Pokemon Black & White General Thread (Available Now)

[DJScythe15]

Yeah, the design of the new 5th gen Pokemon can be kind of hit or miss. The Timburr evolutionary line gets under my skin as far as design.

Also, for all the people who groaned at another Fire/Fighting starter, courtesy of Awkward Zombie:

[AlexanderDitto]

I think the Pokemon designs are surprisingly consistent from generation to generation. A friend of mine made an insightful tumblr post about this. Pokemon always

1.) Incorporate 2 or more basic concepts into the design

2.) Combine those concepts in an inventive way that distinguishes the Pokemon enough from one of it’s original sources while also keeping it’s basic concepts represented well enough that a player could probably be able to guess it’s typings.

3.) Keep the design iconic. there are over 600 of these things now and it is really important for the design to stand out and remain recognizable as a Pokemon.

Most of the new Pokemon follow these principals pretty well, and there are a bunch of throwbacks to the original 150 without being too overt. I think it's pretty cool.

More so then, say, Gen 3, which had a lot of pokemon that left me really confused.

Also I love Awkward Zombie so much.

[Ottoman]

Most of the new Pokemon follow these principals pretty well, and there are a bunch of throwbacks to the original 150 without being too overt. I think it's pretty cool.

Walk onto Route 1, first Pokémon I meet is a rat. Later, going into the first cave, I find a bat that uses Confusion, and a little round Rock-type. The first forest is full of Bug-types. My fellow trainer picks of a Flying-type based on a pigeon. And so on.

A lot of them are pretty overt, actually, but it's still cool that they do it. For me, the more like Gen I it is, the better.

[DJScythe15]

Walk onto Route 1, first Pokémon I meet is a rat. Later, going into the first cave, I find a bat that uses Confusion, and a little round Rock-type. The first forest is full of Bug-types. My fellow trainer picks of a Flying-type based on a pigeon. And so on.

To be fair, Patrat looks to be closer to a prairie dog, another rodent.

As far as the early catchable Pokemon's similarity to Gen I, I think it was an interesting design choice; it hearkens back to the original but goes in a different direction, reinforcing the feeling that the game is a restart of sorts and not just a sequel.

Plus, you get a dog on Route 1. You had to wait quite a while for a dog in Gen 1, and only if you had the right version. XP

[Danzama]

Got this today. I need to charge my DS. when i did pla i chose Snivy

[EikoandMog]

I'm not hatin, I find that pic funny and thought you guys might enjoy it too. Heck I picked the fire pig cuz he looked the most bad ass. I really want one of those psychic things that can access dreams, theyre awesome and I like the new male/female differences of some pokemon

My bad. Some of the new pokemon are nice, I picked firepig because I usually pick water or grass as a starter. The sexual dimorphism of Unfezant is surprisingly cool but there's always been a couple of differences between Male and Female after gen... 3 I think?

[DJScythe15]

I'm not hatin, I find that pic funny and thought you guys might enjoy it too. Heck I picked the fire pig cuz he looked the most bad ass. I really want one of those psychic things that can access dreams, theyre awesome and I like the new male/female differences of some pokemon

My bad. Some of the new pokemon are nice, I picked firepig because I usually pick water or grass as a starter. The sexual dimorphism of Unfezant is surprisingly cool but there's always been a couple of differences between Male and Female after gen... 3 I think?

<smartass>If you wamt to get technical, it goes back to Gen 1 with Nidoran. </smartass> But I agree, the more definite dimorphism in Unfezant is pretty nice.

On a sidenote, I believe I said I'd work on some sort of battle night, but failed to follow through. Sorry. ;_;

Quick poll:
1. Would people be up for something on either this Friday evening or next Wednesday evening? If so, which would you prefer?
2. Time zones might be rough, so would people be OK with two sessions, one aimed at the east coast of North America and Europe (~5pm EST) and one for the west coast of North America (~5pm PST)?

Additionally, if anybody is involved with LRR's IRC chat room, could you see if it would be alright if we used the room for that night?Otherwise, anybody have a alternate room we could use?

[Drinnik]

I happy now. I have a Serperior, Samurott and an Emboar, just got to Victory Road and ready to kick ass and chew berries. And I'm all outta berries.

[House MD]

I can do a battle tonight, but i'm not exactly very high levels right now.

[DJScythe15]

Thanks for the response, House. If you want a battle or trade, feel free to PM me.

Sorry, I think I've pushed for this too much without much demand for it. Maybe I'll try again in a few weeks if people actually want something like that. Apologies again if I've been to pushy on this.

We now return to our usual Poke-news. In light of the tragic fallout of the tsunami, the Global Link features for Black & White, including the Dream World, have been delayed indefinitely.

[Ollie, don'tcha know!]

I went and got White after for £1 after trading in three games, then got home and realised I still had the final boss left on Final Fantasy IV to play. So Pokemon's now sitting on my desk, just begging me to play it. But NO! I must grind some more on FF!

[gcninja]

Caught a vanillanite or w/e. I named it jizzicle. And my blitzle shocker. I think there's something wrong with me.

[EikoandMog]

Caught a vanillanite or w/e. I named it jizzicle. And my blitzle shocker. I think there's something wrong with me.

I can agree with that. Although, I did name my female firepig Ophelia. Cookie for the reference.

Not sure what I can bring to the table in terms of trades. I have all the Gen V starters able to breed, but that's it.

[DJScythe15]

Caught a vanillanite or w/e. I named it jizzicle. And my blitzle shocker. I think there's something wrong with me.

I can agree with that. Although, I did name my female firepig Ophelia. Cookie for the reference.

Not sure what I can bring to the table in terms of trades. I have all the Gen V starters able to breed, but that's it.

The Vanillite nickname: ewwwwww. That reminds me of when I joked with a friend about how Wingull's name can sometimes sound kind of...odd. (Wingull! Use Water Gun! Wait, that's not water!)

As far as nicknames, here are a few themes I've gone through:

Swampert: Muskeg/Morass/any other term for a swamp-like region
Porygon-Z: OpenGL
Houndoom: Barghest
Zoroark: Kumiho

@Eiko: Do you perhaps have a Cryagonal, Emolga, Sawk, or Vullaby? I could offer you one of the elemental monkeys, Zorua, or any of the other gen of starters in exchange.

Finally, another Dream World update! While there still is no solid opening date, a new game has been added to the official site that will flag your account on their site to later get an Eevee-lution with an alternate ability. More details are provided with the game and on Serebii.

[MotorWaffle]

It needs to be april so it can be winter and I can go catch a polar bear!

[Drinnik]

I caught a cubchoo in Autumn, they hang around one of the caves in the North East.

But I am the happiest of happy men at the moment. My friend gave me a Bulbasaur, who is now a Venusaur. Bulbasaur is my favourite pokemon ever.

[DJScythe15]

I caught a cubchoo in Autumn, they hang around one of the caves in the North East.

But I am the happiest of happy men at the moment. My friend gave me a Bulbasaur, who is now a Venusaur. Bulbasaur is my favourite pokemon ever.

Indeed, Cubchoo can be caught in all seasons; however, they also appear in new areas in Winter, as does the evolution Beartic. The same applies to some other Ice types (details here). You can also access some items in Twist Mountain that were in-accessible before, notably the TM for Substitute.

Grats on the Bulbasaur! I was always more of a Squirtle-type myself. XP

[Kyogissun]

Okay, many apologies for not following through with trading nights and whatnot.

As a heads up to the people who cared the most about doing these weekly things (DJscythe, gcninja, HouseMD) I'm gonna be doing some grinding through white today and over the next couple days so I can send White back later next week. Basically just gonna focus on completing white so I can get that glorious Zekrom I've been wanting rather badly.

Once I've done that and THEN beaten Black, I'm gonna reset my copy of black 'one' more time so I can get the last starter and elemental monkey I need to complete the set and then I'm gonna play the game straight from then on. Also to make it that any pokemon that were originally mine become permanently 'traded' type pokemon and have that double EXP boost.

...So yeah, hopefully I can make sure to actually participate in the trades in the future.

EDIT: To be clear, the reasons behind not playing Black and White were because of the following:
Early March - Dragon Age II
Mid to Late March - General Gaming Burnout
Past week or so - Burnout + Resurgence in Minecraft addiction

Also, I got the beastly Espeon from that Befriend a Pokemon game. I'm expecting to turn this into a monster of an enemy in multiplayer because of its Magic Bounce ability. Granted type trumping can probably DESTROY it, I'm hoping to work in something to counter-type-trump ghost and dark pokemon, if it's at all possible with Espeon.

[DJScythe15]

Okay, many apologies for not following through with trading nights and whatnot.

As a heads up to the people who cared the most about doing these weekly things (DJscythe, gcninja, HouseMD) I'm gonna be doing some grinding through white today and over the next couple days so I can send White back later next week. Basically just gonna focus on completing white so I can get that glorious Zekrom I've been wanting rather badly.

Once I've done that and THEN beaten Black, I'm gonna reset my copy of black 'one' more time so I can get the last starter and elemental monkey I need to complete the set and then I'm gonna play the game straight from then on. Also to make it that any pokemon that were originally mine become permanently 'traded' type pokemon and have that double EXP boost.

...So yeah, hopefully I can make sure to actually participate in the trades in the future.

No worries, I think a lot of people haven't beaten it yet, contributing to the lack of general interest. Another possible reason is that the call only reached regular viewers of this thread. Perhaps we could start a thread for a battle/trade night two weeks from the initial post, including a poll for what times would work best (once for NA West Coast and once for NA East Coast/Western Europe if need be).

On a sidenote, if all you'd be replaying for was that starter and monkey, I'd be glad to trade over bred copies of the Pokemon you need.

EDIT: New thread for Battle Night added! I'm currently polling for which night works best, so if you're interested, please answer the poll!

[Kyogissun]

Okay, many apologies for not following through with trading nights and whatnot.

As a heads up to the people who cared the most about doing these weekly things (DJscythe, gcninja, HouseMD) I'm gonna be doing some grinding through white today and over the next couple days so I can send White back later next week. Basically just gonna focus on completing white so I can get that glorious Zekrom I've been wanting rather badly.

Once I've done that and THEN beaten Black, I'm gonna reset my copy of black 'one' more time so I can get the last starter and elemental monkey I need to complete the set and then I'm gonna play the game straight from then on. Also to make it that any pokemon that were originally mine become permanently 'traded' type pokemon and have that double EXP boost.

...So yeah, hopefully I can make sure to actually participate in the trades in the future.

No worries, I think a lot of people haven't beaten it yet, contributing to the lack of general interest. Another possible reason is that the call only reached regular viewers of this thread. Perhaps we could start a thread for a battle/trade night two weeks from the initial post, including a poll for what times would work best (once for NA West Coast and once for NA East Coast/Western Europe if need be).

On a sidenote, if all you'd be replaying for was that starter and monkey, I'd be glad to trade over bred copies of the Pokemon you need.

I'm doing it half for those starters and half for the permanent 'traded' status for my original pokemon, but thank you for the offer.

I still also need to get Reshiram for black, so it all works out in the end.

[EikoandMog]

Caught a vanillanite or w/e. I named it jizzicle. And my blitzle shocker. I think there's something wrong with me.

I can agree with that. Although, I did name my female firepig Ophelia. Cookie for the reference.

Not sure what I can bring to the table in terms of trades. I have all the Gen V starters able to breed, but that's it.

The Vanillite nickname: ewwwwww. That reminds me of when I joked with a friend about how Wingull's name can sometimes sound kind of...odd. (Wingull! Use Water Gun! Wait, that's not water!)

As far as nicknames, here are a few themes I've gone through:

Swampert: Muskeg/Morass/any other term for a swamp-like region
Porygon-Z: OpenGL
Houndoom: Barghest
Zoroark: Kumiho

@Eiko: Do you perhaps have a Cryagonal, Emolga, Sawk, or Vullaby? I could offer you one of the elemental monkeys, Zorua, or any of the other gen of starters in exchange.

Finally, another Dream World update! While there still is no solid opening date, a new game has been added to the official site that will flag your account on their site to later get an Eevee-lution with an alternate ability. More details are provided with the game and on Serebii.

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I don't think I have a Cryagonal but I can get you the rest for Gen I starters.

[DJScythe15]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I don't think I have a Cryagonal but I can get you the rest for Gen I starters.

Awesome! Give me some time to breed up those starters. Would you like them as eggs (so they have your trainer ID) or already hatched?

[Kyogissun]

Hey DJ... What's the odds that you'd be up for power leveling a couple of pokemon for me? And/or loaning me some to help me burn through the main campaign?

I realize I'm probably going about this a bit too much of the lazy route, but the sooner I can send my copy of White back, the better... And if you're up for helping me out, that would be greatly appreciated and I'd gladly return the favor in the future via trades, breeding for egg moves, etc.

If that's possible, you got an AIM or GT I could contact and communicate with you on? ^^;;

[EikoandMog]

Sorry it took me so long to reply. I don't think I have a Cryagonal but I can get you the rest for Gen I starters.

Awesome! Give me some time to breed up those starters. Would you like them as eggs (so they have your trainer ID) or already hatched?

I swear I have the attention span of a budgerigar sometimes x.x

I'd prefer them egged.
Name: Marina
FC: 2408 4739 1636

[tak197]

I just got my own copy of Pokemon Affirmative Action. They also had Pokemon WASP as well, but I just went with this one.

Oh Yahtzee, you and your "Pokemon Race Relations" joke infecting my brain...

Two hours in and I already have my first badge, and four unique pokemon. I just need to figure out how to level up my weaker pokemon.