I'm probably going to pick up Heartgold tomorrow. Maybe. Someone explain to me how this friend code stuff works.
Heart Gold's a fine game, but I absolutely would recommend Black or White above it. I'm very happy calling them the best new Pokemon games since Red and Blue. And, there's no continuity. It's a brand new start. The first truly new world since, again, Red and Blue.
(Not to mention, if anyone's anything like me, they're probably importing their Heart Gold / Soul Silver teams onto Black / White anyway! Which might mean there won't be much left for you to do with that Friend Code. Could be very wrong, though. Regardless, the prices aren't far off one another.)
Black is supposed to be more industrialized, while White is more open I guess. I have Black but I haven't played it yet, just White.
COOL SHIT IN BLACK THAT ROCKSReshiram. (Fiery dragon. Rar.)
Gothita, Gothorita & Gothitelle. (Grumpy women, look less like trannies with each evolution.)
Vullaby & Mandibuzz. (Ugliest pokemon ever evolves into a kickin' bulky vulture.)
Cottonee and Whimsicott. (Little grassy fellas with an excellent ability in Prankster.)
Tornadus. (Pure flying genie. Looks exactly like Thundurus.)
Sawk more common than Throh. (Jim Henson puppet knows karate, rather than judo.)
Black City. (Full of shit trainers.)
Eighth gym leader is Drayden. (Old man with no obvious mouth.)
Opelucid City is futuristic and covered in circuits.
There is a greenhouse in Mistrialton. You cannot enter it.
Basculin has a red face.
ROCKIN' SHIT IN WHITE THAT'S COOLZekrom. (Zappy dragon. Rar.)
Solosis, Duosion & Reuniclus. (Single cell organism, looks more like a bear embryo with each evolution.)
Rufflet & Braviary. (Cute wee bird evolves into a kickin' destructive eagle.)
Petilil & Lilligant. (Overly gentle leafy ladies.)
Thundurus. (Electric flying genie. Looks exactly like Tornadus.)
Throh more common than Sawk. (Jim Henson puppet knows judo, rather than karate.)
White Forest. (Full of shit pokemon.)
Eighth gym leader is Iris. (Small girl with no obvious hairdresser.)
Opelucid City is archaic and covered in moss.
There is a vegetable patch in Mistrialton. You cannot pick vegetables.
Basculin has a blue face.
That seems to be roughly it. No big deal either way - Reshiram or Zekrom seems to be the biggest clincher. You can get the opposite leaf-lady in an in-game trade. I've got White and I swapped a Rufflet for Vullaby, hasn't made a massive difference to my net enjoyment (as kickass as Mandibuzz is).
I've got Victini, Girdurr and Swanna right now, and I'm about to enter Chargestone in the story mode so I'll be getting the Elektross pre-evolution soon (forgot its name)
Tynamo.
It's fucking shite. Sort of like a better Magikarp. Tackle, Thunder Wave, Thundershock, Spark. That's your lot, til it evolves. (...happy training!)
My original "plan" team was along the lines of...
Samurott
Excadrill
Chandelure
Reuniclus
Scrafty
Eelektross
Ended up very close to that. Stuck with Archeops instead of switching to Eelektross, and Archeops turned out to be the crown in the team. Highest level of the lot of them.
I've started training outside of the team, now. I've got a Zoroark which has accidentally reached level 80. I'm not sure how. Turned out it was very good at the Pokemon League, though. The wee bugger looked like a Dragonite at the time, so the Psychic lass kept on trying Hypnosis and Dream Eater against it. Gives enough time for three Nasty Plots, followed by a clean sweep. "Night Daze! Night Daze! ...Oop, that one's steel, Flamethrower. Night Daze! Flamethrower! Night Daze! ...Is it over already?" Also featuring Galvantula and Mandibuzz.
Galvantula's pretty brilliant, too. Kinda pleased with the strategy I came up with. Probably considered pretty elementary, but the wee beast's got Compoundeyes - so I gave her Thunder. Nearly always hits. Brilliant. Similar mould to Zoroark, however - speedy and powerful - whereas Mandibuzz is totally different. Takes hits like nobody's business, really strong backbone, but the attack stats are a bit poor. SO, threw Nasty Plot onto her, and gave her a Rocky Helmet. She dishes out recoil damage while soaking up hits as she nastily plots, then when her Sp. Att's starting to get usable she can fire off Dark Pulses. Also threw in Toxic, to make things go away, and Tailwind, to help out her team a bit.
Kinda want three more from Gen V to round out a full team - thinking of Cofagrigus and Beeheeyem, but I am aware that I'm starting to amass a lot of creepy crawlies. It's gonna be the most unintentionally sinister team the game has to offer. Might have to throw in a Minccino, just to offset the
tides of evil. And should probably rotate Zoroark with Mandibuzz, seeing as - while they're both played pretty differently - their strategies both revolve around Nasty Plot and a powerful Dark move.
I can't put this game down. Just got to the hipster city and need to train up my team a bit. Does anyone else try to get six right off the bat and train them all up or just stick with a few?
Bit of both. I did originally go through White just picking up anything as I found it - had a team consisting of Oshawott, Lillipup, Patrat, Pansear, Woobat and Purrloin towards the start - before eventually just going "nah, I'm not a fan of all of these," and grabbing more or less anything that took my fancy, rather than every single thing that stayed in my eyeline for more than a second or two.
Dewott, Scraggy, Lilligant, Whirlipede, Pansear and Archen quickly became Samurott, Scrafty, Archeops, Chandelure, Reuniclus and Excadrill... there's been a fair few changes.
Is the hipster city Nimbasa? Really like Nimbasa city. The music's ace, and the gym leader's an absolute arsehair to beat.