Sunday, October 14, 2012

New poll: Favorite new BW2 feature

Self-explanatory. Now that the game is out worldwide, it's a good time to ask. If you're not far enough to have experienced these features, don't worry, I'll be leaving this poll up for a little while.

Anyway, from my experience, it's hard to choose because there's so much amazing stuff. Join Avenue allows you to buy stuff you couldn't ever dream of buying before, and the discounts on level up really provide incentive to keep coming back. Pokéstar Studios may be the best mini-game ever. Pokéthlon was great, but this is like puzzles, except with Pokémon battles. Of course a crit can mean the recording is an insta-fail, but otherwise it's a really clever concept, along with the strange ending mechanic. The Fanservice Tournament may be pure fanservice and a re-skin of Emerald's Battle Dome, but hey, it's really fun with all the modes you can choose from, and all the old characters thrown in for the gratuitous fangirl squeals.

The Hidden Grottoes are a great addition, allowing you to get extra items and DW Pokémon, even though the idea is fairly simple. The Funfest missions are a slight step up from the missions in the first game, but they're still not all that amazing. The medals... well, Pokémon finally hops on the achievement bandwagon, and it works great. I haven't tried the Black Skyscraper / White Treehollow yet, so I can't say anything about it. Same for Easy and Challenge modes, though these are fairly self-explanatory anyway. Same for the Memory Link events. Putting them in the poll anyway.

15 comments:

  1. I was a little bit miffed when the plot-required tournament for the PWT was a straight tournament rather than just dolled-up standard battles. I was still training my Magnezone, I wanted the experience.

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  2. For me, it's a toss-up between challenge mode (screw easy) and the Fanservice Tournament. In the end, I feel challenge mode is the best addition, because Pokemon needs that extra little boost to make the game more exciting. It starts to get boring after a while when you one-shot most things you see, so hopefully challenge mode will rectify that (haven't gotten that far yet).

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    1. Challenge Mode would be my favourite new-in-BW2 feature if they were actually available from the outset as a difficulty switch rather than having to find people in real life and trade keys around. It's another case of "goddamnit, Gamefreak, not everyone lives in Japan, stop making this shit IR-only".

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    2. To be fair, I find this game to be a bit harder than the first one because of the level curve, which they got just right this time around, along with the lower encounter rates.

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    3. Glad to see I'm not the only one who noticed... I was starting to think that I sucked at playing the game now for some reasons. After 5 Badges, I never found myself overleveled at all. Heck, I needed to grind a little bit before each Gym so that their ace didn't get a big level advantage.
      However, I do admit that I wanted to try a few new Pokemon I wouldn't consider using on a serious playthrough while waiting for somebody to be able to pass on the Challenge Key to me. (For exemple : Azurill needed a lot of babying, but after reaching its final evolution, it became the hardest hitter on my team for quite a while.)

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    4. My level advantage against Drayden's Haxorus was THREE. I don't think I've ever had a level advantage this small at this point in any game.

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    5. I know what you mean. I've had a one or two level disadvantage for most of the game, and I've found it hard to reach the gym leader's levels without grinding (which hasn't happened in any other main series game).

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    6. ...And then route 23 and its obscenely overleveled Audinos appear, making you look like a fool if you don't grind to at least 60 before entering Victory Road.

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  3. i say challenge mode just cause i'm SO excited to see this added. though i gotta say i'm a little embarassed to admit that locating and getting those medals are like crack to me even though i've never cared about achievements before in a game.

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  4. I'd say the challenge mode. I'd like to see how much harder it makes the game, though I don't really feel like doing a second Black 2 playthrough straight after I finish my first. But I'll probably do another Black playthrough once I've finished, and then play Black 2 again but with challenge mode.

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  5. The problem with Challenge mode is that requires you to go through some hoops to get if you aren't associated with a gaming community.

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    1. I agree, hence why it didn't get my vote. For some reasons, I like the Hidden Grottoes, even though they are rather impractical during the post-game, but during the main story it's easy to get something to appear in there.

      I don't know... I just like to check if there's any new Pokemon available inside these things every now and then. When you want a change of pace and you don't know what to do in the game anymore, you can just take a break from everything you're currently doing and take a look.

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  6. My favourite BW2 feature has been the sheer variety in mons you can use, especially in the earlygame which has greater variety in ever.

    Currently running Weezing/Magnezone/Cincinno/Espeon/Lapras/Zoroark on my way to Humilau, and loving it.

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  7. I might scratch in a feature.
    The new gym layouts were my personal favorite. Each had their own custom remix which made the whole challenge feel like an event.
    The electric gym in particular captured how Americans are obssesed with flash and excess.
    They also had the strip mine/hotel owning businessman, a rundown backalley punk rocker, and a laid back surfer duuuude. Subtle social commentary all around.

    I DID NOT like the deus ex blockades. There were like four "under construction" excuses to keep you from moving on in the game. I even ran into (I kid you not) eight fat men "dancing" as a way to stop my progress.

    Also way too many strength puzzles.

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  8. What about the ridiculous frequency at which the game offers up valuable items in exchange for barely any effort? (LEFTOVERS AND ENERGY BALL TM IN THE MAIN-GAME FOR PRACTICALLY NOTHING OMGWTF! o__o) I've only got 5 Badges at this point, so I'm left wondering if the insanity continues... No, I'm not asking anyone to tell me. :)

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