Poketalk

I’m not going to lie. I really love Pokémon, not because the story is particularly deep or meaningful, it’s in fact very stupid and as mentioned in prior blog posts, but despite the paper thin plot of catching them all it still succeeds. After all, we don’t play Mario brothers for the deep overly complicated plot; we play it because it offers us a fun experience. Pokémon is the sort of fun where adult expectations need not visit.
I really enjoy playing black, basically have been playing nonstop since I bought it. There are a lot of little graphical flourishes that make the world feel more alive than it has in the past. The inclusion of seasons is a great idea, and while I do wish they did more with it the fact that there are some subtle changes is a good first step. I also like walking around and noticing that there are ripples in the grass sprite, indicating a breeze. Those little things are cute but not really the sort of thing that sells a game, what I really like and which is probably the biggest inclusion to any Pokémon game is the inclusion of moving sprites. Gone are the days when a piece of static game art is fighting against a piece of static game art, finally we have dramatic camera moves and a little stupid monster spastically moving as if they are suffering from diabetic shock. Something that should have been included years ago, finally makes it in and it really makes the game feel much more vibrant, despite all my sarcasm it’s probably the best thing about this new game.
The other great new idea is that little stupid monsters from the older games don’t appear until much later. It’s not like I ever use all of them but I know how disappointing it was when I was playing Diamond and was never really able to fall in love with the new Pokémon they had, especially when I could immediately trade in a charzard or something.
Now I have barely touched on the internet functionality of this game but I keep reading that it is “cool”. I guess I’ll have to try that next. Bottom line this is a great game, and I probably need a girlfriend.