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Is it just me, or has Gen V been getting a lot of hate lately?

Azureth

Azureth

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Reading other video game message boards as well as watching some Poketubers Gen V seems to get a lot of flack or even hate with people saying it's uninspired, has dumb Pokemon, the story is crap, complaining about the decision to have it be all new Pokemon etc.

Not sure if this is a relatively recent thing but I don't get it. When it was unveiled and released I remember it getting lots of love and enjoyment by people, there were criticisms sure but maybe it's just me but there seems to be a "Gen V was actually pretty bad' thing going around. Most I feel is unfounded. To answer some of the most common complaints I have heard:

The story: It certainly wasn't shakespear but honestly I thought it was decent and at least something new. It's not as if before (or even after IMO) the story aspect was anything more than bare bones. At least Gen V had a new spin on it.

It has dumb Pokemon: Yeah, some aren't that great but I thought the legendaries and a great deal of the non-legendaries were fine. At the very least not anything worse than before.

Complaints about adding all new Pokemon: Now this is one complaint I disagree with most. Keep in mind I have been playing Pokemon since the beginning, and honestly when I first played Black & White this aspect made me feel like I was playing Gen I games all over again. Instead of seeing a 50/50 mix of old and new Pokemon I loved that throughout my journey just about everywhere I went there would be a new Pokemon.
 
I like to think that the discussion of "is gen V a good generation or not" is the one that would bring destruction to the world.
For myself, I think that Gen V are great games, though... Not quite good Pokémon games. The original ones, at the very least. The lack of any Pokémon that I can see and be like "yo, I know this Pokémon" really makes me forget that I'm playing a Pokémon game. Of course, I don't like the "LET'S PUT ALL THE POKEYMANS FROM THE FIRST GEN ON THE DEX FOR THIS NEW GAME... And create 2 or 3 more,who cares" mentality that Game Freak has now, but something that makes me not forget that what is being played now is a Pokémon game. BW2 however are amazing.
Storywise, both are amazing, in my opinion. Don't have much to say about that other than "amazing".
And about Pokémon: SERIOUSLY, AN ICE CREAM POKÉMON, GAME FREAK? That was my main gripe with it. Like seriously, an ice cream that gets bigger when it evolves. All the other Pokémon also gives me this outland-ish vibe that gets me kinda unnerved... Though that defines them. I look at it, and I can see that they are from the fifth gen. I look at the french-ish looking Pokémon from Gen VI and I see that they're from there. It's nice.
So... Overall, I find those games amazing. Wish I could of have played them online, all I could do was play with an emulator, all those years ago. Just isn't the same thing, y'know...
 
Good story, pretty decent characters, decent region. I liked N as sort of an anti-hero-ish guy, Ghetsis was a great villain, the music was wonderful, the story was a step in the right direction... But I dislike most of the Pokemon it introduced, as well as their sheer number and how they didn't include any old ones in BW. It didn't feel right. And most of the Pokemon felt very uninspired or unmemorable. Though I do have a small number of favorites from Gen V: Excadrill, Scolipede, Krookodile, Zoroark, Galvantula, Haxorus, Braviary, Zekrom, and Reshiram.
 
The one thing I did like about BW was it adding only new Pokémon. I like using new mons every time and don't really see the need to continually add the old ones too (except in the postgame), but I'm in the minority on that view ^^; I also really liked the majority of the new Pokémon; Serperior, Dewott, Purrloin, Pansage, Unfezant, Gigalith, Swoobat, Scolipede, Whimsicott, Lilligant, Maractus, Scarfty, Sigilyph, Yamask, Archeops, Zoroark, Gothorita, Reuniclus, Escavalier, Galvantula, Beheeyem, Chandelure, Mienshao, Braviary, Hydreigon, Volcarona, all faves of mine. I even like Vanillite, if it wasn't for it's horrible evos.

That said, these were the first Pokémon games I've sold and don't own anymore. The biggest reason is that the moving battle sprites were so ugly/creepy, I prefer the stationary ones over those. Furthermore I didn't care about the story or any of the characters or the region itself for that matter. I can replay DPPt and HGSS forever but I have no interest in returning to Unova at all really. Gotta admit I'm now happy old Pokémon return in new games, so I can still use my Unova favs in games that I like better.
 
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Gen V is my favorite generation. Like I understand that it is weird so it's bound to have haters but the arguments have gaping holes in them.

People inflate the amount of homage pokemon. Like Gurrdurr being too much like Machoke sure whatever. Woobat vs Zubat. That just sounds right because of their names they have different types and designs. Also where else would a bat live? Bats fly around in caves that's what they do. Saying Venipede is too Weedle like Weedle I'm not going to even dignify that one.

"Team Plasma are hypocrites" yeah hypocrites exist in the world in spades and they are the bad guys. Slso imagine trying to by any means necessary, take away people's guns without modern weapons. You'd get shot.

"It's literally a straight line." Oh so as linearity isn't a problem if doesn't look linear? Even though BW2 especially had a large amount of optional detours.

@Soki Dancing lively sprites are less creepy then soulless doll looking nearly static models.

On /vp/ I'm seeing a counter circlejerk pop up from it's gen V loving circlejerk. But counterjerks are inevitible. But it's the gen after the gen IV which people are wanting a remake of. That's how the cycle is suppose to go right.

Personally my biggest issues with gen V were A) no hyper training B) Dream world
 
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I wonder how many people even started with Generation V, considering that it shared the same system as the previous generation (and there wasn't anything like Go to fuel a renaissance). That is a key component of nostalgia and it may be the deciding factor when it comes to remakes.

Anyway, I mostly liked BW for the story and overworld graphics, which were an improvement (albeit not a huge one). These days I prefer SM by quite a wide margin.
 
Never really liked 5th gen, it changed a lot of things that weren't broken and went too far in the casual direction. Making the region linear was a gross overreaction to the issues with 4th gen's region design and really ruined the adventure feel of the region, something the series has never really recovered from. And phasing out old Pokemon for the sake of creating a fresh experience was a bad idea that was executed poorly, they forced you to use old Pokemon but many of them were fairly similar to older ones and took similar roles (such as Woobat and Roggenrola basically being Zubat and Geodude), which pretty much defeats the purpose of having only new Pokemon and ultimately just locked you out of using old favorites in favor of knock offs.

The one redeeming factor in 5th gen though was that it was the first (and so far only) generation to have sequels, which are far better than third versions. We really need more sequels.
 
I love the fifth generation. It's my second favorite region behind Hoenn. Unova also has one of the biggest post games ever and has a very rich story that many people agree with.

But people will always find something to hate. Guess it's just Gen V's turn. :p
 
From the get-go, I'd honestly say Gen V has always been among the most divisive and it's not surprising it still remains so. As said before, when you have a lot of ideas and shake-ups that break away from the traditional, you're going to have a lot of people who appreciate it and a lot that hate it, which will allow for a lot of in-fighting.

Personally, I love the games and honestly their shake-ups were what I needed to stick with the franchise. It was their attempts to try something new, their game having a stronger emphasis in story and characters as well as some of their other aspects that made me enjoy them, and I'm glad some of those ideas did stick even if they were controversial. I also loved the majority of the Pokémon they introduced such as Zekrom, Serperior, Scolipede, Hydreigon, Escavalier, Elgyem, Sawsbuck, Volcarona, Haxorus, and the like, so I didn't mind being forced to use them over the older favorites I had. So I was able to get into BW despite the restriction, and even to this day I have little trouble playing them again when I start up a new playthrough.
 
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Overall, I have more favorites from Generation V than from III, IV and VI. I use the word "favorites" loosely with some of these, but whatever:

III: Breloom, Gorebyss, Absol, Altaria, Catform (weather forms), Latias

IV: Rotom (original, fan and oven), Leafeon, Gallade, Porygon-Z (the Johto cross-generational evolutions are cool and useful, but their pre-evolutions look better)

V: Mienshao, Whimsicott, Lilligant, Zoroark, Reuniculus, Swanna, Galvantula, Braviary, Keldeo

VI: Floette, Heliolisk, Meowstic (male), Trevenant

VII: Oricorio, Komala, Mimikyu, Lycanroc (Midday), Ribombee, Tapu Koko, Nihilego, Alolan Marowak, Alolan Ninetales, Alolan Sandslash

As you can see, VII beats V, which is impressive given the smaller roster (although certainly, the Alolan forms help).
 
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Gen V is loved by everyone a lot of people, specially on these forums, just go to a "Best Villain/Best story" kind of thread. And that feeling will certainly increase after Gen 4 remakes are released.

However, it's easy to see why it would put casuals youtube visitors away: Pixleated sprites everywhere, emphasis in story and lack of previous known Pokemon.
 
I feel like Gen 5 didn't last long enough, which probably has something to do with the fact that I never finished White.

I remember back when BW first came out, and on PokéFarm, I saw a club for people who hated them, and someone said that merging marts and centers was a major problem. What...?

A couple of years ago, I saw someone on Tumblr attack someone who liked Gates to Infinity, saying that Gen 5 was a horrible generation that tried something new and sucked, with swearing abound. And this is why I'm never joining Tumblr. Which is a shame, because it would be a good way for me to connect with people who share my non-Pokémon interests.
 
Lately? Gen 5 has been getting hate since it was first released. Oddly enough, this forum seems to be the only Pokemon related place that I go to where it seems like nearly everyone loves it (at least story-wise). Personally it is my second least favorite generation (mainly because I hate said story that everyone else loves so much), but I don't hate on it as much as I used to.
 
The horrendous anime didn't do Gen V any favors either. That's probably another reason it's been kinda sour to me.
 
Having been to two forums, this one and Serebii.net, I haven't really seen much hate for Gen V, at least as far as the games go. The only criticism I've seen is that you couldn't get older Pokémon until later in the games, and that was partially rectified in B2W2. The animé, on the other hand... and that's probably why people think Gen V gets a lot of hate. They see lots of people hating on the animé, but from what I've seen, the games are pretty much praised, at least story-wise.
 
I was there when Generation 5 was first released, and I have to say that it's actually not quite as beloved as you think it was. In another non-Pokemon forum that I used to visit, I was surprised at how much Generation 5's games was viewed. It didn't help that this Generation introduced Klink, Vanillish and Garbodor, Pokemon that are poster children of the developers "running out of ideas". Since new Pokemon can only be used in the new games, that could affect the judgement of those who generally don't like the new Pokemon. Back then, Oshawott was the least favourite starter revealed (similar to how Popplio is the least favourite starter revealed). I remembered that when Generation 5's final evolutions were leaked, everyone was very surprised at how different they were. It's like Generation 7, except they Gen 7 ones were leaked way earlier.

There's also the fact that the anime was not viewed brightly even when it was still airing, because opinions are generally harsher and coming from the more character-driven Sinnoh saga, the Unova saga is more like a downgrade. I believe things are better in Kalos and Alola, so I guess that phase is over with.

With that said, I was one of the people who loved Generation 5, mainly because it introduced the most new Pokemon compared to past efforts. I feel that Generation 5 spoiled me into thinking that there needs to be a lot of new Pokemon per Generation, actually. I also adored a lot of designs, and I feel that Generation 5 has a generally good type distribution among the 17 types. It is also refreshing to have characters that are generally older, and Gyms that can be coupled as workplaces, which I feel makes them more than just Gyms, although I think it could have changed when you're done with them.

Thanks for reading.
 
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