Pokémon Black and White News

[DrP]

Sounds like they are cooking Monkeys! haha

That explains their ties into the first gym, since they are a waiter, a sommelier and i forgot the last one

[SlowPokemon]

Pan, as in the god of nature.

[Jub3r7]

Maybe they are cooking that broccoli monkey.

[IAmYou]

Pan-Nature

Pan-Bread

Pan-Some biology classification that monkeys belong to that I don't remember enough about to name

So yeah

[Cobraroll]

^Chimpanzees, by any chance?

[SlowPokemon]

Pan, as in the god of nature.

AHEM.

[IAmYou]

^Chimpanzees, by any chance?

Might have something to do with that.

AHEM.

Pan-Nature

AHEM

[Cobraroll]

It's been a while since the games came out in Japan now, enough that most of the game mechanics have been uncovered. And I'm not sure on what to say. Smogon covers it nicely up in this article: http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue13/design

I'm sad to see the Power Creep here. The higher the generation, the better the 'mons, apparently. And the moves. Look at this, for instance: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Shell_break#Effect
This means that a defensive strategy is doomed to fail. New boosting moves and new Pokémon with powerful stats means that most walls will be broken quite easily.
Other than that, it's nice to see new stars rise to shine. Ditto and Cloyster spring to mind. On the other hand, a shame to see Infernape go down, and even sadder; Snorlax. However, that's the way evolution work. New environments, new elements brought to the table, means that some have to go down, while others will rise. I will definitely get one of these games once they are out. And I can't wait to see what the inevitable Grey version will have to say for the competitive scene.

[Shadoninja]

SHELL SMASH IS A BITCH! >: (

[Roz~]

It's been a while since the games came out in Japan now, enough that most of the game mechanics have been uncovered. And I'm not sure on what to say. Smogon covers it nicely up in this article: http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue13/design

I'm sad to see the Power Creep here. The higher the generation, the better the 'mons, apparently. And the moves. Look at this, for instance: http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Shell_break#Effect
This means that a defensive strategy is doomed to fail. New boosting moves and new Pokémon with powerful stats means that most walls will be broken quite easily.
Other than that, it's nice to see new stars rise to shine. Ditto and Cloyster spring to mind. On the other hand, a shame to see Infernape go down, and even sadder; Snorlax. However, that's the way evolution work. New environments, new elements brought to the table, means that some have to go down, while others will rise. I will definitely get one of these games once they are out. And I can't wait to see what the inevitable Grey version will have to say for the competitive scene.

Actually it's pretty amazing imho. This means that the metagame will be more fast-paced and we won't see a lot of stalling, which can be really annoying.

[Cobraroll]

^True, but it also renders a lot of Pokémon useless. In the third generation, offense and defense were pretty balanced. You could choose to go for a defensive strategy, or opt for offense. Now, all defensive Pokémon will get creamed, no matter how much set-up, and hyper-offense (all-out attacking without set-up) also looks doomed. It appears that the only remaining strategy is Boost-Sweep. And once a decent Pokémon gets Shell Break up, it's all over. Then imagine Huntail and Gorebyss, who can run both Shell Break and Baton Pass. Picture a Pokémon like Tyranitar on the receiving end of that Pass...

[Roz~]

Shell Break's broken, yes. But there's always a mean of countering those kind of moves, like Taunt for example. Doing theorymon here won't really help. Teams will have some Pokemon to counter them, even if they manage to get one Shell Break up.

[Jub3r7]

And you tell me this right after I spend three hours coming up with a defensive three-person team. 
Meh, it wasn't entirely defensive. Just most of it.

[Roz~]

Defensive 'mons can still be used. They are probably going to have different roles in the 5th gen. Nattorei's amazing and it has great defenses. People are going to use it, as they are going to continue using Blissey and Snorlax.

[Roz~]

US release date: March 6th! I really thought the April 16th one was weird. Anyways, I'm glad 'cause it'll give me more time to prepare for the VGC... if I ever decide to go to one of the events.