Gyms/Leaders different in BW2! Wasn't expecting these changes...

[KarlG]

Well, for one, I wasn't expecting Elesa's Gym to become a fashion show instead. I liked it as a rollercoaster theme park.

I was also hoping Chili, Cress and Cilan each got their own gym!

I like the addition of Marlon - he's hot - but I would have liked Lenora to still have been leader!

Any one had other ideas/hopes for the Gym lineup in BW2?

 

[Dr. Buni]

I agree about Lenora, she is my favorite Normal-type leader, she should have been a leader in B2W2. As for your question, I was hoping for new designs for the other BW leaders, only Elesa (and Iris) got new visuals. I know she is a model and that justifies the change in her design, but I still think that Game Freak was lazy.

I also think the leader's teams could have been better. They should have given a Galvantula to Elesa, a Heracross to Burgh and maybe a Minccino to Cheren.

 

[Jenneta]

I totally agree with you. I'm not the biggest fan of Roxie and Marlon, and I wish Lenora and the triplets would of stayed gym leaders. Even though I did liked Cheren being a gym leader, but, eh. =/ I also missed Brycen being a gym leader, too.
If they should of fired somebody from being gym leaders, then it should of be (and please don't hate on me for this..) Skyla, Clay, and Elesa. Especially Elesa and Skyla. I can't stand those two. D:
I also agree with Reila about the different designs. I was also hoping that, too. It would of been nice to see the triplets and Burgh in different outfits.
So your not alone on this. Trust me, I wasn't expecting the changes either. D:

 

[Poke Prophet]

Personally, all of B2W2 was unexpected. I was really hoping for a lot more than what it gave us. As far as the gyms go I think they had a few good ones and more than a few let downs.

Let's run through what we had.
1st - Cheren's Normal type gym, I thought this one was a fairly good beginners gym to start off the game with and since it was the first gym it had the basic layout, and wasn't overwhelming nor was underwhelming. Goal beat both trainers before battling Cheren (which would be what must people would have done anyway even if it wasn't required).
2nd - Roxie's poison type gym. I like the idea of the poison gym and the rockstar/gym leader thing that Roxie had was, in my opinion, pretty great. However, since she was only the second gym leader I was fairly unimpressed how they over simplified her and only gave her two pokemon and seemed to have just tacked her on to the beginning of B&W, which disappointed me. I expected a lot more from her.
3rd - Burgh. I think they did a good job redesigning this gym, I much prefer the new layout than the old one. I still hate Burgh though, least favorite gym leader of all time.
4th - Elesa's new character design seemed to be all we got new from her, well that and the location you battle her in now being a runway, but you still had to go through the same old gym as a prerequisite for battling her so she might as well have stayed exactly the same. I'm not saying I oppose the changes, without them Game Freak really would have looked down right lazy, however I really wanted to see more changes than what was made. Again this can be said about the whole game.
5th - Clay again. No new character design for poor old Clay, he just got to have a less lit hole in the ground compared to his old hole in the ground. But to be honest I wasn't expecting a whole lot out of Clay anyway.
6th - Skyla's old gym I think I enjoyed the most out of any gym puzzle, I mean who isn't a fan of cannon propulsion to send you soaring about the room, so when her gym was redesigned in B2W2 I was pretty sad to see it go.
7th - Drayden's gym had to have been my least favorite gym in B2W2 because I want to battle every person in each gym before the gym leader, but in this gym you stepped on a switch and then waited like ten hours for the statues to move, then press another to go back, and god forbid you have to go heal in the middle so you have to slowly descend with the directional switches until you make it back down to the entrance then painstakingly go back up to keep battling. Really could have used a speed up button in that gym.
8th - Marlon's gym I glad didn't disappoint, it was new, appropriately challenging, and aesthetically pleasing.

I'm not too disappointed that Lenora wasn't among the gym leaders, and I was delighted to find that the triplets weren't either. I really would have liked to have seen a new design for Brycen's gym and made him a gym leader rather than perhaps Drayden and had Drayden be a special battle instead or perhaps even have been able to chose between gyms to change the route of your journey. That's something that I would have liked to have seen.

 

[Almonds]

The Striaton Triplets
I had been expecting them to change their gym a little so that it would be a triple battle gym. However, I'm not really complaining that they're not gym leaders anymore.


Lenora
I hadn't been expecting her to resign her post.


Elesa
I certainly did not expect her to get a full redesign of her character AND a whole new gym that actually matches her job. I did accept her new design without much difficulty because she was a model anyways.


Drayden
I thought he'd stay as the 8th gym leader. And I still think he should've been the 8th gym leader.


Marlon
I wasn't expecting a Water-type gym leader when Unova already has Cress. AND the 8th gym leader at that. I thought he'd be 6th or 5th at the most.


Roxie
This is mostly because of the anime's fault, but I expected her to appear much later in the game - like the 5th or 6th gym leader so we can battle a Scoliopede and Garbador along with her Koffing XDD


Cheren
While it does sound logical that he'd become a gym leader and a teacher, I expected him to be at a much 'higher' position - an Elite 4 member at the least or the Champion. Ever since he stayed in Victory Road for endless training, and that talk with Alder and Marshal, I thought he'd become their pupil and become the Elite4 instead of Marshal or so. Though I'm glad to see he is the right person to be the first gym leader for beginners.

 

[Bolt Strike]

The gym leader choices in general were pretty good (although having to fight the Striaton Trio late game would've been awesome since they could make it a Triple or Rotation Battle then), but some of the rosters suck. They have too few Pokemon (why the hell am I fighting a team of 3 Pokemon for the last gym leader?), and they could've utilized the new Pokemon a bit better in some cases. Most notably with Burgh, his roster is actually even worse than it was in BW1, they should've swapped out his Swadloon with a past gen bug (Yanma would've been good, but for some stupid reason they decided to make it a post game Pokemon which made absolutely no sense). Also, why did Skyla swap out the only one of her original team that actually suits her? She should've gotten rid of Swoobat.

 

[Mami Tomoe]

Roxie's gym had a load of potential. Shame they wasted it on making her the second gym.
Ironically, the second gym leader has the most creative, stylish, and fun gym of them all.

 

[Cerberuswaltz]

I found myself liking the gyms an awful lot, as well as their redesigns. Felt, to me, more classic. I'm also glad that the triplets (Cilan, Chili, Cress) are no longer Gym Leaders and that you can team up with them everyday (for some sweet cash). I was sad to see Lenora go, though, and wish that you could of at least rebattled her to show she still had an interest in training (not counting PWT). Cheren was appropriate and a type that only has one weakness and no advantages seemed like a good idea; as a kid standing out said, it's a test of strength or so. I do agree that Roxie was a little disappointing. Loved her gym, her typing and her attitude but it was so early that later in the game you kinda forget.

I liked Marlon, though he was kinda there for me at the last minute since I was already fed up with Plasma and Ghestis at this point. I do wish they all got new models, though, but what can you do?

All in all, I liked them!

 

[KarlG]

SECOND PARTER to this QUESTION! How would you have changed them then?

For me I definitely wouldn't have had Marlon as the 8th Gym Leader. His Jellicent, Wailord and Carracosta are hardly a challenge.

I would have wanted it as:

Lenora - 1st: Lillipup, Watchog

Marlon - 2nd: Basculin, Tirtouga, Frillish

3rd to 5th: Burgh to Clay, same Teams as now

Skyla - Unfezant, Skarmory, Rufflet/Vullaby, Swanna

Roxie in 7th with the following team: Garbodor, Weezing, Scolipede

Drayden as 8th: Same Team now

Chili/Cress/Cilan as a side battle in Trainers' School or something.

What do u guys think?

 

[Araragi-hakase]

If you watch the Memory Link scene of the Triplets, it explains why they're not Gym Leaders anymore RIGHT IN THE FEELS

I like the addition of Cheren becoming a gym leader, LOVED Elesa's new look and gym, thought Roxie was a cute addition (loved her gym's theme) and Marlon was pretty cool guy.

Overall, I liked the changes. I was sad to see the triplets and Lenora go, but at least they weren't gone from the games completely and had their reasoning.

 

[KarlG]

What happened with the Triplets??

 

[Bolt Strike]

If you watch the Memory Link scene of the Triplets, it explains why they're not Gym Leaders anymore RIGHT IN THE FEELS

I like the addition of Cheren becoming a gym leader, LOVED Elesa's new look and gym, thought Roxie was a cute addition (loved her gym's theme) and Marlon was pretty cool guy.

Overall, I liked the changes. I was sad to see the triplets and Lenora go, but at least they weren't gone from the games completely and had their reasoning.

That reasoning may make sense for the storyline, but from a design perspective there's not much reason to do so aside from their location. I would've at least liked to be able to battle all three of them in a Triple or Rotation Battle.

What happened with the Triplets??

Spoiler

They decided that they weren't strong enough to be gym leaders, so they went into training.

 

[Cerberuswaltz]

For the 'second part' I wouldn't of changed it. Though I wasn't happy I respect that Lenora is dedicated enough to her work to step down from being a Gym Leader. I like how they added Cheren, who was once a starting trainer himself not long ago and one who wants to help others as a gym leader. The triplets were fun but to me felt too much like a "tutorial gym" and had no real personality until they disbanded and opened their café for double battles.

I might of put Roxie later in the list, but it is what it is. I like Drayden being bumped to number 7 because to be honest he isn't much of a challenge (or, so I've seen) for most people as a final gym leader. Marlon may be goofy and all and generally easy, but at times he can be genuinely tough. I like the current roster and the town he is in is GORGEOUS. Thoughts, anyways.

 

[Utsune]

As opposed to most people on here, I played BW2 first before I touched its predecessor, and I actually really enjoyed it.
1st Gym (Cheren/ normal) is revolutionary in a sense that this is the first time you get a gym in your hometown. The gym design is really basic, but the idea of a Pokemon school does get through, and makes you feel you're a complete beginner at the game.
2nd Gym (Roxie/ poison) is one of my favs, despite being quite straightforward. The atmosphere of the city and its BGM go hand-in-hand with the gym. Personally I got there at night (autumn,) so the feel is amplified much more. I'm a musician myself and the musical flavours added to the place is more than welcomed. Roxie's quite full of character herself and I really like that part of her.
3rd Gym (Burgh/ bug) is definitely an eye-catcher. Very very very very very well designed. BGM does superb in mood-keeping.
4th Gym (Elesa/ electric) is in a bit of disjoint, if you consider the old gym as part of the new gym challenge. The fashion show gym is a bit simple on the outset, though the idea is new. I prefer Elesa's new design a lot more. For your reference, I was more familiar with her old design because of the manga, despite the fact I played BW2 first. The new look is very refreshing.
5th Gym (Clay/ ground) stays the same, so no comparison lol, but it's fine as it is.
6th Gym (Skyla/ flying) is a matter of personal enjoyment when it comes to the differences between old and new puzzle. Really depends on you.
7th Gym (Drayden/ dragon) is time-consuming. The aesthetics is wonderful, but they should have guessed a lot of us would want to battle every one before taking out the gym leader, and the elevator thing isn't helpful at all. But all in all, having different types of battle is nice. I feel the old gym is more imposing, while the new one more dramatic.
8th Gym (Marlon/ water) is your standard sliding puzzle. Design is nice, and even though the type of puzzle is seen time and time again, it was enjoyable thanks to the atmostphere of the gym. Although I must say the actual battle doesn't feel like the final gym at all. The location of the gym isn't the most impressionable either. Everything happened so quickly, and nothing really happened there in the first place. It's a nice little place though, a matter of taste I presume.