Countdown to XY: A Nostalgia Thread

I never played Black and White, but I played White 2 using only 5th Gen Pokémon, so I can sort of answer this question. It felt a little like my first playthrough of my first Pokémon game. After repeatedly playing my old games over and over, I came to enjoy the fresh start. It also warmed me up to the 5th Gen Pokémon, which I previously disliked somewhat.

I wouldn't mind either way whether or not Game Freak pulls another 5th Gen in a future game. On one hand, I would like to make new friends in a brand new region. On the other hand, I would like to explore a new region with the friends I already have.
 
Stellar said:
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh (new region, only new Pokémon, etc.) in BW? Explain why.
Optional question: Would you like to see something similar happen in a later generation?

Two weeks!
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Although, at first, I wasn't too sure of the idea of starting fresh in BW, I think, overall, there weren't any downsides to it, and, in a way, it allowed me to "shift" to the mindset of a competitive player (or, rather, "see" a new "perspective"), as Gen 5 was really the first generation I was involved in competitive battling during (only on Pokémon Showdown though, so far). This will likely held me to expand my knowledge in Generation 6 (essentially, I'm prepared for the world of competitive battling in this generation).
I don't think I'd like to see it again anytime soon, though, but perhaps a bit later (e.g. Generation 9 or 10? :P :P)?
 
Stellar said:
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh (new region, only new Pokémon, etc.) in BW? Explain why.
Optional question: Would you like to see something similar happen in a later generation?

Two weeks!
Click to expand...


gee it was fun for me, i was being a retard and thinking starmie + metagross worked like in DP. Unfortunately, though i didn't see exca or thundy, so i missed the initial buzz with nattorei, doryuuzu (the times when people still used the japanese names for new pokes). But the fresh start was fun in that this was the first gen i actually legitly played semi-competitively and used a decent team i didn't rip off of someone else.
 
Stellar said:
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh (new region, only new Pokémon, etc.) in BW? Explain why.
Optional question: Would you like to see something similar happen in a later generation?

Two weeks!
Click to expand...
It was nice but XY will be even better cos we're like two weeks away from the big release and we (Australian's included) don't know anything more about the game than the Japanese and the American's. When BW was released Australians had to wait an extra ten days for the game and I can tell you that was HARD seeing posts like "I just defeated the 2nd gym" "oh this is a great game" or worse "I'm now working on completing the pokedex" it was maddening... frankly while XY will include older pokemon in the game it'll be an amazing experience to be able to beat the 2nd gym along with everyone else so yeah I can't wait for this game!
 
Day 16:
FOr some reason I couldn't get into BW or BW2. I finished BW but just couldn't enjoy BW2 but I don't know why. Plasma and N annoyed me but so did May and Aqua/Magma. So I guess I would enjoy a "soft reset" of Pokemon again but as long as it's better than BW
 
Day 16: I usually try to stay region specific anyway, but I barely liked enough Pokemon to have a full team of Unova Pokemon. So, as long as the Pokemon are good, I don't mind. Thank goodness Lucario is in Black 2.
 
Damn i skipped Day 15.

DEFINETELY Battle Frontier, i dont want the PWT to go tho, but id like them to take out Red of it, and put Iris i guess, i just feel its an insult to his character, idk im weird like that. Other features would be... OMG WALKING POKEMON, HG/SS was so good and accepted because of that, it was just so cool to have your Typhlosion or any party teams always by your side :]

Day 16:
Well, i started pokemon pretty damn quickly, i went through like 3 games in a month, all different storylines, so it is different for me than most of you. But i must accept, i quite hated the slowness andthe fact most pokemon were weak at first, however, later on in the game i realized that the entire region was pretty cool, specially from Driftveil city onward, and the pokemon wer enot half bad either if you werent like me and tried to train the effing larvesta you got in Route 18 with a good nature, most pokemon were good enough to train them in-game. What made the game for me was probably and most importantly the storyline, N is hands down the best written character in Pokemon, in BW i got to see the depth of pokemon when ameFreak takes it seriously, and Ghetsis is easily the singlemsot evil villain in the series. I could go on and on but **** my wi fi.
 
Day 16:
I think it could have been better for me. It took me 3 days to get through Pokemon Black but Black 2 took around a month. I'm actually playing Generation 4 games still because I don't really like the animations.
 
Stellar said:
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh (new region, only new Pokémon, etc.) in BW? Explain why.
Optional question: Would you like to see something similar happen in a later generation?

Two weeks!
Click to expand...

I liked the concept, but it didn't fully have the gravitas of that because Japan got it so much earlier than we did, so a lot of the new mons were spoiled for us. If they did something like that for Gen 7, I'd be cool with that.
 
Day 16: To be honest, No! I think it was a great concept. But my problem had more to do with my dislike of Gen 5's zoomed-in, overly pixelated battle animations of pokemon. Yes, they were moving, but they were so pixely. I couldn't appreciate any pokemon I saw. I wanted to prevent the animations by going to the options menu, but realized that only move animations could be disabled. Pokemon still move. Every pokemon battle bothered me. And since all I saw were gen 5 pokemon, I disliked them. I'd bet that if BW came out with gen 6 graphics, I would have loved it. In other words, if future title had graphics as good or better than X and Y, I wouldn't mind such a feature.
 
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh (new region, only new Pokémon, etc.) in BW? Explain why.

Yes, yes, a million times yes!

I like having a good break from the past ... since we inevitably get access to the past afterwards. I loved being limited to 200 Pokémon in RS, and seeing the rest of the Pokémon slowly reintroduced to the series.

I love finding new favourites in new generations. BW made that not just more appealing, but essential. Even caves and oceans were more interesting without Zubats or Tentacruels. And absence makes the heart grow fonder - when I finally did get the older ones back, I was thrilled to see them. How pleased I was to grab a Mareep in BW2! And a Dunsparace - excited by a Dunsparce. Wonderful.

Optional question: Would you like to see something similar happen in a later generation?

Yes. I suspect we'll see something like in in gen 7. That seems to be the rule so far. Even-numbered generations are heavy on links to the past, with new evolutions and/or pre-evolutions, with odd-numbered generations putting far more emphasis on new Pokémon - the only new family members introduced in an odd-numbered generation to old Pokémon are Azurill and Wynaut, aren't they?
 
Stalungrad said:
And absence makes the heart grow fonder - when I finally did get the older ones back, I was thrilled to see them. How pleased I was to grab a Mareep in BW2! And a Dunsparace - excited by a Dunsparce. Wonderful.
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I think this is a great point. I enjoy having classic Pokemon available in my game, but getting them back after a game without them is even better. And really, having a region full of nothing but new Pokemon added to the adventure; it's the closest we'll get to the "fresh start" Stellar brought up in one of the earlier questions. I can't say I had a problem with being forced to train interesting new Pokemon instead of being tempted by those I knew already. When things like Zubat returned in the sequels, it was actually kind of exciting to see them instead of just being expected, and I'd had the perfect chance to find some new favourites beforehand. Would I want it to happen again? Absolutely.
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Day 11: What is your favorite mini-game?
Either the Surfing Pikachu one or any of the Pokethalon ones. The rest just seemed pointless. I mean, I guess you could argue that all games are pointless, but... idk, the Pikachu one was a fun Easter Egg and felt like a reward for getting your hands on a Surfing Pikachu, and the Pokethalon actually got you stuff that was useful in-game. Everything else seemed like an afterthought, tbh.

I never liked Contests, and I've never even participated in the Musicals at all because they seemed SOOOOO stupid. THe only prizes you get for Pokemon Musicals are MORE THINGS TO DRESS YOUR MONS UP IN FOR THE PURPOSE OF POKEMON MUSICALS. Totally not cool.

Day 12: Which song/theme is the most nostalgic?
I could go on for days about Pokemon music. It's impossible for me to choose just one, so here are the ones that REALLY stand out for me:

Pallet Town: where it all begins. This music is so soothing and pretty, like a lullaby, almost. Very fitting for the town in which you supposedly grow up until you are old enough to become a trainer and explore the big wide world of Pokemon. Also very fitting because Pokemon was such a central part of my childhood.

Gary's theme: the music that struck fear into our hearts whenever it was played.

Trainer Battle music (RBY edition): From Youngsters to Fisherman to Sailors to Cooltrainers, this music played in the background for almost every trainer battle back in the day. I'll never forget when my Bulbasaur leveled up to lv 16 after defeating a Hiker's Geodude and subsequently evolved into Ivysaur.
Gym Leader Battle music (RBY): super epic. To this day, I imagine this music playing whenever I'm taking a difficult exam or have to do anything that is particularly challenging, and it motivates me to try as hard as possible!
Champion music: absolutely amazing. added so much excitement to an already high-pressure battle.

Ruins of Alph: definitely captures the mystery surrounding the ruins.
Ecruteak City/Cianwood City: Beautiful, soothing, and memorable.
National Park: Remember bug catching contests? Remember getting the Quick Claw from the nice woman near the bench? Remember running carelessly through the grass catching Sunkern and battling Pokefans? And remember sneaking behind the fence to get Dig? Those were the days.

Surfing themes (1st and 2nd gen): Don't you just love the way these evoke the feeling that you are truly drifting away on the back of your beloved Surfing Pokemon? The sun shining down upon you, the light sea breeze in your hair as you head toward Cinnabar Island without a care in the world except those pesky Tentacool~

RBY music overall is the most nostalgic for me because it's the 1st gen! It's where it all began and stuff. But I also think that the earlier gens actually had better music than some of the later gens, or at least more memorable music. It's amazing how incredibly rich and evocative the music is, especially given the limited 8-bit sound thingy that they had to work with back then. 3rd and 4th gen music just doesn't compare on average (though there are exceptions). 5th gen has some pretty awesome pieces though. I'm certainly no genwunner, but I will always have a soft spot for the first two gens of Pokemon.



Day 13: How do Colosseum/XD compare to other main-series games?
I have mixed feelings on these.
On one hand, it was nice to finally have a 3-d representation of the Pokemon world, and Shadow mons were a cool new concept. I also enjoyed Mount Battle and how you could import your RSE teams to take on Mount Battle for some really awesome prizes (HO-OH!!! <3 <3 <3 )

On the other hand, purifying said shadow mons got to be really tedious after awhile (and perfumes were EXPENSIVE), and I didn't enjoy the complete lack of variety that we were forced to endure as a result of being restricted to using only our starters, shadow Pokemon, and maybe a (sucky) "wild" pokemon (which wasn't at all the same experience as main-series wild Pokemon, as they only appeared in that one place, and the options were EXTREMELY limited).

Day 14: If you were given a pill that erases all memory of Pokémon, would you take it?
Whaaaaa...? Why would anyone ever do that? I cherish all of my Pokemon-playing memories and would never want to forget any of it ;_; I mean, upon further reflection, I could *sort of* see why someone would want to erase their memories of Pokemon so they could ~start fresh~ and play again with all the wonder and sense of discovery they had back in the old days, but... I still get that same sort of feeling whenever I start a new gen. Even if I do look at pretty much all the pre-release info, it doesn't reveal what it's actually *like* to play the game, you know? So I'm always really excited to get to that especially cool-looking area or catch that Pokemon that was previewed in CoroCoro. Knowledge is not the enemy!

So no, absolutely not!

Day 15: Which past feature do you want to return in XY?
Secret Bases (third-gen style!!!) :toast: :heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart::heart:
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Seriously, why did they get rid of these?! :mad: also how do you put in hide tags? I feel bad for posting pics without hide tags but literally can't find them, but I am probably just stupid in my sleep-deprived state and they;re somewhere obvious
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Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh in BW?
Absolutely! It was nice to be able to walk through caves and not encounter Geodude and Zubat by the ton, and it was also nice to have to learn to use new Pokemon. It helped that a lot of the new ones were really awesome and/or cute like Galvantula, Chandelure, the Snivy line, Purrloin (even though it sucks), Deerling, etc. The fresh start was especially welcome after 4th gen, which didn't offer that many truly new Pokemon at all, instead giving us a buttload of evos and (even worse) unnecessary prevos (though I have to admit, Budew has definitely grown on me! There will NEVER be an excuse for Chingling or Mime Jr. though)
 
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh (new region, only new Pokémon, etc.) in BW? Explain why.

Yep! It really pushed the developers to try and make each new pokemon inventive and new, even though they were following the same fomulas. It was also cool to see the parallels between them and 1st gen mons.
 
Day 16: I actually didnt play Black until a month after I played Black 2, but I did enjoy it. Many of the Unova pokemon are great, and when I got access to axew, I overleveled it just to see what it evolved into! So I would enjoy such a feature in the future again.
 
Day 16: Well, yes and no. When I first heard we weren't going to have the old Pokemon until post-game, I was furious (like everybody else I ever talked to). My opinion was still colored by that through most of the game, and a lot of the Pokemon I really liked (e.g. Joltik, Litwick) weren't available right away, so I had to make do with using some Pokemon I didn't like (I normally don't do this at all). Now that all this time has passed, though, I understand the reasoning behind it, and I'd actually sort of like to see it again. (That being said, I am most definitely keeping Bulbasaur and Torchic with me in whichever of the new games I get, although I'm going Kalos-only outside of that unless we get Joltik back.)
 
Stellar said:
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh (new region, only new Pokémon, etc.) in BW? Explain why.
Optional question: Would you like to see something similar happen in a later generation?

Two weeks!
Click to expand...

New Pokemon only was a great intro to BW. It forced you to use the new things which was great as opposed to holding back until you found a cool mon from another generation.

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Was my first team I set out with in Unova and I loved it to bits. I was genuinely surprised how much variation BW2 allowed you to have from the new Pokemon in terms of team building. There were several options for all the major types and most of them are actually decently strong ingame.

I am pretty happy with this happening in any generation, as long as there is some way to catch some of the older stuff in the game (Such as a different style of Safari Zone or seperate areas) after the main story line. That way it keeps the options later for team modification late game (which I almost never do).

Stalungrad said:
And a Dunsparace - excited by a Dunsparce. Wonderful.
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My B2 teama ctually used both Sunflora and Dunsparce! I was incredibly excited about having both on my team during my B2 play through. I was of the opinion that Dunsparce was finally available without having to grind for 50 billion ours to find one, so I might as well train it. Being so early in the game was great.
 
I might be among a minority here, but I found a "fresh start" midly annoying. It could have been good, but it ended up rehashing the same concepts as earlier Pokémon, as if "How can we fill the niches the old Pokémon used to fill, without having them in-game?" was the main question asked before design began.

I think I first noticed it when I encountered a Tympole. That thing IS Poliwag 2.0. Pidove is, for all intents and purposes, identical to Starly. I have a hard time telling Purrloin and Glameow apart (look at their poses). Timburr is a three-stage, bipedal pure Fighting type that evolves at a level in the mid-twenties, and reaches its final form after trading. Sounds familiar? Roggenrola/Boldore looks nothing like Geodude/Graveler, they can have that, but they evolve at the exact same levels in the exact same way. And Boldore, just like Graveler, is the region's most common cave-dwelling rock type. And don't get me started on how Throh and Sawk might as well be called Hitmonwrest and Hitmonjudo.

It was a nice idea to take the old Pokémon out and put some new ones in, but why did they have to be designed so much like their old counterparts? If they wanted to take out the cave-dwelling bat, why put in another in its stead? Why did the regional muscle man have to behave exactly like the old one? If you want to have a tadpole evolving into a toad, there exists a perfect tadpole evolving into a toad already! No need to make a new one!

It was as if GameFreak wanted the roles played by old Pokémon to stay, but created new designs to play them. The old Pokémon weren't just taken out, they were replaced. Whether it is by art design or game design, there are a LOT of Unova Pokémon that feel eerily familiar when you first meet them, or start using them. Either, they look like old Pokémon, or they play just like them. Instead of creating new concepts, GameFreak kept using the old ones. At least, in the earlygame. Luckily, the later half makes up for it pretty well in my eyes.

Despite this rant, I have some love for Generation V. After the fourth gym or so, it was as if GameFreak decided that they had filled all the roles that were necessary for the game. All the required boxes were ticked, now they could be creative. If you scroll down the Unova dex, you get this "seen this before, seen that before" vibe until you get approximately halfway. "Hey! That's a new one!" I thought when I first saw Solosis. Despite my hate for the Vanillite family, I have to admit their concept is quite creative. Foongus is elegant in its simplicity, Litwick and its family are realy cool designs. The later half of the Unova dex is quite creative, I have to say. A shame the first half consists of Pokémon whose role could have been played perfectly well by existing Pokémon. Of course, there are exceptions in both halves (The elemental monkey concept was kind of good, if you ovelook that there are six of them and they are used by every other trainer in the game. Likewise, Bouffalant is Tauros with a wig), and it might be difficult to draw the exact dividing line between creativity and recycled designs, but as a rule of thumb it fits surprisingly well.

But all in all, "fresh starts" should be fresher than this. If GameFreak ever try to pull this stunt again, they better come up with some new roles and new design concepts for the Pokémon selection they give us early game. I played Black and White thinking "this might as well be that old Pokémon, this one does exactly the same as that one," etc, all the way to Nimbasa.
 
The problem with it was that I like going into a battle thinking "Oh my god what is this Pokemon going to be like!?" if it's a new generation. B/W didn't have that surprise factor. After battling lots of Rattata seeing a Helioptile will be great, but in B/W battling a lot of Woobat gives you... a roggenrola. I already flipped out at the Woobat, I don't need to flip out at you...
 
Day 16:

Totally, was my very first time that I made a team exclusive based on Electric type pokemon, and now is my standart, even re-playing old generation games. Also the first time that (since Gen 3) that my team was "Exclusive gen" pokes, sadly for the sake of the theme "(Queen) Ophiuca" (female Serperior) was replaced by Zekrom.



Zerkrom get replaced by Rotom... for the sake of "Fairness" XD

...No if you excuseme I need to train more stunfisk.
 
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh in BW?
I get enjoyment any time GameFreak tries something new with the main games. For a series that uses evolution as a central theme, they sure take like to drag their feet when it comes to changing even the tiniest thing about 'em. The only way it's going to grow and improve is if they push themselves in some way, even if most of the new critters we got were just 2.0 versions of 'mons that already existed. But hey, at least they're trying something. It might seem kinda patronizing to give out accolades to a company for taking baby steps with its main franchise, but they're also walking a thin tight-rope here. And instead of a safety net, there's a horde of angry, angry nerds at the bottom with pitchforks and signs that say "Ruined Forever". Somehow, calling Pokemon fans "touchy" doesn't quite cover it. You really get the impression that they want to shake things up and get ca-ray-zay but are afraid that the whole thing'll fall apart like a Jenga tower if they do too much. But as far as making us go through the usual song-and-dance with less-than-usual crew, I thought it was a nice change of pace. It also didn't hurt that a lot of them are just really good in either in-game or competitive. Plus, for every copy-paste 'mon, there tended to be some unique little snowflakes like Galvantula, Reuniclus, and Whimsicott.

And just as an added impression - even if it didn't end up being nearly the grand rebirth of the franchise the devs made it out to be, I think there was enough general improvement over Gen IV to consider it a worthy sequel. My big gripe with the previous outing was that it really didn't offer much over Gen III at all. The physical/special split was long overdue, but aside from the rinky-dink 3D backgrounds there really wasn't much there they couldn't have done on a GBA. With Gen V, we at least got something that looked like it belonged on current-gen hardware. The music was also a big step up, but your mileage may vary on that one.
 
I have to say I had mixed feelings about starting fresh. On one hand, I loved (almost) all of the new Pokemon, but on the other hand it seemed almost alien to me since there was nothing familiar until you beat the game.
 
Day 16: Did you enjoy the experience of starting fresh (new region, only new Pokémon, etc.) in BW? Explain why.
I thought it was an interesting experience and I did enjoy it. Usually when a new gen comes I try all new Pokemon, but here I was basically forced to (and same for opponents). Swoobat wasn't as annoying as Zubat, then again it's because I uses (Super)Repel a lot lol.

Optional question: Would you like to see something similar happen in a later generation?While it was enjoyable, I'd have to say no. If I want a "fresh" start sort of thing I'd choose it, but I don't wanna be forced (unless I migrate). In XY I'll use all Kalos Pokemon with the exception of one old Pokemon for Megavulation. Since unfortunately there isn't a Kalos one.
 
Day 17: What is your favorite Pokémon movie/anime episode?

You can answer one or both. Activity seems to be dropping, let's try to fix that! :)
 
There are two, but my absolute favorite episode has to be the last episode with Sabrina. I feel like they really handled her character well and she was very memorable despite only appearing in two episodes.
 
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