Pokemon B/W vs B2/W2

[elveonora]

Hello, I browsed all through internet and I have found very few comparison threads on this matter. I'd like to know which pair of Gen. V games do you think is better, the first black and white or second? Be it because of story, characters, music, gameplay, location changes etc.
I'd prefer opinions from people who have actually beat either black or white and black 2 or white 2.

 

[Lysson]

I prefer B/W's storyline to its sequel and Team Plasma but I prefer B2/W2's post game, map and everything else to the first. I do love Colress but I prefer N's role in the first game as he was my favourite character then because he got so much development.

And unlike a lot of people I liked how in the first I could only use new gen Pokemon as it made me try the new Pokemon instead of always using my favourites I use to death.

 

[Krash]

I only ever played half of Black, but I have Black 2. Frankly, I find they're quite similar. I prefer the pokemon and legendaries you have access to in Black 2 though.

 

[Orion-Sama]

In terms of story, characters and pacing, I find BW to be much superior, and as such is a much more interesting game for me to play and replay. I also really liked having access to only the new Pokémon, which made it a fresh and new adventure in many ways.

B2W2 are better as a "main" game, though. They have a much more engaging post-game and side-quests like Pokéstar Studios, the PWT, Black Tower/White Treehollow, Join Avenue, access to more Pokémon and Legendaries, plus some neat improvements and streamlinings in the storage system, making it much more convenient. It's also more challenging if you manage to start the game with Challenge Mode, but unfortunately that's sort of clunky. However, in the post-game, you can reap the benefits of higher levels and more experience. Though the story is only decent at best (Only salvaged for having the previous game as its backbone), the new characters are not really remarkable, and the pacing is really slow, with very little going on for a long time and then an insanely long stretch between Gyms 6 and 7, as well as no breeding until the post-game, the benefits outweight the flaws as far as a game for training and preparing goes. The links to the previous games and some good changes are also nice additions.

So yeah, both 5th Gen game pairs have their niches.

 

[Zeb]

I've played both and I prefer B2W2 massively. People say BW had the better story, but, for me personally, I don't care about the story in a Pokemon game as long as it's fun, which B2W2 are for me. Not that BW aren't fun, but they feel very... empty after playing B2W2, as BW doesn't offer anything over B2W2 barring a limited choice of Pokemon and the "better" story.

 

[Almonds]

Most engaging plot story: BW
Most engaging post-game content: B2W2

Both have their merits, and those merits are the very best.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Overall, I'd say BW2 is better, there's more Pokemon, better region design/storyline path (the changes they made to Unova in BW2 improved the region quite a bit), and more gameplay features (Pokestar Studios, Funfest, Hidden Grottoes, the PWT). The only things I think BW1 does better than BW2 is the storyline and pacing (BW2 suffered a bit from too much copy/paste to the point where pacing suffered a bit, most notably in terms of Pokemon distribution and in having certain features such as the Day Care Center at a reasonable point in the game).

 

[Team Gaara]

I'd say BW2 is better in pretty much every aspect. The only thing I prefer from BW was the fact that they forced you to use Generation 5 Pokemon. I thought that made the new region feel quite distinct from the past. But in terms of characters, story/plot, and presentation, I certainly prefer BW2 an love all the improvements from BW. Huge post-game, evil team got their act together and became interesting and more threatening, PCs look more appealing (IMO), Challenge Mode, only thing BW2 did worse than BW was the rival, in my opinion.

 

[Ivysaur]

Black and White had a much better story, while Black and White 2 clearly offered a superior post-game. And while BW2 accomplished great variety by featuring a ton of Pokemon from all generations, BW was able to replicate the feeling of the original Red and Blue by offering a regional Dex that included only completely new Pokemon.

So while I'd say BW2 are better games to go back to and replay, I had a more enjoyable "first experience" with BW. It was awesome playing through the game without relying on any old critters, and at the same time, a story-driven adventure with memorable characters was a great change of pace.

 

[elveonora]

Great responses and I agree with most sentiments. To tell the truth, before I even tried BW, it was off-putting for me that previous Gens. pokemons can't be caught from the get go, but after playing White for a while, I've grown quite fond of Unova pokemon and am not missing the old ones at all. It's great to have new toys to play with and I love my Samurott, Excadrill and Darmanitan great deal, they are beasts.

I have a question to ask, do you think B2W2 would have been better as the Gray "third version" (akin to Emerald and Platinum) to the original pair or sequels as they were released?
I would imagine things to be as they are (new town start, new gym leaders, new team plasma, Iris as champion, new areas, changed areas etc.) same 2 years later Unova, BUT instead of having introduced Nate and Rosa, the player characters would have stayed the same, Hilbert and Hilda. I would love that much.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I have a question to ask, do you think B2W2 would have been better as the Gray "third version" (akin to Emerald and Platinum) to the original pair or sequels as they were released?
I would imagine things to be as they are (new town start, new gym leaders, new team plasma, Iris as champion, new areas, changed areas etc.) same 2 years later Unova, BUT instead of having introduced Nate and Rosa, the player characters would have stayed the same, Hilbert and Hilda. I would love that much.

That wouldn't have worked because Hilbert/Hilda is already an experienced trainer with a team of strong Pokemon, if you started with them again you would need to come up with a way for them not to use their old Pokemon, otherwise you could just blow through the game with Lv. 70+ Pokemon. It was much simpler to start over with a new protagonist for BW2.

To answer your question though, despite the poor execution I think BW2 was the right call. I don't think Gray would've worked as well this gen because of the way the story was designed, since N had one of the mascots in the storyline, you pretty much had to have two versions for this game. Also, it would've been hard to work Kyurem and Giant Chasm into BW1's storyline because it's kind of out of the way and in a post game section, they would've had to shoehorn in a Giant Chasm event around the 8th gym and move Rt. 11, Village Bridge, Rt. 12, Lacunosa Town, Rt. 13, and Giant Chasm into the main storyline, which would cut into the game's post game.

 

[Sakuraa]

I prefer BW2 to BW1, but in all honesty I don't care much for either as gen 5 is my 2nd least fav gen. I hate both stories and find them both rather boring, but BW2's is much more interesting and I prefer this version's Team Plasma. I hate all the rivals, but I prefer Hugh to Bianca and Cheren who were really annoying imo. I really didn't like the fact that BW1's dex was limited to only the new Pokémon and vastly preferred the sequel's hugely expanded Pokedex. Pretty minor, but I also really prefer Nate and Rosa's appearances to Hilbert and Hilda who I find really bland. Post game is much better with tons to do, Pokestar Studios is 1000X better than musicals, I prefer the new Unova's less linear layout, addition of challenge mode although the method of unlocking it is stupid, basically everything non-story wise is better in BW2 for me.

 

[Team Gaara]

I would have preferred a Gray, but it seemed as if it would have been impossible to pull off. Black and White are so different in their canons that I doubt they could have made a way to tie it up nice and clean into a single third version and the only thing the could do was to make two sequels. One of the things that bugs me about Gen 5 is the lack of a single canon, and I wish they could have done it, but BW2 was probably easier and for the best~

They way you suggested wouldn't work. It would have had to, at the very least, taken place at the same time as the original BW, rather than 2 years later, to have been an actual third version.

 

[elveonora]

That wouldn't have worked because Hilbert/Hilda is already an experienced trainer with a team of strong Pokemon, if you started with them again you would need to come up with a way for them not to use their old Pokemon, otherwise you could just blow through the game with Lv. 70+ Pokemon. It was much simpler to start over with a new protagonist for BW2.

To answer your question though, despite the poor execution I think BW2 was the right call. I don't think Gray would've worked as well this gen because of the way the story was designed, since N had one of the mascots in the storyline, you pretty much had to have two versions for this game. Also, it would've been hard to work Kyurem and Giant Chasm into BW1's storyline because it's kind of out of the way and in a post game section, they would've had to shoehorn in a Giant Chasm event around the 8th gym and move Rt. 11, Village Bridge, Rt. 12, Lacunosa Town, Rt. 13, and Giant Chasm into the main storyline, which would cut into the game's post game.

Why not? They made Cheren a gym leader, nerfed his Pokemon and it worked. Hilda/Hilbert aren't the champion in B2W2 anyway, so they might as well have been player characters once more. Doesn't sound as complicated.

Pretty minor, but I also really prefer Nate and Rosa's appearances to Hilbert and Hilda who I find really bland.

Dunno, I find Hilbert and Hilda better looking.

I would have preferred a Gray, but it seemed as if it would have been impossible to pull off. Black and White are so different in their canons that I doubt they could have made a way to tie it up nice and clean into a single third version and the only thing the could do was to make two sequels. One of the things that bugs me about Gen 5 is the lack of a single canon, and I wish they could have done it, but BW2 was probably easier and for the best~

They way you suggested wouldn't work. It would have had to, at the very least, taken place at the same time as the original BW, rather than 2 years later, to have been an actual third version.

Gen. V not having clarified the canon is exactly why I would have liked Gray version. And why wouldn't it work 2 years later?

 

[Team Gaara]

Gen. V not having clarified the canon is exactly why I would have liked Gray version. And why wouldn't it work 2 years later?

Yes, that's what I said, as well. It would not have worked two years later because the third version takes the two versions and combines their plots while adding in new elements to make a single canon for that story. Being 2 years after BW would prevent there from being a single canon version of those events, because it wouldn't be able to write over them.

 

[Silktree]

They could have simply explained that Team Plasma stole Hilbert/Hilda's Pokémon, which would have justified having to start from scratch as well as making the player's goal much more compelling (libertating their own Pokémon). The story climax would have unlocked the ability to transfer Pokémon from Black and White. This wouldn't have been complex at all; Game Freak simply took the easy way out rather than doing something much more creative.

Gen. V not having clarified the canon is exactly why I would have liked Gray version. And why wouldn't it work 2 years later?

When people say Gray, they mean a third version retconning Black and White's story. You're thinking of a sequel, albeit a different one than the versions we actually got. At any rate, how would a single sequel have unified the two canons? Which dragon would have been N's partner?

 

[elveonora]

Hilbert would have gotten Reshiram, N Zekrom. Hilda would have gotten Zekrom, N Reshiram (dependent on gender, not version) /solved.
The dragons are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things anyway, clarification of canon to me refers to more important things, such as if Iris was a gym leader or not etc. I don't get why couldn't have the third version been both canon clarification and a sequel. For example Pokemon G/S/C/HG/SS clarified that Red became the champion, not Leaf.

So Pokemon Gray being 2 years later (a sequel) would have clarified which things from black and white were canon, while continuing them.

 

[Silktree]

Hilbert would have gotten Reshiram, N Zekrom. Hilda would have gotten Zekrom, N Reshiram (dependent on gender, not version) /solved.

So there would have still been two separate canons (or parallel universes, if you will) depending on the player's gender. Hardly much different than what B2W2 established, especially if you imagine Black being Hilbert's story and White being Hilda's (or the other way around). The problem with your suggestion is that the player's gender should have nothing to do with which dragon they get to obtain.

The dragons are irrelevant in the grand scheme of things anyway, clarification of canon to me refers to more important things, such as if Iris was a gym leader or not etc.

And why is this more important than the dragons? I've always assumed that Iris and Drayden alternated as the active Gym Leader in both versions. I agree that this should have been clarified, but it's a very simple and plausible solution.

For example Pokemon G/S/C/HG/SS clarified that Red became the champion, not Leaf.

B2W2 established that it was Iris rather than Drayden who became the Champion.

 

[elveonora]

The dragons ARE irrelevant because In either way, only Reshiram or Zekrom can merge with Kyurem, not both. They wouldn't have been irrelevant only if the whole Kyurem had been restored.
And with Red/Leaf, that was just an example, I know Iris is the champion in B2W2, but we don't know for sure if she was a gym leader. Gray could have told us that, perhaps before battling her.

 

[Silktree]

The dragons ARE irrelevant because In either way, only Reshiram or Zekrom can merge with Kyurem, not both. They wouldn't have been irrelevant only if the whole Kyurem had been restored.

How does this makes them irrelevant? On the contrary, this makes it all the more important to know which dragon is associated with N, since it affects Kyurem's fate. Had the Original Dragon been restored, then both dragons would have been needed and the identities of their trainers would have been less important (they would have both ended up with the player).

If you're saying that there should have been a single version so that the Original Dragon would have been introduced instead of Black/White Kyurem, then I can actually agree with that. That said, this could still have worked with two versions.

And with Red/Leaf, that was just an example, I know Iris is the champion in B2W2, but we don't know for sure if she was a gym leader. Gray could have told us that, perhaps before battling her.

I just don't think that this has anything to do with the decision to release two versions. They should have explained Iris' past status anyway.