Pokémon White - Trio Badge

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Fundamentally it doesn't feel like much has changed from the 4th Generation, yet little things here and there can make all the difference. So begins the adventure of high school dropout Jaye and his friends Iden Cheren and Camilla Bianca (oops, I guess you can't rename your rivals) as they prepare to traverse the untamed terrain of Unova. This game is just fun, it looks good, it sounds good and it seems like it has the best story yet. If someone knows how to take screenshots of a DS, let me know otherwise you'll jsut have to take my word for it. Or alternatively, buy it.

By the way if you didn't know, the Liberty Pass granting access to the island where legendary fennec fox Victini dwells is available for a limited time over wi-fi - Until April 10th in North America and April 22nd in Europe for some unknown reason. Like Mew, Celebi, Jirachi and Shaymin, Victini has an evenly distributed 600 base stats but considering the Fire/Psychic typing, its greatest potential comes in attack even without the Japanese movie versions exclusive V-Create attack with 180 (!!!!!) base power.

The Journey So Far after the jump.
Nuvema Town
As per uge, the adventure begins in a sleepy backwater village where some eccentric scientist has built a lab. While it seems like an inconvenient place, I doubt the local teenagers are complaining considering Professor Juniper is pretty smokin' hot. Here you get to meet your pals, Cheren who is a douchebag know-it-all and Bianca, a daffy girl who has a crush on you (actually she probably just acts that way to everyone) Interesting to note that in visiting Bianca's home, while her father is chewing her out for wanting to go adventuring, her mother is hiding baking? in the kitchen.

Route 1
Caught: Patrat, Lillipup
The by now staple Route 1 rodent - if you look close enough, you will see that it has CRAZY EYES. You're invited to have a catching competition with Cheren and Bianca but I get the feeling they didn't try very hard only catching one each out of a possible five.


Accumula Town
Team PETA is having a rally in this small residential town. I'm not sure exactly who they're hoping to influence given there aren't really any trainers around here but we do get to meet Evergreen State College graduate "N" (short for Nimrod)

Route 2
Caught: Purrloin
The XTransceiver is pretty cool when there are just 2 people on the screen, but when there are 4 people, the bottom two are obscured by blocks of text. That and the scrolling bulletin board are pretty cool new features overall.

Striaton City
Having selected Snivy as my starter I discovered myself at a deep disadvantage against Cheren when he brought out his Tepig and started flaming me, but with the help of an under-leveled Yorkshire Terrier I was able to show that cocky bastard up. I didn't know until after that I should have gone to the Dreamyard first where I was given a Panpour. At the City Gym, they have three leaders and when you approach them, they get together and confer over which one of them should fight you based on who has the advantage. No fair! Fortunately, the red headed stepchild Chili is deeply stupid and despite having multiple levels up on me, let me attack without counter. The Trio Badge under my belt, I found that in the 5th Gen, you can use TMs as many times as you like which is awesome. Hopefully the range of learnable moves hasn't been nerfed.

Dreamyard
Given: Panpour
Caught: Audino, Munna
I have no idea what just happened here. :( But we did protect Bianca from Team Plasma and she practically swooned so it's all good. Back in Striaton, mad scientist Fennel gives you the C-Gear, which I presume allows you to connect to the much ballyhooed Dream World. Apart from anything else, it just looks badass.

Route 3
Caught: Blitzle
Bianca is in trouble again but finds a way to avoid helping you battle again. There's a bad pattern developing here.

Wellspring Cave
Caught: Drilbur, Woobat, Roggenrolla

I'm 100% this cave was invented to troll me. I was intent on catching a Drilbur, but they only appear in the clouds of dust that have a small chance of randomly appearing within a 5 step radius of wherever you're walking. I came up with a genius walking back and forth between 2 squares in the corner but this cave is sadistic. Refer here to the diagram:

Of course, you can't actually walk more than 2 steps without between being attacked by Zubat and Geodude the local fauna who bear a striking resemblance to certain pokémon in past incarnations of the game. If a cloud appears and you get into a battle, the cloud will disappear. There's always the chance too that the cloud does not have Drilbur in it but instead, an item. If there is a Drilbur in it, you can bet that you'll score the critical hit you never manage to in a real battle. In the end though, it was totally worth it because Drilbur is like Diglett on steroids.

Active Team:
Snivy - Lv 16
Drilbur - Lv 11
Panpour - Lv 11
Munna - Lv 10
Blitzle - Lv 8
Patrat - Lv 4 (Cut)