Pokémon Black 2 journal - entry three

Way back when I started my journal for Pokémon Soul Silver, I stated my intent to raise each and every one of the Eevee evolutions. While I started with Umbreon, I quickly built up a solid line of Eevees, one of which would be evolved into Vaporeon in Soul Silver, and the rest which would be evolved through their respective processes in White version. Thanks to the convenience of being allowed to use the instantaneous infrared trading between White and Black 2, I have moved my Glaceon over to Black 2 and added him to my party. While I won’t deny that Vanillish/Vanilluxe served me well as an ice-type in White version, I would like to better familiarize myself with new Pokémon instead of relying on the same faces as last time around. The same goes for the Eevee I caught in the wild in Black 2, who will be evolved into Espeon relatively soon. I have not actually had an Espeon since the first time I played through the original GBC release of Gold version. My secondary choice was going to be Solosis/Duosion/Reuniclus, but considering those are exclusive to White 2, I don’t much care to go out of my way to track down someone who already owns one and is looking to trade. Besides, if I’m raising all these Eevees, I might as well get some use out of them, right?

I still caught a few of my mainstays from White version in Black 2 just in case I find my party needs a major change. Zebstrika, Litwick, and Elgyem are all waiting in my PC Box, though I really don’t anticipate using them. In fact, I find it rather strange (though not entirely unwelcome) the fact that I have gotten so far without using a fire type Pokémon. I put Growlithe back in the PC after the first few gym battles, and I’ve found that it actually isn’t terribly difficult to make it the rest of the way without a fire type, though it certainly helps that the game has presented me with so many "free" Pokémon (Zorua/Zoroark, Lucario, the downloadable Genesect).

I feel that the gyms have held a much better balance this time around. The first couple were relatively easy to overcome, and none of them have proven exceptionally difficult. But the progression of difficulty has been relatively consistent with each gym presenting a greater number of challengers before the main event with the actual gym leader and smarter tactics from the gym leaders overall. The fact that the game introduces some new areas to Unova is cool. Though I haven’t heard much of Team Plasma in a while, there are rumors floating around Unova of their activities, and I find it hard to believe they won’t make another appearance soon.