professor_tammi

Umm, I hadn't really been planning on making an LJ now, but since I have noone else to talk to about Pokémon, I suppose I'll just rant to myself. On the internet. Brilliant idea! (I also wanted to brag about Europeans getting BW before most Americans, buuut... I actually kind of feel bad about it.) So. Here we go. RANTING ABOUT POKÉMON.

I've already spoiled myself on everything that isn't strictly in-game, main storyline-related stuff, sooo I won't be ranting about the new pokémon or anything like that. I figure I've already ranted enough about those elsewhere. :)

I pick Snivy as my starter and promptly name it Smugsnout. It's just like Smugleaf, but slightly different! And I'm fully aware that it's a poor in-game pokémon. I like using mediocre pokémon. It's fun.
Before the first gym, I met a very interesting Youngster by the name of Joey. Youngster Joey is in BW. That's right. But this time, he only has two Patrats and a Lillipup - what happened to his Rattata? :( (I'm sure his Patrats are in the top percentile of all Patrats, though.) Unfortunately, he doesn't ask for your phone number. Maybe it's because you don't actually get a phone.
I find and catch an Audino. I realize you're supposed to faint them for the ~delicious experience~, but they're just so adorable! Just. Look at it. D'awwww!
I find another Audino. This time I faint it. Then I proceed to feel bad about it. Poor Audino.
One of the seven sages of Team Plasma apparently quotes Sun Tzu. "If you know your enemy and know yourself..." etc. I'm not sure if this means anything, but. It just stood out to me for whatever reason.
I get to the bug-type leader, Burgh, and notice that both Smugsnout and my Liepard are weak to bug. Whoops! Still managed to beat him without any trouble, though, rather surprisingly. Spamming Potions is the key to victory.
Currently right before the 5:th gym leader, who I believe is the ground-type leader. And also a cowboy.
My party atm: Minccino, Tirtouga, Liepard, Servine. Only missing Chandelure and Braviary! But... actually getting that Braviary may be troublesome. I'm not sure if finding someone willing to trade will be that easy. Meh. I'll have to try.

Some more general musings related to the plot of the game, which I knew very little about beforehand (maybe some very minor spoilers, but probably nothing too big?):

Cheren and Bianca come up a lot. Generally you'll see both of them at least once per new city, which is pretty cool since encounters with your friends/rivals in the other games were actually pretty rare! This time around, it really gives you more of a "adventuring with my friends!"-kind of feeling.
Speaking of which, while I feel Cheren and Bianca are the friend-characters of this gen, much like I'd say May/Brendan were in RSE and Barry was in DPP, N feels more rival-ish. You can even tell by the battle music. N's is almost creepy, as is the character himself. And... is it just me, or does his dialog scroll by faster than usual? Idek. In any case, he's a little scary, but still seems pretty honorable/just for being a Team Plasma member. Basically a "good guy" on the wrong side, I guess?
Speaking of Team Plasma, I'm not entirely sure what I should think of them. On one hand, they seem like your typical pokémon baddies - "we're going to LIBERATE pokémon by ABUSING them!" (ok, Team Plasma, I can accept you kicking around others' mons, since your goal is supposedly to separate humans and pokémon, but wild pokémon? What. Why) - but on the other hand, they also seem much more willing to comply with your demands than you'd expect ("Return the stolen pokémon please." "Weeeell, since you've beaten us, sure! :)") and are rather competent in comparison to, say, Team Rocket, as they actually manage to successfully steal other trainers' pokémon the vast majority of the time. But it's nice to see that the games finally bring up the issue of "are pokémon our slaves or our friends?"; we'll see how this goes.
I rather like the fact that the gym leaders have more dialogue than "Prepare to lose! ... oh, you won. Have a gym badge and a TM. Bye.", and actually play some kind of role in the story. It's pretty cool - they're still not particularly amazing or engaging characters or anything, but it's a step forward, and besides, I wasn't exactly expecting amazing storytelling from a Pokémon game, so I was a little surprised.
Regarding the translation, this is a very silly thig to be nitpicking, but I occasionally feel a little annoyed by the fact that there are too few contractions. I can understand more polite trainers not using them, but PreSchoolers and Yougsters? Huh? It seems to get better as the game goes on, though. Not that I know anything about writing. But the translation does feel a little wooden, imo.
Cheren has recently, at the point where I am in the game (5:th gym leader), become very fond of saying "what a bother". This is only giving me flashbacks to Naruto and Suikoden V. I'm unsure of what I should think about this. Cheren = Ninja? Yes, that seems like a logical conclusion.
Speaking of which, I was a little surprised to find out that Cheren's main purpose for battling is to become stronger, much like the first two rivals (Gary/Blue/whatever and Silver). He certainly seems like one of the "good guys" (and I'm pretty sure he is one), buuut he's of the opinion that strength > LOVE when it comes to raising pokémon and I'm waiting for the game to prove him wrong, because we all know it's going to happens eventually.
Another interesting thing BW brings up is the issue of the trainers' parents! While most seem perfectly willing to send their 10 12-year-old children ~~to their deaths~~ on a perilous journey with hundreds of murderous monsters with supernatural powers randomly popping out of the grass, Bianca's dad doesn't seem particularly content with the idea at all. I suppose this is partly because of Bianca's general Cloud Cuckoolander-ness, but it's interesting to see that not all parents are completely ignorant of the dangers of pokémon journeys. Of course, Bianca's father eventually decides to let her do what she wants, after their opinions have been peacefully settled by TALKING (I wish families worked like this in real life). ... actually, the music during that scene was really pretty! I should look through the OST for it.

Right, time to play some more! And hopefully get to the pokémon league by the end of the day.