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Pokémon Black and White and THREAD ALL OVER
Xenogears of Bore
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
POKEMON BLACK AND WHITE
AND 
Yes the Black Version has the White one and vice versa. Michael Jackson would be proud.
RELEASE DATES:
Japan: September 18, 2010
North America: March 6, 2011
Australia: March 10, 2011
Europe: March 4, 2011
OUT EVERYWHERE!
What is Pokémon?
A portmanteau of the worlds Pocket and Monster.
...
Yeah I know, its Pocket Monsters in Japan and some crazy made up Japanese word everywhere else. Deal with it.
Oh, you wanted a long ass Wiki style quote.
Pokémon is at its core an RPG in which you collect a party of cute and cuddly little monsters and beat up other children's party of cute and cuddly monsters, knock them out and steal their lunch money. That and furious inbreeding and cross species mating to create unstoppable battle thralls. If you're still in this thread you probably know all this. Oh sure there is usually some overarching plot line involving ten year olds, elemental gods, mad scientists, eco-terrorists, PETA gone bad and so forth. But basically battle, trade, level, breed, only to battle more.
But I don't want to spend 35 dollars in early March!
Pokémon games take FOREVER to depreciate in value. I guess you're probably interested in one of the many (16 released in North America and Europe) other versions of Pokémon. You've come to the right place. You probably have one or more of these games. If you own Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal then you're probably old. The first three games in particular have not aged well. If you want that old timey Kanto experience go play Fire Red or Leaf Green. These games are no longer compatible with the current generation of games. You probably have a hard time finding anyone to battle or trade with considering you can't battle or trade online. But at least you are secure in the knowledge that you've got the original unbalanced 151/251 of your formative years. Good for you.
Those games are awesome but have been remade. The remakes torch them in every which way.
If you own any of the other ten games you're in luck. Well, Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red, Leaf Green, and Emerald (Known collectively as Generation Three) can't trade online being GBA games and all but can move pokémon to the other five games via a Nintendo DS or DS Lite. These five games are the start of the modern Pokémon era and while not as refined as the five DS games are a step in the right direction. Natures, Abilities, Battle Frontier (Emerald) and a fixed EV/IV system.
Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold and Soul Silver are the real deal right now and compose the fourth generation of the game. These games have online battling and trading, refined mechanics, 486 possible Pokémon to catch, and slowdown! Platinum and HG/SS largely make Diamond and Pearl look shoddy. A great deal of this thread will deal with these five games so I won't talk too much about them here.
What is the deal with Black and White?
Taking place in a new region in a new part of the Pokémon world with over One Hundred and Fifty new monsters to catch and battle with. Yes, that is the most ever in a region. Also curious is the fact that no old version pokémon make an appearance before you beat the game, at which point you can trade over any Pokémon from any fourth generation game using another DS. Oh quit complaining and borrow another one. It will work perfectly fine with the upcoming 3DS that also comes out in March so there is a perfect solution right there. But yes, that means no Abra, Pikachu, Machop and most importantly no more Geodude or Zubat in every single cave.
What Features does it have? (NOW WITH BULLET POINTS)
It's gonna be fantastic.
Nothing major.
Current State of Pokémon
Victini is available over Wi-Fi from launch until April 10th. The next time it will be available is for promoting the next set of movies whenever the hell that happens.
Which Starter should I pick in Black White?
SNIVY: Think a faster version of Meganium, though not quite as tanky. Poor movepool. Not good against many gym leaders. Cool looking as hell though, Smuglord in particular.
TEPIG: Think a slow, bulky Blaziken. Interesting move pool. Good against quite a few gym leaders. Fire Type is no longer essential because of Pansear. Cute as all hell. Remember to use a heart scale on him when he's fully evolved.
OSHAWATT: Basically a slightly more specially orientated Totodile. Really decent movepool, decent against gym leaders. Cute as all hell.
Differences Between Black and White:
Version exclusive Pokémon:
Yes, Black Version is spanked in pure number (and quality too, white has a murderers row of new exclusives)
To make up for it, Black City has lots of decently high level trainers (with the evolved forms of the white forests pokémon to fight) and a shop with randomly selected items (which you normally have to get off the pokémon or ground of White Forest.
Black also has sweet bearded old man final gym leader while White has annoying girl from the anime gym leader. Only difference is the sex of their pokémon.
Other Tips:
Lilipup is the ONLY pick up Pokémon before you beat the game. By only, I mean only. Loses the ability for a much better one when it evolves. You can get lucky eggs and heart scales though, so you might want to consider trading over a level 40-50 Pachirisu/Linoone when you beat the game, or learn to mash B.
Audino is a Pokémon that shows up in the rustling grass sections and is worth an absolute boat load of experience points. Liquid Metal Audino is even more exp, and Metal King Audino gives out a ton.
I've beaten the game, I want to battle my friends online.
Good!
Oh, you want me to give you a not so brief rundown on how things work. Ok. Let's start with breeding.
Breeding in Brief
Basics
Breeding is honestly not as hard as it looks. When a male Pokémon and a female Pokémon love each other very much (don't hate each other) an egg mysteriously appears. We don't know how it got there but we wonder if you want to keep it.
Oh, you want to know how it works and why you would want to. Ok, fine.
Every pokémon in the game is divided into 15 egg groups. The fifteenth group is full of Pokémon that cannot breed whatsoever. This group includes legendaries that aren't Manaphy and Ditto. Each other pokémon can belong to up to two egg groups and can breed with any pokémon in those two groups...and Ditto.
Why would you want to breed? For egg moves and a chance at passing down favorable stats. Males give moves. Females determine which pokémon the egg becomes. If the pokémon to be hatched can learn the move then the move is in fact passed down. If all four moves are passed down then those are the ones you get. If only three are you'll get whatever pre level one moves the pokémon gets and so on.
How do you breed? Find the Pokémon Day Care. Put your two breedable pokémon in the day care. Wait for the old man to face out towards you, talk to him. If you have room in your party he'll give you an egg. Walk awhile with the egg in your party to hatch said egg.
EXAMPLE: I have a male Venusaur with Leech Seed and Earthquake and a female Meganium. They are both in the monster and plant breeding groups, so no problems there. Get the egg, keep it in the party until it hatches and presto, a new Chikorita with Leech Seed, Tackle, and Growl. Why no earthquake? Well, even though Meganium can learn Earthquake via TM Chikorita cannot. Tackle and Growl are the same moves any level one Chikorita would know.
Advanced
Ditto is a total slut. If a Pokémon can breed at all it can breed with ditto. Dittos always count as female so make sure you breed them with males if you want egg moves. Try to catch one of each nature to aid in breeding specific natures.
When you get more in depth with battling you'll frequently want to breed your pokémon for a specific nature to maximize your pokémons potential. Natures improve the base stat total of one stat by ten percent and decreases another stat by ten percent. Since most pokémon have at least one stat they don't need (Usually one of the attacks or speed) breeding for specific natures can only help out maximizing its potential. If you have a parent with the right nature you can make it hold an Everstone to give any egg it is the parent of a 50% chance to have that nature.
Why if you already have a parent of the right nature would you need to breed? Egg moves, better stats, better ability.
Example: The Chikorita from the last example was male but it didn't have a nature we wanted. If we breed it with a Timid Ditto holding an Everstone any egg hatched from that union will have a 50% (Plus the chance for it to be Timid anyways) to be Timid. This is a huge time saver!
Stats breeding is a bit more complicated. Each individual Pokémon has a number from 0 to 31 for each of its Stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed. This is called the individual value. Every wild Pokémon has a random number between zero and thirty one in each of these values. The higher the number, the higher that stat is. To simplify the game for people these numbers are hidden.
When it comes to bred Pokémon they inherit anywhere from one to three stats from their parents. First the game picks one stat from one of the parents at random and gives it to the egg. Then it picks a non HP stat (including the one it already passed) and then a third in the same way, only this time ignoring HP and Defense. The other 3 to 5 are random.
Determining IVs of newly bred Pokémon can be a bit of a pain. The best way is to have what we like to call an IV fight in which you challenge someone to an IV fight over the internet. Yell at someone on these forums to give you a fight, write down the values of each stat of the Pokémon, and enter those values along with the nature and breed of Pokémon into any IV calculator and presto. IVs. You can also use this to find out the hidden power of this Pokémon.
In Heart Gold/Soul Silver and beyond you can also use the Power items (Power Bracer, Band, Anklet, Weight, Lens,Belt Which we will be talking about later!) to guarantee that the parent holding that item will pass down the stat automatically. This can be incredibly useful, especially if you get your hands on a ditto with really good stats.
Anklet passes Speed
Band passes Special Defense
Belt passes Defense
Bracer passes Attack
Lens passes Special Attack
Weight passes HP
Example: We finally have a male chikorita of the nature we wanted, but its stats suck. We have a ditto with an awesome special attack (31, the best it can be) so we throw our young chikorita into the day care with the super ditto, with the chikorita now holding the Everstone and the Super Ditto holding the Power Lens. Now all eggs hatched from these two give you a 50% of being Timid and a 100% of having a 31 Special Attack!
Abilities: Well, once we are in hip deep with Generation five this section will get something added to it, but right now it is basically a 50/50 proposition on those with more than one ability. Abilities can make a great deal of difference in a battle or they can be basically pointless. Just keep breeding until you get the one you want!
Breeding Tips:
Pokémon in the first slot in your party hatch slightly faster.
Pokémon with the ability Magma Armor and Flame Body hatch eggs in half the time. I like Magmortar because he looks like a Megaman boss.
Smeargle can pass any possible egg move in the ground breeding group. This is amazingly handy.
Baby pokémon cannot breed. This isn't actually all that many pokémon. Pichu, Igglybuff, Cleffa, Magby, Tyrogue, Togepi, Elekid, Smoochum, Wynaut, Azumarill, Budew, Chingling, Happiny, Bonsly, Mime Jr., Munchlax, Riolu, Mantyke. The one people usually forget is Riolu. Just raise them to their next form and breeding will continue.
I use Serebii's Pokédex for Egg moves, Bulbapedia's page on natures and Metalkid's IV Calculator for IV Calculating. Serebii's method of grouping egg moves in particular is fairly handy.
Raising Pokémon
Once you have the egg moves, stats, and abilities you like on your pokémon now it is time to get them into fighting form. IVs are not the only way to effect the stats of a pokémon, each stat also has an experience system. Everytime you gain experience from a fight you also gain points on certain stats from the effort of fighting that pokémon. Vitamins can also add to the total, but only to a certain point. The stats go from zero to 255, and each pokémon can have a total effort value of 510 or two fully maxed stats. Every four points of effort gives you a one point gain in that stat at level 100! That means you could get a 63 point shift on any neutral natured stat and 69 on the stat positively changed by the nature.
Example: A Timid Alakazam with 31 IVs in each Stat would have a level 100 stat line of:
251 HP, 122 Attack, 126 Defense, 306 Special Attack, 206 Special Defense, 303 Speed with zero EV investment. If you put 252 points into Speed and Special Attack each and 6 points into HP though the line shifts to:
252 HP, 122 Attack, 126 Defense, 369 Special Attack, 206 Special Defense, 372 Speed, quite the difference!
EV Training in Practice
Each pokémon you fight and win experience points from gives you anywhere from 1-3 effort points in either one or two stats, the maximum being three points. A pokémon infected by the pokérus has all effort points gained doubled and those handy Power items mentioned in stat breeding's primary job is to add four points to any effort values gained in the stats that it effects. Using certain spots with lots of pokémon that provide the stat you want is a good idea.
Example: Our Chikorita from the previous example wants to max its Special Attack. If we have it fight Golducks which provide +2 effort values to Special Attack it will gain two points for each fight it won. It does not need to gain the killing blow nor be alive the whole fight, it only has to be alive when the golduck dies i.e. be eligable for gaining exp. If the Chikorita has contracted the Pokérus by being in a party with another Pokémon that has the virus it will gain 4 effort values in Special Attack. If it is equipped with the Power Lens it will gain (2+4) or six effort values and if it has both the Pokérus and the Power Lens equipped it will gain (2+4)x2 or 12 points.
EV TRAINING IN UNOVA:
HP
Surf in the dark puddles of Icirrus City - Stunfisk (100%, 2 HP)
Also, Victini (3 HP) can be rebattled infinitely as long as you do not catch it.
Atk
Route 1 - Lillipup (50%, 1 Atk) and Patrat (50%, 1 Atk)
Dragonspiral Tower 2F - Golett (100%, 1 Atk)
Dragonspiral Tower 1F - Golett (50%, 1 Atk), Druddigon (30%, 2 Atk), Mienfoo (20%, 1 Atk)
Outside of Dragonspiral Tower, Double Grass - Tranquill (30%, 2 Atk), Sawsbuck (30%, 2 Atk), Mienfoo (30%, 1 Atk), Druddigon (10%, 2 Atk)
A couple of notes need to be made here.
- At the moment, I am unsure whether Druddigon gives 2 or 3 Atk EVs. I've listed it as 2 for now.
- During Winter, the Double Grass location changes up. Druddigon is replaced by Beartic (10%, 2 Atk), which is great, but Tranquill is replaced by Vanillish (30%, 2 SpAtk).
Which of these locations is the best is up to you, assuming the Druddigon "mystery" is solved. If you don't mind keeping track exactly how many EVs you got, Dragonspiral 1F or outside Dragonspiral is the place for you. Outside gives the most EVs at in a short time, especially if you can OHKO two enemies at a time. If you'd rather keep it simple, Dragonspiral 2F or Route 1 are where it's at.
Def
Wellspring Cave - Roggengola (50%, 1 Def)
Pinwheel Forest - Venipede (15%, 1 Def) and Sewaddle (35%, 1 Def)
Pinwheel Forest Double Grass - Whirlipede (15%, 2 Def) and Swadloon (35%, 2 Def)
Chargestone Cave - Klink (29%, 1 Def), Ferroseed (20%, 1 Def), Boldore (10%, 1 Atk, 1 Def)
None of these guarantee a Def encounter. Wellspring Cave also has 50% Woobat, Pinwheel has Cottonee/Petilil (35%) and Pidove (15%), Pinwheel Double has Cottonee/Petilil (35%) and Tranquil (15%), and Chargestone Cave has Joltik (36-39%) and Tynamo (2-8%), depending which floor you're on. Note that Boldore gives 1 Atk in addition to 1 Def!
SpAtk
Celestial Tower - Litwick (100%, 1 SpAtk)
You can go to higher floors if you want, those have Elgyem (15%) which also give 1 SpAtk. There's a Nurse on 3F, which is convenient.
SpDef
Surf in Driftveil City - Frillish (100%, 1 SpDef)
Speed
Surf on Route 3 - Basculin (100%, 2 Speed)
You can Surf in a lot of places for 100% Basculin, but this is an example of a place where you don't have to go through tall grass or anything to get to a surfing spot when coming from a close Poké Center.
Vitamins while expensive can give a pokémon 10 effort values in the effected stat, up to a total of 100. You cannot go above the pokémon's total of 510 total points. Vitamins are not effected by the pokérus or the power items.
The Vitamins are as follows:
HP UP=HP
Protein=Attack
Iron=Defense
Calcium=Special Attack
Zinc=Special Defense
Carbos=Speed
Example: We battled 21 Golducks with our brave Chikorita (with the Power Lens and Pokérus) and earned an impressive 252 Special Attack! But now we want to add points to our HP. We go out and buy 10 HP Ups and give them to our Chikorita, giving it a total of 100 EVs in HP! We have 158 more points until max but we'd need to battle more to get any extra totals in HP! If we accidentily tried to feed the Chikoria a Calcium which boosts Special Attack it would not work, but we would also not lose the vitamin!
EV Tips
Focus on one pokémon and one stat at a time. It's much easier.
Use PP of your favorite killing move (assuming you killed the pokémon in one hit) to keep track of EVs. Just subtract the total you had from the amount remaining and multiply that by what the battle would give you.
The power items are post game only, but you could trade them over if you wanted. Note that they lower in battle speed by quite a bit when equipped, so be wary. You earn them in the Battle Frontier.
Use repels+higher level lead pokémon to get you into the spot where you ev training. Also use higher level pokémon to actually kill the thing for your level one guy.
Team Building
So now you know the how to get your team into fighting shape, but which pokémon to use? A good question. Team balance is an important idea. If all your pokémon are weak to one or two moves you could find yourself easily beaten and that's not fun. Try to keep these ideas in mind.
Have something that can stop sweeps: Some pokémon like to use stat boosting moves to raise one of their attack scores and then go wild against opposing teams. Having someone who can come in and get the kill on these monsters is absolutely vital. A strong, fast pokémon with a good move that goes first is invaluable.
Don't Have too many glass cannons. Remember those Strong Fast Pokémon I mentioned? Well, most of them are rather frail and they can't kill all pokémon designed to hang around taking hits. These walls are a vital part of any good team, able to switch in to hits and force the opponent to struggle while you heal off attacks they do or just simply kill them off.
Make your pokémon specialists when it comes to evs and natures, not attacks. Specilization is key in stat distrbution but remember that the more types of pokémon you can do super effective or neutral damage to the better. The ideal situation is being able to hit a few types for super effective and the rest for neutral, but on some pokémon designed for defense or stalling or other trickery sometimes the best you can do is one strong attack, so try for something that nothing is immune to. Ice and Dragon are good examples.
A good simple balanced team involves having a Special Wall, a Physical Wall, A Sweeper, a Lead, a Rapid Spinner or Spin Blocker (A ghost) and then a back up. Back ups can be clerics, annoyers (Status effects) and Revenge Killer (Assuming your sweeper can't do it. You can forgo the spinner if you know your opponent isn't using hazards for whatever reason.
Item choice matters, especially in the fourth and fifth generations. You can sometimes build the pokémon around the use of an item. If you can't think of anything better Leftovers is the default.
Entry Hazards need to be used and they need to be stopped. Same goes with weather. These effects can change the game dramatically. 5th gen will be rife with weather effect users and fourth gen was dominated by use of Stealth Rock. Having a rapid spinner was and still is a good idea.
Think outside the box. Everyone knows about various Smogon standards, and I'm not even suggesting you don't use them. However if you know their common moveset allotments you can come up with something custom designed to take them down.
All Pokémon are useful. Some are more useful than others. When fighting on P-A inevitably picks up again with the release of BW remember that we tend to have fairly open battling rules, basically no legendaries. Some places use Smogon tiers while others allow any number of legendaries or just two. Also learn about the item clause.
Battle, battle, battle. Practice until you know how the game works.
Making the GTS Work for You
The GTS is a wonderful, beautiful thing. Talk to the third receptionist from the left on the top floor of every Pokémon Center (except the league one) after you obtain the C-Gear. It's the second option down. This simple trade service comes in two distinct varieties; the shitty one where you meet up with some random asshole wanting legendaries where you show him/her/it a bunch of pokémon that he/she/it doesn't want and nothing gets done, and the awesome old school swap meet post board. This is the one that will get you ahead of the game. You can either post a request for a pokémon that you've already entered in your pokedex or look for a specific pokémon and do a 1 for 1 trade for it.
Looking for Pokémon is a suckers game. Most of the time you'll get ridiculous results. Oh, you want a level 100 female Heatran for your shitty level 14 Sawk.
Instead, post a pokémon you're willing to part with and some nice (usually Japanese dude) will give it to you. Note that asking for females for breeding purposes usually takes longer, but if you put up stuff like version exclusives, starters you've hatched from a lucky female, audinos, drillburs, tynamos, dragons, and other Smogon bait you'll usually get a trade lightning quick.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Black or White?
Oooh, ooh, yeah yeah now.
Black has items, lots and lots of items. White has more and better exclusive pokémon. Because of the online nature of the game it kinda makes Black better. White if you never intend to do serious trading.
DS doesn't cooperate with my router.
WEP or no encryption. You can get around it by either turning off the security for whenever you go online or use a Wi-Fi access point extender which you plug in only when you need it and set it to WEP. Either that or camp out at a McDonalds. Sometimes even if you have all that stuff together your router and DS won't get along. It happens between any wireless devices. Mine for example works great but if I can't connect I need to restart my router, at which point it works flawlessly afterwards.
I'm not gaining any experience points, help!
Filthy pirate playing an un-patched copy of the game. Interestingly enough this has sparked a very interesting challenge whereby people try to beat the game without gaining any exp. It involves catching new stuff as you go along and is actually pretty interesting. You can use an AR code to turn on this mode if you're also a filthy cheater.
When can I cash in this Liberty Ticket and get Dick Tini?
What about using the Crown Beast/Celebi to get Zoroark/Zorua?
Unlock the Relocator: Right hand building by the northern exit to Castelia City. Tell the man: EVERYONE HAPPY SIMPLE CONNECTION and presto, Relocator is unlocked on the main menu!
Where are my sweet ass dream world abilities?
Need to wait until the website is up at the end of March. Or cheat, you filthy cheaters.
When can I transfer over Pokémon from my gen four game?
After you beat the game, there is an odd building en route to Black City/White Forest. Head in.
Where do I get the breeding/training items in Black and White?
Battle Subway. Like the Battle Tower from time long past.
Why is the female trainer dressed like a skank?
Tradition.
Oshawatt?
Colt Single Action Army. Six bullets, more than enough to kill anything that moves.
How do I make money?
Marry someone rich. Oh, in game. Keep the Amulet Coin equipped at all times on your lead Pokémon and fight a lot of trainers. Amulet coin is from uniting the dancers in Castelia City.
What is the best Pokémon for catching?
Smeargle with False Swipe, Spider Web, Foresight, Spore. Can catch literally anything in the game...given enough time. Other good choices include a Thick Club Marowak with False Swipe or a Spore/False Swipe Breloom. Good Black and White choices? Amoonguss (FANTASTIC wordplay here) has spore....really, really late.
Why no Underboob?
No official artwork with under boob that I can remember.
I have a sudden case of the Pokéurge, help?
You can't fight it. Just give in. Black and White are insanely well polished.
Is this the best Pokémon game ever?
Of course it is, it's the one based on AMERICA.
Are HMs in the game?
Can you read the wall of text I posted? Oh, you can't read, I'm sorry. Yes, there are six HMs in the game: Cut, Fly, Surf, Strength, Waterfall, and Dive. Cut is used about five times, one for story purposes. Strength mainly gets you shortcuts, is a good early normal attack, and is used maybe twenty times in the game, only three or four times for items or progression. Surf is basically the best special water move, and Waterfall is basically the best water attacking move, Surf is used a few times to get to some optional stuff, Waterfall and Dive are like that but times ten. Dive isn't even used until after you beat the game.
What is Unity Tower?
A tower of unity. Oh, you want more. Go to Castelia City's oddly named Unity Pier and take the boat. I think you need to make at least one international trade before it shows up. It's a cool place.
How do you get the é?
On a US English keyboard hold the alt key and type 130.
AND Yes the Black Version has the White one and vice versa. Michael Jackson would be proud.
RELEASE DATES:
Japan: September 18, 2010
North America: March 6, 2011
Australia: March 10, 2011
Europe: March 4, 2011
OUT EVERYWHERE!
What is Pokémon?
A portmanteau of the worlds Pocket and Monster.
...
Yeah I know, its Pocket Monsters in Japan and some crazy made up Japanese word everywhere else. Deal with it.
Oh, you wanted a long ass Wiki style quote.
Pokémon is at its core an RPG in which you collect a party of cute and cuddly little monsters and beat up other children's party of cute and cuddly monsters, knock them out and steal their lunch money. That and furious inbreeding and cross species mating to create unstoppable battle thralls. If you're still in this thread you probably know all this. Oh sure there is usually some overarching plot line involving ten year olds, elemental gods, mad scientists, eco-terrorists, PETA gone bad and so forth. But basically battle, trade, level, breed, only to battle more.
But I don't want to spend 35 dollars in early March!
Pokémon games take FOREVER to depreciate in value. I guess you're probably interested in one of the many (16 released in North America and Europe) other versions of Pokémon. You've come to the right place. You probably have one or more of these games. If you own Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal then you're probably old. The first three games in particular have not aged well. If you want that old timey Kanto experience go play Fire Red or Leaf Green. These games are no longer compatible with the current generation of games. You probably have a hard time finding anyone to battle or trade with considering you can't battle or trade online. But at least you are secure in the knowledge that you've got the original unbalanced 151/251 of your formative years. Good for you.
Those games are awesome but have been remade. The remakes torch them in every which way.
If you own any of the other ten games you're in luck. Well, Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red, Leaf Green, and Emerald (Known collectively as Generation Three) can't trade online being GBA games and all but can move pokémon to the other five games via a Nintendo DS or DS Lite. These five games are the start of the modern Pokémon era and while not as refined as the five DS games are a step in the right direction. Natures, Abilities, Battle Frontier (Emerald) and a fixed EV/IV system.
Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Heart Gold and Soul Silver are the real deal right now and compose the fourth generation of the game. These games have online battling and trading, refined mechanics, 486 possible Pokémon to catch, and slowdown! Platinum and HG/SS largely make Diamond and Pearl look shoddy. A great deal of this thread will deal with these five games so I won't talk too much about them here.
What is the deal with Black and White?
Taking place in a new region in a new part of the Pokémon world with over One Hundred and Fifty new monsters to catch and battle with. Yes, that is the most ever in a region. Also curious is the fact that no old version pokémon make an appearance before you beat the game, at which point you can trade over any Pokémon from any fourth generation game using another DS. Oh quit complaining and borrow another one. It will work perfectly fine with the upcoming 3DS that also comes out in March so there is a perfect solution right there. But yes, that means no Abra, Pikachu, Machop and most importantly no more Geodude or Zubat in every single cave.
What Features does it have? (NOW WITH BULLET POINTS)
- 156 new Pokémon, the most ever.
- 92 new moves, 41 new abilities.
- 24 boxes= 720 storable pokémon.
- Box to box transfer over IR between Black and White.
- TECHNICAL MACHINES (TMs) ARE NOW INFINITE USE. Increased to 95. Some TMs were switched.
- 6 Hidden Machines, down from 8.
- Seasons: Each Month is a different season. Effects NPCs, catchable pokémon and the sprite for one pokémon's evolved form.
- Faster interface. Weather effects are icons, hp drains faster, multi hits work stadium style.
- Two new types of battles: 3 on 3 and rotation.
- All new, improved Pokémon centers with built in GTS and Pokémarts.
- Video chat between DSi/DSi XL/3DS systems.
- Dream World: Online interaction with minigames, housing (eat that, Diablo II/WoW), and dream world hidden abilities. Opens at the end of March. Will crash.
- Battle Subway: Replacing the battle tower. For the first time the Leader will appear in co-op mode.
- Ability to transfer unlimited pokémon from fourth generation.
- Experience system is changed to something resembling Fire Emblem. If your Pokémon is higher level than the opponent exp gain is drastically reduced, normal within about a nine level range, and greatly increased for fighting Pokémon ten levels higher. Surprisingly, this change makes the leveling up much faster.
- Co-operative mini missions using the C-Gear's Entralink.
- Current time is always displayed.
It's gonna be fantastic.
-
Some Slight Downsides
- Pokémon don't follow you outside of battle.
- No held items can be transferred over from Gen IV.
- Barebones Move Tutors.
- No Battle Frontier.
- Encounter Tables no longer use time of day.
- No contests. (Personally viewed as a plus, though Musicals are the same song and dance...)
Nothing major.
Current State of Pokémon
Victini is available over Wi-Fi from launch until April 10th. The next time it will be available is for promoting the next set of movies whenever the hell that happens.
Which Starter should I pick in Black White?
SNIVY: Think a faster version of Meganium, though not quite as tanky. Poor movepool. Not good against many gym leaders. Cool looking as hell though, Smuglord in particular.
TEPIG: Think a slow, bulky Blaziken. Interesting move pool. Good against quite a few gym leaders. Fire Type is no longer essential because of Pansear. Cute as all hell. Remember to use a heart scale on him when he's fully evolved.
OSHAWATT: Basically a slightly more specially orientated Totodile. Really decent movepool, decent against gym leaders. Cute as all hell.
Differences Between Black and White:
Version exclusive Pokémon:
Black Version
014 Kakuna
015 Beedrill
198 Murkrow
228 Houndour
229 Houndoom
285 Shroomish
286 Breloom
311 Plusle
313 Volbeat
430 Honchkrow
546 Cottonee
547 Whimsicott
574 Gothita
575 Gothorita
576 Gothitelle
629 Vullaby
630 Mandibuzz
641 Tornadus
643 Reshiram
White Version
010 Caterpie
011 Metapod
012 Butterfree
046 Paras
047 Parasect
200 Misdreavus
261 Poochyena
262 Mightyena
312 Minun
314 Illumise
429 Mismagius
548 Petilil
549 Lilligant
577 Solosis
578 Duosion
579 Reuniclus
627 Rufflet
628 Braviary
642 Thundurus
644 Zekrom
White Forest
016 Pidgey
029 Nidoran (Female)
032 Nidoran (Male)
043 Oddish
063 Abra
066 Machop
069 Bellsprout
081 Magnemite
092 Gastly
111 Rhyhorn
137 Porygon
175 Togepi
179 Mareep
187 Hoppip
194 Wooper
239 Elekid
240 Magby
265 Wurmple
270 Lotad
273 Seedot
280 Ralts
283 Surskit
287 Slakoth
293 Whismur
298 Azurill
304 Aron
328 Trapinch
341 Corphish
371 Bagon
396 Starly
403 Shinx
406 Budew
440 Happiny
Note: All Pokemon not in the Unova Dex are post game only.
014 Kakuna
015 Beedrill
198 Murkrow
228 Houndour
229 Houndoom
285 Shroomish
286 Breloom
311 Plusle
313 Volbeat
430 Honchkrow
546 Cottonee
547 Whimsicott
574 Gothita
575 Gothorita
576 Gothitelle
629 Vullaby
630 Mandibuzz
641 Tornadus
643 Reshiram
White Version
010 Caterpie
011 Metapod
012 Butterfree
046 Paras
047 Parasect
200 Misdreavus
261 Poochyena
262 Mightyena
312 Minun
314 Illumise
429 Mismagius
548 Petilil
549 Lilligant
577 Solosis
578 Duosion
579 Reuniclus
627 Rufflet
628 Braviary
642 Thundurus
644 Zekrom
White Forest
016 Pidgey
029 Nidoran (Female)
032 Nidoran (Male)
043 Oddish
063 Abra
066 Machop
069 Bellsprout
081 Magnemite
092 Gastly
111 Rhyhorn
137 Porygon
175 Togepi
179 Mareep
187 Hoppip
194 Wooper
239 Elekid
240 Magby
265 Wurmple
270 Lotad
273 Seedot
280 Ralts
283 Surskit
287 Slakoth
293 Whismur
298 Azurill
304 Aron
328 Trapinch
341 Corphish
371 Bagon
396 Starly
403 Shinx
406 Budew
440 Happiny
Note: All Pokemon not in the Unova Dex are post game only.
Yes, Black Version is spanked in pure number (and quality too, white has a murderers row of new exclusives)
To make up for it, Black City has lots of decently high level trainers (with the evolved forms of the white forests pokémon to fight) and a shop with randomly selected items (which you normally have to get off the pokémon or ground of White Forest.
Black also has sweet bearded old man final gym leader while White has annoying girl from the anime gym leader. Only difference is the sex of their pokémon.
Other Tips:
Lilipup is the ONLY pick up Pokémon before you beat the game. By only, I mean only. Loses the ability for a much better one when it evolves. You can get lucky eggs and heart scales though, so you might want to consider trading over a level 40-50 Pachirisu/Linoone when you beat the game, or learn to mash B.
Audino is a Pokémon that shows up in the rustling grass sections and is worth an absolute boat load of experience points. Liquid Metal Audino is even more exp, and Metal King Audino gives out a ton.
I've beaten the game, I want to battle my friends online.
Good!
Oh, you want me to give you a not so brief rundown on how things work. Ok. Let's start with breeding.
Breeding in Brief
Basics
Breeding is honestly not as hard as it looks. When a male Pokémon and a female Pokémon love each other very much (don't hate each other) an egg mysteriously appears. We don't know how it got there but we wonder if you want to keep it.
Oh, you want to know how it works and why you would want to. Ok, fine.
Every pokémon in the game is divided into 15 egg groups. The fifteenth group is full of Pokémon that cannot breed whatsoever. This group includes legendaries that aren't Manaphy and Ditto. Each other pokémon can belong to up to two egg groups and can breed with any pokémon in those two groups...and Ditto.
Why would you want to breed? For egg moves and a chance at passing down favorable stats. Males give moves. Females determine which pokémon the egg becomes. If the pokémon to be hatched can learn the move then the move is in fact passed down. If all four moves are passed down then those are the ones you get. If only three are you'll get whatever pre level one moves the pokémon gets and so on.
How do you breed? Find the Pokémon Day Care. Put your two breedable pokémon in the day care. Wait for the old man to face out towards you, talk to him. If you have room in your party he'll give you an egg. Walk awhile with the egg in your party to hatch said egg.
EXAMPLE: I have a male Venusaur with Leech Seed and Earthquake and a female Meganium. They are both in the monster and plant breeding groups, so no problems there. Get the egg, keep it in the party until it hatches and presto, a new Chikorita with Leech Seed, Tackle, and Growl. Why no earthquake? Well, even though Meganium can learn Earthquake via TM Chikorita cannot. Tackle and Growl are the same moves any level one Chikorita would know.
Advanced
Ditto is a total slut. If a Pokémon can breed at all it can breed with ditto. Dittos always count as female so make sure you breed them with males if you want egg moves. Try to catch one of each nature to aid in breeding specific natures.
When you get more in depth with battling you'll frequently want to breed your pokémon for a specific nature to maximize your pokémons potential. Natures improve the base stat total of one stat by ten percent and decreases another stat by ten percent. Since most pokémon have at least one stat they don't need (Usually one of the attacks or speed) breeding for specific natures can only help out maximizing its potential. If you have a parent with the right nature you can make it hold an Everstone to give any egg it is the parent of a 50% chance to have that nature.
Why if you already have a parent of the right nature would you need to breed? Egg moves, better stats, better ability.
Example: The Chikorita from the last example was male but it didn't have a nature we wanted. If we breed it with a Timid Ditto holding an Everstone any egg hatched from that union will have a 50% (Plus the chance for it to be Timid anyways) to be Timid. This is a huge time saver!
Stats breeding is a bit more complicated. Each individual Pokémon has a number from 0 to 31 for each of its Stats: HP, Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed. This is called the individual value. Every wild Pokémon has a random number between zero and thirty one in each of these values. The higher the number, the higher that stat is. To simplify the game for people these numbers are hidden.
When it comes to bred Pokémon they inherit anywhere from one to three stats from their parents. First the game picks one stat from one of the parents at random and gives it to the egg. Then it picks a non HP stat (including the one it already passed) and then a third in the same way, only this time ignoring HP and Defense. The other 3 to 5 are random.
Determining IVs of newly bred Pokémon can be a bit of a pain. The best way is to have what we like to call an IV fight in which you challenge someone to an IV fight over the internet. Yell at someone on these forums to give you a fight, write down the values of each stat of the Pokémon, and enter those values along with the nature and breed of Pokémon into any IV calculator and presto. IVs. You can also use this to find out the hidden power of this Pokémon.
In Heart Gold/Soul Silver and beyond you can also use the Power items (Power Bracer, Band, Anklet, Weight, Lens,Belt Which we will be talking about later!) to guarantee that the parent holding that item will pass down the stat automatically. This can be incredibly useful, especially if you get your hands on a ditto with really good stats.
Anklet passes Speed
Band passes Special Defense
Belt passes Defense
Bracer passes Attack
Lens passes Special Attack
Weight passes HP
Example: We finally have a male chikorita of the nature we wanted, but its stats suck. We have a ditto with an awesome special attack (31, the best it can be) so we throw our young chikorita into the day care with the super ditto, with the chikorita now holding the Everstone and the Super Ditto holding the Power Lens. Now all eggs hatched from these two give you a 50% of being Timid and a 100% of having a 31 Special Attack!
Abilities: Well, once we are in hip deep with Generation five this section will get something added to it, but right now it is basically a 50/50 proposition on those with more than one ability. Abilities can make a great deal of difference in a battle or they can be basically pointless. Just keep breeding until you get the one you want!
Breeding Tips:
Pokémon in the first slot in your party hatch slightly faster.
Pokémon with the ability Magma Armor and Flame Body hatch eggs in half the time. I like Magmortar because he looks like a Megaman boss.
Smeargle can pass any possible egg move in the ground breeding group. This is amazingly handy.
Baby pokémon cannot breed. This isn't actually all that many pokémon. Pichu, Igglybuff, Cleffa, Magby, Tyrogue, Togepi, Elekid, Smoochum, Wynaut, Azumarill, Budew, Chingling, Happiny, Bonsly, Mime Jr., Munchlax, Riolu, Mantyke. The one people usually forget is Riolu. Just raise them to their next form and breeding will continue.
I use Serebii's Pokédex for Egg moves, Bulbapedia's page on natures and Metalkid's IV Calculator for IV Calculating. Serebii's method of grouping egg moves in particular is fairly handy.
Raising Pokémon
Once you have the egg moves, stats, and abilities you like on your pokémon now it is time to get them into fighting form. IVs are not the only way to effect the stats of a pokémon, each stat also has an experience system. Everytime you gain experience from a fight you also gain points on certain stats from the effort of fighting that pokémon. Vitamins can also add to the total, but only to a certain point. The stats go from zero to 255, and each pokémon can have a total effort value of 510 or two fully maxed stats. Every four points of effort gives you a one point gain in that stat at level 100! That means you could get a 63 point shift on any neutral natured stat and 69 on the stat positively changed by the nature.
Example: A Timid Alakazam with 31 IVs in each Stat would have a level 100 stat line of:
251 HP, 122 Attack, 126 Defense, 306 Special Attack, 206 Special Defense, 303 Speed with zero EV investment. If you put 252 points into Speed and Special Attack each and 6 points into HP though the line shifts to:
252 HP, 122 Attack, 126 Defense, 369 Special Attack, 206 Special Defense, 372 Speed, quite the difference!
EV Training in Practice
Each pokémon you fight and win experience points from gives you anywhere from 1-3 effort points in either one or two stats, the maximum being three points. A pokémon infected by the pokérus has all effort points gained doubled and those handy Power items mentioned in stat breeding's primary job is to add four points to any effort values gained in the stats that it effects. Using certain spots with lots of pokémon that provide the stat you want is a good idea.
Example: Our Chikorita from the previous example wants to max its Special Attack. If we have it fight Golducks which provide +2 effort values to Special Attack it will gain two points for each fight it won. It does not need to gain the killing blow nor be alive the whole fight, it only has to be alive when the golduck dies i.e. be eligable for gaining exp. If the Chikorita has contracted the Pokérus by being in a party with another Pokémon that has the virus it will gain 4 effort values in Special Attack. If it is equipped with the Power Lens it will gain (2+4) or six effort values and if it has both the Pokérus and the Power Lens equipped it will gain (2+4)x2 or 12 points.
EV TRAINING IN UNOVA:
HP
Surf in the dark puddles of Icirrus City - Stunfisk (100%, 2 HP)
Also, Victini (3 HP) can be rebattled infinitely as long as you do not catch it.
Atk
Route 1 - Lillipup (50%, 1 Atk) and Patrat (50%, 1 Atk)
Dragonspiral Tower 2F - Golett (100%, 1 Atk)
Dragonspiral Tower 1F - Golett (50%, 1 Atk), Druddigon (30%, 2 Atk), Mienfoo (20%, 1 Atk)
Outside of Dragonspiral Tower, Double Grass - Tranquill (30%, 2 Atk), Sawsbuck (30%, 2 Atk), Mienfoo (30%, 1 Atk), Druddigon (10%, 2 Atk)
A couple of notes need to be made here.
- At the moment, I am unsure whether Druddigon gives 2 or 3 Atk EVs. I've listed it as 2 for now.
- During Winter, the Double Grass location changes up. Druddigon is replaced by Beartic (10%, 2 Atk), which is great, but Tranquill is replaced by Vanillish (30%, 2 SpAtk).
Which of these locations is the best is up to you, assuming the Druddigon "mystery" is solved. If you don't mind keeping track exactly how many EVs you got, Dragonspiral 1F or outside Dragonspiral is the place for you. Outside gives the most EVs at in a short time, especially if you can OHKO two enemies at a time. If you'd rather keep it simple, Dragonspiral 2F or Route 1 are where it's at.
Def
Wellspring Cave - Roggengola (50%, 1 Def)
Pinwheel Forest - Venipede (15%, 1 Def) and Sewaddle (35%, 1 Def)
Pinwheel Forest Double Grass - Whirlipede (15%, 2 Def) and Swadloon (35%, 2 Def)
Chargestone Cave - Klink (29%, 1 Def), Ferroseed (20%, 1 Def), Boldore (10%, 1 Atk, 1 Def)
None of these guarantee a Def encounter. Wellspring Cave also has 50% Woobat, Pinwheel has Cottonee/Petilil (35%) and Pidove (15%), Pinwheel Double has Cottonee/Petilil (35%) and Tranquil (15%), and Chargestone Cave has Joltik (36-39%) and Tynamo (2-8%), depending which floor you're on. Note that Boldore gives 1 Atk in addition to 1 Def!
SpAtk
Celestial Tower - Litwick (100%, 1 SpAtk)
You can go to higher floors if you want, those have Elgyem (15%) which also give 1 SpAtk. There's a Nurse on 3F, which is convenient.
SpDef
Surf in Driftveil City - Frillish (100%, 1 SpDef)
Speed
Surf on Route 3 - Basculin (100%, 2 Speed)
You can Surf in a lot of places for 100% Basculin, but this is an example of a place where you don't have to go through tall grass or anything to get to a surfing spot when coming from a close Poké Center.
Vitamins while expensive can give a pokémon 10 effort values in the effected stat, up to a total of 100. You cannot go above the pokémon's total of 510 total points. Vitamins are not effected by the pokérus or the power items.
The Vitamins are as follows:
HP UP=HP
Protein=Attack
Iron=Defense
Calcium=Special Attack
Zinc=Special Defense
Carbos=Speed
Example: We battled 21 Golducks with our brave Chikorita (with the Power Lens and Pokérus) and earned an impressive 252 Special Attack! But now we want to add points to our HP. We go out and buy 10 HP Ups and give them to our Chikorita, giving it a total of 100 EVs in HP! We have 158 more points until max but we'd need to battle more to get any extra totals in HP! If we accidentily tried to feed the Chikoria a Calcium which boosts Special Attack it would not work, but we would also not lose the vitamin!
EV Tips
Focus on one pokémon and one stat at a time. It's much easier.
Use PP of your favorite killing move (assuming you killed the pokémon in one hit) to keep track of EVs. Just subtract the total you had from the amount remaining and multiply that by what the battle would give you.
The power items are post game only, but you could trade them over if you wanted. Note that they lower in battle speed by quite a bit when equipped, so be wary. You earn them in the Battle Frontier.
Use repels+higher level lead pokémon to get you into the spot where you ev training. Also use higher level pokémon to actually kill the thing for your level one guy.
Team Building
So now you know the how to get your team into fighting shape, but which pokémon to use? A good question. Team balance is an important idea. If all your pokémon are weak to one or two moves you could find yourself easily beaten and that's not fun. Try to keep these ideas in mind.
Have something that can stop sweeps: Some pokémon like to use stat boosting moves to raise one of their attack scores and then go wild against opposing teams. Having someone who can come in and get the kill on these monsters is absolutely vital. A strong, fast pokémon with a good move that goes first is invaluable.
Don't Have too many glass cannons. Remember those Strong Fast Pokémon I mentioned? Well, most of them are rather frail and they can't kill all pokémon designed to hang around taking hits. These walls are a vital part of any good team, able to switch in to hits and force the opponent to struggle while you heal off attacks they do or just simply kill them off.
Make your pokémon specialists when it comes to evs and natures, not attacks. Specilization is key in stat distrbution but remember that the more types of pokémon you can do super effective or neutral damage to the better. The ideal situation is being able to hit a few types for super effective and the rest for neutral, but on some pokémon designed for defense or stalling or other trickery sometimes the best you can do is one strong attack, so try for something that nothing is immune to. Ice and Dragon are good examples.
A good simple balanced team involves having a Special Wall, a Physical Wall, A Sweeper, a Lead, a Rapid Spinner or Spin Blocker (A ghost) and then a back up. Back ups can be clerics, annoyers (Status effects) and Revenge Killer (Assuming your sweeper can't do it. You can forgo the spinner if you know your opponent isn't using hazards for whatever reason.
Item choice matters, especially in the fourth and fifth generations. You can sometimes build the pokémon around the use of an item. If you can't think of anything better Leftovers is the default.
Entry Hazards need to be used and they need to be stopped. Same goes with weather. These effects can change the game dramatically. 5th gen will be rife with weather effect users and fourth gen was dominated by use of Stealth Rock. Having a rapid spinner was and still is a good idea.
Think outside the box. Everyone knows about various Smogon standards, and I'm not even suggesting you don't use them. However if you know their common moveset allotments you can come up with something custom designed to take them down.
All Pokémon are useful. Some are more useful than others. When fighting on P-A inevitably picks up again with the release of BW remember that we tend to have fairly open battling rules, basically no legendaries. Some places use Smogon tiers while others allow any number of legendaries or just two. Also learn about the item clause.
Battle, battle, battle. Practice until you know how the game works.
Making the GTS Work for You
The GTS is a wonderful, beautiful thing. Talk to the third receptionist from the left on the top floor of every Pokémon Center (except the league one) after you obtain the C-Gear. It's the second option down. This simple trade service comes in two distinct varieties; the shitty one where you meet up with some random asshole wanting legendaries where you show him/her/it a bunch of pokémon that he/she/it doesn't want and nothing gets done, and the awesome old school swap meet post board. This is the one that will get you ahead of the game. You can either post a request for a pokémon that you've already entered in your pokedex or look for a specific pokémon and do a 1 for 1 trade for it.
Looking for Pokémon is a suckers game. Most of the time you'll get ridiculous results. Oh, you want a level 100 female Heatran for your shitty level 14 Sawk.
Instead, post a pokémon you're willing to part with and some nice (usually Japanese dude) will give it to you. Note that asking for females for breeding purposes usually takes longer, but if you put up stuff like version exclusives, starters you've hatched from a lucky female, audinos, drillburs, tynamos, dragons, and other Smogon bait you'll usually get a trade lightning quick.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Black or White?
Oooh, ooh, yeah yeah now.
Black has items, lots and lots of items. White has more and better exclusive pokémon. Because of the online nature of the game it kinda makes Black better. White if you never intend to do serious trading.
DS doesn't cooperate with my router.
WEP or no encryption. You can get around it by either turning off the security for whenever you go online or use a Wi-Fi access point extender which you plug in only when you need it and set it to WEP. Either that or camp out at a McDonalds. Sometimes even if you have all that stuff together your router and DS won't get along. It happens between any wireless devices. Mine for example works great but if I can't connect I need to restart my router, at which point it works flawlessly afterwards.
I'm not gaining any experience points, help!
Filthy pirate playing an un-patched copy of the game. Interestingly enough this has sparked a very interesting challenge whereby people try to beat the game without gaining any exp. It involves catching new stuff as you go along and is actually pretty interesting. You can use an AR code to turn on this mode if you're also a filthy cheater.
When can I cash in this Liberty Ticket and get Dick Tini?
Castelia City, take a boat from there. He's about level 15 and so are the trainers around him, so pretty damn early. Very usable in game Pokémon. Have to beat some Plasma goons to get to him, but they're not too bad. If you faint him just leave the tower and return.
What about using the Crown Beast/Celebi to get Zoroark/Zorua?
Unlock the Relocator: Right hand building by the northern exit to Castelia City. Tell the man: EVERYONE HAPPY SIMPLE CONNECTION and presto, Relocator is unlocked on the main menu!
CELEBI: Use the RELOCATOR (not the regular transfer!) and take Celebi to the Game Freak building in Castelia.
Crown Beast (Shiny Suicune, Raikou, Entei) : Use the RELOCATOR (not the regular transfer!) and take the pokémon to Lostlorn forest.
Crown Beast (Shiny Suicune, Raikou, Entei) : Use the RELOCATOR (not the regular transfer!) and take the pokémon to Lostlorn forest.
Where are my sweet ass dream world abilities?
Need to wait until the website is up at the end of March. Or cheat, you filthy cheaters.
When can I transfer over Pokémon from my gen four game?
After you beat the game, there is an odd building en route to Black City/White Forest. Head in.
Where do I get the breeding/training items in Black and White?
Battle Subway. Like the Battle Tower from time long past.
Why is the female trainer dressed like a skank?
Tradition.
Oshawatt?
Colt Single Action Army. Six bullets, more than enough to kill anything that moves.
How do I make money?
Marry someone rich. Oh, in game. Keep the Amulet Coin equipped at all times on your lead Pokémon and fight a lot of trainers. Amulet coin is from uniting the dancers in Castelia City.
What is the best Pokémon for catching?
Smeargle with False Swipe, Spider Web, Foresight, Spore. Can catch literally anything in the game...given enough time. Other good choices include a Thick Club Marowak with False Swipe or a Spore/False Swipe Breloom. Good Black and White choices? Amoonguss (FANTASTIC wordplay here) has spore....really, really late.
Why no Underboob?
No official artwork with under boob that I can remember.
I have a sudden case of the Pokéurge, help?
You can't fight it. Just give in. Black and White are insanely well polished.
Is this the best Pokémon game ever?
Of course it is, it's the one based on AMERICA.
Are HMs in the game?
Can you read the wall of text I posted? Oh, you can't read, I'm sorry. Yes, there are six HMs in the game: Cut, Fly, Surf, Strength, Waterfall, and Dive. Cut is used about five times, one for story purposes. Strength mainly gets you shortcuts, is a good early normal attack, and is used maybe twenty times in the game, only three or four times for items or progression. Surf is basically the best special water move, and Waterfall is basically the best water attacking move, Surf is used a few times to get to some optional stuff, Waterfall and Dive are like that but times ten. Dive isn't even used until after you beat the game.
What is Unity Tower?
A tower of unity. Oh, you want more. Go to Castelia City's oddly named Unity Pier and take the boat. I think you need to make at least one international trade before it shows up. It's a cool place.
How do you get the é?
On a US English keyboard hold the alt key and type 130.
3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
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HOW FRIEND CODES WORK: After you beat the first gym you'll unlock the ability to go online. If you enter your friend's code into your Pal Pad and they enter yours (which you can see, guess where, on your pal pad) then you can interact with each other whenever both of you are online at the same time. The name entry limit is 32 people I believe, so don't go nuts.
GYM LEADERS?
Sure, we'll do another sign up and have theme teams. Ground and Water are going to be hella popular.
POKEMART THREAD FOR TRADING?
If the scene blows up again I'm sure someone will make one.
IMPORTANT INFO LEFT OUT OF FIRST POST!
TECHNICAL MACHINES: (HIDDEN MACHINES TOO, BUT THEY'RE HIDDEN)
TMS are now infinite use...so you get the good ones a lot later than normal! Here is where they all are. PROTIP: If it's really good, or says a sage has it, then guess what, beat the game first and then you can get it! Good ones you get before the end of the game are the exception, but there are some decent ones later on like Fire Blast, Thunder, Blizzard, Shadowball that you just get late instead of after the game is over.
TM02 Dragon Claw Victory Road
TM03 Psyshock Giant Chasm
TM04 Calm Mind Relic Castle - Gift from Sage
TM05 Roar Route 10
TM06 Toxic Route 17
TM07 Hail Mistralton PokéMart - 50,000 PokéDollars
TM08 Bulk Up Route 14- Gift from Sage
TM09 Venoshock Route 15 - Gift
TM10 Hidden Power Nuvema Town - Professor Juniper after seeing 100 Pokémon
TM11 Sunny Day Mistralton PokéMart - 50,000 PokéDollars
TM12 Taunt Victory Road
TM13 Ice Beam Giant Chasm
TM14 Blizzard Icirrus City PokéMart 70,000 PokéDollars
TM15 Hyper Beam Route 9 Department Store - 90,000 PokéDollars
TM16 Light Screen Nimbasa City PokéMart - 30,000 Yen
TM17 Protect Nuvema Town - Professor Juniper after seeing 60 Pokémon
TM18 Rain Dance Mistralton PokéMart - 50,000 PokéDollars
TM19 Telekinesis Route 18
TM20 Safeguard Nimbasa City PokéMart - 30,000 Yen
TM21 Frustration Nimbasa City PokéMart - 10,000 Yen
TM22 Solarbeam Pinwheel Forest
TM23 Smack Down Battle Subway - 36BP
TM24 Thunderbolt P2 Laboratory
TM25 Thunder Icirrus City PokéMart - 70,000 PokéDollars
TM26 Earthquake Relic Castle
TM27 Return Nimbasa City PokéMart - 10,000 PokéDollars
TM28 Dig Route 4
TM29 Psychic Route 13
TM30 Shadow Ball Relic Castle
TM31 Brick Break Icirrus City
TM32 Double Team Route 18 - Gift from Sage
TM33 Reflect Nimbasa City PokéMart - 30,000 PokéDollars
TM34 Sludge Wave Battle Subway - 48BP
TM35 Flamethrower Abundant Shrine
TM36 Sludge Bomb Route 8
TM37 Sandstorm Mistralton City PokéMart - 50,000 PokéDollars
TM38 Fire Blast Icirrus City Pokémon - 70,000 PokéDollars
TM39 Rock Tomb Desert Resort
TM40 Aerial Ace Mistralton City Runway
TM41 Torment Route 4
TM42 Facade Route 8
TM43 Flame Charge Tubeline Bridge
TM44 Rest Castelia City - 11th Floor of Building
TM45 Attract Castelia City - Party
TM46 Thief Wellspring Cave
TM47 Low Sweep Wellspring Cave
TM48 Round Battle Subway - 36BP
TM49 Echoed Voice Nimbasa City - Musical Hall
TM50 Overheat Route 11
TM51 Ally Switch Battle Subway - 48BP
TM52 Focus Blast Wellspring Cave
TM53 Energy Ball Route 12
TM54 False Swipe Nuvema Town - Professor Juniper after seeing 30 Pokémon
TM55 Scald Freezer Container
TM56 Fling Tubeline Bridge
TM57 Charge Beam Route 7
TM58 Sky Drop Mistralton City
TM59 Incinerate Battle Subway - 48BP
TM60 Quash Battle Subway - 48BP
TM61 Will-o-wisp Celestial Tower
TM62 Acrobatics Mistralton City Gym
TM63 Embargo Dragonspiral Tower
TM64 Explosion Battle Subway - 48BP
TM65 Shadow Claw Celestial Tower
TM66 Payback Route 16
TM67 Retaliate Nacrene City Gym
TM68 Giga Impact Route 9 Department Store - 90,000 PokéDollars
TM69 Rock Polish Chargestone Cave - Gift from Sage
TM70 Flash Castelia City Alleyway
TM71 Stone Edge Challenger's Cave
TM72 Volt Switch Nimbasa City Gym
TM73 Thunder Wave Nimbasa City PokéMart - 10,000 PokéDollars
TM74 Gyro Ball Nimbasa City PokéMart - 10,000 PokéDollars
TM75 Swords Dance Gift from Sage
TM76 Struggle Bug Castelia City Gym
TM77 Psych Up Battle Subway - 48BP
TM78 Bulldoze Driftveil City Gym
TM79 Frost Breath Icirrus City Gym
TM80 Rock Slide Mistralton Cave
TM81 X-scissor Route 7
TM82 Dragon Tail Opelucid City Gym
TM83 Work Up Striaton City Gym
TM84 Poison Jab Route 6
TM85 Dream Eater Dreamyard
TM86 Grass Knot Pinwheel Forest
TM87 Swagger Battle Subway - 36BP
TM88 Pluck Battle Subway - 36BP
TM89 U-turn Deliver all three goods to Wingull
TM90 Substitute Twist Mountain - Winter Only
TM91 Flash Cannon Twist Mountain
TM92 Trick Room Abundant Shrine
TM93 Wild Charge Victory Road
TM94 Rock Smash Pinwheel Forest
TM95 Snarl Castelia City - Give Mr. Lock the Lock Capsule
HM01 Cut From Mokomo
HM02 Fly Driftveil City - From Bianca
HM03 Surf Twist Mountain - From Alder
HM04 Strength Nimbasa City (Top Left Building)
HM05 Waterfall Route 18
HM06 Dive Undella Town
LEGENDARIES
One time only, non breedable Pokémon. This game has a bunch of them.
ZEKROM/RESHIRAM: See that asshole on the cover of your game box? That's one, so is the one N catches. Unless you're insane enough to catch/breed and box SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY SIX Pokémon before fighting N you'll have to catch that one.
VICTINI: Download Liberty Ticket until April 10th, take boat from Castelia, fight random low level punks.
TORNADUS/THUNDURUS: After your eight gym badge talk to the receptionist on the route 10 gate and she'll mention funny weather on Route 7. Fly back there and go to the rest hut. You'll experience a cutscene and from now on you'll encounter one of these assholes randomly in the field. They are level 40, Tornadus is Black, Thundurus is White. Again White wins.
COBALION: Remember the game beating into your head that you should surf along that route before Chargestone cave over and over again? Well, get off your ass, actually do it (bring along strength and flash as well) catch some Axew's and get this awesome fucker. He also unlocks the next two.
TERRAKION: Fly to the Pokémon League, back track a bit onto Victory Road. Notice something different? Well, if you don't, explore a bit until you find this asshole. Once again Strength is needed.
VIRIZION: Now with iphone. Oh, go back to Pinwheel Forest, he's near the eastern end in a newly unlocked area.
KYUREM: Back of Giant's Chasm. Will totally get an alternate form in Pokémon Grey. You can sense this shit.
KELDEO: Unreleased Event.
MELOETTA: Unreleased Event.
GENOSECT: Unreleased Event.
POST GAME NONSENSE:
CYNTHIA: Shows up in Undella Town, is an asshole. Once you beat her she leaves, but comes back for every day of Spring and Summer.
MORIMOTO: In the Game Freak building, slightly less of an asshole. Can be fought everyday.
CHEREN: Route 5, talk to him. Moves from there to Victory Road, the room right before the exit.
BIANCA: Juniper's Lab, can be fought on Saturday's. Gives bits of advice on other days.
SEVEN SAGES: OoT shit here. One is on Route 18, one is on Route 14, one is near the bottom of Chargestone Cave, one is in the open container in Cold Storage, one is in the bottom of Relic Castle, and the Dreamyard. Ghestis cannot be found again, but his minions give you the three legendary stones from fourth gen.
NPCs of note
Also what's this about getting 726 Pokémon before fighting that guy?
This game decides that you must catch your game's legendary before beating it. If however you have no room for it, the game lets you catch it at a later time.
What is the point of being alive if you don't at least try to do something remarkable? ~ Mario Novak
I never fear death or dyin', I only fear never trying.
Has anyone tried Pokemon Online yet?
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
I had heard they completely turfed gambling. But rest assured there is a multi-story department store eventually.
There kind of is. It's served by stairs that go up the floors rather than elevators.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
But I expected as much.
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
Although Icicle Crash only having 10 PP and 90% accuracy? Ouch.
I doubt I'll ever bother, I'm sure it's just a split between the same OU/uber (if they aren't banned?) shit over and over again, or ignorant casuals who spam fly, dig and other crap.
At least that's what the battle tower taught me.
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
Though according to the Pokédex entries, Swoobat does enough massaging on its own.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
Oh and it learns Outrage.
Bleh, last spot on my team is open (Arcanine, Haxorus, Jellicent, Zoroark, Mienshao) and I have no idea what to put in it.
Maybe a Ferrothorn.
Dibs ghost. I want to touch things with Cofagrigus.
I'm getting a little sick of seeing that little red-eyed rat.
You've made a powerful enemy this day game, I've beaten nippon ichi and atlus games, you don't scare me!
Anyone willing to give away a Ditto please add me:
4083 5096 8802
does anyone want this lv 1 Snivy I accidently got for someone on GTS?
Switch Friend Code: SW-3349-7357-2013
3DS Friend code: 3093 8504 2352
I'm currently working my way through Heart Gold and I had planned to pick up White before Victini event ends so should i just put it aside until i want to transfer pokémon from it onto White or is it a decent game in its own right?
Celeste [Switch] - She'll be wrestling with inner demons when she comes...
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age [Switch] - Sit down and watch our game play itself
With the exception of the 2nd Gym Leader's Watchog, it wasn't even on my radar as a Raticate/Linoone, etc annoyance until they started showing up in Team Plasma's line-up with Super Fang. Then it was as annoyance (since I'd benched Sawk).
Also, all 8 gyms are now done, Beartic has earned his place on my team for the moment. Any Pokemon with a beard of ice is fine by me.
Pearl's good, definitely worth playing. The order that you play them certainly doesn't matter; it probably wont be a big deal to go back to Pearl after White.
Mostly because every time I fought Team Plasma, I just put Sawk in the front. Seems like 90% of the pokemon were weak to fighting (Patrat, Watchdog, Purrloin, Liepard) so I breezed through them.
Also, I taught my Krokoodile Foul Play over Torment, giving him Foul Play, Crunch, Bulldoze, and Dig. I've only used Foul Play once, and that was against
My Steam
Going back to Pearl after HG/SS might be hard, though.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
April 10th for America, April 22nd for Europe.
Celeste [Switch] - She'll be wrestling with inner demons when she comes...
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age [Switch] - Sit down and watch our game play itself
Could be worse. Hey, Kay, have you finally beaten the main game?
Sawk is indeed all kinds of awesome for beating down the Plasma guys - I don't think he's been off my team at all since I caught him.
Working on catching Tornadus now before I head towards the League - always nice to have that special brand of fun watching it go "lol i'm legendary" and repeatedly shrug off Ultra Balls with a near-invisible sliver of health left.
My Krookodile has Intimidate. Not a combo with Foul Play, annoyingly. Plus most of the enemies I'd want to use it on (y'know, psychics and ghosts) are special attackers anyway. Getting Crunch back was totally worth the Heart Scale.
KiTA: You can find the storm-legendary really easy. The first thing to remember is that he's like every other roaming bitch in that he moves every time you change scenes. This means that you can't, say, be in the tube between Route 5 and Nimbasa(? I really hate the town names in this gen), see that there's a strange storm on Route 5 on the ticker and then rush out to find him; he will move.
However. Once you know one of the routes he's currently haunting (and he has preferred locations at different times during the day), just keep ducking in and out of the tube until you walk out into a thunderstorm.
I (finally) caught mine Monday night thanks to a Dusk Ball. I really wish they'd get off of their stupid obsession with the fleeing roaming legendaries.
Up to five members of the Riches family. Gauntlet is getting tough but I made Alder, Cynthia, and Miramoto my bitches so nothing I can't handle (and earn mad cash while doing so). I guess my next step is to become a subway hobo and grind for BP... Fortunately I can use the Battle Box (yet another awesome addition) for that while training/filling out my dex with other mons.
Lillipup is attacking from a Base 60 Attack, using a 50 Power move with STAB.
Snivy is attacking from a Base 45 Attack, using a 35 Power move with STAB. Lillipup will hit harder, unless weakness/resistance comes into the equation.
Nope. About to take on the last gym, then saunter through Victory Road!
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
Not as bad as Suicune was though, that's for sure.
No, it was a response to this post and others toward the end of the last thread: