Koga's gym requires you to have caught like 50 Pokemon, which also means you'll gain more experience in addition to breaking the rules of a Nuzlocke.
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Pokémon Let's Go! - Pikachu and Eevee
- Thread starter Codraroll
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A traditional Nuzlocke is impossible anyways due to what the main source of experience is.
A simple rule tweak (change "only catch the first Pokémon you find in a route" to "only use the first Pokémon you catch in a route") and it's ready to go.
Went by the Pokemon Center this weekend and saw them have a demo out for the kids to play. Man, those kids (maybe as young as 5 years old) were struggling throwing the Poke Ball to catch Pokemon. What's the catch rate like in the games? Must be frustrating as hell to finally land a Poke Ball only to have the Pokemon pop out.
Also realised they brought back missing Poke Balls in true gen one fashion.
Also realised they brought back missing Poke Balls in true gen one fashion.
I have to imagine the calibration just wasn’t great on the demo unit because I haven’t had many issues. I actually find the motion controls more accurate than trying to aim the camera in handheld mode, which can be super jittery especially when trying to catch something that moves a lot like Zubat.
Serebii says that the Mew found in the Pokeball Plus is a limited time promotion. Does anyone know how long this promotion lasts for? I don't have a switch yet and I'm not sure when I'll be able to get one.
By the way, I've noticed the Affection mechanic is also present in this game, probably in all its difficulty-reducing glory. My Charizard shrugged off a Poisoned status.
PS: I'm LOVING the Box in the Bag feature. I'm currently on a 13-pokémon rotation and I think it's not enough yet.
It marks my first time using Blastoise, Golduck, Kantonese Marowak, Onix, Rhyhorn, Farfetch'd and Dodrio in my story team.
PS: I'm LOVING the Box in the Bag feature. I'm currently on a 13-pokémon rotation and I think it's not enough yet.
It marks my first time using Blastoise, Golduck, Kantonese Marowak, Onix, Rhyhorn, Farfetch'd and Dodrio in my story team.
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Yeah, my Pikachu pretty regularly dodges attacks due to affection and my Arcanine just unparalyzed itself.
Another vote for absolutely loving the box-in-bag system, praying that makes it over to the main games. Hope the death of HMs sticks as well, two games in a row now without them certainly makes it seem like that’s going to be permanent. Will do a longer post with all my thoughts once I’m closer to the end of the game (been doing a lot of grinding to evolve things and fill out my Pokédex) but so far my only major complaints are the clunky UI and the fact that trainer exp sucks compared to chaining. Trainer battles really feel like a slog aside from some of the more challenging ones - it’s a total reversal from my usual MO where as soon as I’ve rounded out my team I basically play the rest of the game with Repels active since encountering Pokémon is normally just a waste of time.
The box-in-the-bag f
The box feature is great BUT it's using a very very VERY terrible UI. The 4 biggest flaws to note:
- The fact that all Pokemon are toghether rather than divided in several boxes makes organizing pokemon a nightmare. It's already obnoxious for 150-ish, imagine for the full 800+ pokedex
- Markers aren't visible without opening the pokemon stats, thus effectively making them useless. You can only see the Favorite mark which only helps to some degree. You can't, say, mark a good nature poke differently than one with good IVs, or distinguish phisical and special sets, etc.
- You also can't see any of the pokemon stats without opening the stat page. Which adds to the point above: makes organizing and distinguish pokemon particularly obnoxious.
- Rearranging can only be done by swapping pokemon position, so if you want to just put a pokemon between 2 others, well, you have to rearrange everything in between. Got very annoying for me already halfway through the game, as I'm keeping all pokemon with good natures and they are starting to add up.
It was known that the affection mechanic is in game (albeith a bit harder to obtain the broken friendship values unless you carry on the same pokemon for a long time).
The box feature is great BUT it's using a very very VERY terrible UI. The 4 biggest flaws to note:
- The fact that all Pokemon are toghether rather than divided in several boxes makes organizing pokemon a nightmare. It's already obnoxious for 150-ish, imagine for the full 800+ pokedex
- Markers aren't visible without opening the pokemon stats, thus effectively making them useless. You can only see the Favorite mark which only helps to some degree. You can't, say, mark a good nature poke differently than one with good IVs, or distinguish phisical and special sets, etc.
- You also can't see any of the pokemon stats without opening the stat page. Which adds to the point above: makes organizing and distinguish pokemon particularly obnoxious.
- Rearranging can only be done by swapping pokemon position, so if you want to just put a pokemon between 2 others, well, you have to rearrange everything in between. Got very annoying for me already halfway through the game, as I'm keeping all pokemon with good natures and they are starting to add up.
In HGSS I think there was a mechanic where in certain places the pokemon walking with you would find a shiny leaf, if you got 5 then Lyra would make a leaf crown out of them. I don't know much more than that though.
FWIW I found the wide variety of sorting options pretty nice in this regard, though obviously it’s not useful if you have a custom way you’re organizing them.
The Gold Leaf and Silver Leaf were originally items in Gen II. Some Pokemon when traded from Gen I to Gen II would have one or the other attached to them. They had no effect, they were only good for selling for a very small amount of money.
Honestly there was quite a few items that were in Gen II but not in later games, the ones people never remember are ones like those and Brick Piece, which were pretty much useless.
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Hello ladies and gents. I beat LGP on Saturday, and wrote a pretty detailed write-up about the game's pros and cons on Gamefaqs. I thought I would share it here as well. Be warned, though: it's a very lengthy read.
Pros
+ Visible encounters. A welcome - and what many would say is long overdue - change. Seeing the actions and habits of Pokemon in the overworld helps give them even more character than they already had. Examples: Shellder using its tongue to swim, Rhydon stomping the ground, etc. I've seen people say that this is a bad change because it allows players to ignore the Pokemon and lose out on experience, but I think this is a flawed perspective for several reasons. For starters, you could always ignore wild Pokemon with little to no consequence. Personally, I've always ran from wild Pokemon I didn't want to use, because killing them doesn't gain you much. Trainers have always been the main source of experience, and they are how you're supposed to check to see how your team is holding up. With the exception of trainers that you are forced to fight - be it due to plot or lack of space - you can avoid them, too. Basically, this argument has applied to trainers since the very beginning, and it hasn't even been an issue.
+ Improved level scaling. The wild Pokemon can actually be found at decent level ranges now, removing the need to use them in battle to level them up. There are all sorts of examples of this. In RBY/FRLG, Tangela could be found around level 23 on Route 20, but in LGPE it can be found around 37-42. Doduo used to be found around the 28 - 31 range, but can now be found in the 34 - 38 range, etc. This is a change I can appreciate, seeing as how wild Pokemon were always a fair bit underleveled when compared to signficant trainers (gym leaders, evil organization leaders, etc.) until BW. This level buff applies to trainers as well, making the game slightly harder than its originals.
+ Improved plot context. Reasons are actually given for you to do what you do, basically. This is a change I can personally appreciate, as a lot of events that occurred in RBY did not provide much explanation. Ever wonder why would TR invade Silph? In this game, it is revealed that they did so to get the Master Ball. Ever wonder why you needed to climb Pokemon Tower to free Marowak's spirit? In this game, you do so in order to help its baby Cubone get closure and escape from TR. The game has also added more events that expand upon the characters a little bit, akin to ORAS. The most notable example of this is how you meet Lorelei outside of Rock Tunnel and kick some TR ass together. Idk about everyone else, but it always annoyed me how gym leaders and the E4 rarely appeared outside of their gyms/Pokemon league, so seeing things like this brought a smile to my face. There are several other examples I could list, but it wouldn't be fun if I spoiled them all, so I won't.
+ Music remixes are amazing. Nearly all of the tracks are straight improvements upon their original counterparts. Admittedly, GF dropped the ball on a few (namely, the TR Grunt encounter theme - just listen to it. It doesn't sound as nearly as sinister as it should), but they are few and far in-between.
+ Gym leader rematches. Not needed by any means, but definitely nice to have.
+ HMs are still gone, no need to elaborate.
+ Kanto's non-linear mid-game is kept intact. Given the recent linear trends present in SM/USUM, I'll say that I was surprised that GF managed to do this correctly. Let me elaborate on this further. In the original games, the world essentially became your oyster after dealing with the events at Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. Erika, Koga, Sabrina, and Blaine could mostly be challenged in any order of your choosing (do note that Koga must be defeated to reach Blaine, though). This was something I personally enjoyed about Kanto's structure, as while there is a clearly intended sequence of events, there is no one path that is forced upon the player This still applies to LGPE. Now, the game does provide a bit of guidance as to where to go next, but this is fine, and I'd even say is needed for younger players. Immediately upon reaching Lavender Town, you see Trace head straight into Pokemon Tower. This is a hint that you are supposed to follow him, and the game won't let you proceed into the Rocket Hideout in Celadon until you do so. Once you do that, the game basically tells you to go to the Rocket Hideout, get the Silph Scope, and help Cubone and its mother. After that though, it's just like the original RBY. You can fight Erika if you wish, or you could deal with the two Snorlax and deal with Koga, or you could just try handling Sabrina. Once again, there is an intended sequence of events here - and it is made more obvious than the originals due to trainer level scaling - but you are free to tackle the remainder of the game (up until the eigth gym) in any order you wish. Kudos to GF for handling this well.
+ Handholding/Direction. This is both a pro and a con. It's good in that GF clearly realized that they did not give players much to go in the original games and updated the story to compensate. Two examples that immediately come to mind here are 1) accessing Saffron City and 2) the Silph Co. invasion. For the first, you actually encouter Brock in Celadon City, who gives you the Tea to give to the Saffron City gatekeepers. In the originals, you simply had to buy a drink from a vending machine and give it to the guard. In FRLG, you have to get the "Tea" key item from an old lady in the Celadon Condominiums instead. The problems with both of these approaches is obvious: they are both unbelievably vague. Yeah, it encourages you to talk to NPCS (not a bad thing), but these are both ridiculous, imo. As for Silph Co., you need the Card Key in order to access locked doors in the building and ultimately make your way to Giovanni. In the originals and their remakes, this Card Key was in a rather inconspicuous location, but here, you automatically find it after defeating Archer (yes, the same Archer that debuted in HGSS) and a Grunt. Again, this is a change for the better. Everyone who has played the original games would know where to find the Card Key, but I could very easily see a new Pokemon player getting frustrated trying to find it.
+ Your partner Pokemon. Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow was damn near useless. Thankfully, this isn't the case in LGPE. Your partners (Pikachu or Eevee) have improved stats than their normal counterparts. Pikachu has a stat distribution of 45/80/50/75/60/120 compared to a normal Pikachu's 35/55/40/50/50/90. The partner Eevee has 65/75/70/65/85/75 as opposed to the typical 55/55/50/45/65/55. These were much needed boosts, as your partner cannot evolve, and they go a long way. Your partner also gets new exclusive moves to use. Eevee gets a better kit than Pikachu (and honestly the secondary effects of its moves are absurd), but your partner still isn't really all that overpowered. They are powerful, yes, but not overwhelmingly so. They still lack power compared to their evolved forms, and it shows, even with their new moves and stats. They have more than enough tools at their disposal to pull their own weight in battle though, which is all I can really ask for. That being said, you are free to box the partner if you wish. It isn't forced upon you.
+ Difficulty. This is both a pro and a con. You see people saying this game is easy, but, if you approach it like a typical Pokemon game (which most people will do, because they don't know any better) things can quickly get rough in the midgame. You see, your main source of experience comes from catching Pokemon as opposed to battling trainers. It's actually a little crazy how lopsided the exp curve is towards catching when Trainer battles was always the main source of exp in past games. Ultimately, if you battle every trainer (yes, even the trainer gauntlet from hell that is the route from Lavender Town to Fuschia City) and catch one of every Pokemon, you'll be fine. By following that advice, my levels were roughly on par with the E4 by the time I reached them. I am definitely eager to play around with this a little more in repeat playthroughs, as I've seen people claiming to be overleveled by following the advice above. This is likely due to capture bonuses, which can increase the exp you get from captures by absurd amounts. Anyway, this exp curve works, but ideally GF either goes back to the SM curve (which is damn near perfect, imo) for the next games.
There is also the matter of Coach Trainers. Think of these guys as those trainers in the gen 7 games who would only challenge you after you beat all other trainers on a route. These guys are a step above the usual raft, and can provide optional challenges for those who seek it.
+ Pokemon accessibility. Breeding and all sorts of other features were removed from this game, but thankfully GF had the foresight to allow you to get multiple copies of nearly all Pokemon in this game. You can find Snorlax in Cerulean Cave, you can find wild Lapras and Porygon, and you can even find Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan in Victory Road. This applies to most fully evolved Pokemon, too. That's not even mentioning how you can find Charizard and Dragonite and the legendary birds soaring in the sky after you beat the game. These Pokemon are normally and rightfully very rare, but you can get them to appear fairly frequently if you abuse lures and the new Combo Catch feature. This is a really cool change that I hope sticks around. We had similar features in BW with rustling grass and ORAS to a lesser extent with the DexNav, but this system is vastly superior to both of them.
+ Remains faithful to its status as a Pokemon Yellow remake, with anime referenes abound. I legit smiled when I saw some of these references. The trainers in Cerulean gym are named after Misty's siblings, and they even kept the gag of Prof. Oak being a lame Pokemon poet. I won't spoil more than those, and I would encourage anime fans to seek them on their own.
+ The UI, with the exception of the Pokemon Box, looks absolutely gorgeous. Everything, from menus to Pokemon sprites, just pops and creates a really vibrant....atmosphere? Atmosphere is not the word I'm looking for, but let's just say that looking at the game just feels good.
Cons
- Pokeball Plus - This controller feels really nice, but it's just bad. Essentially, it only has 2 buttons: one for A and another for B. To use the Y button, you must shake the controller. I have rarely been able to successfully use the Y button by shaking the thing, which is ridiculous. More importantly, some of the shortcuts available to other controller types aren't even able to be used with the Pokeball. Example: Since the controller has no R button, I have to manually trudge through the Pokemon party menu to move my Pokemon around. It's a neat collector's item, but that's it. There is very little reason to use this controller over the joycons.
- QoL removals - ability to check Pokemon summaries (and replace an existing member with a newly caught mon) has been removed. This is likely due to the addition of the portable box, but it still would've been nice to have. Going into the box and choosing to add the Pokemon to your party takes time, especially since the box UI is really bad. The removal of abilities and held items was unnecessary as well, but I didn't miss them as much as I thought I would. Doesn't really matter either way, they will both return in next year's game.
- Having to see your partner Pokemon perform an action is annoying when you just want to Fly to another town. There should have been controller shortcuts ala SM's shortcuts for ride Pokemon. This likely wasn't added due to controller choices and not having enough buttons to allow for it, but still.
- Names of the new moves. Yeah, this isn't major by any means and isn't Gamefreak's fault, but the quality of these names compared to the rest is just baffling. Baddy bad and Zippy Zap just sound stupid.
- Catch controls. It strikes me as sort of odd how GF screwed this up when catching is much more important this time around. When the Pokemon you're attempting to catch is stationary, things are fine. Things get hairy when the Pokemon start to move around the screen though. The problem is that the game never really tells you how to aim your throws to the sides of the screen. What's worse is that these types of throws are remarkably inconsistent as well. For example, if a Pokemon moves to the right side of the screen, the best approach is actually to flick your joycon to the left. That doesn't always work though, and I'm always left scratching my head as to what the devs intended for the players to do. Legendaries in particular are a test of patience, as they are almost always moving from left to right and vice-versa. Use handheld mode when it comes to catching these tricky mons. It's easier that way. Thing is, I shouldn't be forced to use a particular control set just because of the game's failure to teach me.
- No touch controls in handheld mode. Not a big deal, but a strange omission nonetheless. I mean, really, you'd think adding these would be a given. They could have made it so that catching Pokemon in handheld mode is just like it is in Go - with the flick of a finger. SM even had it so that you could even progress the text by touching the touch screen...no such thing here. Again, it's not a big deal, but for me, it took some getting used to.
- Difficulty. The endgame got kind of easy, which is disappointing after the midgame was somewhat difficult. To be more specific: the E4 + Champion got a major nerf in levels, and their mons only have 3 moves each. Now, the sudden level increase in the originals + FRLG was always kind of jarring, but this was a tad absurd when the game even gives you 5 rare candies (for a total of 10) for defeating the two Coach Trainers in the Power Plant and Seafoam Islands in addition to the 8-9 you can find lying around in the field. That's nearly 20 rare candies, so, assuming you have a full team of 6, you can raise each member by 3 levels and still have 2 to spare. It's worth noting that the Champion's Pokemon had 4 moves each in your previous encounter with him...makes no sense why they removed moves for the final battle. If anything, it should be the other way around.
- Online functionality. This was a major disappointment. GTS and Battle Spot don't exist, and have been replaced by a 3 Pokemon code system. If you want to trade/battle with someone, you have to enter the same 3 Pokemon code as they did, which basically forces you to use some sort of online forum to coordinate. The system works, but it's really disappointing when the systems of the previous games were fine enough on their own.
- Gym entry requirements. A totally unnecessary feature that I pray stays far away from the next games. They aren't too bad at first, but I sincerely believe that Sabrina's and Koga's requirements are designed to halt progress. The former requires a Pokemon at least level 45, whereas the latter requires 50 different species of Pokemon to be caught. These are ridiculous. Sabrina's gym is around the 40 - 43 range, and Koga's gym just punishes the player who doesn't catch any Pokemon. These two requirements are nothing more than time wasters.
That's it! I doubt anyone read all of that, but props to you if you did. Overall? This is a good game, and I'm eager to see how GF will apply what they've learned from these titles to the games coming next year. It has one or two major flaws, yes, but the game is very much worth playing through. Really, I see several people talking trash about this game due to "casualization" when they haven't even played it themselves*. Try it. I promise it's not as bad as you think it is.
*Not sure if people have done the same here. That was directed towards Gamefaqs, specifically, so don't take it personally.
Pros
+ Visible encounters. A welcome - and what many would say is long overdue - change. Seeing the actions and habits of Pokemon in the overworld helps give them even more character than they already had. Examples: Shellder using its tongue to swim, Rhydon stomping the ground, etc. I've seen people say that this is a bad change because it allows players to ignore the Pokemon and lose out on experience, but I think this is a flawed perspective for several reasons. For starters, you could always ignore wild Pokemon with little to no consequence. Personally, I've always ran from wild Pokemon I didn't want to use, because killing them doesn't gain you much. Trainers have always been the main source of experience, and they are how you're supposed to check to see how your team is holding up. With the exception of trainers that you are forced to fight - be it due to plot or lack of space - you can avoid them, too. Basically, this argument has applied to trainers since the very beginning, and it hasn't even been an issue.
+ Improved level scaling. The wild Pokemon can actually be found at decent level ranges now, removing the need to use them in battle to level them up. There are all sorts of examples of this. In RBY/FRLG, Tangela could be found around level 23 on Route 20, but in LGPE it can be found around 37-42. Doduo used to be found around the 28 - 31 range, but can now be found in the 34 - 38 range, etc. This is a change I can appreciate, seeing as how wild Pokemon were always a fair bit underleveled when compared to signficant trainers (gym leaders, evil organization leaders, etc.) until BW. This level buff applies to trainers as well, making the game slightly harder than its originals.
+ Improved plot context. Reasons are actually given for you to do what you do, basically. This is a change I can personally appreciate, as a lot of events that occurred in RBY did not provide much explanation. Ever wonder why would TR invade Silph? In this game, it is revealed that they did so to get the Master Ball. Ever wonder why you needed to climb Pokemon Tower to free Marowak's spirit? In this game, you do so in order to help its baby Cubone get closure and escape from TR. The game has also added more events that expand upon the characters a little bit, akin to ORAS. The most notable example of this is how you meet Lorelei outside of Rock Tunnel and kick some TR ass together. Idk about everyone else, but it always annoyed me how gym leaders and the E4 rarely appeared outside of their gyms/Pokemon league, so seeing things like this brought a smile to my face. There are several other examples I could list, but it wouldn't be fun if I spoiled them all, so I won't.
+ Music remixes are amazing. Nearly all of the tracks are straight improvements upon their original counterparts. Admittedly, GF dropped the ball on a few (namely, the TR Grunt encounter theme - just listen to it. It doesn't sound as nearly as sinister as it should), but they are few and far in-between.
+ Gym leader rematches. Not needed by any means, but definitely nice to have.
+ HMs are still gone, no need to elaborate.
+ Kanto's non-linear mid-game is kept intact. Given the recent linear trends present in SM/USUM, I'll say that I was surprised that GF managed to do this correctly. Let me elaborate on this further. In the original games, the world essentially became your oyster after dealing with the events at Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town. Erika, Koga, Sabrina, and Blaine could mostly be challenged in any order of your choosing (do note that Koga must be defeated to reach Blaine, though). This was something I personally enjoyed about Kanto's structure, as while there is a clearly intended sequence of events, there is no one path that is forced upon the player This still applies to LGPE. Now, the game does provide a bit of guidance as to where to go next, but this is fine, and I'd even say is needed for younger players. Immediately upon reaching Lavender Town, you see Trace head straight into Pokemon Tower. This is a hint that you are supposed to follow him, and the game won't let you proceed into the Rocket Hideout in Celadon until you do so. Once you do that, the game basically tells you to go to the Rocket Hideout, get the Silph Scope, and help Cubone and its mother. After that though, it's just like the original RBY. You can fight Erika if you wish, or you could deal with the two Snorlax and deal with Koga, or you could just try handling Sabrina. Once again, there is an intended sequence of events here - and it is made more obvious than the originals due to trainer level scaling - but you are free to tackle the remainder of the game (up until the eigth gym) in any order you wish. Kudos to GF for handling this well.
+ Handholding/Direction. This is both a pro and a con. It's good in that GF clearly realized that they did not give players much to go in the original games and updated the story to compensate. Two examples that immediately come to mind here are 1) accessing Saffron City and 2) the Silph Co. invasion. For the first, you actually encouter Brock in Celadon City, who gives you the Tea to give to the Saffron City gatekeepers. In the originals, you simply had to buy a drink from a vending machine and give it to the guard. In FRLG, you have to get the "Tea" key item from an old lady in the Celadon Condominiums instead. The problems with both of these approaches is obvious: they are both unbelievably vague. Yeah, it encourages you to talk to NPCS (not a bad thing), but these are both ridiculous, imo. As for Silph Co., you need the Card Key in order to access locked doors in the building and ultimately make your way to Giovanni. In the originals and their remakes, this Card Key was in a rather inconspicuous location, but here, you automatically find it after defeating Archer (yes, the same Archer that debuted in HGSS) and a Grunt. Again, this is a change for the better. Everyone who has played the original games would know where to find the Card Key, but I could very easily see a new Pokemon player getting frustrated trying to find it.
+ Your partner Pokemon. Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow was damn near useless. Thankfully, this isn't the case in LGPE. Your partners (Pikachu or Eevee) have improved stats than their normal counterparts. Pikachu has a stat distribution of 45/80/50/75/60/120 compared to a normal Pikachu's 35/55/40/50/50/90. The partner Eevee has 65/75/70/65/85/75 as opposed to the typical 55/55/50/45/65/55. These were much needed boosts, as your partner cannot evolve, and they go a long way. Your partner also gets new exclusive moves to use. Eevee gets a better kit than Pikachu (and honestly the secondary effects of its moves are absurd), but your partner still isn't really all that overpowered. They are powerful, yes, but not overwhelmingly so. They still lack power compared to their evolved forms, and it shows, even with their new moves and stats. They have more than enough tools at their disposal to pull their own weight in battle though, which is all I can really ask for. That being said, you are free to box the partner if you wish. It isn't forced upon you.
+ Difficulty. This is both a pro and a con. You see people saying this game is easy, but, if you approach it like a typical Pokemon game (which most people will do, because they don't know any better) things can quickly get rough in the midgame. You see, your main source of experience comes from catching Pokemon as opposed to battling trainers. It's actually a little crazy how lopsided the exp curve is towards catching when Trainer battles was always the main source of exp in past games. Ultimately, if you battle every trainer (yes, even the trainer gauntlet from hell that is the route from Lavender Town to Fuschia City) and catch one of every Pokemon, you'll be fine. By following that advice, my levels were roughly on par with the E4 by the time I reached them. I am definitely eager to play around with this a little more in repeat playthroughs, as I've seen people claiming to be overleveled by following the advice above. This is likely due to capture bonuses, which can increase the exp you get from captures by absurd amounts. Anyway, this exp curve works, but ideally GF either goes back to the SM curve (which is damn near perfect, imo) for the next games.
There is also the matter of Coach Trainers. Think of these guys as those trainers in the gen 7 games who would only challenge you after you beat all other trainers on a route. These guys are a step above the usual raft, and can provide optional challenges for those who seek it.
+ Pokemon accessibility. Breeding and all sorts of other features were removed from this game, but thankfully GF had the foresight to allow you to get multiple copies of nearly all Pokemon in this game. You can find Snorlax in Cerulean Cave, you can find wild Lapras and Porygon, and you can even find Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan in Victory Road. This applies to most fully evolved Pokemon, too. That's not even mentioning how you can find Charizard and Dragonite and the legendary birds soaring in the sky after you beat the game. These Pokemon are normally and rightfully very rare, but you can get them to appear fairly frequently if you abuse lures and the new Combo Catch feature. This is a really cool change that I hope sticks around. We had similar features in BW with rustling grass and ORAS to a lesser extent with the DexNav, but this system is vastly superior to both of them.
+ Remains faithful to its status as a Pokemon Yellow remake, with anime referenes abound. I legit smiled when I saw some of these references. The trainers in Cerulean gym are named after Misty's siblings, and they even kept the gag of Prof. Oak being a lame Pokemon poet. I won't spoil more than those, and I would encourage anime fans to seek them on their own.
+ The UI, with the exception of the Pokemon Box, looks absolutely gorgeous. Everything, from menus to Pokemon sprites, just pops and creates a really vibrant....atmosphere? Atmosphere is not the word I'm looking for, but let's just say that looking at the game just feels good.
Cons
- Pokeball Plus - This controller feels really nice, but it's just bad. Essentially, it only has 2 buttons: one for A and another for B. To use the Y button, you must shake the controller. I have rarely been able to successfully use the Y button by shaking the thing, which is ridiculous. More importantly, some of the shortcuts available to other controller types aren't even able to be used with the Pokeball. Example: Since the controller has no R button, I have to manually trudge through the Pokemon party menu to move my Pokemon around. It's a neat collector's item, but that's it. There is very little reason to use this controller over the joycons.
- QoL removals - ability to check Pokemon summaries (and replace an existing member with a newly caught mon) has been removed. This is likely due to the addition of the portable box, but it still would've been nice to have. Going into the box and choosing to add the Pokemon to your party takes time, especially since the box UI is really bad. The removal of abilities and held items was unnecessary as well, but I didn't miss them as much as I thought I would. Doesn't really matter either way, they will both return in next year's game.
- Having to see your partner Pokemon perform an action is annoying when you just want to Fly to another town. There should have been controller shortcuts ala SM's shortcuts for ride Pokemon. This likely wasn't added due to controller choices and not having enough buttons to allow for it, but still.
- Names of the new moves. Yeah, this isn't major by any means and isn't Gamefreak's fault, but the quality of these names compared to the rest is just baffling. Baddy bad and Zippy Zap just sound stupid.
- Catch controls. It strikes me as sort of odd how GF screwed this up when catching is much more important this time around. When the Pokemon you're attempting to catch is stationary, things are fine. Things get hairy when the Pokemon start to move around the screen though. The problem is that the game never really tells you how to aim your throws to the sides of the screen. What's worse is that these types of throws are remarkably inconsistent as well. For example, if a Pokemon moves to the right side of the screen, the best approach is actually to flick your joycon to the left. That doesn't always work though, and I'm always left scratching my head as to what the devs intended for the players to do. Legendaries in particular are a test of patience, as they are almost always moving from left to right and vice-versa. Use handheld mode when it comes to catching these tricky mons. It's easier that way. Thing is, I shouldn't be forced to use a particular control set just because of the game's failure to teach me.
- No touch controls in handheld mode. Not a big deal, but a strange omission nonetheless. I mean, really, you'd think adding these would be a given. They could have made it so that catching Pokemon in handheld mode is just like it is in Go - with the flick of a finger. SM even had it so that you could even progress the text by touching the touch screen...no such thing here. Again, it's not a big deal, but for me, it took some getting used to.
- Difficulty. The endgame got kind of easy, which is disappointing after the midgame was somewhat difficult. To be more specific: the E4 + Champion got a major nerf in levels, and their mons only have 3 moves each. Now, the sudden level increase in the originals + FRLG was always kind of jarring, but this was a tad absurd when the game even gives you 5 rare candies (for a total of 10) for defeating the two Coach Trainers in the Power Plant and Seafoam Islands in addition to the 8-9 you can find lying around in the field. That's nearly 20 rare candies, so, assuming you have a full team of 6, you can raise each member by 3 levels and still have 2 to spare. It's worth noting that the Champion's Pokemon had 4 moves each in your previous encounter with him...makes no sense why they removed moves for the final battle. If anything, it should be the other way around.
- Online functionality. This was a major disappointment. GTS and Battle Spot don't exist, and have been replaced by a 3 Pokemon code system. If you want to trade/battle with someone, you have to enter the same 3 Pokemon code as they did, which basically forces you to use some sort of online forum to coordinate. The system works, but it's really disappointing when the systems of the previous games were fine enough on their own.
- Gym entry requirements. A totally unnecessary feature that I pray stays far away from the next games. They aren't too bad at first, but I sincerely believe that Sabrina's and Koga's requirements are designed to halt progress. The former requires a Pokemon at least level 45, whereas the latter requires 50 different species of Pokemon to be caught. These are ridiculous. Sabrina's gym is around the 40 - 43 range, and Koga's gym just punishes the player who doesn't catch any Pokemon. These two requirements are nothing more than time wasters.
That's it! I doubt anyone read all of that, but props to you if you did. Overall? This is a good game, and I'm eager to see how GF will apply what they've learned from these titles to the games coming next year. It has one or two major flaws, yes, but the game is very much worth playing through. Really, I see several people talking trash about this game due to "casualization" when they haven't even played it themselves*. Try it. I promise it's not as bad as you think it is.
*Not sure if people have done the same here. That was directed towards Gamefaqs, specifically, so don't take it personally.
What was done pretty well in this situation is the presentation.
Brock gives you some food. Since that food tends to cause dry throats, he gives you some Tea as well. In a short cutscene, he gives you both a rather plausible cause as well as the solution to the gatekeepers' thirst.
Fantastic writeup, thank you for that! (yes, I read all of it)
Positively surprised by your comments about the difficulty curve. It'll be a while until I can afford a Switch, but I might give this one a go afterall.
I agree with most of what you said but I'll commend on 3 points
I would assume the simplified and clunky box UI is just because this game isn't really *meant* to have you stack up on specific teams and different of the same Pokemon, due to the fact candies alone can make any Pokemon overpowered.
I do expect gen 8 games to go back to a proper pokemon Box design, even if they should choose to let us keep the "Box in the bag"
Think of this game like a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, XD or Coliseum: it's meant to be a single player experience where you can opt in to duel or trade with friends but that's about it.
The "pokemon code" feature was likely kept to make it simple for the intended audience (actual kids, ya know) to trade/contact relatives and friends.
Do agree Sabrina one is useless, though.
Once more though, I assume those "entry requirement" are in place because the game is ultimately built for complete novices and kids, so a bit of handholding and hinting at "hey bru, catch many different pokemons, it's likely a good plan" isn't out of place.
Glad to see others eventually are agreeing with me that for a purely storyline game, the removal of abilities and items is largely irrelevant.
I would assume the simplified and clunky box UI is just because this game isn't really *meant* to have you stack up on specific teams and different of the same Pokemon, due to the fact candies alone can make any Pokemon overpowered.
I do expect gen 8 games to go back to a proper pokemon Box design, even if they should choose to let us keep the "Box in the bag"
I would assume it was just not meant to exist. We already know how disastrously long/boring the battle spot would have been if candied were allowed, and the game itself was not designed at all with the intention of having a competitive (even casual) scene in mind.
Think of this game like a Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, XD or Coliseum: it's meant to be a single player experience where you can opt in to duel or trade with friends but that's about it.
The "pokemon code" feature was likely kept to make it simple for the intended audience (actual kids, ya know) to trade/contact relatives and friends.
A side note that I already had hit 50 pokemon caught (remember it counts evolutions too) by the time I beat Erika, and honestly if you purposely opt out of catching lot of stuff you end up underleveled as you said, so I don't think that one is as punishing as you say.
Do agree Sabrina one is useless, though.
Once more though, I assume those "entry requirement" are in place because the game is ultimately built for complete novices and kids, so a bit of handholding and hinting at "hey bru, catch many different pokemons, it's likely a good plan" isn't out of place.
Solid review, surprised you didn't mention Kanto again as a con. I'd imagine its 70% of most veteran reasons besides the casual changes. At least that's how I see it.
The problem with the games are that they're realistically no better than Yellow version. Sure, you have the Special Attack/Defence split and the Physical/Special split, all the new moves and types since then (even though the new types are largely irrelevant for Kanto, and not to mention a shit ton of moves have been proven missing), Mega Evolution (even though that's, once again, limited to the post game), Alola forms, and probably lots of other stuff, but l I'm not sure how much fun the Master Trainers are or how interesting the fights with the original protagonists are, or how the story flows, or how the inclusion of Jessie and James works out.
I judge a game's quality by how much there is to do outside the main story. Yellow version, outside of some small detours like the Safari Zone and the Legendary Birds, had pretty much nothing to do besides the Gyms and the Team Rocket events, and it looks to me that not much has changed in this regard. Let's face it: there's no real reason to play Gens 1 and 2 nowadays since FRLG and HGSS are so much better than RGBY and GSC. The remakes added nearly all the updates up to that Generation (save for the Prevos...), improved the presentation (graphics and audio) and made the main adventure as well as the post game meatier enough than their original versions to be worth the purchase. Can the same be said of LGPE? I don't know, because in terms of the gameplay it appears that the games can be considered actual downgrades to RGBY, which is kind of scary. And while I don't mean to insult people because of their opinions, you'd have to be a Gen Wunner or a nostalgia whore to think RGBY is better than FRLG. Sure, LGPE looks and sounds better than RGBY, but do they play better? I personally think that's subjective, but again, if LGPE actually does improve on Yellow then I'm certainly not seeing it through the datamines, the advertisement and the sporadic videos and streams I've seen of the game. I'll admit to being a guy who's sold on style alone, but what does style and aesthetics matter when there's no substance to back it up?
Also, if all the fanatics (because I can use extreme call outs as much as I please, too) want to go "HURR DURR COMPETITIVE/MAIN SERIES FREAK ALERT!!! GAME FREAK GIVES NO FUCKS BOUT U!!!!!!", I got over the fact that LGPE isn't for the main audience a while ago, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to pass judgment just because I'm not a part of the target demographic. This is still a goddamn video game above all things, and I'll judge it as I wish. If anything, giving its quality a pass just because it's for kids sets a bad precedent, because now you're saying that Game Freak can just shit out whatever they want for the kids and it'll still be good (not saying that's what LGPE is, for the record, simply talking about the principle of the thing).
Basically, if LGPE's gameplay is the exact same as Gen 1's, which is what it appears to be all things considered, then they gets a 6 at best, in comparison to Gen 1 which gets a 5 at best. Both of those are also on a good day for the record, and considering that I would probably think worse of LGPE than I would RGBY, that may be enough for it to get no more than a 5 as well. Not to mention, $60 for a prettier looking and sounding RGBY when those games aren't worth any more than $5 at best nowadays is absolutely laughable.
I judge a game's quality by how much there is to do outside the main story. Yellow version, outside of some small detours like the Safari Zone and the Legendary Birds, had pretty much nothing to do besides the Gyms and the Team Rocket events, and it looks to me that not much has changed in this regard. Let's face it: there's no real reason to play Gens 1 and 2 nowadays since FRLG and HGSS are so much better than RGBY and GSC. The remakes added nearly all the updates up to that Generation (save for the Prevos...), improved the presentation (graphics and audio) and made the main adventure as well as the post game meatier enough than their original versions to be worth the purchase. Can the same be said of LGPE? I don't know, because in terms of the gameplay it appears that the games can be considered actual downgrades to RGBY, which is kind of scary. And while I don't mean to insult people because of their opinions, you'd have to be a Gen Wunner or a nostalgia whore to think RGBY is better than FRLG. Sure, LGPE looks and sounds better than RGBY, but do they play better? I personally think that's subjective, but again, if LGPE actually does improve on Yellow then I'm certainly not seeing it through the datamines, the advertisement and the sporadic videos and streams I've seen of the game. I'll admit to being a guy who's sold on style alone, but what does style and aesthetics matter when there's no substance to back it up?
Also, if all the fanatics (because I can use extreme call outs as much as I please, too) want to go "HURR DURR COMPETITIVE/MAIN SERIES FREAK ALERT!!! GAME FREAK GIVES NO FUCKS BOUT U!!!!!!", I got over the fact that LGPE isn't for the main audience a while ago, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to pass judgment just because I'm not a part of the target demographic. This is still a goddamn video game above all things, and I'll judge it as I wish. If anything, giving its quality a pass just because it's for kids sets a bad precedent, because now you're saying that Game Freak can just shit out whatever they want for the kids and it'll still be good (not saying that's what LGPE is, for the record, simply talking about the principle of the thing).
Basically, if LGPE's gameplay is the exact same as Gen 1's, which is what it appears to be all things considered, then they gets a 6 at best, in comparison to Gen 1 which gets a 5 at best. Both of those are also on a good day for the record, and considering that I would probably think worse of LGPE than I would RGBY, that may be enough for it to get no more than a 5 as well. Not to mention, $60 for a prettier looking and sounding RGBY when those games aren't worth any more than $5 at best nowadays is absolutely laughable.
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Within the first three days of release, 664,198 copies of PLG have been sold within Japan (eShop sales not included). 180,585 Switches were also sold in the week November 12th-18th. Source
USUM sold 667,439 copies in its first three days of release, and an additional 247,782 USUM double packs were sold, totalling 1,163,003. Source
USUM sold 667,439 copies in its first three days of release, and an additional 247,782 USUM double packs were sold, totalling 1,163,003. Source
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Just a little premise: I still did not beat the game, I have just beaten Erika and I am enjoying the game experience a lot. I completely agree with all points made by SSJ2Red. It is actually much more enjoyable than what you may have tought it would be.
Having said that, I do definitely not agree with GF for the lack of a well-rounded online experience, the lack of abilities and held items, and the reduced movepool. Why the heck did they choose this path?!?!?!? I saw many of you (i'm not calling personally anyone out) usually answering that the game is intended for kids, novice, pokemon go audience and so on, and it is not intended to satisfy the competitive veterans. But why can't they create something that it is good for everyone?!?!??!?
Let's talk about abilities: why are there no abilities? Or, let me reformulate, how the ability thing is in contrast with the game being intended for kids/novice? I mean, are they brainless? What problem did the abilities have, especially because GF is saying that LGPE is not a spin-off but it's the main series? A novice cannot understand what an ability does? I can't truly understand:
- Abilities does not impact that much the PVE experience (and that's probably why they removed that, the game is basically just PVE) and in this regard a novice wouldn't feel that much difference from what is the actual game and the same game with abilities
- The online aspect could have actracted more effectively a potential new playerbase coming from novice/kids (which are more and more online-driven) and pokemon go players and the lack of abilities (just an example, it stacks up with held items removed, reduced movepool etc...) is what hinders a nice competitive metagame. Just as a sidenote, as it is shown, you can play with restriction and not taking in count candies.
I would have actually enjoyed a well-developed metagame with the 153 pokemon that we see + megaevos + alolan forms. It is different from gen 1, it is different from FRLG and they would have created, the same as every year, a new and nice metagame (both talking about VGC and battle spot).
GF, in my opinion, has to definitely change its approach on developing this stuff. From a marketing point of view, they should also aim to a more developed competitive playerbase to have richer and more visible events in real life, such as world championships, basically the only event of the year with resonance.
And that lead to the final tought: in my opinion, they could have created - in this case more strongly, but also the past games - and I hope they will create a game that give the player a full experience. They should aim to keep it simple for kids and newcomers, but the right way is not removing abilities, moves and held items, instead it comes from Brock that helps you with the Sapphron city gate stuff and other things that make the experience of a newcomer less vague and more complete. Then it's up to him/her how to develop the experience after E4 and champion.
TLDR: I am basically saying that they could have created a simpler, more enjoyable game for kids/novice, with a well developed online system. I mean, 60 bucks are not easy to spend for everyone, especially in a world where almost every game has online features, the direction undertaken by GF is a huge step back in my opinion (considering also that the previous system was already fairly good and they put the option to play without candies with friends)
P.S. hope not many english mistakes, sorry about that in case and hope it was all clearly explained
See you guys
Having said that, I do definitely not agree with GF for the lack of a well-rounded online experience, the lack of abilities and held items, and the reduced movepool. Why the heck did they choose this path?!?!?!? I saw many of you (i'm not calling personally anyone out) usually answering that the game is intended for kids, novice, pokemon go audience and so on, and it is not intended to satisfy the competitive veterans. But why can't they create something that it is good for everyone?!?!??!?
Let's talk about abilities: why are there no abilities? Or, let me reformulate, how the ability thing is in contrast with the game being intended for kids/novice? I mean, are they brainless? What problem did the abilities have, especially because GF is saying that LGPE is not a spin-off but it's the main series? A novice cannot understand what an ability does? I can't truly understand:
- Abilities does not impact that much the PVE experience (and that's probably why they removed that, the game is basically just PVE) and in this regard a novice wouldn't feel that much difference from what is the actual game and the same game with abilities
- The online aspect could have actracted more effectively a potential new playerbase coming from novice/kids (which are more and more online-driven) and pokemon go players and the lack of abilities (just an example, it stacks up with held items removed, reduced movepool etc...) is what hinders a nice competitive metagame. Just as a sidenote, as it is shown, you can play with restriction and not taking in count candies.
I would have actually enjoyed a well-developed metagame with the 153 pokemon that we see + megaevos + alolan forms. It is different from gen 1, it is different from FRLG and they would have created, the same as every year, a new and nice metagame (both talking about VGC and battle spot).
GF, in my opinion, has to definitely change its approach on developing this stuff. From a marketing point of view, they should also aim to a more developed competitive playerbase to have richer and more visible events in real life, such as world championships, basically the only event of the year with resonance.
And that lead to the final tought: in my opinion, they could have created - in this case more strongly, but also the past games - and I hope they will create a game that give the player a full experience. They should aim to keep it simple for kids and newcomers, but the right way is not removing abilities, moves and held items, instead it comes from Brock that helps you with the Sapphron city gate stuff and other things that make the experience of a newcomer less vague and more complete. Then it's up to him/her how to develop the experience after E4 and champion.
TLDR: I am basically saying that they could have created a simpler, more enjoyable game for kids/novice, with a well developed online system. I mean, 60 bucks are not easy to spend for everyone, especially in a world where almost every game has online features, the direction undertaken by GF is a huge step back in my opinion (considering also that the previous system was already fairly good and they put the option to play without candies with friends)
P.S. hope not many english mistakes, sorry about that in case and hope it was all clearly explained
See you guys
I believe they went this way mainly due to the fact that PLGO is the first Nintendo Switch "main-series" Pokemon game. You'd be surprised how many players started playing Pokemon with Pokemon GO as their first game. I don't think it's specifically catering to novice players only, with that in mind. Having a somewhat transitional gameplay experience within PLGO that combines the elements of a traditional Pokemon game with GO makes sense in a way with all that said, although the lack of abilities is admittedly a very weird decision that I'm not really on board with myself.
Thanks :]. If you do end up getting the game, I hope you enjoy it!
I can understand this. I think it'd be kind of hard to go back to the traditional PC boxes since the "Box in the bag" is just so convenient. Having the portable boxes with the previous game's design would be the best of both worlds.
You might be on to something here. This reminds me of how VGC 2019 is using USUM instead of these games, which is a decision that was likely made due to the reasons you stated and a few others. I'm not sure I agree about the Pokemon code feature, though. It's simple enough for kids, yeah, but you still run the risk of getting sniped by somebody else if you're trading with relatives and friends online. I'll admit that there's an obvious workaround for that though: just provide your in-game name to the person you're attempting to trade with.
Fair point. I do think there would be better ways to go about it, though. For example, they could have made Erika's entry requirement "catch 30 Pokemon" instead of "show me a cute Pokemon". Doing so would still hint at the player needing to catch Pokemon, but it would be on a far less drastic scale.
Yeah, I've seen several people lamenting over this game being another visit to Kanto. This is understandable since we've been there so many times already, but I think this was a smart decision on GF's part. By making this a Kanto game, they were able to experiment with drastic features going forward without alienating too many fans.