Let's Try and Play Pokemon Black or White

Black or White? What am I talking about, do I not know what I'm going to play? Well actually, yes I have no clue what I'm going to play as I don't read Japanese at all. All I know is it's one of the two new Pokemon games, and that the one I got has a white background with a black Pokemon for the case. The other option was black background with a white Pokemon. I simply picked the one that looked cooler.

All right then, I've just taken the plastic wrapping off of the case, and have pulled out the manual. I don't read Japanese that well (at all), but I think I can understand pictures (perhaps).

The first picture I see shows a DS and how to use the touch screen with that little pen that it comes with. OK, I think I know how to use the touch screen on the DS. Next picture please.

Our next pictures are oh the page that is apparently the table of contents. I can either play a Guy that wears a blue wind breaker and what appears to be a satchel. Or I could play a Girl, with pants cut into shorts so high up that her pockets are visible sticking out the legs. Both characters need a hair cut, but try to hide it by wearing hats.

Next up we have some pictures of some of the Pokemon we might encounter in our travels, and then two more people. Let's see here one guy has a blue suit jacket and white shirt with an orange stripe on it. I'm assuming as he has no fashion that he's either the rival or the professor. Standing next to him is a woman waving wearing an orange outfit, with the most ridiculous green hat. That's likely mom, as she's waving at us.

There are a couple of more pictures, that either retell what we already know (such as the main character's pictures again or more Pokemon we might see), but then we get to the cast of characters.

There is a lady wearing a short shirt with a white top, and a flowing light green coat. I'm not sure who she is if I'm right about the guy with the blue suit jacket. She's waving at us too, so perhaps she's mom. I doubt it though, as why would mom be wearing a short skirt. Next to her is the guy in the blue suit jacket, and while he's in a pose that makes him look like he's thinking...

Well it just makes him look like he's checking out the previous girls ass.

Then there is the crazy looking lady with the green hat again, and finally there is N. That is clearly his name as in the box's next to people it's giving their name, and his box says N (Japanese that I can't read or type) so clearly he calls himself N, but the other part is his actual name. He seems to have a thing for puzzles as he has hanging off his belt a Rubik cube on a chain.

On the next page, is what appears to be a list of the Gym leaders. I've concluded this by there being eight small icons of faces, with short descriptions on these people. I can't read the descriptions, but there is a number in every one except the last.

Gym leader 1 has it's icon broken into three lines showing only eyes in each belonging to different people. This mystery person or people has the number 20. Pokemon up to level 20 will obey me if I get that badge? Icon border is red.

Gym leader 2 has a black woman with huge ear rings, and the number 30. Icon border is orange.

Gym leader 3 has a crazy person in with hair that makes me hope it's a female. Number 40, and border green.

Gym leader 4 has a real pale girl with yellow hair the number 50 and a yellow border. (Electric Gym Leader anyone?)

Gym leader 5 has a Texan and a brown border, with the number 60. I can tell he's a Texan from his hat.

Pink border gym leader 6 has the number 70 and seems happy enough with her pink flower in her hair.

Gym leader 7, has a blue border, and is apparently a blue Ninja. He has the number 80.

Finally there is Gym leader 8 that has no number, and a purple border. She seems to be trying to lick her eyeball. Either that or she's just deep in thought.

More in a second... I'm only up to page 10 of the manual.

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

All right, going over each picture is taking to long so let me just do a quick run down of what I'm learning from the pictures...

Battle screen looks much to what I'm use to for a Pokemon DS game, but the Bag, Run, and Pokemon buttons are clearly labeled in English as well as Japanese.

Oh page 25, I see confirmation that I have purchased Pocket Monsters White as that's what it says up in the upper right hand corner of the page. I go back a few pages, and see that I should have seen that as early as page 13.

Through the rest of the book, I don't really learn anything new. Either it shows pictures that depict things working much the same as they did in other Pokemon games, or they show something new. The old stuff I see sometimes has English things showing up in the most useless spots.

As for the new stuff, I don't know what to make of it. A crossbow without a crossbow bolt, but instead a Pokemon ball? Odd. Time I think to put in the game. Or more correctly time to find my gameboy... BRB...

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

Ok it took a bit of searching, and I found my Pokemon Heartgold case, both my Poke Walkers, the Gameboy's power cable Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and five of my own Rubik cubes before I actually find my DS.

But getting the game in and startting things up, I see the intro, that seems to have something to do with a king and a person with flowing hair. I see the kid with the rubik cube as a kid, and some guy with flowing white hair get crowned.

HOPE

Dream

Discovery

And Adventure await you and your Pokemon.

YAY! Wait, why is that in English?

Anyways, I'm at a screen with four options. I'm betting option 1 is start a new game, and that option three is wifi connect as it shows a little wifi icon. I pick 2. This takes me to a menu with four more options. I pick 4. It puts me back to the intro sequence. Sigh... skip skip, option 2... now option 3... four new options with option four clearly being either exit or back. So I guess 3 again? No pictures, just a bunch of Japanese text. No clue. Back at the menu... 2 this time I guess... more text that I can't read, and the same with option 1. I think I am in some kind of help menu I guess. Pressing B takes me back.

All right so I'm back a menu, I guess I go with option 2 this time. I'm not sure what this area is, but now I'm in some kind of empty storage thing. I think for pictures perhaps. I can store 12 of these things. But right now I can't do anything with them. Leaving there for now...

Now to the top option of this sub menu. It asks me a question, and then gives me two options. I pick the top one and it turns on the icon at the top trying to show me how good my network connection is... non existent. Again I select it and pick the option that clearly means YES (top option). This time it tries to actually do something with that connection, but obviously it fails but just waits there for me to cancel the action. Ah well. The icon is gone now at least.

Back at the true main menu, I select the fourth option and I'm taken to a screen with Jigglypuff on the top half and instructions on the bottom half. I press A... nothing happens. I press B... I exit the screen. I go back in and try to use the pen on the screen... nothing happens at first but then the Pokemon starts to sing. OOH am I doing that... ok wait I am but not with the pen.

Putting away the pen, I start making sounds at the DS, and those sounds cause Jiggly to start singing. OOOH... all right enough nonsense. Time to get to the actual game.

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

Black screen with some text I can't read asking me a question. This question isn't yes or no, so I'm figuring it's asking my gender? I'm going to select the second option. That woman with the green mini skirt appears. Is she the professor for this game? A quick reset and I pick the first option this time... And she still appears. What does this question mean? Well lets get through the intro and see all the questions it asks us and perhaps I can figure it out.

Ah here it is, the question that asks us if we are a boy or a girl. I know this is the question as two big pictures come up on the screen, with a dude in one picture and the girl in the other picture. I click DUDE. I can't help but think that the dude looks more like a girl with short hair and a flat chest trying to pretend to be a boy though. It then asks me a question that is clearly a yes or no question, so I pick NO just to see what will happen. Sure enough, the question was asking me if I was sure that I'm a boy. See even the Professor doesn't believe you when you say you are a boy. I tell the Professor that I really am a boy, and that I'm sure I'm not a girl.

Now I have the option to name my character so I name him with up to five letters... um... what should I name him? I'll name him Bob for now and get through the intro thing here then try to figure out what that first option did by starting over and seeing if I notice anything about the game right away. So if anyone has any ideas for a name for the character, or thinks that I should just cave in and admit that the character really is a girl...

edited 25th Sep '10 7:01:40 AM by Syntic

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

Ok so the Professor is still talking, and is introducing three people to me. One is that dude with the blue suit jacket, the second is that girl with the crazy green hat, and the third is someone that looks sort of like Red from the first Pokemon game. I don't pick any of them or name them though... oh wait... it's Spring...

Cool graphics. I'll need to get my phone out and take some pictures I think. In a bit though. Blue Suit dude is talking to me in my house (I assume it's my house....) Green hat girl shows up, and starts blathering. Blue Suit seems excited. He says something about the number 10... then asks a question. Green hat girl comes over to me and says something along with my name. Have I won a contest? She asks me something... then continues talking without giving me a chance to answer.

Oh my gosh the three of us seem so excited... and both characters keep saying my name over and over again. I must have won a contest or something. Oooh or perhaps it's my birthday, as there is a present on my table. I pick it up and see a note on it. In it are three Pokeballs. Hum... don't know anything about these guys but let me see here... There is a grass type, a fire type, and a water type. Well lets go with a water type because I do plan on reseting here in just a moment anyways... because I still want to know what that first question changed for me. I might even look it up.

Ooh green hat wants to fight. She of course picks the fire type. Wait... she picked the fire type? I picked water though... anyways, I've two moves. One with 35 pp and one with 30 pp. I'm assuming one is something like leer and the other is the attack... but what is the attack... grr... I'll go with the 35 pp one.

So first attack is Tackle. Second attack seems to perhaps be tail whip as that seems to be the animation that goes. And I win, and get 43 exp, and 500 yen.

OH NO! My room is a mess now, and there are footprints everywhere, even on the walls. Blue suit heals us both and then challenges me. He has the grass guy. All right this makes more sense. Let's tackle him repeatedly until I win...

Ooh ok so the grass Pokemon starts with tackle and Leer, while the other two start with tackle and tail whip. Anyways, I get 43 more exp, and go up to level 6. YAY higher stats. Also I'm well on my way to the next level, and got 500 more yen. At least the room isn't a bigger mess.

Ok what asses. They just leave after our starting battle and don't help me clean up my room at all. The least hey could do is help me pick up. Well heck, if they aren't going to help me clean up, I'm not going to clean anything up either. Going down stairs, I find mom and my two friends. My two friends leave, and mom gives me a watch OH THANK YOU mom, I always wanted a watch for my birthday. I leave to, and I see blue suit blocking the door to a building. So that's where I go. He says I can't go in, though I don't understand why. I look around town and find a green hat, and she's getting yelled at by her dad. I think it's because she lost the battle, or because her dad is drunk and angry. What an abusive father.

Oh hey now I can go into the building that was blocked. Ah this goes to the Lab with the Professor. She lets me name this Pokemon, and I'm disappointed to find that I can't find the Japanese characters that I know mean Fire Extinguisher. So I name him Frank.

The Prof then asks me a question, and I say yes as I have no idea what she just asked me. She then gives me something that I assume is a Pokedex. The Prof then leaves the lab, so I do also. Mom's out front and she gives me what appears to be a memo pad or something. She then gives me and my friends a motivational speech. Perhaps it would be more motivating if mom spoke English...

Going out into the wild we find the Professor again, and she shows the three of us how to battle and capture Pokemon. Oh the three of us are so motivated right now! Let me at them. I want to make an army. Oh wait, I was going to reset it here in a bit and find out what that first option did. As well as take screen shots of the amazing graphics for everyone! It's so amazing! I'm so motivated! (I don't know how sarcastic I'm being.)

But before I reset, my two friends seem to get angry at me and then leave again. I think it's because everyone is giving me stuff and they are still bitter about me kicking both their asses in our first battles.

Anyways, time to restart and see what changes when I select the second option at the very start. If I go outside my house and don't see any difference I suppose I could look it up online. After that though, I'll really get started with the game, with making a character and picking a pokemon and what not.

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

Actually the thing hanging from N's belt is a Menger sponge.Bulbapedia says its "a geometric figure that simultaneously has infinite surface area and zero volume. "

Weird huh?

The question before the professor appeared was asking if you want to play in kana or kanji. I suggest the first option since it makes the game easier to understand. There's a girl in the first town that will switch the option if you talk to her. If you accidently chose kanji go talk to her. She's on the left side of the town I think.

edited 25th Sep '10 8:20:01 AM by Marioguy128

You got some dirt on you. Here's some more!

Ah so it's an option that won't affect me at all, as I don't read any Japanese and only understand yes and no based off of context.

But as I'm starting a new game anyways, any ideas on what I should start with? A fire, water, or grass pokemon? What gender should I be (not that it matters as I'm fairly sure even for the boy option that it's really a girl pretending to be a boy based off of the picture...)

And what should I name myself, and my first pokemon. All other pokemon are getting default names.

edited 25th Sep '10 8:30:58 AM by Syntic

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

For those that don't believe me that it's actually asking you if you want to be a girl or a girl, here is the question...

edited 25th Sep '10 8:52:36 AM by Syntic

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

As a note, once I actually start the game for real, I'll be posting more than one screen shot per post. I just really can't post more past that one right now, until I actually pick my gender. This is all the more reason to believe that your two picks are actually the same person in different clothing considering that real people don't get to pick genders... other than cross dressers.

edited 25th Sep '10 9:15:20 AM by Syntic

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

Something to note:

The Grass starter has the best speed and defenses.

The Fire starter has the best Attack and HP

The water starter has the best Special attack (not much higher than regular attack) and is overall quite balanced.

It's a plot! ...Quite a well written one too.

I decided to go with the boyish looking girl, and I gave myself a REAL name this time. Not that Bob isn't a real name, it's just not as cool as it could be. So I name myself Makepeace (It's a real name look it up).

But what's that I say? You thought I said I only had five characters to work with. So did I go with Makep for my name? Or perhaps I cut out all the vowels and got MKPC. No nothing of the sort. I found out that the on screen keyboard has a thing for translating English letter combos into Japanese characters.

So Ma-Ka-Pe-A-Ce becomes

---

That looks good to me. Onward we go...

---

As we enter my house, we come upon myself and my friend the blue jacket dude, are having a discussion about that present on my table.

---

By the way, based on what the blue jacket dude's name looks like, I'm going to call him Phil.

---

While Phil and I try to figure out what might be, the green hat girl shows up and special music starts playing.

---

Also based off of what her name looks like, I'll be calling her Ann. Phil and Ann have a conversation not letting me get in a word edge wise, but ultimately come to a conclusion about the package.

---

They have decided that I'll be the poor sap to open the darn thing.

edited 25th Sep '10 10:14:28 AM by Syntic

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

On the package, I found a note...

---

Anyways, I go ahead and open the package and find three pokemon in it.

---

What to do? I known very little about them other than what they look like. In my personal opinion the Water Beaver looks like a bit of a tool, while the Grass Lizard looks like he's some sort of advisor to nobles. The fire pig? He looks like a fire pig. I could easily see myself going with either the Grass Lizard thing or the Fire Pig. I don't think I'll pick the Water Beaver, but I'm open to input.

edited 25th Sep '10 10:27:32 AM by Syntic

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

The otter looks a lot cooler once it evolves. The Grass snake keeps the same theme. The fire pig stops being cute... but I don't think it looks cool either.

I've already told you what their statistics are. I'd recommend either Grass or Water.

It's a plot! ...Quite a well written one too.

So it's gotten to dark right now for me to take more screen shots at this time, but I ended up going with the grass pokemon, and using him to win in a fight against both Phil and Ann. I honestly can't tell if they are angry at me for winning or what, but they leave my room, and when I go down stairs they say some more things I don't understand before leaving. Seriously? Seems like they are a bit angry at me. Mom does give me a watch though.

I explore around town, and even try to leave it, but Phil won't let me, nor will he let me enter the Lab until I can find Ann. Looking at the three mailboxes in front of our houses, I easily fine Ann's house, go in and see her dad getting angry at her about something. She seems embarrassed that I witnessed it, and promptly leaves. Seriously if Phil and Ann are angry because I won, they need to get over it because they challenged me.

Going into the Lab now, the Prof talks to us, and lets me name my Pokemon. I try to name him Sheogorath, but clearly that name is to long, I am able to use there auto translate though to name him Sheogora.

More talking, and the Prof has enlisted the three of us in a task to fill up this Pokedex, then tells us to find her on route 1. Once outside, Mom gives out a memo looking thing that I mentioned earlier, but it's actually a map. Oh Mom, you always know what I want in life.

Before going to route 1, I return home and find out I can rest at home anytime I want. Well that's nice. Of course I left without cleaning my room, and Mom hasn't done it for me so it's still a big mess. I try to clean up a bit, but as near as I can tell everything is broken. Ah well I'm sure Mom won't mind if I leave my room a complete mess as I go out into the world.

Up at route one the Prof teaches us how to capture pokemon, and then gives me five pokeballs. This is all stuff I've done before in other games so time to go through route one, and catch some basic pokemon on the way.

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

After getting through route 1, I meet back up with Phil and Ann, of whom Ann asks me a yes or no question. More talking happens when I say yes, and then we are put into a four way video phone conference with the Prof.

Going barely any further north I enter the next town, and find the Prof blocking the way to the Pokecenter. Great you stopped us to have a video teleconference when you could have just spoke with us in person. She then gives me a tour of the Pokecenter. This clearly is a pokecenter well away from the other games, as it seems very new and different. The biggest change though is that the Pokemart and Pokecenter seem to have been combined into one building.

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

After leaving the Pokecenter/mart, I see some sort of commotion going on. Some guy with guards is making a speech, and eventually leaves. Then a guy that introduces himself as N comes along and decides to do battle with me and my three Pokemon. I've not done much any sort of leveling though, so let's see how this goes...

His first Pokemon is some cat like thing at level seven, and the pokemon I have in front is a level three thing that stands on it's hind legs and waves it's tail about... His cat scratches mine up and makes him feint but not before mine manages to tackle him a number of times until he feints.

My next Pokemon looks like it could be a dog or something. I don't know. He's at level 4, so I just have him tackle repeatedly. I manage to crush his cat into the ground with this pokemon, gaining my dog thing three levels, and 700 yen.

N then says some more mysterious things, and Phil comments about the mysterious nature of N. And off Phil goes to I presume to investigate. I on the other hand head over to the Pokecenter to heal. Not really having any goals at this point in time, I decide to explore town. In a building on the north west part of town, on the second floor I find a guy that gives me "something" I have no idea what it is though. Let's see if we can find out though. Unfortunately I can't find it in my pack, so I have no clue. Ah well.

In that same house is some kid that's asking a question. I think he's checking to see if we have a specific pokemon and are willing to trade. I don't seem to have it though if that's what he's asking about.

In the northeast part of town though is a house with a couple of music lovers, and talking to them changes the tone of the music a touch either to include piano music and or drum music. Talking to them again does nothing.

West to Route 2, I get a phone call from mom, who then tracks me down and gives me something. We talk in person for a bit before she leaves to go back home. Hopefully she'll clean my room while I'm gone. Turns out what she gave me though are running shoes, WOW it really must be my birthday with all this free stuff I keep getting.

While on the grass of Route 2, I encounter another dog thing but this time it looks a bit more yellow instead of brown and some stars explode around it even before my pokemon is out for the battle. Is this a Shiny Pokemon? Well in any event I catch it and now have 4 pokemon. Looking at his stat sheet, I see that a big difference other than color between this one and the other one like him is that he has a star on his sheet. Nice, if this is a shiny pokemon then it will have been the first I captured (let alone seen) in any of the pokemon games.

Also while on route 2, I do some trainer battles, capture one of those cat pokemon, and have my original dog learn a new trick. I also have to turn back a number of times to heal. Route 2 seems like a decent training area for young pokemon.

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

And just as I'm getting to the far side of route to Ann shows up wanting to do battle. Lovely, with all my pokemon weak from the trip. What a *itch. The first place I go, once I've defeated her is of course the Pokecenter to get healed.

Talking to everyone in town, netted me a number of free things. Darned if I know what they are though. Just to the west of the center though is a school with a kid that gives you a quiz of some sort. Answer his questions right and he gives you something free. I decided to just keep taking the test until I got the right answers. Still don't know what I got.

The last guy in the school is Phil, and he wants to challenge me to a fight. But all my guys are fairly weak right now, so I'm going to hold off on that and just do some random training on route two for a while.

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

Here's a tip: When the first gym becomes availible, don't go in it yet. Do some exploring. You'll get a pokemon that'll help you with the gym.

You got some dirt on you. Here's some more!

Specifically, there's a woman in the area to the east that gives you a pokemon from another set of three - the same set the Leaders of the first gym use. The one she gives you has an advantage against the leader you fight, who has an advantage against your starter.

It's a plot! ...Quite a well written one too.

Before getting off to more exploring, I have this thing about having two of the same pokemon in my team, so let me show you the non-shiny version of the dog thing, and the shiny version before I put the non-shiny in my storage.

edited 25th Sep '10 2:38:31 PM by Syntic

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

Wow you got a shiny? That's cool.

edited 25th Sep '10 2:28:38 PM by Marioguy128

You got some dirt on you. Here's some more!

Let's just hope that we don't get hit by the Wrath Of Wiseau (TM) because of those images. Otherwise known as Nintendo's image crackdown so they can shoot their respect and publicity in the foot.

Suck it Nintendo.

Also that dog Pokemon is the same breed as my dog. And if it is like it, it will be like a puppy Metroid.

A corpse should be left well enough alone...

Well I followed your advice, and wanted to name him Fire Extinguisher, but Google Translate converters that to 消火器 and those characters aren't able to be picked in the game. So I then did the next step and put those characters into Google search and got the Japanese Wikipedia entry for Fire Extinguishers.

And on that page it shows me 消火器（しょうかき）so clearly that part in the () is what I should name my Pokemon, as I do have those characters to pick from. Being the curious sort though, I then tell Google to translate the page and see what しょうかき means or reads as. Well it shows me this... Fire extinguisher (ginger oyster)

So apparently my new Pokemon has a name that means Ginger Oyster. Well back to training my Pokemon.

edited 25th Sep '10 5:36:12 PM by Syntic

I'm from the future but am able to travel into the past with my ultra slow internet connection.

Emperordaein says

I believe it's a real lawyer, but he's not working with Nintendo, but with either Sony or Microsoft to give Nintendo a bad name other wise: Green Team wouldn't be able to do complete their recently comedy thread about all the new Pokemon in Pokemon Black/White here.

edited 25th Sep '10 3:47:03 PM by MadWritter

Logging off, Dr Thinker, a.k.a, Mad Writter

I seriously doubt it. Nintendo has always been somewhat control-freakish.

And, you know, you are kind of doing this illegally.

edited 25th Sep '10 3:44:36 PM by Ponicalica

the future we had hoped for