Pokémon Go

[Dark Jaguar]

Well, we've gotta have a thread about this.

Firstly, it's been an unexpected worldwide phenomenon. Out of nowhere, in about two weeks, everyone is talking about it. I don't just mean "everyone on gaming sites", I mean politicians and late night talk shows.

Secondly, HOW DID EVERYONE FIND OUT ABOUT IT?! I didn't see a single commercial for it, online or otherwise, and the only reason I knew it was coming was due to Nintendo's own announcement at gaming-centric events. I have no idea how everyone online found out about this game at once. It's beyond my ability to comprehend.

Thirdly, finally a reason to actually get outside and see the world. I mean, people have been cooped up indoors for what seems like over a decade now, thanks to the internet, and the internet finally solves that problem for us by telling us "hey, look at this little-known memorial deep in the woods, and oh by the way there's an imaginary monster there too".

I for one hope this takes off to the point where people actually take cross-country trips around it, but I'm not the one to do it. Too many real life obligations, you see. I would like to challenge any Go-er who looks me in the eyes though... if it's safe. That brings me up to the elephant in the room, criminals using the "spot" system to know in advance where to find victims. The solution here is to travel in large groups, I suppose, but it's worth noting the usual danger concerns when outside in that "real world" place.

[A Black Falcon]

Yeah, I see this as another of Nintendo's efforts towards making people healthier while playing games -- like Wiimote motion stuff, the canned Vitality Sensor, etc. And it sure seems to be working, with how huge the phenomenon around this apparently not-very-good game is... Nintendo's stock price is way up, it's the #1 mobile game in all countries it's released in, etc. But while I haven't played it, the extreme simplicity of the game going by what I've seen brings up a regular question of mine -- why are the popular mobile games usually so awful, from either a gameplay or (financial) exploitation standpoint? Games designed to take your money instead of being fun or worthwhile, games with incredibly basic gameplay and payment hooks like this one, etc... it's sad that developers have figured out that for whatever reason a lot of people are foolish enough to actually play these things for significant amounts of time. If it was only a time thing I'd be more okay with it, but the incredibly explotative nature of the cash shops in these games really seals it for 'this stuff is not okay'.

On that note, Nintendo's first experiments with this are in their free-with-cash-shop games on the 3DS, such as that horribly stupid Nintendo Badge Arcade thing, Pokemon Picross, etc. I have not spent money in any of them, but playing Pokemon Picross, the payment hooks ruin the game -- a few worlds in, you basically have to stop playing unless you grind for an insanely large number of days in the random-puzzle (one time use a day) mode, or pay money. This could have been a good game, like Picross games usually are, but the free-to-play thing ruins it.

[Dark Jaguar]

As far as the gameplay is concerned, the combat system is very barebones. It is certainly not as fully featured as a standard Pokemon game (yet, with google making up half the team, I'm sure this game will get itterative updates down the line adding new features).

However, the main gameplay features aren't actually coded into the game at all. The real "game", lame as it may sound, is the part that takes place in the real world. I've heard stories of roving bands of trainers exploring forests and graveyards. In one particular case, a police officer showed up worried that a gang was causing trouble (team rocket?), only to find a bunch of kids playing. The officer ended up staying in the graveyard near a landmark which functioned in-game as a gym, meaning that the person who took the gym now had a guard for that gym. That's pretty amazing, and the definition of emergent gameplay.

Now, in terms of making the gameplay as accessible as possible, I think they made the right call, so long as they eventually add in some highly requested features like trainer to trainer combat (and a more complex combat system more akin to the original games). Making it free also lets anyone jump in. That said, I do despise "free to pay" payment schemes. I think it's about time they experimented with a "buy the whole game" option, where if you pony up $25, you own the game outright. The game would be "free", and those that just want a couple extra pokeballs would still have the option to pay those tiny little fees, but those that just want to own the game outright and never have to worry about real cash again would have an option as well.