Yesterday was a big day in Pokémon news, three Pokémon games were revealed.
Pokémon Quest, Pokémon Let’s Go and the main series RPG set for late 2019.
While youtube is filled with praise towards the trailer of Pokémon Let’s Go, Pinkie unfortunately feels less excited. She will explain why. Pokémon Let’s Go..we will take a peek at you!.
Calm Mind
Before I begin to rip this thing apart I would first like to say that this little pink chibi understands why this game is being released. It is a great idea to bring Pokémon to a new crowd trough Pokémon Go. For Nintendo and the Pokémon company this is a master stroke and it is definitely a game that should be made. It looks amazing and blends seamlessly with the graphical style of Pokémon Go..while adding some more chibi like trainers to it. The colours of this game look amazing…though there is not enough pink. The multiplayer addition is a fun idea and yes I can understand why Pokémon go is implemented. I love the Pokéball controller idea within this concept and how it also works as Poképlus. Yes this game is to put money in the bank for more Pokémon content the way they seem to do it is fair and not overly money hungry and the presentation is immaculate. So my issue is not with the game itself persé but more how the community reacts to it. Because face it guys we are basically cheering for a can of Coca Cola Light here.
Teleport
A can of Coca Cola Light? Pinkie what do you mean? Well I will tell you earlier Pinkie who uses a question to make a bridge to this next part of the blog. Pokémon Let’s Go in my opinion targets a younger and fresh audience, which is okay but in doing so it will take a lot of the game away that long time fans come to love about the series. We get a stripped down but slick product that will appeal to a new generation..but when you take parts out..like the sugar in a can of cola..some may find themselves disappointed. The biggest issue I have.. and a possible game breaking one for me is the fact that wild Pokémon Encounters are no longer battles, but just a ball hurl fest. The entire world turned into one big safari zone.
On it is unfortunate but not that big. However if we look deeper we can see a few issues with this. First of all it will mean that the only way to level up, and yes the trailer at least revealed levels and trainer battles, is trough trainer battles. For those who remember the original Pokemon Yellow try imagining taking Brock down down without grinding Pidgies and bugs. Given that you can use Pikachu or Eevee as well as some normal and bug types..that may prove difficult, but this they can balance out. However it does mean that unless a very good rematch system is implemented is finite. If you beat all the trainers and you can not rematch you may end up stuck ..if you are somehow stupid enough to carry a weird team. This will complicate the ability to Nuzlocke the game unless you use the walker to level up your mons. The biggest gripe I have with no wild Pokémon battles though is it would more than likely mean no EV”s.If they add a Kalos like EV training in the game without the random battle EV’s it will kill a bit of the game’s soul for me and possibly unbalanced it too way to easy for those who understand. Again I do not mind persé as an offbranch game I just do not understand why no one in the community blatantly overlooks this. To me it looks like a fun but finite game where to catch them all you are at one point or another gonna have to rely on Pokémon go because you farmed out all XP.
Agility
My next gripe is more personal and one I mentioned in the gossip post already. I do not like motion controls, as a motorically challenged person I feel extremely awkward in using those and feel ugly. This reduces my enjoyment of the game and makes Pokemon Go less mobile as well. I twitch and spasm on occasion, so I can not see myself playing Let’s Go Pikachu on the go. I like to have my Pokemon games mobile to show of my catches and movesets to others.This turns Pokémon Let’s go into a stay at home kind of game, which for me doesn’t fit as nicely. Again I can understand why the choice is made, it’s aimed for the Pokémon Go player and offers them an alternative , why would you go out and play while you can play Pokemon Go outside after all. Special captures seem to mostly register by sudden motion you make yet and seems to be more timing based then movement based unlike Pokémon go making the capturing even easier , but this of course is only speculation. However when your motion capture is a simplified version of Pokémon Go it feels a bit hollow for the classicist like me. Like changing a Mario game to feature Kirby like difficulty. I do like the immersion of throwing an actual Pokéball using that special controller, but I live in a 20m² studio. If I stretch my arm I’ll probably hit something in the way at least. This issue I have against all motion games, but many at least had it optionall, this does not appear to be optional. I also wonder how this capture mechanic will balance with money in the game, we are probably going to need a lot more pokeballs after all.
Confusion
I see a lot of risks of getting a very unbalanced game. Experience, Money and even Pokémon seem to be more finite, due to no more random but only visible encounters. Core mechanics are stripped from a game and no one seems to mind because Eevee and Pikachu can wear baseball outfits. It is super cute, and I applaud the Pokemon rides for returning, but so much feels broken about this as well. In the trailer we see Pikachu on the trainers shoulder and Eevee on the trainer’s head while surfing. Since we are playing a Pokémon Yellow, you should realise what this implies. Eevee has NOT evolved yet past Fuchsia City. Can it even evolve? It would seem to break the clothes and head riding mechanics at the very least. I am going out on a limb here and say it’s unlikely that your buddy Pokémon can evolve at all. The website tells us depending what version you pick your starter is set, so you will always get Pikachu or Eevee there is no choice. If they can not evolve …Pikachu is significantly better than Eevee given that Extreme Evo Boost won’t be a thing. Why would you even evolve your starter, it would destroy some of the prime esthetics and charm of this game as well..so either its gimmicky or unbalanced I still spot a flaw. I am so weirded out that people are so overly enthusiastic about THIS. It’s cute it’s fun and it looks like it will be a good game. But just because something is good in a qualitative manner of speaking doesn’t mean we have to like it does it? Have we come to an age that you should not review or reflect on your own feelings but instead only can point out actual wrongs? Where are you feelings people? A good game can still suck for you! I did not like Breath of the Wild at all for example, even though I recognise it’s a great game I find it tedious to grind for weapons arrows and potions to be able to travel. This is not much different.. I see a cute but very finite little adventure. It only features the original 151, no wild battles and only one starter that should not and perhaps can not be evolved. I played each Pokemon game, or at least one version of it at least 4 times or so. Meaning I did the Kanto Journey AT LEAST 16 times. Besides the graphical update this trailer has shown me nothing to make this the 17th time. Why do all the hardcore Pokémon players love the fact that if you wiggle two joy cons you can throw two pokeballs to capture one pokemon. Why should I return to Kanto now that there are less Pokémon for me to capture and an even less enjoyable way for me to capture them? I do not know, and why no one else asks these questions leaves me so baffled I have about a 30% chance to hurt myself.
At the end I would again like to state that this is just an opinion, I legitimately can see why the game has to be made. I simply disagree with the community that I follow that this is a game for us. This is a game for a younger generation, a stepping stool the real deal, a teaser for Pokémon 2019. I love that this exists.. I just hate how I am benched for this one. I may be old and bitter by saying this but why do we keep dumbing down games for new generations. It feels like we are reverse breeding intelligence IV’s out of our society. Oh kid you had to put effort into a game to learn it…well let’s dumb it down so never have to think strategically and calculating and just have to wiggle your arm. Cause you know..keeping remotely “fit” is clearly more important than having an over two digit IQ. I get it from an economical point of view, but by the time I was eight I was fairly good at English and German, I also had some fair problem solving skills because that is what games requited back then. I had to evolve to do what I loved, nowadays we devolve stuff to get more money..clever but at the same time our greed is dumbing down mankind. Speaking of devolution this left me with a good metaphor. In June 2000 Europe god Pokemon Yellow. The Pikachu of all Pokémon games one of the best known ones. Now 18 and almost a half year later it devolved into a Pichu. It looks cuter and is more appealing to young kids..but if you try to use it in a battle you are gonna be so disappointed.
Pinkie's Palace 