I like it. There are a lot of good Pokémon and character designs. The music is strong too. Playing this I even got some new favourite Pokémon like Krookodile and Archeops.

I think having your game be a region with only new Pokémon was an extremely ballsy move and I commend them for it, even if I think it causes some slight problems. By problems I mean stuff like how Elesa's team of three Pokémon has two Emolga. Another weird thing I feel is the first gym being a hard counter to your starter's type, a really neat idea. But they don't really give you anyway to compensate for that on the route to the gym, so some random person has to give you an ugly monkey. Why not have them just be on the route beforehand?

I have never had to try this hard in a Pokemon game before, which I do like. Actually thinking when going against a gym leader or an important character is weirdly novel in Pokemon, at least in the ones I've played. This difficultly does cause a problem in another area; grinding. I am not a fan of how the EXP system works in B&W, with it's harsh level curve on EXP. it just results in things taking longer. I probably would have given this a 8 or even a 9/10 if EXP wasn't like this. Like I never skipped encounters or trainer battles and I was still like 5 levels lower than what they probably wanted for the Ghetis fight.

Also man, they couldn't even pretend Team Plasma wasn't super evil for more than one scene. They're lucky their battle music slaps.

The story is pretty good compared to some other Pokémon games. I get this strong feeling that I would have been way more into it if I had played at a younger age. Especially with the N stuff.

I'm glad I played this, I just hope B&W2 is an improvement whenever I get to it.