As soon as my Best Buy opened on the Sunday release, my boyfriend and I rushed over to buy our pre-ordered PokÃ©mon Black and White games, the first game I had actually taken the time out to pre-order in some time. I slipped PokÃ©mon White into my DS as soon as we got home, only stopping to rest when I had to go to work and to sleep. I finished it within the week of getting it, but it was not a triumphant feeling like I had felt in the past. Instead, I felt rather neutral about the whole thing, which made me wonder if the game itself had changed, or if I had changed.

I had not played the SoulSilver and HeartGold generation. I bought it, but was rather bored since it was the exact same thing as the regular Silver game from the Game Boy. I waited and waited until Black and White was released to really get my dose of PokÃ©mon. I bought the White version, so I will reference to that version for this article. Warning: there will be many spoilers. If you have not already played the game, I would suggest reading this later.

Admittedly, I was a little concerned about starter PokÃ©mon before I even bought the game. While I realize they are just pixels on the screen, I have always felt a deep attachment to my starter PokÃ©mon and I always look forward to them the most. I like to do a lot of research on my games, and I only dislike spoilers when they are massive plot twists. The grass type looked incredibly spoiled, the fire type was way too cute, and the water type was just…weird. I was already disappointed with the starters before the game came out, and I knew that couldn’t be a good sign. My boyfriend started with the grass, the one I had been considering, so I ended up with the water type.

My starter PokÃ©mon ended up being my strongest PokÃ©mon by the end of the game, but I never felt the attachment to it as I had in the past. It wasn’t even my “comfort” PokÃ©mon, the PokÃ©mon I can always depend on, until the end of the game. Instead, I used my powerful fighter Pokemon, Throh (in Black’s version it is Sawk), for the majority of the game. It did feel strange using a fighter PokÃ©mon; I had never really leveled up one before, much less depended on one. The evil group Team Plasma used mainly normal or dark types (which fighting is especially effective against), so Throh remained at my number one spot for some time.

In previous games, the first PokÃ©mon in your party would follow you around. You could turn around and it would sing a little bit or smile at you. Also in previous games, it was easy to use your starter PokÃ©mon almost exclusively throughout the first part of the game, and you would play catch up with leveling the rest of your team later on. I believe they attempted to balance out Black and White by forcing you to level up other PokÃ©mon as well as your starter in the beginning. While balancing is sometimes nice, in this case I would have preferred to get to know my starter a little better.

I do give kudos to GameFreak for making a much more dynamic enemy. Team Plasma had much more personality with even a tiny plot twist – much more than simply trying to steal PokÃ©mon to take over the world. I really felt like I had an enemy throughout the game, rather than having a nuisance. Unlike other games, where becoming the ultimate trainer by beating the Elite Four and defeating your enemy are completely different plot schemes, PokÃ©mon Black and White combined them into one major goal which I loved.

Team Plasma’s front is to separate PokÃ©mon from people for the better of the PokÃ©mon. They believe that PokÃ©mon have no desire to be with humans and are simply being used by them. A brainwashed kid named “N” is your main rival from Team Plasma throughout the game, although there are other leaders as well.

PokÃ©mon Black and White also did a great job with having relationships with other people in the game as well. Your two “rivals” are really your friends and support you throughout your entire journey. Even the gym leaders become your friends and support you heavily by the end of the game, something I don’t remember from previous generations.

The one thing that GameFreak left out though was something they had rather pushed in other games: the relationship between you and your own PokÃ©mon. I missed the relationship I had between Cyndaquil and I, as strange as that sounds. I never felt that same connection with my Oshowatt (later evolved into Samurott), which I find to be important in PokÃ©mon, especially with the story it is trying to convey throughout the game.

So the question comes in play: did the game simply do a bad job, or am I growing up?

When I began this article, I was actually sitting next to a young boy playing his DS at the airport. While he was playing a car game instead of PokÃ©mon, he was still getting incredibly emotionally involved with it. When he won a race, he yelled in excitement, when he lost a race, he yelled “no, no, no, no, NO!!!!!!” Again, a racing game is much different than PokÃ©mon, but when I won a battle, I did not get nearly as excited. When it was a tougher battle, I was simply relieved that I won. Each gym until the end only took me one try when before they would often take me several. I was disappointed in this model, I wanted to be challenged. I missed the moments that I would be so intent on a battle, I would absolutely refuse to let go of my GameBoy, taking it with me to the dinner table or the toilet.

All of that being said, I find that I may be growing up a little. Somewhat related is Fable II. I loved my dog in Fable II. So much, in fact, that in the end when I ultimately decided to let my dog and family remain dead, I no longer wanted to play at all. I later got him back in some downloadable content, but the game was simply not the same without him. In Fable III, I never felt nearly as much attachment to my dog. Again, I don’t know if the game dynamics simply changed or if I have changed, but two games in a row make me think the latter.

Maybe I have lost more of my imagination as I have grown up, although I hope not. As a “geek,” one of my major enjoyments in life is to escape into a fantasy world of some kind. Whether it is reading or playing, it is nice to give my brain a rest from the real world as selfish as that is. However, I know my imagination has been disintegrating, and I’m barely an adult. Maybe it is time that I begin to practice my imagination again.

What do you think, have you drastically lost your “kid in you” as video games and media in general has required less and less of your imagination? Or is it simply part of growing up?