The Official Pokémon Black & White Discussion Thread

[Dr. Wily II]

New Pokemons. o:
Have to admit, those designs look pretty outlandish this time. o:
Need moar

[borockman]

lol 3 vs 3? and possibly in real time? craziness in the making there.

[Deadpool]

as long, 3 vs 3 does not lag the game, i am okay with it.

[HokutoNoBen]

3v3 means that PKMN has FINALLY become a 16-bit era RPG. I'm so proud~!

Now, hopefully that just means that they'll actually implement it more. 2v2 is still horridly underused, after all...

[Mirby]

What I find annoying is all the people bitching about THEY SHOULD TAKE THE HMS OUT AND MAKE IT AN ITEM! BAWWWW!!

[Bueno Excelente]

3v3 means that PKMN has FINALLY become a 16-bit era RPG. I'm so proud~!

Now, hopefully that just means that they'll actually implement it more. 2v2 is still horridly underused, after all...

I hope it is underused. As much as I liked certain 2v2 battles, the POINT of the game is to make trainer versus trainer battles. And going over your list of single Pokémon works better in the regular battles. 2v2 and 3v3 are supposed to be all going-out-epic. So they fit in well in certain moments, just not all the time.

[Dexter Dexter]

3-on-3 battles? You have officially piqued my interest. Keep talking.

[Mirby]

2v2 and 3v3 are supposed to be all going-out-epic. So they fit in well in certain moments, just not all the time.

Like when you team up with Steven at the Space Tower in Mossdeep in Emerald. Now THAT was an epic battle.

[HokutoNoBen]

I hope it is underused. As much as I liked certain 2v2 battles, the POINT of the game is to make trainer versus trainer battles. And going over your list of single Pokémon works better in the regular battles. 2v2 and 3v3 are supposed to be all going-out-epic. So they fit in well in certain moments, just not all the time.

To me, emphasizing on the team aspect more would be along the lines of the kind of evolution the series needs. If they're not going to do anything to rock the boat about the "Eugenics Experiment" that is EV training, or even the basic "Rock-Paper-Scissors" dynamic, then at least focus on other aspects of the game engine that would force a change-up in the meta game all the same.

Besides, if they're not going to do anything truly compelling with it, then it's just a throw-away gimmick that they shouldn't have even bothered with. Battling is the focus of this series, and it's all that's there after you tear through the storyline especially. 

[Bueno Excelente]

To me, emphasizing on the team aspect more would be along the lines of the kind of evolution the series needs. If they're not going to do anything to rock the boat about the "Eugenics Experiment" that is EV training, or even the basic "Rock-Paper-Scissors" dynamic, then at least focus on other aspects of the game engine that would force a change-up in the meta game all the same.

Besides, if they're not going to do anything truly compelling with it, then it's just a throw-away gimmick that they shouldn't have even bothered with. Battling is the focus of this series, and it's all that's there after you tear through the storyline especially.

But the evolution towards constant team battles doesn't do anything but add more elements to a single battle instead of changing them. Evolution shouldn't be just about adding things, it should be about changing them so the overall system can work better. 2v2 or 3v3 battles should work really well in a larger, more epic context, of bigger battles. So you can actually feel the difference of complexity between battles instead of just fighting stronger opponents. Something like making Gym Leader battles like that would work well. What wouldn't work, would be to simply add more elements, more stuff, more weaknesses that you have to watch for at the same time. Because making that part of the constant gameplay you have to endure would ruin the simplicity Pokémon was based in its original concept. They should keep the simple battles most of the time, but perhaps think of a different gameplay system. Mix in other turn-based elements, maybe.

[Hypershell]

I kinda liked the GCN games for the fact that all Trainer battles were 2v2.  It was always my preferred format, introducing new strategies and bringing an overall faster pace.

I don't really see how 3v3 is going to work unless they introduce some mode-specific battle mechanics.  From a simple logic standpoint, once 2v2 has established how attacks behave with allies and multiple targets, 3v3 would only serve to weaken the single-target attacks that make up the majority of the game's arsenal.  So for that reason I am hoping that 3v3 will create its own unique mechanics rather than behaving as an expansion of the existing ones.

[Dr. Wily II]

Have anyone posted this?

http://i45.tinypic.com/33o4e91.jpg

Is that some new pokemon there? including wooter and smugleaf evo?

Hey borock?
Looks like this rumour pic of yours might be the truth after all, introducing 4 new Pokemon, which includes Smugleaf's and Wotter's evos.
This is due to a preview of the coming B&W arc in the anime, which showed a silhouette of a female trainer, that matches the girl in the pic.
Oh, and the girl's name is Iris.
Source: Pokebeach.com

Also, a short read as to why Pokemon designs differ so much through the different generations:

There's a team of people that is in charge of monster design. They're listed under "Pokemon Design." They come up with the ideas. They decide which ones are the best and refine them. Then, Ken Sugimori draws those designs. In the first generation, it was a group of four people (Sugimori being one of them), and Satoshi Tajiri's role (the creator of Pokemon) in creating the monsters was basically to approve them and suggest changes after the basic ideas were being designed. He's the only one under "Director" and "Game Design" for the first generation which means that he was in charge of pulling everything together and the overall experience of playing the game.

Nowadays... well, the truth is that in Ruby and Sapphire, Junichi Masuda took over. Ever since R/S/E, Satoshi Tajiri has not been working on the games at all. He's listed as "Executive Director" in most games. What does this mean? "Executive Director" is a fancy way of saying "this is the original creator, he approved this game but was not an active part of development." Occasionally he's listed as an "Executive Producer," which, from what I can gather, means he funded it but was still not an active member in developing it. Finally, in Pokemon Rumble (surprisingly enough), only Sugimori and Masuda are listed in the credits as "advisers" for the spin-off game. Tajiri is not listed at all.

So, Satoshi Tajiri is not really putting his mind into the monsters anymore. However, there is another part of why the monsters look different. The "Pokemon Design" of D/P/Pt was held by thirteen people. Ten of these people did not work on the first generation's Pokemon; Shigeki Morimoto (he's the guy who put Mew into the game) also stopped doing monster design during D/P/Pt. What does this mean? The people coming up with the Pokemon ideas are, mostly, different people each generation. R/S hired a ton of people, and that's why the third generation's style was so different. Black and White has also hired more people.

Thus, the main reason why the Black and White Pokemon look weird is because the design team has new people on it. Also, Satoshi Tajiri hasn't worked on the games for a looooong time (since the Gold and Silver days), thus the reason why Gen III and Gen IV looked so different from Gen I and Gen II. And now Gen V could look very different as well.

Source: Pokebeach.com as well.

DISCLAIMER: Although I did say the pic might be true, but... Still take it with a pinch of salt.

[Bueno Excelente]

So basically, the original creator has fled the series, and all monsters have looked like this for ages.

...Kinda figured that.

[Mirby]

Her name is Iris?

Will Ash wonder what he's fighting for?

[Sapphire Knight]

No, that would be the boy trainer.

[Gaia]

Oh, and the girl's name is Iris.

Like we need another one.  

They decided not to go with the game lead this time around; just as expected. Ib4 "what am I fighting fooarrrghh". But the smugleaf evo, it's inevitable, I'm starting out with that guy.

[Solar]

You know who the male trainer reminds me of?

[Klavier Gavin]

Her name is Iris?

Will Ash wonder what he's fighting for?

Get out of my thread.

You know who the male trainer reminds me of?

...lulz.

[Gaia]

You know what? [tornado fang] this. Nebula Grey needs to be Download Content for BW's next event 'mon if we are gonna have Iris!

[Mirby]

Ib4 "what am I fighting fooarrrghh".

Her name is Iris?

Will Ash wonder what he's fighting for?

Too late.

[Gaia]

Too late.

You post too fast man, you post too fast..

[Hypershell]

Oh, and the girl's name is Iris.

Well, there goes my dragon-themed trainer naming trend, 'cuz I'm sure as hell not renaming Iris.

[Blaze Yeager]

Probably the first (Anime) series that derives from using the game's female character...at least i think

[Mirby]

Well, there goes my dragon-themed trainer naming trend, 'cuz I'm sure as hell not renaming Iris.

Does Hypershell know what he's fighting for?

[Dr. Wily II]

Well, there goes my dragon-themed trainer naming trend, 'cuz I'm sure as hell not renaming Iris.

I was waiting for your comment.