Sup /vp/, it's been a looooooooong ass time since my last thread because I've been busy with personal stuff but I've finally finished my playthrough of Pokémon White and I have to say the game is better than I remember it.
I remember being put off when it initially released by the new pokemon designs because I thought they "didn't look like pokemon" like a lot of fans back in the day but gameplay-wise the White and Black are solid af, having introduced fun mechanics like infinitely reusable TMs and rustling grass encounters that encourage experimentation and break up the monotony of random encounters respectively.
As always, here's the full list of games I'll be (re)playing this year
>Pokémon Yellow (completed)
>Pokémon Crystal (completed)
>Pokémon Emerald (completed)
>Pokémon Leaf Green (completed)
>Pokémon Platinum (completed)
>Pokémon HeartGold (completed)
>Pokémon White (completed)
>Pokémon White 2 (completed)
>Pokémon Clover
>Pokémon Radical Red
>Pokémon Unbound

The games have gotten a lot of flak for their linearity and to be fair White does railroad you into following a set course. BUT you do get the option of exploring side paths (although the game does a poor job of giving you the tools to explore, I completely missed Flash and Strength because I don't talk to every NPC) and encourages backtracking to discover new areas. The dungeons are also much longer and larger compared to previous gens, about as long as Silph Co was in RBY and FRLG which I enjoyed exploring.
It kind of sucks that you don't have access to old mons but thankfully a lot of the new mons fill the same niches.

>>58008187
Final team?

>>58008193
Kys

In addition to the infinitely reusable TMs the games introduce new moves like Scald and Acrobatics that can lead to interesting new strategies like using Swagger then exploiting the opponent's greatly raised Atk stat to nail them with Foul Play.
Now for the things that irked me. I greatly disliked how the game tries oh so hard to shill for those damn elemental monkeys. You're basically forced to use them to beat the first gym and they show up irritatingly often during the adventure despite being butt-ugly to look at.
There's also the reduced exp you gain from fighting weaker mons which sucks if you're going for some grinding.
Finally, some of the best mons evolve way too late, including Larvesta evolving at level 59, which essentially locks it and other mons like Hydreigon to the postgame.
>>58008193
Here

>>58008202
Is this also your league rematch team or just your team at the end of the campaign since it forces you to use the legendary? Normally I do not like using the legendary for the league, but Zekrom is cool and Unova does not a that strong of a region design wise, so I like it.

Speaking of the postgame, White boasts one of the most content-packed postgames up to this point in the franchise, only rivaled by Platinum's postgame. In addition to having new areas to explore you also get the Battle Subway that acts as a Battle Tower substitute and you get to battle Cynthia from DPP with a new team.
Additionally I also liked that the new areas and trainers are about 10 levels ahead of you so they provide an actual challenge like they are supposed to (and which makes grinding easier).
Did I forget to talk about the music? Cause the music in this game kicks ass. I especially liked Bianca's theme, the Team Plasma theme, N's theme and Alder's theme, this game just has so many amazing tracks, I think I actually prefer it to DPP's soundtrack.

What do you think of the story?

>>58008229
I honestly thought the music was ass, B2W2 had a much better OST than BW.

Finally, let's talk about the plot.
I remember White/Black being marketed to older audiences with a "darker" plot but honestly, I didn't find it that much darker other than the subtext that Ghetsis groomed N.
The game has an interesting setup that seems like it's going to tackle the theme of human ownership of Pokémon seriously (we know that not all trainers treat their pokemon kindly) but then it cops out and in the end it was just a ploy by the bad guys to disarm the population so they could rule the world.
N was cool doe I guess.
Overall, I'd say White/Black are about on par with DPP but I found myself enjoying it far more than I thought I would. The little battle animations are a nice touch too. I'd rate White 8/10. Don't worry, I'll make sure to start White 2 soon so y'all won't have to wait months for my next thread.

>>58008228
It was the same team sans Zekrom, which I only used because the game forces you to catch it (and because it helped against Ghetsis' Hydreigon).
I was planning to catch an Axew but by the time I actually found Mistralton Cave and Strength/Flash (I consciously tried to not use guides) it was already too late so I just rolled with it. Alder is actually one of the easier champions if you bring a good fire user like my Darmanitan that knocked out 4/6's of his team.