Now Playing - "scalchop!"

I've been away from the blog for a while now, but it was never going to truly die. I've had this blog too long to get rid of it now. Anyway, I've been pretty busy with university work and seeing people at uni, so I've not actually had much time to play games. That hasn't really stopped me from buying games, however, and March is a pretty expensive month for me, it looks like....
I've bought a few so far this month:
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Hyperdimension Neptunia
Pokemon Black

And I have a few things preordered for later in the month and onwards:
Black 3DS console (not sure what games I will get yet)
Dissidia 012 : Final Fantasy
Dragon Age II (isn't preordered, for some reason I just wasn't getting it at launch)

Anyway, its basically just one game that has been taking up my time this week. I got Pokemon Black (DS) on launch day last Friday and I've been playing it quite a bit since. Not obsessively I'd say, but at least a little bit most days. One day I refrained from playing it at all so I could make some progress on my uni coursework. We've got a number of deadlines coming up. 2 essays, 2 class tests and a lab book to finish up and hand in. I've done both essays and most of the lab book(which I'll finish on Monday) so I'm slightly ahead of some people in the class. That means I can relax and play Pokemon! :D The others that have Pokemon are way ahead of me though, so I've got some catching up to do...

So my opinions on the new Pokemon games so far would be overall, slightly dissapointed. But only slightly...The main things I don't really like about them are the new pokemon. A lot of them are just really uninspired and bland. I mean, there is a generic dog and deer pokemon who look about as boring as can be. I should probably cut them a bit of a break, because they are up to 649 in the pokedex now, so they are bound to be running out of ideas. But should they really be dragging the series on for much longer? Some people believe not. I have some fun with the games even if I am going off the series slowly. This might just be because I overplayed some of them by going into the competitive side of breeding and training, but its partially down to the series' stagnation in a way.

Story wise, the game doesn't really do much new. Its the same idea as before, you play a kid who goes out adventuring with a pokemon in an effort to beat the Elite 4 and complete the pokedex. You end up entangled in Team Plasma's affairs. So far I'm a bit confused by the whole Team Plasma thing. Their motives are a bit wierd, and they seem really poorly organised, ending up doing random things which accomplish nothing. Its not like Team Rocket which you probably enjoyed watching in the series or the games, its different, Team Plasma fail more (and not in such awesome ways.)

I probably just need to play the game for a couple more hours, and wait till it grows on me. For all the criticism I've given it so far, I am enjoying it. It definitely looks good, with all it's 3D sequences and whatnot.

I'm playing through with an all-water team to make it a bit more challenging. This is bulking out my play time with some extra grinding, but I am liking the challenge that this provides. I've got 5 badges now, and moving towards the next town.

I'll try and post some more on the blog when I can. Its not dead yet! :D