n stuff
Anyway my Lv12 smug almost swept the gym leader's puppy and fire monkey and would have if it werent for his clutch potion. The AI seems to be kind of stupid lol, at least at this part of the game. Stupid Aqape leveled up to 12. The gym leader music switched when he got to his final pokemon and the music was rly rly awesome. Very dynamic and awesome. I enjoy battling in this game more than 3D pokemon titles lol. Feels more hyped. Take notes Pokemon Battle Rev.
---
I got Cut and I gave it to my Aqape because I hate Cut and I hate my Aqape.
---
Wild Dream Elephant (evolved one). When my Smug is asleep his eyes on his sprite are closed.
---
Starting the fight with the second gym leader now My team is:
Lv 18 Smug (Evo of grass starter)
Lv15 Puppy (The dog pokemon)
Lv 13 Dream (The evolved dream elephant)
Lv 14 Aqape (The water monkey)
I found out on a Pokedex that Dream won't be learning anymore moves, it's the kind of evolved poke that stops and only its unevolved form learns moves. :/
---
The gym leader's (middle dog evo) destroyed me lol, need to go grind.
---
While fighting some wild pokemon to the right of the town with the second gym leader I found one of those blue fighting karate guys. Caught him and nicknamed him MrBLU
---
While battling more I found two new wild pokemon. A Mamepato that I caught and a (fighting thing that carries a plank of wood). I accidentally killed the fighter before I was able to catch it. Ready to go up against the 2nd gym leader again, here is my team:
Lv20 Smug
Lv16 Puppy (middle dog evo)
Lv13 Dream
Lv14 Aqape
Lv16 MrBlu
Lv12 Birdy (mamepato)
---
Here is a video of the intro and the second gym battle:
Note: Unfortunately using the audio recording method I did (plugging the DS right into my camcorder) made it so it only recorded in mono, so you can't hear any sound effects from the opponent's side of the field. Not that big of an issue, just something to note when you may notice some things missing.
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WKlMuEHfw18?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WKlMuEHfw18?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
---
A few things have happened since last time. I traveled through a forest where I fought Team Plasma again, and caught some new pokemon like the grass/bug caterpillar. After leaving the forest I traversed across a giant bridge, and the camera was in dynamic 3D the whole time going across it. Really feels a lot different than the normal walking around. Nothing special about it, just epic.
I got to the big city and after looking around, I find myself now in a building with 3 floors full of trainers in there going through battle after battle. My team is currently:
Lv 23 Smug
Lv 20 Puppy
Lv 19 MrBlu
Lv 17 Dream
---
Traveling through the big city is pretty awesome. The camera for it is unlike anywhere else in the game and the town is huge. Easily the biggest town in any Pokemon game yet. I'm glad the camera isn't overused like this, but it fits great here. It took a bit of looking around and asking my friend to find out how to start the gym challenge, since the leader isn't there initially. After a run in with Plasma and venturing beyond the city to get a look at the Desert area (where I caught one of those dark fighting pokemon and nicknamed him Pants), I'm here to face the Bug gym. I really wish I had a Fire pokemon... I haven't ran into a single one yet in the wild. Ready to square off vs the gym leader, my team is:
Lv 27 Smug
Lv 20 Puppy
Lv 21 MrBlu
Lv 18 Dream
Lv 16 Pants
---
It's been a while. A lot of my playing has been away from a computer so it's been tough to update as I go along. I just arrived at the town with the sixth gym leader after going through a long cave fighting Team Plasma. I did a lot of work on my team and finally settled on the final team I will be using for the rest of the game. Two of the pokemon are under-leveled, but it's because I just caught them. My team is:
Lv 36 Smug (Jaroda)
Lv 32 Daru (Darumakka)
Lv 32 MrBlu (Dageki)
Lv 30 Desu (Desumakku)
Lv 27 Buggy (Bachuru)
Lv 20 Unown (Shinpora)
Time to use my newly aquired lucky egg to get my unown and buggy up to speed and take on the 6th gym. Can't wait for everyone to make their evolutions in the 30s.
---
any way, just finished the game, soooooo epic. even though I couldn't read anything, it was just amazing. especially the end going into the credits. felt a lot more like a normal JRPG which is why I'm guessing things like Famitsu liked it more and it's appealing to more ppl overall. Single player wise it's my favorite pokemon game yet. The entire ending part is so great.
The ending was soooooooo hard wow.
Well, I guess it wasn't that insane but it was worse than anything in a pokemon game yet. All without saving catching Reshiram (in Black version), battling N, then battling the Plasma leader - both having full balanced teams of 6 with the highest leveled pokes uv seen yet.
I luckily caught Reshiram on my first attempt after like my 4th ultra ball and breezed through N. I chose not to put Reshiram on my team (assuming that's what it asked me). I switched my Jaroda in on N's Zekrom which completely walled it. I had leech seed zapping it's health the whole battle while I coiled six times and then finished it off at low health. My Jaroda then swept his whole team. It was the first time I saw a Zoroark in battle too, which was really cool how it illusioned into his Gigigear.
The last game had me shakin cause I didn't wanna do it all over, and my DS was on a red bar and I was without my charger! I was doing well keeping a strong lead but then his 3rd or 4th pokemon he sent out was Sazando. Woooooow that thing is so hard to fight, I really wasn't ready for it. Luckily I took it down with a combination of my Desukan burning it and my Dageki takin' it down with a Brick Break after I chipped off some health.
My team ended with the highest being Lv55 and the lowest being 43. I gained so many levels in the whole E4-Plasma sequence, I originally started with them all between 43 and 48, only two of them above 45 iirc. I was gaining levels so quick. The ghost E4 member was by far the hardest, and taking down her Shanderra took about 7 tries. I beat the other 3 E4 members though on my first try.
Final Team:
Team Thoughts: The team worked out very well together, I was pleased by that. Towards the end I thought I was missing something and finally realized what it was: I was missing a water type. I was shocked I didn't have one, I normally do. There really weren't many to choose from however...Shinporra was an odd choice, though the only reason I chose it was because I wanted a flier on my team so I could fly anywhere without swapping Pokemon. Shinporra was the only one I remotely liked. Case and point: All the flying and water Pokemon suck in this game prior to getting the National Dex. In terms of pulling weight on the team, Desukan definitely fell behind. Everyone was kept up leveling wise, but Desukan was really meh. His movepool from what I had access to up to Lv43 and the TMs I had left me with only Will-o-wisp + attacking ghost moves. If they have a normal or dark type I was screwed, and had Night Shade on until the end lolol. If it weren't for my Shadow Ball TM I woulda really been done. I really liked his design before the game came out, but started to not quite as much when I saw his front sprite (back sprite + artwork are cooler) and his animation. He moves around a lot and seems crazy which I didn't like. His Shadow Ball packed a punch and he could take some hits, but his speed was soooo terrible. When battling against the Elite 4's Shanderra even after putting it's speed at -3 it was still outspeeding my Desukan which is atrocious. Shinporra was my second worst Pokemon, but got me out of some jams with good defenses and Air Slash crit hax. The starts of the team were... everyone else lol. Jaroda coil spams and gets dat Leech Seed in, Hihidaruma is AMAZING with decimating Flare Blitz and Hammer Arm attacks, Banchuru (I think it's called) has a cool typing and great speed and attacks to go with it like getting Signal Beam early on (though the best Electric attacks I were left to were Electric Web and Volt Change, both cool but I would have liked to get Thunderbolt for the E4 and ending). Dengeki kind of went up the middle road. Not completely amazing, not bad at all. He was great mid game since he was fully evolved with amazing stats when I got him early on landing strong moves like Brick Break. By the very end he started to lack a little, but with a decent Dark weakness thanks to Shinporra and Desukan, Dengeki really solved that and he beat em down.
Time to continue my quest...
