After I have won the 6th Badge from Skyla, its time to depart to Icirrus City to challenge the next Gym Leader, Brycen.
When I departed for the next city, I got challenged by a trainer for a Triple Battle (Rotation Battles in Black). Like Double Battles, Triple Battles are done in a similar fashion, but with three Pokémon. Unlike double battles, the position of the Pokémon matters a lot since it determines what Pokémon you can attack. For instance, Pokémon on the left and right cannot attack all the Pokémon, but the middle one can. Some moves like Aura Sphere can attack any Pokémon regardless of position.
Going East on Route 7 will lead you to Twist Mountain. Unlike Chargestone Cave, Twist Mountain is a gigantic maze with many paths. Since the mountain’s tunnels are so vast, getting out of it will take a good 40+ minutes. After I found my way out of the maze, Cheren comes challenges me to another battle. Fortunately, I had beaten him without any effort. Shortly after, Team Plasma causes more trouble and then leaves.
The good news is that I’m finally out of Twist Mountain!
If you have played Diamond/Pearl/Platinum or Gold/Silver, the resemblance will come quite clear since it’s the ice gym. In these gyms, they have an ice maze, which the character needs solve before challenging the gym leader.
Unlike previous ice gyms, you need to activate switches to change the path. Since the paths are more complex with the switches, getting to the right area could be very frustrating and will take a good amount of time. Once I finally got to the end of the ice maze, I was able to challenge Brycen.
I felt that the battle with Brycen didn’t have any challenge except some minor problems. Unfortunately, my Stoutland wasn’t able to reversal sweep all the ice Pokémon since he was worn out from prior battles. For the rest of his Pokémon, I had to sweep with Sayaka and I succeeded. As a result, I was able to earn the 7th badge.
The battle was just disappointing considering that Candice’s Pokémon had more challenge. This makes me wonder, what is Gamefreak thinking when they are making Pokémon Black and White? The Gym Battles are way too easy compared to the prior games that required some training to beat the gym leader. Maybe they don’t want to get new players frustrated…
Video: Battle against Brycen (Video will be uploaded later)
Next Time: Dragonspiral Tower, Relic Castle and the 8th Gym…
I’ve heard more people say the gym battles in Black and White are easy than difficult. But usually there’s always a few gym leaders that give people trouble. So maybe GameFreak wanted to balance it and make some hard and some easy depending on your team of pokemon. I think the reason you’re having an easy time is because Sayaka is over-leveled (and EV trainer somewhat?) which makes a huge difference.
I actually haven’t found the caves in B&W all that difficult. Maybe it’s because HMs aren’t necessary anymore.
Looking forward to the next post~
EV training is not necessary to beat the gym leaders, but they give a benefit (higher stats boost) if you battle on the Battle Subway or online battles. Unlike the 3rd generation games, EV Training in Gen IV and V are more accessible with braces and online guides telling where to train for a specific stat. Add Pokerus and one can have a Pokemon fully trained in about 2 hours or less. Then again, it’s not necessary for casual battles, but any boost is good in the long run considering that Generation V discourages level grinding.
I have noticed that HM isn’t needed, until you have beaten the game. For instance, Strength and Surf is required in Giant Chasm.
The mazes tend to be harder than the gym leaders, no?
In the older games, the mazes and gym leaders tend to be difficult. In Gold and Silver, if one didn’t train hard enough, Whitney manages to sweep your whole team with her Miltank. Also, Whirl Islands and Ice Cave tended to be the hardest caves considering the puzzles you have to solve in order to get into the other side. Most often, they required HM moves like strength to push boulders.
Generation IV games were a bit easier on the mazes, but the Gym Leaders were sightly difficult. Maylene and Candice tends to be a bit challenging unless you train a Pokemon that takes advantage of their weaknesses. The mazes are straightforward, but the Distortion World can be tedious.
Generation V in my opinion has no challenge in both gym leaders and mazes. Basically, you have to walk everywhere and one can still get out. Considering that HM moves are not required to solve puzzles, one only has to worry about which path to take and bam… you are out of there.
I didn’t play all the generations, but I just remember getting destroyed by this mansion on the island with a bunch of fire pokemon in Red.