The Merits of Gen V

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

As there is a thread highlighting its faults, I wanted to see what people liked most about this generation. What were its strengths? Why do you play it now?

I’ll add my views later on.

 

[Kage-Pikachu]

I enjoy the large roster of brand new Pokemon, it was easy to use a different team during each play through I made. I also enjoyed how N was developed as a character, he appeared from the very beginning and was shown as often as the rival characters. The mystery behind his existence was pretty cool, a person who could talk to Pokemon and who was manipulated to believe that all Pokemon would be better off separated from humans was pretty interesting.

I love how each gym leader had teams of Pokemon that were never seen before so I had to be on my guard each time since I tried my best to avoid looking at spoilers. Unova itself was a beautiful region too and I loved its seasons. Reshiram and Zekrom were also two of the coolest Pokemon I had ever seen and I enjoyed the history between them. I just wish we got to see what the original dragon looked like since we can only fuse one of them with Kyurem.

 

[Emperor Empoleon]

• Working with a completely new selection of Pokemon in BW1 was both refreshing and challenging.
• To me, this Generation still has the series best plot and characters.
• BW2, in general. One of my all-time favorite Pokemon games. A cut above 3rd Versions in both story and gameplay content. It was really rewarding to see the characters and world had changed in the aftermath of the first game, and the sheer volume of content that comes from all of the sidequests and additional areas in the game is just staggering.

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

Pretty much everything especially the story, characters, soundtrack, and all the new Pokemon

 

[TikTok13]

Okay, so it's no secret that Gen 5 is my favourite, so it's good to have a thread about it.

• I loved the new Pokémon. Even Trubbish was interesting, because I had no idea what these Pokémon were capable of. It was a challenge to build a team of completely brand new Pokémon, and many of them were memorable and stand as some of my favourites today (Cryogonal, Serperior, Golurk, Bisharp, etc.)
• The rivals were a breath of fresh air. We recieved and massive contrast in all the characters that served as rivals, and over BW2 we saw how the two main rivals had grown up over two years.
• The Gym Leaders were all interesting, and I loved how they all appeared later in the game, and were more than just a one-off character.
• Kyurem was one of my favourite legendary Pokémon, and still is, in fact.
• The overall setting of Unova was diverse and engaging. It developed over the games, and there was a true sense of immersion in each and every city, my favourite having to be Castelia because of the 3D effects (and the addition of the sewers)
• The seasons were a remarkable function that deserves a comeback. It made what was once a bland route into one of splendour in certain seasons.
• The plot was probably the strongest of all Pokémon games, with the entire premise of BW contradicting the norm of the Pokémon world. Team Plasma were refreshing, and didn't feel like simple pushovers in their aims.
• Ghetsis was probably the most threatening and unstable villain in the series, even over Lusamine. Just think, he "adopted" a mysterious boy from the forest, brainwashed him into thinking that he was a King, and fighting for a good cause, only to have his world shattered as Ghetsis reveals that it was all for his own power. Plus, if I remember correctly, he threatens to attack Lillie in the Rainbow Rocket event, but don't quote me on that.
• The soundtrack was unbeatable. Every little theme worked, and gave even more diversity to the game already.

 

[Mega Altaria]

Although it's not my favourite generation, I do like some things that came out from it. Firstly, it has introduced more competitively viable Pokémon and the fact that B2W2 had the PWT, where the player can battle important characters from past games.

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

Same

Okay, so it's no secret that Gen 5 is my favourite,

Like the feedback everyone. My opinions:

• An all new roster, with no recurring Pokémon to start off the first set of Games. Still having playthroughs where I haven’t used ‘mons (Hydreigon).
• Seasons. As said, they need to come back. Gave the games that extra “something”.
• Plot, Plasma and Ghetsis were refreshing. Still are. In the end his goal may have been the same as other bosses (Domination). In a way, at least he was subtle. Not using legendaries/weapons to just flat out kill massive numbers of people/‘mons. His approach was more believable. Gym leaders actually having a role in the plot was good to see.
• Best game music of any given Gen, Castelia being my least favorite due to how much time I spend there on any given play through. Opelucid would have to be my favorite.
• Character development/designs, generally, this gen was my favorite in that category as well.
• Having sequels, instead of just a third version, and the post game content they provided also made these extremely likable games.

Might add more but these are what come to mind, immediately, if I were asked what was good about this generation.

 

[NovaBrunswick]

Although some people hate Gen 5 to death because of its rather... unorthodox Pokémon designs, like all gens, Gen 5 has its good and bad points. I'm just going to focus on the good points as per this thread's title:

• All-new Pokémon helping to reboot the franchise
• Great characters and development, including N and Iris - who went from Gym Leader to Champion
• Gym Leaders were no longer just Gym Leaders, but characters in their own right (see Drayden being the mayor of Opelucid City, Lenora running a library/museum)
  
• A third version that puts all other third versions to shame - Black 2/White 2
• The return of Gym Leaders and Champions past and present for the PWT
• The return of Cynthia
• Some of the best, if not THE best, music that any generation of Pokémon has had (Opelucid City, Nacrene City, Mistralton City, Team Plasma battle theme, Elite 4 battle theme)
• Triple and Rotation Battles
• Being able to link Black/White and B2/W2 together with the Memory Link to see what's changed in the two-year gap between the two games

Thanks for coming to my TED talk on what's great about Gen 5.

 

[Tsukuyomi56]

- Pokemon that were not just filling roles held by Gen 1 Pokemon were some of most interesting in the series.

- BW Team Plasma was likely the most well written villain team, notably with N and Ghetsis.

- Had some of the best music in the Pokemon series.

- Rich post-game, notably in BW2.

- PWT hit that nostalgia just right by allowing you to fight almost all the Gym Leaders and Champions.

- BW2 been sequels puts a nice twist on the usual third versions, they are currently my favourite games of the main series games.

 

[KyogreThunder]

-Reusable TMs (even if a good number of useful moves like Roost and Dragon Pulse was replaced with stuff like Incinerate and Struggle Bug)
-The storyline
-The sequels instead of the third version
-The music (especially the themes of Route 10, Opelucid City in White/White 2, vs. Gym Leader, vs. Cheren/Bianca)
-A number of new Pokemon (Samurott, Golurk, Haxorus, Zoroark, Volcarona, Reshiram, Cinccino, Braviary, Sigilyph, Mienshao, to name a few)
-Join Avenue (in the sequels)

 

[Leonhart]

The fact that seasons were added in the Generation V games was a nice step in the right direction, as were reusable TMs. Some of new features like the Dream World were cool, too.

 

[MockingJ]

Amazing post game stuff and the PWT come to mind. Heck even small things like moving sprites during battles and limitless TM usage were cool.

 

[((JAWS))]

So many things,
- Pokémon World Tournament. Basically every game in one.
- Battle Subway
- Cities to desserts to sewers. Variety.
- Story-oriented which makes it experimental and innovative for a Pokémon game.
- Commentary on complex issues
- N was amazing
- The legendaries played an awesome role in both games
- The music was awesome.
- Loved BW2s Rival

 

[Denko Sekka]

The Team Plasma stuff in Black and White was amazingly handled especially N's autism and redemption. Those games and their sequels also had the last good soundtrack in the franchise.

 

[SubtleVVeirdoh]

Agreed.

Those games and their sequels also had the last good soundtrack in the franchise.

 

[Ignition]

Gen 5 is definitely not my favorite but I would lie if I didn't like most of the gen:
-Cheren and Hugh.
-The secluded Dex. Wish this was a thing again
-The OST. Some of my favorite pieces are Gym Leader's Last Pokémon, the starting town of B2W2 (can't remember atm), Colress/Cheren/Shadow Triad's encounter themes, Elite 4, Route 10, Opelucid City (Black), and, my personal favorite, Low Health theme.
-Colress, who's my favorite character in Unova
-The moving sprites. Prefer them to the 3D models
-How NPCs can add instruments to a song
-how early most of my favorite Pokémon can be caught
-Introducing my favorite Pokémon, Krookodile
-How they went to sequels instead of 3rd versions
-Iris as a Champion

 

[Leonhart]

Those games and their sequels also had the last good soundtrack in the franchise.

I agree. I don't know if Junichi Masuda still worked on soundtracks after Gen V or not, but quality has fallen and B2/W2 are the last games with amazing music.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Good main story, Gym Leaders actually have their own unique personalities, Evil Team Leader that really isn’t evil and a fake out, Ghetsis being actually an evil mastermind and master of mind control, Seasons made every area of the game it was used in feel completely different, Game exclusive areas and overworld differences, TMs became reusable and not inexplicably disappear after use, post game exploration was nice, Hidden Abilities made some terrible Pokémon actually useful, and you get to play as a character older than 10 or 11 for once.

 

[agent9149]

*It was the height of 2-d art. Perfection. I wanted the RSE remakes to be done in that art.

*The map was so rich and handcrafted. You could tell they put care into detail. I felt like I was actually exploring and not just walking a predetermined path. I mean let's talk about it: Big cities, small towns, massive bridges, forests that look like actual forests, the season changing the maps, the routes were so extensive.

*The gyms were great.

*The writing was the best.

 

[Taodragon]

-I loved the focus on only new Pokémon for the first game as I liked the idea of having to start from scratch and experiment with the different options rather then defaulting to old favorites.
-While the dex is often attacked for some of its Pokémon, it's home to some of my favorites such as Hydreigon, Archeops, and Sawsbuck.
-Speaking of favorite Pokémon, I love the Tao Trio and I think overall they had the best handling in terms of their lore and story implementation, I also liked how their designs played off of each other.
-I liked the storytelling, I enjoyed that they focused on the main villainous team for BW1 and it was good to see it continued into B2W2 rather then repeating it with a third version. I also liked N and Colress, particularly the former as he goes through some notable changes across the story.
-The rivals, Bianca and Cheren have their own story arcs and it was fun seeing how they grew up and pursued different jobs based on that development.
-The Memory Link was an excellent idea as it rewarded you for having the previous pair, and you got story and character development (ex. Iris) as well as little treats such as items and Pokémon.
-The map, while linear, had some really nice locales and did allow you to explore around the surrounding area if you felt like it.
-Side/Post-game content, the Pokémon World Tournament, Join Avenue, and Funfest Missions were fun to mess around with.
-The OST was one of Pokémon's strongest.
-The Gym Leaders had more of a presence to them, they also had excellent gym designs which was helped by the variation in music of the Gym Theme in the sequel.