That sucks...considering how good Black and White 1 were.

Well to be fair it was either a B/W filler to include Kyurem and promote the Genesect movie or we suffer a remake of Ruby and Sapphire. And while my fave starter of all time came from that Gen (Sceptile) I hated the fuck out of those two lifeless games.

That said, who knows a remake might actually work this time.

But yeah, Tornadus/Thundurus/Landorus/Victini not being catchable or giftable was dumb but not gamebreaking.

What I hate is Dream World. Or more specifically Dream World Pokemon with damn good abilities which can't be received legally like Solar Power Charizard. That really pisses me off.

It doesn't need to be "Filler" though. Crystal presented a side story with prominence of Suicune. Emerald gave us a 3rd, completely different plot to R/S, by having Groudon and Kyogre in direct conflict with each other, instead of one of the two being entirely left out. Platinum gave us an altered universe, where Sinnoh's temperature drops and is far more snowy and icy, with the entire Anti-Matter dimension business.

B2/W2 gave us a continuation of B/W's story, except this time, there's no excuse for why the Plasma members are so rock stupid it's embarrassing.

Dream World was an interesting concept that just has too many flaws. Can only be accessed once every 24 hours? That's rather inconvenient. Can only be used for one hour at a time? Pray the site doesn't lag (Which is does). Can only bring back one Pokemon found in DW? You better hope there was only one Pokemon worth getting. Certain areas where more uncommon and valuable Pokemon are only available after reaching a certain point amount? You better hope you can find a good two hundred strangers to be friends with, then.

Dream World could have worked, but the needless restrictions put on it plus the retarded time limits prevents anyone who isn't boosting from getting anything of value from it.

Wait...seriously? *checks DeviantArt* huh...not that much R34....but a lot of topless or nude...there seems to be quite a bit of Cynthia too. Why am I not surprised? I swear to God, if there's any of Iris...(no, I'm not checking).

The retarded time limit is there so that kids won't be glued to the computer trying to rack up points and hunt for specific Pokemon which is as you said random as hell. Limits us adults too from sneaking a couple of games at work. I've no issue with the time limit. The number of Pokemon that you can take with you is admittedly the biggest issue I have.

I found a Pineco and a female Swinub which had Thick Fat, an extremely useful ability in one playthrough. I went with the Swinub even if that Pineco would have evolved into a much cooler Forretress.

Ultimately, B/W2 feel more like expansions to the already good Black and White. Problem is its not in obvious places. If you are into EV/IV breeding and training, Shiny Pokemon etc etc...B/W2 actually helps make things much more easier. You can check general EVs with a call to Bianca, you can get a rough feel for IVs through the Ace Trainer in Gear Station. Tired of killing Basculins for Speed EVs? No sweat, just pop into Join Avenue where you've hopefully opened a Fitness Corner and put your Pokemon through a LV 30 speed training to increase the Effort in that one stat. Made a mistake in the EVs? Head down to the Beauty Salon and reset all the EVs back to 0.

To me personally, it seems like Black/White 2 focuses on making life easier for the "competitive" Pokemon players to Breed and train their Pokemon. Heck, I only learned about EV/IV stuff less than a month ago and thanks to all the features B/W2 provide it makes things a hell of a lot more easier to grasp.

In my opinion, the time limit is so that the already stressed servers don't get clogged even more. Nintendo really needs to update their infrastructure if they intend to reuse the Dream World for Gen VI.

I've been playing Dream World regularly for more than a month, but it's starting to bore me too. For me, I just feel the selection of Pokémon just doesn't warrant that much time spent. I don't even bother going to look for Pokémon anymore. My main focus in Dream World is decorating my home and planting those cash-grabbing berries, which makes it feel a lot like a Facebook game. :)

If I'm not mistaken, the Friend Limit is 50, and I have about 42. It's not that hard to find friends, and after a while people start looking for you rather than you look for them. Honestly though, I can't think of many "high points" Pokémon that are really worth it for a person to traverse the Dream World just for them.



Now, about Black and White 2, I finished the story and will probably begin training my team to beat the Elite Four. I know some people have problems with the hand-holding, but personally I quite liked it due to a mildly-OCD need of mine to clear out each area as much as I can before I progress to the next.

A few other thoughts:

1. This game really amps the aesthetics of a Pokémon game. I quite liked the airplane trip, the Marine Tube, the new cities, the cutscenes, etc. I also simply love how each Gym is now personalized, with Elesa's Gym being hands-down the most impressive Gym I have seen in all generations. GIVE ME WHAT I NEEEEEEEEEEEEED!!!!
2. As a whole, I liked the new additions. They flesh out Black and White and I think I can't think of a Unova without them. I spent far more time in the Join Avenue than I should, and I think the Pokémon World Tournament would end up being the main selling point of the game.
3. Love, love, love all the nods given to longtime fans! From appearances of past gym leaders and champions (with updated music!) to making EV-training easier, there's so much for an adult fan to enjoy.
4. I liked that the story was still pretty substantial like Black and White was, but I did feel that it wasn't quite as strong a story as Black and White. It did tie up the loose ends of Black and White nicely, though.
5. The fight with Black/White Kyurem was terribly anti-climatic. Surprisingly easy.

Overall, they weren't the revolutionary games that Black and White were, but Black and White 2 are really good additions that break up the monotony of playing mere remakes. Aside from a few polish issues, I'd say Black and White 2 are my definitive Generation V games.

B2/W2 makes it easier for EV training, undeniable. You'll soon find that most competitive players have long since dropped EV training and scouring for a Pokemon with perfect IVs in favor of just cheating. Creating "Perfect" Pokemon then inserting them into the game. Much faster, less hassle, and lets them make all sorts of teams.

I don't really care the purpose of the time limit. 1 hour every 24 hours is a needless restriction.

The problem of placing prominence on story vs. the rest of the game is the lack of feel. At no point do I feel like I'm on an adventure. The entire game has story events coming out of every orifice, which just makes me feel like I'm part of this gigantic team of 20 people all marching across the country.

No feeling of solitude (Lol solitude in a Pokemon game), no feeling of journey, it's just
Bianca: "Player! You need to start crossing oceans! Here's Surf!"
Construction Worker: "Sorry kid. This area is off limits. Come back in a few days."
Bianca: "Wait! Stop! Follow me!" *Leads you to where the next story point occurs."
Bianca: "I know you're in a city filled with buildings, any one of which could hold a necessary item to continue the game, but I don't think you're smart or patient enough to visit them all, so I'm just going to give you Waterfall, rather than let you find it."

Basically, I want to brain Bianca with a car battery. She killed my experience.

Bah. Some of us like things legal. That said I managed to breed a Charmander with Belly Drum+Jolly+Perfect IVs in Atk and Speed. Imma gonna train the shit out of this guy. Belly Drum+Flare Blitz sounds like fun times especially if I can do a Sunny Day set-up.

Anyway have any of you guys caught up on the Japanese Episode N arc? I think its about 3 or 4 episodes in but I pretty much fangasmed at the opening. Lizardon vs Reshiram? Hells yeah.

I stopped watching the anime ages ago. I went through a monitor a week having punched a hole in it each time Assh did something stupid or that annoyed the crap out of me. Which was every fricking episode.

Yeah. It shows that you stopped watching a while ago.
Ash mellowed out so hard over Hoenn through Sinnoh that I'm almost begging for him to do something hotblooded and brash just so something would happen.

Ash has gone from the angry, loud kid to the older brother type character for his current female sidekick, while Brock went from older brother to team mom (And then leaving altogether for BW).