Pokemon B/W Release

So, B/W came out today (technically yesterday). I haven't picked it up quite yet because I'm really trying to keep my finite funds open for Dissidia 012 Duodecim... But... I DO plan on purchasing it. I'm also holding off on it because I haven't actually finished Pokemon Soul Silver yet! I entered Kanto recently, though, and figure I'll make short work of it and Red in a couple days time... I'm sick, after all, so I don't have much better to do.

Anyway, figured I'd make a topic... Anyone else picked it up yet? What are your thoughts on it so far? I've checked out many of the new Pokemon on Serebii and Bulbapedia, and I've gotta say... A lot of these don't really FEEL like Pokemon. Anyone agreed here? Regardless, there are a good number of interesting and welcome changes- almost as many as unwelcome ones.

My primary grievance with B/W is the fact that many Pokemon are not going to be able to learn the same abilities they could in previous generations. Many Pokemon are losing moves which were very important to their sets. Many are losing out on Roost. Lanturn's losing Sleep Talk. On the other hand, there are a multitude of new moves, and you can tell that GameFreak has made SOME strides towards making up for the lost moves in the new abilities... A few that I'd like to point out...

Poison Heal Gliscor. This strikes me as pure awesome. Now, Gliscor not only has better healing than Leftovers (an admirable offering in place of Roost), but it can also provide the team with status immunity. Bravo!

Technician Breloom. Especially with the buffing of Bullet Seed (twenty-five power, 100 accuracy), this is a welcome addition. Consider that many popular Breloom sets ran Mach Punch, which is only made better by Technician. Back to Bullet Seed, though... Each hit has about 56 power behind it, give or take, after Tech and STAB, and it's guaranteed to hit at least two times. That's about 112 power- just eight points shy of your standard Seed Bomb with STAB. Factor in the fact that this can hit FIVE times total, and will often hit at least three times with consistency, as well as the fact that you now have multiple chances to crit per turn AND that you can now easily bust through Substitute... And you have one NASTY little shroom-dude. Bravo!

Drought Ninetales and Drizzle Politoed. I know many people are going to be appreciating and making good use of these ones! Now that we have more non-Uber perma-weather, I think we can expect to see a wider variety of effective weather teams! Personally, I look forward to the Ninetales... With a little HP investment, Overheat, Power Swap... Surf will no longer be an issue! Not that many people will be using Surf much *cough*SCALD*cough*. . . Bravo!

Sheer Force Nidoking! This is, by far, one of my favorite improvements... I've always been a big Nidoking fan, and Nidoking has only been improved by this new ability! Not only does Nidoking get a significant boost to fairly standard moves (T-Bolt, Ice Beam, Earth Power, Flamethrower, etc...), but Sheer Force also negates Life Orb recoil! Scarfed Nidokings rejoice- you can now enjoy the benefits of both Scarf AND Life Orb! As for Life Orb Nidokings... Walls beware! In addition to that, Nidoking picked up a lovely little trick in the form of Hone Claws, which boosts accuracy and Atk... Thunder, Blizzard, and Fire Blast, anyone? Earthquake takes advantage of the Atk boost, but Earth Power MAY still be stronger... Hmmm... Don't forget Sludge Bomb and Poison Jab, though! Respectable attacks with STAB bonus- only improved by Sheer Force!

Speed Boost Blaziken. So, who else thinks this will probably be Uber'd within the week...? Blaziken was already good. Is it now officially better than Infernape (especially considering Infernape lost SR and Vacuum Wave!)? I can only imagine what havoc Speed Boost Blaziken could wreak with Protect or Sub and Baton Pass... Throw in most any typical Fighting move and Flare Blitz... I sure wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of that grilled chicken!

Magic Mirror ANYTHING. One of the problems I always had against SR was switching out just as they switched in their SR Pokemon, and then not having Taunt on me that turn... Well, with Magic Mirror around, I think we might be seeing a little less SR and Spikes (likely not Toxic Spikes, since a Pokemon using it can likely absorb it, too), and stall teams MIGHT be a little less common. Of course, likely, the most awesome players will keep on truckin' and just sail right through... Only time will tell!

Contrary Serperior. I've already seen this in action on a couple YouTube videos... And it's NASTY. With Contrary, Leaf Storm actually DOUBLES Serperior's Sp.Atk rather than halving it! Throw in a good Hidden Power, maybe Sub for Dragon Tail (which will, no doubt, be very popular), and you've got yourself something beastly! Charge Beam's got nothin'!

Regenerator Slowbro/Slowking. If your Slowbro or Slowking is in a tight spot... It's OKAY to switch out and expect it to survive whatever attack you switch it into... Cause Regenerator will keep its HP up! It'll never really be a pain switching out against something nasty anymore (assuming you've got something just as nasty to switch to)! Especially considering that their previous abilities really weren't all that impressive, this will be a VERY welcome change!

Moxie Honchkrow. Being a versatile and powerful revenge killer with priority moves like Sucker Punch and Pursuit, Honchkrow's probably going to love this! Some other things get it, too, like Pinsir, Heracross, etc... Scarfed, I bet they'll make great use of it!

Prankster ANYTHING. Whimsicott's going to be exceptionally silly with this one! Priority Encore? Priority SubSeed? Look out, Jumpluff! You may have just met your match! I can't wait to abuse Whimsicott, myself, being an avid fan of SubSeed Jumpluff already...

I'm also liking a lot of the changes to old abilities! Storm Drain, Lightning Rod... They both suck up attacks and turn them into Sp.Atk boosts now! Another nifty one is Sturdy, which now acts as an innate Focus Sash! Anything with Stealth Rock will love that!

Of all the new moves I've seen so far, I think the one I'm most excited about right now has to be... Scald! How many bulky waters are going to replace Surf with Scald? There aren't many I can think of that really need those extra fifteen points of power, but a thirty percent chance to BURN...? Sign me up! Of course, I'm sure we've ALL heard about Shell Smash now, and the crazy things Cloyster does with it... Don't forget though, Cloyster's not the only one that gets it! Quiver Dance gets honorable mention for raising THREE stats all at once!

Goodness, I've typed a lot... I'm actually tired and ill, so I think I'll wrap this up now... I'm not even much of a competitive battler anymore... I just like theorymon! Never gets old...

Later, everyone!

I picked up White at launch, have been playing it on and off in between Tactics Ogre and Marvel vs. Capcom 3, all three of which I highly endorse.

It's very good, the new story and characters are actually fairly engrossing, I never beat SoulSilver or Platinum because they just ran the gamut from a boring storyline, to merely being a retread. The new Pokemon are also pretty interesting, I'm really enjoying the grass starter.

I'm finally leaving this herpaderp base in Mississipi on the 10th to go back home for about a month of leave, so I'll have more concrete things to say about it when I am actually given the time to play it as much as I want.

Still haven't actually PURCHASED B/W, but I've been battling around on Pokemon-Online, and figured I'd report back on some findings...

First off, Whimsicott... Is AMAZING. I still can't QUITE tell which is better- Whimsicott or Jumpluff- but Whimsicott has some MEAN tricks up its sleeve!

Whimsicott @Leftovers
-Encore
-Leech Seed
-Substitute
-Swagger
Prankster, Bold
252 HP, 232 Def, 24 Spd

With Prankster, this thing's Speed is pretty much irrelevant, unless you're up against, like, BP Scizor or Mammoswine or something, but in either case, the defense investment is at least enough to let you get off a Leech Seed. Encore with priority is just... Stupid-good. It's amazing, especially against their last Pokemon. Awesome lock when you catch them in a non-damaging move or something you resist (switching in against Waterfall, EQ, Thunderbolt, etc...). I FREAKING LOVE Whimsicott.

Galvantula @Petaya Berry
-Thunder
-Bug Buzz
-Substitute
-Disable
Compound Eyes, Timid
252 Sp.Atk, 252 Spd, 4 Def

Thanks to Compound Eyes, this thing gets a beastly STAB'd, 91% accurate Thunder. How awesome is that? While I know it looks gimmicky, I have actually found Disable to be INCREDIBLY useful. In one case, I predicted a Mammoswine's Ice Shard, and knew the Petaya boost would be wasted if I just died to another Ice Shard right after... So I let the first Ice Shard hit me, which triggered the Berry, Disabled Ice Shard, and then killed Mammo with Bug Buzz. It was great. Those kind of situations come up CONSTANTLY, considering this thing's speed. Disable's just GOOD for it. I MIGHT cut Petaya for Leftovers or something, though, as the extra survivability, paired with Disable, might help me get some free Subs and healing, while sticking around to hit a greater number of times... Weaker sweeping, though.

Mienshao @Life Orb
-Fake Out
-U-Turn
-Force Palm
-Taunt
Regenerator, Jolly
252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 HP

I started using this on another team as a lead after seeing someone else run something similar, and lemme tell you... It's awesome. This is pretty much the new Ambipom, to a degree. While neither moves are STAB'd, this thing gets Life Orb boosts on Fake Out and U-Turn, and then gets its HP back on the switch with Regenerator, making it an incredibly safe and useful hit-and-run Pokemon. With Force Palm, it can easily take down the occasional T-Tar, or land some para-hax on something bulkier. Taunt is great on any speedy lead to shut down SR, Spore (Breloom, Amoongus), etc. This thing's just plain awesome.

Serperior @Leftovers
-Substitute
-Leaf Storm
-Hidden Power Fire 70
-Leech Seed
Contrary, Timid
252 Sp.Atk, 252 Spd, 4 HP

WARNING: THE AMOUNT OF AWESOME PROVIDED BY THIS POKEMON MAY BE TOO MUCH FOR SOME PLAYERS TO HANDLE.
... Leaf Storm. 140 power. 210 with STAB. Drops your Sp.Atk two stages after use.
... Contrary. Reverses stat changes.
. . .
Yeah. Anyway, Substitute blocks things like Toxic, Spore, T-Wave and Dragon Tail. Leech Seed is a nifty choice in that... Well, it allows you to actually COUNTER BLISSEY and CHANSEY. This is important. Even with max boosts, it might still be difficult to take down a full-health Chansey or Blissey, especially at the risk of being T-Wave'd, Toxic'd, or Ice Beam'd between attempts without a Sub. Leech Seed pretty much fully restores your HP each turn, and once they're low enough... One good Leaf Storm puts 'em down. Serperior with Contrary and Leaf Storm is disgusting. You have been warned.

A few other things I haven't used yet, but have seen...

Amoonguss. It's that mushroom thing, Poison-Grass... And it's freaking hard to take down. It's no less painful to go up against than Venusaur, if you ask me... Especially considering it gets Regenerator, netting it 33% of its health each time it switches out. This thing took an Ice Beam from my Sheer Force-Life Orb Nidoking with a Modest nature and max Sp.Atk... And survived. It wasn't even at max health! I was amazed. This thing has GOT to be worth investing in.

Zoroark. I didn't really think much of the Illusion ability, but its actually fooled me once! I saw a Conkeldurr switch in, tried to hit it with Psychic, and then lost my Slowbro after Psychic did... Absolutely nothing! Turned out, it was a Zoroark in disguise! Spiritomb once tried the same trick before, but I was not amused... This would be more impressive if you didn't see the opponent's team before each match.

Ferrothorn. This thing has consistently been a THORN in my side (GET IT?). It has pretty mean typing, and really good defenses, making it painful to go up against. Not even Whimsicott can take this thing down! Darn those Grass types!

Speaking of Grass types... While I know Leech Seed gets BP'd, I didn't know it bypassed Grass type's immunity to it! Yes, I've seen Leech Seed BP'd to a Grass type and STICK. That was pretty nifty! Whimsicott is the bane of BP teams everywhere. I love Encore'ing Dragon Dance, Agility, Quiver Dance, etc... Beautiful!

I think that's all for now... I'll come back with more later! Seeya!

Before the release, I had found (on pokemon online) that Accelgor worked as a pretty good lead running Energy Ball/Bug Buzz/Toxic/Venom Shock, but it was most unfortunately completely walled by most steels. Life Orb Elektross was a pretty nice mix-sweeper with Brick Break/D-Claw/Thunderbolt/Flamethrower, but it worked best in Trick Room (courtesy of Musharna) since it's pretty fragile. I used Crustle to modest success as a rather gimmicky physical wall with Counter/Withdraw/X-Scissor/Stone Edge.

My favorite, though, was definitely Scrafty (Low Sweep/Bulk Up/Crunch/Drain Punch). Low Sweep is a godsend against a crapton of faster sweepers (and works nicely against pretty much anything you want to slow down), and Drain Punch gives some extra survivability. This thing has no real problem dealing with Hydreigon, especially if it has had the chance to get in a Bulk Up or two beforehand.

I myself haven't actually picked up either game yet, not too sure if I'll actually get around to it anytime soon.

Hey guys.

I'm a total nerd and had imported White version when it came out in Japanese. I played it a lot in the one week of summer vacation I had (ah, summer classes...) but then stopped once the fall semester started.

Last week I picked up an English copy of Black so I've been playing both versions on and off during spring break. They're both excellent games IMO and I like that they have actual stories. It's nice to see the "bad guys" having a real motive, not just wanting to destroy the world or whatever.

You'll find that the Pokemon you're not sure about (the ones you're saying don't "feel" like Pokemon) will feel more like Pokemon once you've played the games. That's how it is every generation. I found myself raising multiple teams in White version because I couldn't stick to just six Pokemon...I liked so many of them!

The English releases (and spring break) have motivated me to start playing competitively again after a LONG break. Until yesterday, I hadn't played ANY competitive matches since the HGSS tourney on Glacidia. I don't remember when that was but it was around the release of HGSS...so, yeah, a while ago. And when I entered that tournament I had already mostly stopped playing besides the occasional casual match.

I played a handful of games yesterday and somehow won all of them but I know my luck will run out as my rating improves XD. But hey. I'm making some dumb mistakes because I forgot things but hopefully I can at LEAST get back to my fourth gen skill level. I might have to play more offensively, this gen is fast-paced. I think it'll slow down a bit as time goes on, though, fourth gen started off similarly.

Blaziken hasn't been too threatening to me, honestly. Maybe it's my team (I do have a nice switch-in) but I don't think it's ban-worthy. Excadrill is problematic and I don't know how I'd fair without my counter for it. That's one beastly Pokemon in the sand.

I'm sad that I missed the opportunity to use Drizzle Politoed and Swift Swim Kingdra ;_;. Ah well.

well, so far my only problems is the HORRIBLE names.... I mean before they were somewhat clever... but not anymore. The names make it seem like a pokemon knock off. secondly the balence from trainers and wild pokemon seems to be off. I've not played a pokemon game in the past where wild pokemon AND trainers were level 20 in the SAME area. And lastly the two 'best friends' are a billion times worse/annoying than Gary will ever be. I swear every time I try to do something one of them pops up.

The good does out weight the bad though by far. Finally a chick professor, TMs are re-usable and the battle screen is ALMOST 3D. Love the way they are doing the graphics with city scapes. And i agree with sasami... the vilians finally have a legit goal, even though they remind me of PETA.

Picked up Black the other day.

Been enjoying it for the most part.

I don't really bother with playing competitively, but I'll check out Pokemon-Online occasionally just to see what's up. Garchomp's no longer Uber, nor is Wobuffet... Salamence has actually been described as "bad," which is strange, but whatever.

Excadrill is a huge pain in the ass, especially with a balloon. Azumarill with Aqua Jet seems to help handle it well enough.

I've learned that Gligar is amazing with Eviolite and Roost. True, it's vulnerable to Toxic, but you can always just Heal Bell or Aromatherapy that off, and it's immune to Toxic Spikes, anyway, being part Flying. It even hits hard with EQ without even having much ATK investment. Great "fuck you" to Blaziken.

Blaziken's not worth a ban. If Baton Pass with Speed Boost weren't an illegal set, it maybe would be, but otherwise, it's not as big a deal as any of us thought it would be.

Whimsicott's pro. HP Fire does a good enough job of dealing with Ferrothorn, which typically tries to counter it. Still considering trying out an offensive Whimsicott with Growth and Stun Spore or something, but Stun Spore has been terrible so far- way too inaccurate, especially with how common Sandstorm with Sand Veil is. Drives me crazy. Oh well.

Gonna cut this off for now, just figured I'd check in and say what's up. So... What's up. Later.

We should trade or something XD. I don't have anything competitive on either cart yet, though.

Now I've played a lot more Pokemon Online and have noticed some things.

One: Team Preview screwed with me at first but now I'm fine with it. It adds it's own share of mindgames. For example, if I see that they have a Gyara I know not to sack Celebi no matter what :p. And if they have Excadrill, I just lose (just kidding, I can usually revenge it with Infernape after Spikes/Stealth Rock).

Two: There are so many ridiculous offensive threats now that your team will ALWAYS be horribly weak to some OU Pokemon. Good players can try to play around it but team match-ups have become more of a big deal this gen (team preview can actually help with this a bit since now you can sort of prepare for the threat).

Three: Stall is hard ;_;. I play semi-stall now. It feels like offensive stall (yes, I realize that makes no sense) because even my phaze move is offensive (Dragon Tail, hell yeah). Still, us stall players did gain Ferrothorn as a great new stall Pokemon. He guarantees Spikes better than Forry and Skarm ever did (which is odd but he just finds more opportunities to get in, it seems?).

Four: Fourth gen was all about Dragon and Steel. This gen is all about Dragon and Fighting XD.

Five: Milotic rocks. Try it.

herpderp

I got White a few days ago, and it's basically nifty? Easily one of my favorite games in the series, up there with Crystal and Emerald. In-game is awesome. The story is good, the writing is an improvement over HG/SS, the music is excellent (Celestial Tower <3), the graphics are great, and the gameplay is streamlined and well-balanced. Also I love some of the names...Tynamo? I don't care what you think, that is an awesome pun. I named my Emboar Pignition.

I haven't played a lot of competitive lately, but due to being an active lurker on PO's forums I was one of the earlier ones to get to play the metagame, back when Gen V PO was still in alpha. That shit was crazy. Anyway! There are a few new Pokemon I love using. Galvantula is probably my favorite. Accurate Thunders? Yes please!

Anyway. I'll have more to say when I start playing more competitive again.

...so I like... a lot of Ghost, Dragon, Fire and Steel types this generation.... what the hell?

Prostiboots wrote:...so I like... a lot of Ghost, Dragon, Fire and Steel types this generation.... what the hell?

That's unexpected. Steel types? Which ones?

Ferrothorn and Excadrill, and kiiinda Bisharp.

Bisharp is pretty cool lookin'.

Poor Klinklang, Durant, Cobalion, and Genesect.

They're all pretty lame.

I like Genesect. The other three are kind of lame in terms of design, but all function at least okay in competitive (Klinklang is probably the worst).

If only it had an actual physical movepool. :/

I know! But alas, it does not. It has Steel...and Normal. And that's about it. asdf.

They do that to lots of pokeeemanz in the generation they're released.

Completely random thought... Could Recycle and Fling work together?

^Yes (lulzy Belly Drum/Fling/Recycle Clefable@Iron Ball in UU xD)