White 2 Playthrough Journal, episode 12: Isms and Schisms

Driftveil City sprawls out before us as we reach the other end of the great drawbridge. Unlike Castelia City and Nimbasa City, this place has changed a great deal in the last two years – in fact, it’s barely recognisable. Great swathes of residential space have been converted to commercial use, filled with innumerable hotels that, in true Driftveil style, do not reach for the skies but plunge deep into the rock. The whole city is a tourist town now, and a very profitable one by the looks of it. Probably the work of Clay, the ‘Miner King,’ Driftveil’s shrewd Gym Leader and, I quietly suspect, mob boss. The old industrial zone, the Cold Storage, is gone too, replaced by… something, looks exciting, lots of tourists, but we don’t have time to look at it now; something is happening. There’s a Team Plasma member at the entrance to Driftveil City… along with another man wearing one of the old grey hooded Team Plasma uniforms from two years ago. The two men are having an argument about something – the one in the old uniform is trying to convince the other man to leave Team Plasma, while his friend seems to be complaining that he’s not cool anymore and that he used to love stealing Pokémon, but they never talk now and he’s gotten so distant, always going on about whether things are ‘right’ or ‘ethical,’ or wondering what Lord N would think, and damnit, N doesn’t care about you; what about us, doesn’t that even matter to you anymore?

…he seemed to say.

Normally we would figure this is none of our business, but they’re blocking the main bridge into downtown Driftveil City with their little drama, and Jim is on the verge of approaching to ask what’s going on. He doesn’t get the chance because Hugh comes screaming out of nowhere, tackles the fellow in the black uniform, and starts demanding answers about his sister’s Purrloin. Jim quietly releases Ulfric and gestures to him to get ready to restrain Hugh with a Vine Whip. The Team Plasma grunt says he’s supposed to avoid trouble, waves to his friend (no doubt stifling a flood of tears) and runs, with Hugh in hot pursuit. Jim and I look at each other and I shrug helplessly, pointing after them. Jim and Ulfric give chase, leaving me with the man in the old grey uniform. I learn, through some brief questioning, that Team Plasma is not the unified organisation it once was. There has been a schism between the followers of N, who want to help Pokémon, and the followers of Ghetsis, who want to take over the world. I can see how those two policies might not mesh perfectly. I am invited to meet the splinter group at their base in Driftveil City and hear about their beliefs, an offer I hesitantly accept. They’re probably not like those door-to-door evangelicals who wake you up early on weekends but you never e know. I follow the ex-Plasma to his group’s building on a hill overlooking the city, where he introduces me to their leader: Rood. In Black and White, Rood was one of the Seven Sages, the group of wise men assembled by Ghetsis to help him take over the world – except that most of them didn’t know that this is what they were doing. After a quick Pokémon battle to test my worth, Rood decides that I am trustworthy and allows me into his sanctum to tell me more. He explains apologetically that his group are often targets of hatred and retribution for their former actions as part of Team Plasma, and they need to be careful about who they talk to. As he speaks, I hear another voice from outside, shouting something about “Team Plasma lowlifes!”

Why, speak of the devil…

Another ex-Plasma member leads in a very curious train of guests. In the lead is Hugh, who is screaming blue murder as he struggles with the thick, tough vines wrapped around his body, trying to grab for his Pokéballs and demanding the return of Purrloin. Behind him is Ulfric, Jim’s Servine, who is supplying the vines. Ulfric is clearly annoyed, but is having little difficulty keeping Hugh restrained, being much stronger than a human adolescent. Bringing up the rear, Jim is walking several paces behind Ulfric, one hand covering his face, trying to pretend that he doesn’t know Hugh. The ex-Plasma quietly tells Rood that he found the three of them in the middle of Driftveil City, where Hugh tried to attack him, and Jim had requested help dealing with the lunatic. Rood asks me whether I know them. My mortified hesitation is all the answer he needs. Rood calmly walks up to Hugh, waits for him to get tired of shouting, and gestures to Ulfric to release him. Ulfric looks uncertainly at Jim, who shrugs. Once Hugh is free, Rood asks him what he’s so angry about. Hugh breathlessly repeats his story about his sister’s stolen Purrloin. Rood shakes his head sadly, apologising on behalf of his whole group for their part in Team Plasma’s operations, but regretfully explains that there are no Purrloin in their base. The Pokémon in question is probably still in the possession of one of Ghetsis’s loyalists. Hugh very nearly explodes again, raising his voice as he demands to know what good an apology does him. Ulfric tenses and prepares for another Vine Whip. Hugh settles down, though, turning away from Rood and telling us that he’ll be in the Driftveil Gym before leaving under a dark cloud.

These guys are interesting.

My biggest complaint – perhaps my only major complaint – about the plot of Black and White was that it underutilised the ambiguity inherent in the main conflict with Team Plasma. What they are fighting for (or, rather, what Ghetsis claims to be fighting for) is not, on the face of it, a bad thing. Many of the people who attend Ghetsis’s rallies, even including a Gym Leader, Burgh, admit that he has a point. The actual Team Plasma members themselves, though, are not nearly so admirable when you meet them and speak to them. They are, almost without exception, a bunch of zealots with little sympathy for the unfortunate trainers they seek to separate from their Pokémon. Many of them, in fact, seem to enjoy it, and are working with Team Plasma more because they like having an excuse to commit crimes than because they actually believe in what N is trying to do. This, I felt, blunts the effectiveness of the ambiguity which makes the plot interesting. These guys – the splinter group led by Rood – are exactly what was missing from the first games, the members of Team Plasma who are genuinely good people, manipulated by Ghetsis into doing terrible things in the name of Pokémon liberation. They’re now caring for the Pokémon they once stole in an attempt to atone for their crimes, and honestly their story is what really grabs me about the new games so far. I want to know what happens to them! Heck, I want to help them, because even if they did dreadful things they were at least doing them for noble reasons! Ghetsis fooled a lot of people – even his six fellow Sages, who were supposedly chosen for their intelligence and their… well, sagacity. Now his ex-minions have no idea what to do. Theoretically they still follow N, the ‘child of the Pokémon,’ and try to emulate his teachings; in fact they seem to view him almost as a sort of messianic figure – and why not? He was wise, and kind, and for goodness’ sake the guy could talk to Pokémon! He’s buggered off to heaven knows where with Reshiram, though. We meet his handmaidens, Anthea and Concordia, in Rood’s base. They give us a little more of N’s backstory – all three of them were orphans taken in by Ghetsis, who groomed N to be the King of Team Plasma and the girls to care for him (because, let’s face it, he’s nice but the guy’s a little short on general life skills). Despite their relationship with N, though, they can’t provide any direction. They’re not leaders. They just kinda hang out in the basement and help take care of the Pokémon. Basically, this group has been ditched by its one unifying figure and left with no purpose in life but to fix its own horrendous mistakes, while enduring the shouts and attacks of lunatics like Hugh, and I cannot help but feel for them.

As we leave, Rood apologises once again that he can’t offer us any help – in fact, he has a favour to ask. He needs to find a trainer for one of the Pokémon in their care – one of N’s childhood friends, a Zorua. I glance at Jim with a look of “well?” He agrees to take it and thanks Rood, deciding immediately to add Zorua to his team (with no nickname, sadly, since N counts as its ‘original trainer’). With a new Pokémon in tow, we depart to prepare for our next Gym battle – against Driftveil’s conniving master, the mining tycoon Clay.

White 2 Playthrough Journal, episode 11: He who fights with monsters

Bolt Badges in hand, Jim and I decide to look around Nimbasa City and its surroundings a bit more. We head east, out of the city, and explore the road to the Marvellous Bridge. We try the bridge, but find that we cannot reach it from ground level without taking an elevator, which is broken. As in so many other buildings in the Pokémon world, the elevator is the only way up. I have never understood their reliance on elevators. A woman in Hearthome City once told me that her house had no stairs because elevators were much easier for small Pokémon to use than human-sized stairs, which I suppose could apply to a lot of buildings, but isn’t that a massive fire hazard? I bring this up with the guards at the Marvellous Bridge, but they just stare at me blankly until Jim grabs me by the collar and drags me off. Since the bridge is closed, we go instead to the wilderness area northeast of Nimbasa City – the Lostlorn Forest.

Lostlorn gives me the willies. I complain, as Jim leads the way inside, that we shouldn’t be there, and that some forest spirit could jump out at any moment and turn us all into star-nosed moles. We find no forest spirits – only Roselia, Combee, and Pinsir. I briefly consider catching a Roselia, but decide that since I already have a Poison-type I’ll wait and go for another Grass Pokémon later. We hang around to train our Pokémon a little instead, and are rewarded when Sansa and Elisif evolve into a pair of Ampharos, Tyrion reaches the pinnacle of grumpiness as a mighty Scolipede, and Falk’s fire erupts into life as he evolves into Magmar. We wander deeper into the forest, and meet a backpacker who explains to us that a woman once lived here in a broken-down old trailer, bluntly refusing to speak to anyone and generally wallowing in her own crotchety misanthropy. Apparently she turned out to be a disguised Zoroark who had used her powers of illusion to turn the forest into an insane maze, but she’s gone now, and people don’t get lost here anymore. Well, that’s a relief, I say. The backpacker farewells us, walks a short distance away, then turns into a Zoroark and vanishes into the trees.

Jim. Leaving. Now.

Jim insists on checking the area more thoroughly to see whether there are any Zorua still living in Lostlorn, so I abandon him and wait at the entrance, refusing to take responsibility for his fate. Eventually, he reluctantly moves on and we decide to hit the stadia back in Nimbasa City for some training. When we get there, though, we find Hugh waiting for us… along with some Team Plasma goons. Hugh is doing his usual “destroy all Team Plasma” speech and warns them that they’re “about to feel his rage.” Ordinarily, of course, Jim and I would ignore this nonsense and get on with what we were doing earlier, but we’re not sure whether Hugh has ever heard of the Geneva Convention (or even whether it exists in this word) and we decide that the Team Plasma grunts need to be chased away for their own safety. With an awkward apology, we spring into action and, as gently as possible, disable their Pokémon with Sansa and Elisif’s Thunder Wave attacks, keeping all the trainers occupied so there’s no-one for Hugh to battle. Hugh quietly simmers in the background until we’ve scared them all off, then demands to know who he can unleash his rage on now. We tell him very sternly that he is not to unleash anything, rage-related or otherwise, without giving one of us notice and seeking permission, and that he is going to bottle his rage up inside until it sends him into a death spiral of depression and anxiety like normal people do. Hugh starts to object, and then, with a sigh, finally explains the deep, dark secret of his troubled past that is the cause of all his explosive rage.

A couple of years ago Team Plasma stole his little sister’s Purrloin.

We look at him blankly.

“…and…?”

Look, don’t get us wrong, it was a dick move on their part, but Team Plasma stole, like, a zillion Pokémon and most of their owners’ older brothers didn’t become gruff, obsessive sociopaths filled with barely-suppressed rage that explodes onto innocent bystanders at a moment’s notice. We sit Hugh down, repeat the “anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering” sermon, and ask him to tell us whether it’s really all worth it. Will fulfilling his goal and getting Purrloin back truly make him a less violently angry person? He raises an eyebrow and answers in the affirmative. Jim points out that at least Hugh’s on our side. At the moment. I tell him he’s not helping, and explain to Hugh that many of the Team Plasma crew from two years ago had been manipulated by Ghetsis and truly believed they were doing the right thing, even if their zealotry got out of hand at times. Jim mentions, thinking out loud, that the new Team Plasma seem much less morally ambiguous and are probably genuine bastards. I tell him he’s still not helping. We argue about it, and eventually come to an agreement that Hugh is still potentially a danger to himself and others, but at least he’s theoretically pointed at people we don’t like, and with fairly good reason. We just need to keep an eye on him.

This is problematic since he’s wandered off during our discussion.

We hurry out of Nimbasa City to the west, looking for him, and- oh, damnit, it’s Bianca; quick, hide before she- too late. Bianca is here to introduce us to Hidden Grottoes, one of the new features of Black and White 2. She drags us over to a place in the tree line where some bushes are visible between the trees – the sort of thing that’s obvious once you know what to look for, but you might never find on your own. Bianca explains that this is the entrance to a Hidden Grotto, an area where rare Pokémon sometimes hide. She shoves us into the hidden path between the trees, and we fight our way through the tangle of leaves and branches, to find… a Minccino. Seriously, Bianca? I know you think they’re cute, but was this really so important? Ah, what the hell. I battle the thing with Tyrion, capture it, and move on, giving Bianca a reproachful glare which, true to form, she doesn’t notice. Only much later, after stuffing it in a PC and leaving it there for days, do I realise that this Minccino has its Dream World ability, Skill Link. Hmm. Okay, maybe Bianca and her Hidden Grottoes aren’t a waste of time after all, but don’t tell her I said that.

Jim and I still can’t find Hugh, so we make for the Driftveil Drawbridge, which is being blocked by a crowd of people watching none other than Charles the Heartbreaker. Charles was in Black and White, but you might not remember him because he is silly. He is an expert on rotation battle, the mind-warping new battle format introduced in the fifth generation, as well as its less trippy cousin, triple battle. I have never really been sold on either of these. Double battles were already kind of a niche thing – I mean, I know people have double battles, and there are doubles tournaments and everything, but really? We all know they’re never going to rival singles as a battle format – and now the game is throwing triples at us, so we can have an even more niche format, and compounds it by throwing in another ridiculous niche format at the same time where predicting your opponent’s choices becomes so insane that your brain melts after three turns against the AI. Honestly, I think even Smogon gives up and says “don’t look at us” when faced with rotation battles, and they know everything! Fuelled by pure righteous irritation, I marshal my forces and stomp Charles into the dirt so we can use the Driftveil Drawbridge. We encounter a few Ducklett as we cross, and Jim, realising that he still doesn’t have any flying or swimming Pokémon on his team yet, catches one and names her Lydia. Other than that, the Driftveil Drawbridge presents few surprises, and we arrive safely in Driftveil City – time to find Hugh and keep him from getting into trouble…

White 2 Playthrough Journal, episode 6: The Plot Thickens

Team Plasma in their new trendy get-up. I hurry through the streets of Virbank City towards the ferry terminal, my eyes darting left and right, ever-watchful for Stu Deeoh’s accountants, whose wrath shall surely follow me to the ends of the earth. As I safely draw near to the docks, however, I am confronted with an obstacle: a six-way Pokémon battle in the open streets. To my surprise, Jim, Hugh and Roxie are all involved, and are being pressed hard by a trio of ginger ninjas. No, really; I mean actual ninjas who happen to be ginger. I realise that I know one of the ginger ninjas – the fellow who lobbed a DVD at me back on Floccesy Ranch – and reason that this must be Team Plasma. I briefly weigh up in my mind the relative importance of following Pokémon League rules, helping my friends, my distaste for Roxie, fighting crime, and my own massive laziness and apathy. Eventually I realise that Hugh, Jim and Roxie are battling with Pignite, Falk the Magby and Whirlipede, respectively, and that Pignite and Falk will be absolutely fine if I tell Barristan to scorch the area.

When they realise they’re outnumbered, the Team Plasma goons quickly recall their Pokémon and scatter. Hugh, not missing a beat, chases after one of them, screaming something about never forgiving them. Hmm. Forgiving them for what, exactly? Come back, Hugh; I think we’re on the verge of a real breakthrough here! No, never mind, he’s gone. Well, now that that’s taken care of with absolutely no negative consequences, I guess we’re off to Castelia City now, right? No… no, Jim wants to help Hugh look for Team Plasma. Come on; are we running a charity here now? I elect to wait at the ferry terminal for him to get bored. Jim, meanwhile, pursues the Team Plasma goons out of Virbank City into Route 20. He manages to track down one of them, about halfway back to Floccesy Town, and knocks him to the ground with Elisif’s Thunder Wave. As he flops around helplessly, Jim manages to extract a little information – the man was trying to come around and head back to the coastline. Unfortunately, the Team Plasma grunt manages to flail onto a hillside and starts rolling before Jim can get anything else out of him. He disappears into the bushes at the bottom of the hill, and has recovered from the Thunder Wave and scarpered by the time Jim gets down there. Still, he and Hugh agree that the man’s comment can only mean Team Plasma are travelling by ship. They return to the ferry terminal and are met there by Roxie. Roxie thanks both of them on behalf of Virbank City and presents them with a pair of Cut HMs. She presents me with a death glare and a silent threat to break her guitar over my head if I ever return to her city again, then departs. Well, it’s not like I wanted that particular HM anyway. The three of us board the ferry at last, and reach Castelia City before the day is out.

Castelia City, in all its glory.

Castelia City is as absurd and wonderful as I remember from Black and White – the largest city in Unova, possibly in the entire Pokémon world, teeming with people and packed with businesses as absurd as they are numerous. I pay a visit to the Battle Company, a huge corporation whose workers are devoted entirely to having Pokémon battles with each other and with visitors to their building, and Passerby Analytics, a group whose name, I can only assume, comes from the fact that they do absolutely no work themselves, but instead enlist random volunteers to conduct surveys for them. We indulge in a few battles in the city, and little Tyrion evolves into a Whirlipede. Eventually Jim suggests that maybe we should try to hunt down Team Plasma, and decides to seek the assistance of the Castelia Gym Leader. I grudgingly agree and we head for the Gym – only to find it closed for business. Luckily, help is at hand, in the form of… good grief, is that Iris? The Opelucid City Gym Leader from White version? What on earth is she doing here? Is she after Team Plasma too? Oh, whatever. Iris confidently explains that she knows exactly where everything shady goes down in Castelia City (I can only presume she’s involved in half of it) and leads us to the easternmost pier of the city docks, where one can enter…

…the sewer level.

Why is there always a sewer level?

I refuse, point blank, to enter the sewer level. The Virbank Gym was bad enough. Jim and Hugh can muck around down there with the rats and the sludge monsters and goodness knows what else; I am going to the Café Sonata for antipasto and a glass of sweet white. Iris doesn’t want to enter the sewer level either but she tries to hide it by claiming she’s standing guard on the surface, the sneaky little brat, so I do not invite her to join me.

The Sewer Level.

Jim and Hugh enter the sewer level and, in fact, find Team Plasma remarkably quickly. There are only two grunts in the area, who fall very quickly under their joint assault and flee the scene. Burgh, the Castelia Gym Leader, emerges from the tunnel near where the goons were standing and declares that there are no other suspicious characters in the area. Hugh’s thirst for vengeance is slaked for now, and he leaves, as does Burgh, who is returning to his Gym – well and good, but it leaves us no closer to finding their damn ship. What kind of Bug Pokémon Master doesn’t keep a String Shot or Spider Web handy for just this kind of situation? Immediately after Burgh leaves, having declared that there are no other suspicious characters in the tunnel, an extremely suspicious character steps out of the tunnel – the blonde white-coated scientist fellow who appeared in the games’ title sequence. He reveals that he had been watching Jim and Hugh battle, and was impressed by their power, but slips away before Jim can call out a Pokémon to detain him for further questions. Since Burgh has now been revealed as just about the most incompetent Gym Leader in the history of ever, Jim elects to remain in the sewer level for a while to make absolutely sure there’s no one else suspicious down here. In fact, he finds that there are a great many suspicious people in the sewer level, though none of them seem to be affiliated with Team Plasma. The tunnel, which is known as the Relic Passage, turns out to have been built by an ancient civilisation and links up to… somewhere, but Jim isn’t able to get very far inside. He does find an extremely dodgy scientist who asks him, apparently in total seriousness, whether he is part of the sewer. As fascinated as Jim is by the Relic Passage, he leaves as quickly as possible to search the sewers, making a mental note to report the scientist to the nearest asylum.

The sewers turn out to be full of Pokémon trainers, one or two of whom appear to have legitimate reason to be down there, though most of them just like hanging around in sewers. Jim finds no trace of Team Plasma, although in one room, he finds a female scientist who claims to be attempting to create medicines from the venom of Poison Pokémon and other substances from the sewers. She proclaims her day’s experiment a minor success, and hands Jim an oddly murky-looking Potion to test. Jim smiles charmingly at her, saying that he’ll try it out later, leaves the room as quickly as possible, and promptly tips the Potion back into the sewer water from which most of it probably came. He elects to get the hell out of this hive of madness and returns to the surface, where Iris congratulates him on whatever it was he just did and wanders off. Jim scrapes the sewer muck off his shoes and decides to find me. I have just finished my meal, and meet him on Narrow Street as I head back towards the Pokémon Centre. We take a moment to discuss recent events before turning in. Team Plasma is back, clearly, and they seem to have discarded their former facade of a movement for social change and Pokémon rights; now they’re just perfectly standard Pokémon thieves. That’s fine by me; it makes them someone else’s problem. Let the police deal with them. Jim points out, not unreasonably, that teenaged Pokémon trainers are the closest thing this universe has to a police force. I mutter that this is clearly the public’s own fault and the inevitable price of their low taxation, and propose returning to Aspertia as soon as we can use Fly to bypass Virbank City. For now, though, we’re in Castelia… so we may as well stay long enough to take on that cloud cuckoo of a Gym Leader…

White 2 Playthrough Journal, episode 2: Achievement Unlocked!

Our protagonists, ladies and gentlemen! That's me on the right and Jim on the left. I'm not usually a chick; I just play one on TV. Official art is copyright of Nintendo. Where we last left our intrepid heroes, Princess Leia and the Cornfield Kid, they had just left their home of Aspertia City and were marching boldly towards nearby Floccesy Town in hopes of finding Hugh, ‘cause if that kid’s left alone for too long I ain’t being held responsible for whatever happens. On the outskirts of Floccesy Town, however, we encounter… oh, good lord; it’s Alder. Alder, famous in Black and White as Unova’s Champion, is an exuberant giant of a man with flaming red hair, pecs of steel, and a poncho that makes him look like he belongs in a Peruvian folk band. He has a disturbing habit of jumping off cliffs in order to get to the ground faster, which he demonstrates now, leaping from on high to land smack in our path as we attempt to enter Floccesy Town. Alder proclaims that he is going to train us, and marches purposefully into Floccesy Town. We follow, hoping for some sage advice like “one strategy is to use Pokémon that you capture in your party!” (that is a legit quote from the official strategy guide, by the way). When we reach Alder’s house, however, it turns out that he has changed his mind. He isn’t going to train us, because we already have something we’re supposed to be doing – finding Hugh and delivering our spare Town Map. This is, admittedly, important. After all, if Hugh gets lost and starts to feel confused and alone, he could…

…anyway. Alder sends us on our way, and we wander off to the east of Floccesy Town to see what we can find. Here we meet a few trainers, who give us sage advice like ‘if you make eye contact with a trainer, you have to battle!’ and tell us how amazed we’re going to be by their Patrat (undoubtedly, it is in the top percentage of all Patrat). We encounter a typical Pokémon-style roadblock in the form of a Hiker who won’t let anyone without a Gym Badge pass, and, unimpressed, turn north to Floccesy Ranch. Here we finally track down Hugh, raring for a couple of practice battles; Jaime and Ulfric stomp him quickly enough. At this point the owners of the ranch, a husband and wife team, wander past and greet us, casually asking whether we happen to have seen a Herdier, since they have two who normally stick together, but can’t find the second one at the moment. Not to worry, it’ll surely turn up… right Hugh?

Uh… Hugh?

This is Hugh, who may be a sociopath. He is our best friend! I would trust him with my life!

Hugh is glaring at the owners with utter vitriol, fists clenched, a vein popping on his reddening brow. He demands to know how they can possibly be so nonchalant and storms off to find Herdier and make sure it hasn’t been killed or eaten or whatever. Jim and I look at each other and shrug as Hugh’s muffled obscenities fade into the distance. We split up to determine what Pokémon can be found at Floccesy Ranch. Jim almost immediately finds a Riolu, the juvenile form of his favourite Pokémon, which he captures and names Dovahkiin. We quickly determine (unsurprisingly) that Riolu is very rare here, and chalk this up to Destiny. He and I both capture Mareep as well, out of sheer Gold and Silver nostalgia, naming them Elisif and Sansa, respectively. We continue to hunt, and reflect on the number of Pokémon species we’ve found so far. Almost from the get-go, Black and White 2 have been offering us a great deal more variety than their predecessors, with Pidove, Sewaddle and Sunkern appearing on the road out of Floccesy Town in addition to the more standard Patrat and Purrloin, but Floccesy Ranch is making things very interesting indeed. We soon identify Azurill and Lillipup in addition to the Mareep, Riolu, Patrat and Pidove we’ve already noted, and later find a few Psyduck as well. If this keeps up, it’s going to make Black and White 2 much more enjoyable to replay than the previous games, which offered a grand total of five species before the first Gym battle, counting the starter (Patrat, Lillipup, Purrloin, and one of the elemental monkeys). We applaud this change, and move on. While Jim hangs around level-grinding, I wander off to find Hugh, who is searching the ranch for the missing Herdier. I decide to humour him and help look. We eventually manage to track down the sheepdog Pokémon by the sound of its barks. When Hugh realises its voice is coming from just around the corner, he dashes off to find the owner… leaving me to deal with the black-clad ginger fellow who seems to have abducted Herdier. The villain introduces himself as a member of Team Plasma, the organisation that attempted to conquer Unova two years ago. He proclaims his annoyance at being interrupted in the middle of his mission, and prepares to deal with me using his most ruthless methods: he throws a TM at me and runs away, leaving Herdier behind.

Uh… okay?

I mean… if that’s how Team Plasma handles its opponents these days… by throwing useful items at them and then legging it… well, then, honestly I’m totally fine with it. I hope one of them has a Master Ball.

This is Alder. He jumps off cliffs and we hate him. Not necessarily in that order.

Hugh drags the owner over to see Herdier, screams at him again for not being more concerned, and leaves in a huff. What can I say? Kid’s got issues. Jim and I stick around a little longer to train before heading back to Floccesy Town to consult Alder and see if he’s ready to teach us yet. Alder, for his part, seems keen to keep jerking us along. He comments in surprise that we’ve already grown a great deal in the time we’ve been away, and now he would like us to help him teach someone else! We mutter darkly that the time we’ve been away amounts to more than two thirds of the time we’ve been trainers, but grudgingly follow him into his house to indulge in practice battles with two young trainers and their elemental monkey Pokémon. This little episode seems intended to replace the Striaton Gym sequence of Black and White, which teaches new players how to make use of (and avoid falling foul of) the type chart. Alder first has you fight the monkey who is weakest against your starter Pokémon (in my case, Pansear), and then the one who is strongest (Pansage), similarly to how the Striaton Gym pits you against a Gym Leader with a type advantage, but gives you the monkey capable of defeating him. Honestly, I think the Striaton Gym’s method was clearer and more instructive, though the point was somewhat hamstrung by the very limited variety of Pokémon available, which forced the lesser Gym trainers to use Lillipup rather than actual Grass-, Water- or Fire-types. Alder’s way of doing it is neat enough, though I fear it may not be explicit or forceful enough for anyone who doesn’t already understand the system.

Alder explains to us that a new Pokémon Gym has just been opened in our hometown of Aspertia City, and suggests that we return there to check it out. This will be the subject of my next entry, though there’s one more thing to talk about today: achievements! Pokémon now has an achievement system, which is introduced to us by a very peculiar and rather pushy fellow known only as Mr. Medal as we leave Alder’s home. He hands us Medal Boxes containing a bunch of silvery disks stamped with question marks. These are ‘hint medals,’ and contain somewhat vague hints at things we can do to earn the actual medals that will replace them, like ‘catch a lot of Pokémon,’ ‘save often,’ ‘visit Pokémon centres,’ and so on. Mr. Medal has people stalking us to keep track of when we earn our medals, and will track us down at Pokémon Centres whenever he needs to deliver one. Many video games (perhaps even most, these days?) have similar systems, and although receiving medals for catching 5 Pokémon or using not-very-effective moves 10 times or whatever is a bit groan-inducing for experienced trainers, I actually think it’s quite a nice way of encouraging new players to explore everything they can do with the games and ‘learn the ropes’ as it were. It’s reasonably unobtrusive and doesn’t slow the game down much, so it’s not as if it’s getting in the way of anything, and I’m fairly happy with it.

Anyway, that’s all for now – see you next time, when we challenge the newly-minted Aspertia Gym!

White 2 Playthrough Journal, episode 1: Where the f@#k are we?

So, I’ve finally gotten around to playing White 2, in tandem with my best friend Jim, who’s playing Black 2. We have both studiously avoided any spoilers up until this point, and are meeting these games with fresh eyes. This entry, and those that will follow it, are the results of our experiences as we flail madly through the games, smiting all who stand in our way. So, without further ado…

Bright lights! Loud noises! Dragons! Protagonists striking their most badass poses! Starter Pokémon! Villains! Douchebag whom I assume is the rival! Eccentric scientist with a book! MORE DRAGONS! COBALION! TERRAKION! VIRIZION! DRAAAAGON!

…yeah, it’s the opening cutscene. Honestly I feel Pokémon’s opening cutscenes are not really as good as they have been or could be; I think they peaked in the second and third generations. The Diamond and Pearl one was, quite blatantly, “LOOK AT ME I’M 3D LOOKATMELOOKATME I AM USING THE DS’S GRAPHICAL CAPABILITIES TO A FAR GREATER EXTENT THAN THE GAME ITSELF EVER WILL,” while the Black and White one was totally cryptic and very difficult to understand until after completing the game, but did manage to give away what ought to have been one of the games’ more important twists (the fact that N is allied with Team Plasma). This is just a generic montage of stuff that’s clearly going to be important in the game, and I don’t know whether I even care. Moving right along.

We quickly rush through all the usual awkwardness of Professor Juniper meeting you and needing help to decide whether she’s looking at a boy or a girl. I, at Jim’s insistence, am a girl (apparently we need to see whether anything happens differently for a female player, and he thought of it first, the little bastard), which means that I am the illegitimate love child of Mickey Mouse and Princess Leia, and he is a kid who styles his hair after a bushel of wheat. Professor Juniper introduces us to our lifelong friend (I guess?), Hugh, an aggressive-looking spiky-haired fellow, and gives the traditional “Pokémon are wondrous creatures, journey, exploration, growth, battle, partnership, aren’t Pokémon great?” spiel, before promptly buggering off out of our lives. Her influence persists, though, since she immediately contacts our mother (for the purposes of this commentary I will assume we are brother and sister, not that it’s likely to matter) and tells her that we are to receive our first Pokémon. When mother dear asks us, we protest that we don’t want Pokémon, have no idea what a Pokédex is, and certainly have no wish to go on a journey to complete one, but our pleas are, of course, in vain – mother is a forceful woman, and pressures us into accepting Professor Juniper’s assignment. Our contact, Bianca (oh, lord, that Bianca?) is here already, and we need to find her! With an exaggerated, synchronised sigh, we leave the house and- wait, where the hell are we?

This… doesn’t look like Nuvema Town. Er… in fact, this doesn’t look like any city in Unova. How did we get here and what is going on? Juniper? Is this you? Have we been drugged? CURSE YOU, JUNIPER!

Before we can get over our disorientation, we meet our friend Hugh and his little sister. Hugh already has a Pokémon, and is excited that we’re getting ours because he’s sick of having no other trainers around to battle and needs a travelling companion he can trust. His sister comments that she hopes we’ll take good care of our Pokémon when we get them, to which Hugh just… sort of looks at her coldly, says “yeah…” and gets right back to what he was saying before. Oo…kaay… Upon further investigation, we quickly conclude that Hugh is a very strange and possibly dangerous boy. His mother, when questioned, expresses a hope that we’ll keep Hugh on the right path and stop him from getting trouble… since he’s… “the sort of person who lets his rage build up inside him.” His father, perhaps even more alarmingly, mentions that “his goal is…” and then just… sort of… trails off ominously. Uh… Hughie, dear… don’t take this the wrong way, but… has anyone ever told you that anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering? Just, um… just FYI.

With Hugh in tow, we explore the town and learn that we are in Aspertia City, a town somewhere out the ass end of nowhere in south-eastern Unova, a part of the region that wasn’t accessible two years ago in Black and White. Unlike every other starting location in the games’ history, Aspertia City boasts a fully-functional Pokémon Centre, a fairly large population, and a Pokémon Trainers’ School (though this latter building is presently closed). Jim and I eventually find Bianca, the klutzy lunatic rival character of Black and White, perched atop Aspertia City’s high observation platform. Bianca presses our starter Pokémon into our hands – for Jim, a Snivy named Ulfric, and for me, an Oshawott whom I name Jaime. She also thrusts a Pokédex at each of us, and gives one to Hugh for good measure, because the more expensive technology she hands out to random teenagers, the better. Hugh immediately challenges us to a battle with his egg-raised starter Pokémon (as you might imagine, Jim sees a Tepig and I see a Snivy). Once Hugh has been suitably trounced, he dashes off to begin his adventure while Bianca drags us down to the Pokémon Centre and gives us the standard lecture on what an awesome place it is, along with a gift of ten Pokéballs – previous games give you five, enough to fill out a party; Bianca is clearly either anxious to get this show on the road or extremely pessimistic about our capture skills. Possibly both. Mother, a dutiful sort, appears and hands us pairs of running shoes, while Hugh’s sister gives us our Town Maps, along with a spare for Hugh himself, when we find him. With all of that out of the way, all we need to do is learn how to catch Pokémon… from, of all people, Bianca, the most scatterbrained Pokémon trainer in recorded history (but at least she arguably knows what she’s doing, in contrast to the caffeinated octogenarian who teaches trainers the same skill in Viridian City)… and set off for the next town!

Only… it looks like we have another familiar face to groan at first.