Apart from gen V, which main series game had the best storyline?

[Hellomello]

The general consensus seems to be that BW/BW2 had the best storyline out of all the main series games. But setting those games aside, which main series game do you think was best in terms of story/plot?

 

[Boss1708]

I think you should have said "apart from BW1", because BW2 isn´t unanimously seen as the best plot, only BW1 is.

That said, I think ORAS is the best behind BW sofar. The RSE plot was improved and fleshed out a lot in ORAS, especially in terms of region lore and characters. The Primal Reversion and Delta Episode were probably the best additions. Also, the entire Mauville brand backstory, mainly Sea Mauville, and the Devon backstory with Infinity Energy.

So, imo:

BW > ORAS > BW2 for top 3 plots sofar.

 

[Kharixi]

For me, only having played Gens V-VII (and Pearl) I'd say my top few are OR/AS, S/M, and X/Y.

 

[PurplePopplio]

Either Platinum or Emerald. Since I could only vote for one, Platinum. Exploring another world? Astronomical!

 

[Norzan]

General consensus doesn't make it true. To me BW (the entire gen) and RBY are tied for the worst plot in the entire series and RBY barely has any. And yes, i prefer XY's plot, it was pretty bad but didn't made me angry like BW1 did. I was just indifferent to XY's plot except for some interesting backstory stuff.

I'll probably say Platinum and ORAS stories. They are enjoyable enough.

 

[Lyrebird]

RBY obvs.

 

[Esserise]

Gen V > ORAS > SM > GSC > RBY

Those'd be the top five. It's hard for me to decouple BW and B2W2, but if you forced me to rank them separately, then I guess B2W2 would go after SM. But it's like... B2W2 are pretty slender on their own and already lean on BW for a lot of context and thematic direction. May as well smush 'em together, in my opinion.

On the topic of the Johto storyline, I prefer the GSC - or more specifically, Crystal - version of events over the HGSS version. Yes, HGSS do have the cute little circular paradox with Giovanni in the Celebi event, but the GS Ball event is more mysterious and interesting. Plus, HGSS went and stapled Arceus onto the Unown's mystery (which is bad enough since I like the Unown but am not a big fan of Arceus), and then failed to elaborate on that connection whatsoever, making it seem pointless.

XY and DPP fall on about the same level. I feel like XY are more story-driven and thematically deep than DPP, and have a better eye on what they want to do, but they bungle it in terms of the actual writing (though the Looker Bureau stands out from this). The exposition in the main story of XY is way too laconic. It feels starved. And of course, AZ is an abject failure of a character. Whereas DPP have more thorough exposition (well, Platinum does, but I'll be charitable)... but the subject matter they're expositing on is mostly garbled nonsense with a gobsmackingly overinflated sense of scale.

And then RSE are complete garbage. Thank god for ORAS.

(However, because ORAS and RS are grouped together in the poll, I'm casting my vote for SM despite ORAS being my actual second-favorite.)

 

[Boss1708]

(However, because ORAS and RS are grouped together in the poll, I'm casting my vote for SM despite ORAS being my actual second-favorite.)

Fuck, many people seem to prefer ORAS´s plot as the second best behind BW, but nobody votes for ORAS because they (including myself) are ticked off by RS being grouped there too xD

 

[Lyrebird]

Fuck, loads of people seem to prefer ORAS´s plot as the second best behind BW, but nobody votes for ORAS because they (including myself) are ticked off by RS being grouped there too xD

I think that's a bit of a hyperbole there.

Those games I felt were bland story wise. Get orb from stupid team. Stupid team wants to get rid of water/fill world with water, legendary wakes up and you catch legendary or make it faint. The end.

 

[Boss1708]

I think that's a bit of a hyperbole there.

Those games I felt were bland story wise. Get orb from stupid team. Stupid team wants to get rid of water/fill world with water, legendary wakes up and you catch legendary or make it faint. The end.

You literally destroyed most Pokmon Games´s plot bar BW1 there.
ORAS is one of the best plots for Pokemon standards. I repeat "for Pokemon Standars" xD

Also, I think you voted for RBY so...
(but seriously, I know why you voted for RBY, I like the simplicity of Gen I and II as well)

 

[Lyrebird]

Pokemon standards doesn't mean much to me. The point is that stories are bland and are tedious to get through. Why the hell should I be saving the world when every single trainer doesn't do anything? Why can't the Elite 4 do it?

Also disagree with every game plot. The first two generations. Battle Team Rocket which really didn't do much in taking over the world. They were just standard criminals and it didn't take time away from the main game and also didn't involve legendary Pokemon at all.

ORAS and RSE are just boring, substandard plots that are really tedious to go through. I don't want to dive to a cavern. I don't want to get an orb and I don't want to go through caves and shit to battle Legendary Pokemon that really should destroy my team but instead get knocked out by a damn Golem.

 

[Fig]

If by "every Pokémon game" we mean about half of them (RSE/ORAS, DP/Pt, B2W2 and XY).

BW1, S/M, RBY/FRLG and GSC/HGSS all avoid that crap. And, in some order, not sure how, BW1, RBY and S/M make up the top-three for Pokémon plots. Precisely because the legendaries' magical poweres, if any, is not a crutch to justify the plot of the game.

Oras may be one of the better legendary-centric games, (I'd still put it behind Platinum), but it's not in the same tier as BW1 and S/M for stories.

 

[Boss1708]

To each their own, I guess...

Also, I agree about Gen I and II. I would prefer if Pokemon games didn´t really have a "a plot". Whch is why Gen II have my favourite "maingame adventure" in the entire franchise. I just prefer doing my own thing instead of having a "plot" to solve, rather than just focusing on my own goal: become the best trainer.

But from the games that *do* have a plot (aka everything other than Gen I, II and remakes of those) my ranking remains:

1.BW1
2. ORAS
3. BW2

 

[dragon_nataku]

I actually didn't like B/W much. I wanted to either strangle or punch N in the face every time he showed up. Your "best friends"/rivals are annoying. Cheren is this self-absorbed idiot with a giant ego and Bianca or whatever her name is is just... stereotypical dumb blonde. Can't deal~ I wasn't that interested in the plot either and am not sure how I even managed to deal with it long enough to finish the game (did I finish the game? I can't even remember if I became Champion). B2/W2 were even worse. I don't even remember where I left off on those but I abandoned the game shortly after having to deal with Cheren again (so, what, the first gym battle? Or maybe I met Alder again? I don't even remember).

As for the ones I actually liked, HG/SS is my favourite, although that might be because it was the first Pokemon game I actually finished (I started with Blue on an emulator but quit due to lack of the ability to trade). I also liked Platinum a lot.

 

[Lyrebird]

To each their own, I guess...

Also, I agree about Gen I and II. I would prefer if Pokemon games didn´t really have a "a plot". Whch is why Gen II have my favourite "maingame adventure" in the entire franchise. I just prefer doing my own thing instead of having a "plot" to solve, rather than just focusing on my own goal: become the best trainer.

But from the games that *do* have a plot (aka everything other than Gen I, II and remakes of those) my ranking remains:

1.BW1
2. ORAS
3. BW2

Gen I and Gen II had a plot. To catch Pokemon, train and battle and become Champion.

 

[Esserise]

Gen I and Gen II had a plot. To catch Pokemon, train and battle and become Champion.

Yeah, but when you boil it down, that's the plot of every Pokémon game, bar BW and SM.

All that RSE and their successors do on top of that is involve a Legendary Pokémon which is interwoven with the villain element, and Gen II was already transitioning the series in that direction (and with that in mind, Gens I and II can't really be equated in this matter - there's definitely more going on story-wise in GSC than in RBY). RBY provided the skeletal structure. GS were oriented so as to have a proper climax to the villain plot (it's not as if they could have had the big boss be a Gym Leader twice in a row anyway), and then Crystal got a Legendary Pokémon more directly involved. From there, RSE just braided the two together.

 

[Lyrebird]

Story and plot are two different things as you more or less stated. I'm arguing on the fact that Meta Boss said that Gen I and Gen II didn't have a plot which is incorrect.

You're saying that those games didn't have much of a story line in terms of bulk which I agree on but I prefer those story lines because of the reasons I stated in an earlier post. A lot of people prefer those story lines and good for them. But if I wanted to play a game heavy on story, I would play on my Xbox One.

 

[Silktree]

In terms of presentation (memorable moments and interactions), I would place SM second after BW. Lillie was central much like N, and while her story is far from over since she isn't even a trainer yet, it was nice to see her blend with an ensemble of characters (whereas N hardly interacted with anyone but the player character). Her relationship with Nebby was much better handled than N being chosen by Reshiram/Zekrom, too. Still, BW's story is better for having almost every character react to Team Plasma's plan, and said plan culminating in the league.

In terms of the actual subject matter rather than the execution, Crystal is my favorite. While Team Rocket's comeback is weak, it serves to flesh out Silver and his views on becoming strong all on his own. Of course, this could have been better illustrated had he actually confronted Team Rocket and mocked them for relying on Giovanni, but for some reason Game Freak didn't want to reveal his identity as Giovanni's son.

That said, Silver's development is basically the same in all the Johto games, with HGSS doing a slightly better job. Where Crystal stands out is how it laid out Johto's lore in a way that made the encounter with the legendary beasts and Ho-Oh feel significant. Those encounters didn't happen merely as a result of a villain being up to no good, but because Suicune chose the player character to have some role in Johto's history. I vastly prefer that to HGSS where the Kimono Girls are the ones that lead the player to do their bidding, and Ecruteak's history wasn't really discussed. The problem with Crystal is that the game was too vague about the importance of deepening the bond between Pokémon and people, since Team Rocket and Silver were the only characters that showed an antithesis. The opening implied that Suicune's role was actually arranged by the Unown and there was an eerie atmosphere involved, but that was never explained, unfortunately.

So my true favorite is Crystal since it left me with a lot to think about ever 16 years later, but I have to take points off for the lack of pay-off in the game itself.

 

[Soki]

I voted SM, and I liked its story better than BW too. I disliked BW's story because it revolved around the evil team trying to use the Legendary for their evil deeds again and you're there to save the world cause you're special and all that jazz.

SM's story was a lot more personal imo. There's not some big evil plot to take over the world using the Legendary. You're just busy with your Island Challenge, sometimes beating up Team Skull cause they're causing trouble (or just wanna fight you) and you're helping out a friend and the Pokémon that is dear to her. You're helping because you're friends, not to save the world from some evil. I like that a lot better.

For that same reason I think I like RBGY's and H(G)S(S)'s story the best after that. The evil team is just causing trouble and want to sell Pokémon for money and stuff, no huge evil plan going on. I prefer those stories over the big epic ones, I just wanna catch some mons and kick some ass along the way, not interested in saving the whole world in any way.

And the worst is (O)R(A)S for me. I like the evil teams, but their goal is beyond ridiculous

 

[Silktree]

To be fair, Team Plasma weren't presented as wanting to take over the world or even Unova until the very end of BW. N wanted to separate people from Pokemon, and the conflict revolved around what people considered best for Pokemon.

I do agree that Ghetsis' real plan makes the story a lot less compelling, since it reduced any philosophical debate to a mere charade. And it is unclear whether or not Reshiram/Zekrom ever truly agreed with N.

My problem with SM's story is best described by Lusamine saying "But my poor beast... What confusion, what rage must it feel, arriving in this strange world? It would not be right to confine its feelings in such a small case as these ones... It will need to express itself. I think I will let it express all its fury upon the Alola region as it will!"

It's rather nonsensical considering that she is the one that made the beasts appear, and what she really wanted was to go to the Ultra Space. So why hassle the beasts and put Alola in danger? And this element feels particularly unnecessary considering that none of the characters seem phased by the Ultra Beasts, with the exception of Anabel and Looker in the post-game.