#game-review #finishedgame2022 #jrpg # Pokémon White 2  [Console:: Nintendo DS] [Status:: Beaten] [Approximate Start Date:: 2022-04-28] [Finish Date:: 2022-05-23] [Clear Time:: 35h 11m] [Total Play Time:: 38h] [nReplays:: 0] *(Previous playthroughs not combined with [[Pokemon Black 2|Pokémon Black 2]]) ## [Rating:: 95] Easily the most interesting Pokermon game the series has ever made, if you can consider interesting as "game that kept me engaged on all aspects." Between plot, difficulty (on challenge mode), main campaign, and post-game features, Black 2 and White 2 are easily the best Pokemon games in the franchise. Unova is a fun and interesting region that's full of things to do and explore, and it's made that much better when the game covers things that happened in the first game. # Playthrough Notes Streamed this one on Challenge Mode. Links to the VOD playlist can be found in the Relevant Links section. My team was - Emboar (Chawlie) - Azumarill (Bimblouse) - Braviary (Eisenhower) - Electabuzz (Shinji) - Krookodile (Pinball) - Reuniclus (Dr. Blob) This squad was pretty effective at making its way through a majority of the fights, especially in the late game. Eviolite Electabuzz was considerably more useful than I expected it to be as it was able to basically solo Marlon and the entire eighth gym, a space that would've otherwise proven very difficult. Emboar was also pretty useful for a variety of coverages, especially in the Elite Four, though Krookodile was easily the best mon for that stretch sans Marshall, which Reuniclus was able to handle fine. Iris was the only troublesome character, but a Huge Power Azumarill with Ice Punch and Waterfall was more or less just what I needed. I also had linked my White playthrough from my previous streaming playthrough with this one so that I could get a few extra things. # My Thoughts To be frank, Pokemon White 2 (and Black 2) are the best games, specifically because they provide me, the player, so many things to do in the world itself. Raising Pokemon doesn't feel like a singular goal, to be used to beat the Elite Four and that's it, but rather a lot of different end goals. You can obviously raise mons for exploring the world, for Pokestar Studios, for the Pokemon World Tournament, for catching all the legendaries in the game, for exploring the White Treehollow, etc. There's so much to do in the post-gam,e that I absolutely adore. The game also knows that you can sink hours upon hours into the game as reflected by the Medal Rally sidequest and the Join Avenue co-op features (both of which technically aren't completely finishable anymore but whatever). It's really cool how Game Freak was willing to give gamers a game that would absolutely hold them over until future titles in the franchise. Unfortunately it seems that this is the only game in the franchise that will really be that way since all future games seem to go an entirely different direction, which is a shame, but also makes White 2 (and Black 2) much more special to me. # Favorite Moments / Memories - Accidentally using my Master Ball on a wild Clefable - Using Rollout with Pignite to sweep Burgh. - Getting the perfect freeze timing against Iris's Haxorus to win the fight. # What were you doing when not playing this? - Wrapping up the end of the busiest course semester for Graduate School # Relevant Links *Links to associated media.*