>>49820731>What makes one passable and the other bad?Because BW1 story has much better pacing. You meet N and Team Plasma very early on in Accumula Town, which sets up the ongoing conflict. Then you have regular battles against them in every major town, with Gym Leaders occasionally pitching to help you. There's escalation and tension in Gen 5 which justifies the game being so linear. SM is mostly uneventful tutorial shit for the first several hours, and doesn't really pick up until Akala Island is over.
