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Part 1: Welcome to the World of Pokemon!


The first thing when starting any Pokemon game is the introduction.


The Pokemon Professor, whose name is a type of tree, introduces us to the world.


And the professor always lets a Pokemon out of a Pokeball. In this case, the Pokemon is a small mammal named Minccino.



: called Pokemon! Pokemon have mysterious powers. They come in many shapes and live in many places. We humans live happily with Pokemon! Living and working together, we compliment each other. We help each other out to accomplish difficult tasks.



: the bonds between people and Pokemon. And that is why I research them. Well, that's enough from me... Could you tell me about yourself?


I've been a dude for as long as I remember.

: I'd like to know your name. Please tell me.


I've had my coffee, and now I feel great!

Anyway, player names are seven spaces long. Always have been. It's annoying when the best ideas always seem to fit eight, but you get used to it after so long.


This is the closest to an official name I know of. Unlike older games, White doesn't have pre-set names, and you always have to enter your own.

: Well then, I'm going to introduce you to your two best friends!



: He can be a little difficult, but he's a very honest person.



: She's a little flighty, but she works very hard.



: a very, very important Pokemon.



: you on your journey, your story will truly begin. During your journey, you will meet many Pokemon and people with different points of view!



: That's right! Befriend new people and Pokemon and grow as a person! This is the most important goal for your journey!




The 5th generation Pokemon games, Black and White, actually utilize the 3d environments here and there.

Anyway, the story begins in Hilbert's room...



: I heard from Professor Juniper. We can have a Pokemon? ... What's keeping Bianca?

As soon as he says it...



: Bianca... I've known for ten years that you have no sense of time, but... seriously... Today is the day we can get a Pokemon from Professor Juniper!
: I know. Sorry, Hilbert. Sorry, Cheren.



: They were delivered to Hilbert's house, so Hilbert gets first pick.
: Naturally. The Pokemon are waiting for us inside that gift box. OK, Hilbert, you go first and take a peek at the gift box. I want to meet the Pokemon right now!


But first, saving the game. Pokemon lets you save any time you open the menu, whether right in front of a difficult battle, or just in the middle of nowhere. It's a very important part of its portability.


There's a card on the box.


And inside...


Are three Pokemon, nestled inside three Poke Balls. Poke Balls are tiny containers that safely and portably hold Pokemon many times their size with blah blah technobabble.

The Pokemon are...


Snivy, a very smug snake with the power of plants and leaves.


Tepig, a little piglet that can snort fire.


Oshawott, a water otter. Goddammit it rhymes.

For now, I'll take Oshawott as it is my favorite of the three. If you'd like a different one, please say so!

But seriously. I recommend Oshawott.


Water, Fire, and Grass form a simple triangle of strength and weakness, like rock-paper-scissors. Water douses Fire, Fire burns Grass, and Grass drains Water.

: Hey, how come you get to pick out my Pokemon?


Bianca will pick the Pokemon weak to yours, and Cheren picks the one strong against it.

: Everyone has chosen a Pokemon! ...So that's that!



: Honestly, Bianca... Even though they're still weak Pokemon, you shouldn't have Pokemon battles inside a house.
: Don't be a worrywort! These little ones are weak, like you said.



: Get ready for a Pokemon battle!


Your rivals, as is the parlance, get fancy pre-battle screens like this.


And we get to see how many Pokemon the opponent has, out of six. Bianca, of course, only has her Tepig.


The interface is on the touch screen, with big helpful buttons. Bag accesses the item menu when we have none, Run lets us escape a battle without finishing it though we can't run now, and Pokemon is a bit pointless of an option since we only have an Oshawott.


It let's me peek at her stats, though. Oshawott has higher offensive than defensive stats. Attack increases the damage dealt to enemies, and Defense reduces incoming damage. Special Attack and Special Defense do the same but for a different category of moves. We'll get to that when we have a Special move.

The damage formula is
code:

(((((((Level ? 2 ? 5) + 2) ? BasePower ? [Sp]Atk ? 50) ? [Sp]Def) ? Mod1) + 2) ? CH ? Mod2 ? R ? 100) ? STAB ? Type1 ? Type2 ? Mod3)


Please do not try to learn that. It's very complicated and won't really be relevant. Just know that higher numbers = more better. And that level plays a part.

Oshawott has two moves, which are actions it can take in battle.


The first is Tackle, a basic physical attack with no frills or surprises.


The other is Tail Whip, which deals no damage but can temporarily reduce the opponent's defense stat, allowing Tackle to deal more damage.

Anyway, we'll use Tackle for now. Both players select moves at the same time, not knowing what the opponent will do. It's part of the fun.


Bianca's Tepig goes first, due to its Speed stat. Speed determines which Pokemon goes first, and is entirely absolute; a Pokemon with 10 Speed will always act before one with 9. Considering that some moves can prevent a Pokemon from attacking, this makes high speed a great advantage.


Here, it means Tepig donks Oshawott first.


A side note, blinking from damage and the HP bar decreasing play at the same time.

HP is a representation of how much of a beating a Pokemon can take. When it reaches zero, the Pokemon faints and is unable to battle. When a trainer's Pokemon are all fainted, he or she loses.


So we donk back.


Some trainers have banter on the first hit, as Bianca shows.


Eh, no big deal, we can take 5 total before-




Well uh

I wasn't expecting a crit this early.

Critical hits have a 1/16 (~6%) chance of occuring and deal double damage. Sometimes good play can recover from one, other times you're just fucked because your best guy got clobbered.

Since Tepig's last Tackle did 5 damage and Oshawott has 5 HP left, I think we're just fucked.


...Except on Bianca's next turn she uses Tail Whip.


This effect indicates a stat decrease. In this case, Oshawott's defense has been lowered by one "stage", to 66%. Probably 7. Oh well, another chance to beat up Tepig


And she does it again, lowering it to -2 stages, or 50%. Each stage down past the first has diminishing returns.


This gives Oshawott the chance to Tackle Tepig into oblivion, winning the battle.


Each fainted Pokemon gives experience points, dependant on the level and species. Notice the blue bar under HP? It's indicative of how much EXP to the next level.


Anyway, all one of Bianca's Pokemon have fainted so I am victorious! Defeated trainers have a parting line.

: The Pokemon on both sides did their best!

They usually aren't that interesting.


And we also get money for defeating an opposing trainer, for buying items when we get to a store.


A thick cloud of dust caused by the fight begins to settle...


Jesus Christ Bianca how did this happen?!

: Hilbert, you're going to be an awesome Trainer someday, I can tell! No doubt!
: Uh... Bianca, would you take a look around?
: Woah! What happened?



: I'm so glad that I got have a Pokemon!




: You... are completely hopeless. Here! I'll restore your Pokemon for you. Hilbert's Pokemon needs to be fixed up, too.


Free heals happen a lot in White. I want to know how Cheren does it, though.



: With all you know, I'm sure you can battle without turning the room into a disaster area like I did!
: I believe you're right! It'll be no problem for me to keep from getting any messier. Besides, it's not fair if you to are the only ones who get to have fun battling! It's decided. You'll be my opponent... in our first Pokemon battle!


And now for our other "rival" character. Rivals are an archetype in Pokemon games, usually friends from the starting town who go on the same journey, challenging the player along the way.


This battle is very similar to the one against Bianca, as both only have level 5 Pokemon with Tackle and a defense-lowering move, regardless of which Pokemon anyone takes takes.


Snivy is very likely to go first due to its high speed.




Leer is functionally identical to Tail Whip.


One stage decrease of Defense. It's even got the same PP as Tail Whip.

PP, short for Power Points, is the number of times a move can be used before it runs out and can't be used anymore, until restored with rest or an item. Leer and Tail Whip have 30, Tackle has 35. Weak moves generally have a lot of PP.


Also Cheren proceeds to do this three more times allowing Oshawott to bash Snivy's face in.


I thought Cheren was the smart one...


43 more experience, and with it comes a new level!


With levels comes more stats! It may not seem like much, but each point counts. Later levels of course carry more points.



: this feeling I have...I'm finally a Trainer. BUt first, we'd better go apologize to your mother about this messed-up room.
: Oh! I'd better come too.


And here's some data for Oshawott. A lot of the top screen is just the circumstances of getting the Pokemon, but the nature there actually affects stats. Each nature improves one stat at the expense of another. In this case, Oshawott has a bit more Attack in exchange for a bit less Speed. Natures are immutable. "Scatters Things Often" is also related to stats but we'll get to it later.

Oh, and as a preemptive thing:


Early in the next update we'll get the chance to nickname our Pokemon. Nicknames don't have any gameplay significance, but they do add a lovely touch of personalization.

To summarize, vote on a starter and give it a nickname! Nicknames are up to ten charaters long as I helpfully demonstrated, and in addition to letters and normal punctuation you have the bizzare stuff up there. If your nickname is specific to a starter (i.e. Wotter the Oshawott) please specify so. Keep in mind I will use the starter for the rest of the game, and it will be the only Pokemon of its type on the team. For example, picking Tepig means the pig will be on the team for the rest of the game and I won't use other fire types at all.

Anyway, next time, our Pokemon journey beings!