Pokemon Masters

So the official site is up, and it.mentions the story is to collect 5 badges to compete in the masters league. 5 badges is....odd, why 5? And more importantly, who's holding them? The champions? Which ones?
 
Considering it's launching so soon (despite still not having a date....) I'm surprised how little we actually know about the systems.

Like strictly speaking I don't think we even know it's a gacha. It makes perfect sense for a gacha, which is why we all assume as such, but all we really know is:
-there's 3 on 3 real time battles
-65 trainers at launch to build teams with
-very basic structure of the game (travel area to area, collect badges, there's probably an evil squad)

We can see from Rosa that evolution is a factor in the game, but how widespread is it? How does it work? How do we earn other trainers? Can we earn other Pokemon? Are trainers beholden to their Sync partner or do they not even come with it necessarily or can only vanilla trainers swap it around? Can we even get the vanilla trainers? Are there MULTIPLE gachas? How long is the campaign and what is their plan for adding onto it in the future? What are the specifics of the pull system if gacha?

If only there was some sort of video where they could have given all this information and more directly to us!
 
Are there MULTIPLE gachas? How long is the campaign and what is their plan for adding onto it in the future? What are the specifics of the pull system if gacha?
To be fair, that's not something usually made known to public before the games are released.
 
To be fair, that's not something usually made known to public before the games are released.
multiple gachas and the nature of pulls are. For example, are there free pulls, how much do you give per pull, what's the max pull.

campaign length you're right though, got a little carried away
 

Pikachu315111

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EDIT: Looks like Iris name dropped Sawyer from the XY anime. Looks like the Anime crowd might be making some cameos too?
... Is there a Japanese version of this scene that Iris mentions his Japanese name, Shota? Like it would be nice to see the unique anime characters, though out of the many they can pick one of them was Sawyer? Sure, he was one of Ash's rivals, but not really the most memorable (also Alain was the "main rival" of XY). Also odd its Iris who had the interaction instead of Clemont or Serena, Ash's travel companions during XY thus have a connection with Sawyer.

I'm going to say it's a new character that just shares the same name. EDIT: Many comments are predicting Sawyer is the default name for one of the playable characters. Since we saw Iris hanging with the female playable character in the demo, it's probably the girl's name.
 
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Looked at updated site, some notes:
  • There are solo battles, and then “Co-Op battles” with friends - mmo raids? Unknown if you can pair with strangers, use friend lists, or if you have to physically connect devices
  • Sawyer is in fact a new character, but no sync mon confirmed - instead he has a companion named Rachel
  • Lear (can’t post screencap) looks like the evil guys and he organized the whole thing after getting beat by a trainer with a hat (probably red)
  • Kris uses a Totodile in a screencap, and the gen 2 ice leader (I think) uses a Seel.
  • Unity attacks use the 3 trainers’ turns for 1 super attack and use the type of who you activate it, seems interesting enough
  • “Friends” (OC, Brock, Misty, Rosa) are separated from other guys in the character showcase. They are shown heavily in the trailers, so along with below we probably start with em.
  • On the edit team (in system), trainers have stars next to them. Gacha confirmed. The menu shows the 4 friends and a 4 star Whitney so either rolls are (however good luck here) or Whitney is story unlocked.
  • Rosa is 5 star while the other friends only have 3 star, including the OC. Looks like our starting characters will suck unless you can heavily upgrade em, and 5 star Rosa joins as a gift just after or during the tutorial to get players hooked.
 
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So the game also introduce the Synga Suits, which not only gives you an aesthetic change, but is also what allows you to swap Pokemon. These suits are whats likely going to be the Gacha element.
 


So the game also introduce the Synga Suits, which not only gives you an aesthetic change, but is also what allows you to swap Pokemon. These suits are whats likely going to be the Gacha element.
Maybe the suits are alts that you get with the Gacha system?
Idk how they’ll explain gacha’ing real trainers and duplicates, even though they have rarities assigned to them (if they will be, over the suits)
 
  • “Friends” (OC, Brock, Misty, Rosa) are separated from other guys in the character showcase. They are shown heavily in the trailers, so along with below we probably start with em.
I'll make an assumption based on the other Gacha game I've played (Puyo Puyo Quest) and I think you will start with your OC and you then pick one of those three trainers.
 
I'll make an assumption based on the other Gacha game I've played (Puyo Puyo Quest) and I think you will start with your OC and you then pick one of those three trainers.
The game is based on 3v3 combat, so you’d need 3 trainers to start.
Brock/Misty are shown together asking the player if they needed a team (on main page), which along with their lower rarity suggests they are the starting characters.
(Annoying being unable to post screencaps, ugh)
 

Kinda weird that you have a "rarity" assigned to your own character as well.

I'm guessing you can gacha for suits, which will then unlock new Pokemon for other trainers, e.g. you start off meeting Onix Brock (3*), but you can gacha for Tyranitar Brock (5*). Obviously, you cannot buddy with both Onix Brock and Tyranitar Brock at the same time. Perhaps there will also be certain limitations in some formats? Say, you won't be able to use anything above a 3* rarity for certain battles, similar to how there are different leagues in Go.
 

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Some (most?) games of this nature usually have a way for you to increase the rarity of all characters to 5* using resources, so that's likely what's going on with the player character. Chances are some of the moves and abilities are locked behind rarity and it almost certainly has an impact on how high their max stat potential could be. It adds another layer to potential character progression and with a series like this it makes perfect sense to be able to improve the lower rarity characters. The catch will probably be that getting the necessary resources to do so will likely be a bit of a grind, at least to start out, in contrast to the characters that just come at 5* who presumably have better abilities and Pokemon to begin with.

If the two Brocks are just separate units there's probably nothing stopping you from using both of them, but who knows. If they're just separate outfits that you have to equip after rolling said outfit, that obviously wouldn't be possible. There's still some unknown details there so there's a couple different things that could be going on there.
 

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Want to give some quick thoughts via looking through the main website.

STORY: PML Leader: So as we see in the trailer, Erika is a PML Leader while it looks like Misty and Brock (among other Gym Leaders) aren't. So why are some characters chosen to be PML Leaders while others are just participants? Also there's probably dozens of PML Leaders yet you only need 5 Badges so what's the reason for constantly re-challenging the PML if you beat it? Like the game's story sounds like it will only be a few hours long though obviously you're meant to keep playing regularly.

SYNC PAIRS: Past Appearances: Interesting they note Red is from HGSS even though his outfit is completely new. All the other trainers note the game their design comes from, like Brock is HGSS but Misty is Let's Go. Though they do point out the change in his clothing... which now only makes me wonder if that's something story significant. Though that's not the only oddity with "Past Appearances". Iris's design is from BW but they mention she's from B2W2 (since it mentions she is Champion I guess you could say this is her casual attire when she's not acting as Champion, but we've only saw her like that once in B2W2 in overworld sprite form, this design is still more recognizable as her from BW). Thorton has "and others" which some of them do but his only appearance was in Platinum. And finally Brendan's only says he's from ORAS when he should also have the "and others".

SYNC PAIRS: Descriptions: Another notable thing is that they look to be giving all the player characters their own personalities! Rosa has a strong sense of justice and Brendan is mischievous & wants to be like his dad, Norman. A small thing, but neat to see as they normally ignore trying to do that.

SYNC PAIRS: New Characters:
Professor Bellis:
Well of course we got to have a Professor to judge guide us and researching the new phenomenon. Alright design, definitely the most interesting is her hair with the top being black and rest being white (does make figuring out her age a bit difficult, the black would make her look younger while the white makes her look older, maybe she's meant to be middle age?).
Lear, Sawyer, & Rachel: Oh, yeah, Lear definitely a good guy's name. And, yeah, the "trainer with the hat" that beat him was probably Red. Not much to say on Sawyer and Rachel, we're barely told anything about Sawyer while Rachel sounds like the oddball admin, as if you couldn't already tell from her clothes. If I were to compare them to anyone Sawyer looks like a Matt expy and Rachel a Courtney expy. Lear actually more reminds me of the antagonists you'll see in the Pokemon movies, like Lawrence III (Power of One) or Zero (Giratina & the Sky Warrior).
Paulo: As predicted he's the rival who is said to be one step ahead of the player. Though unlike Blue he is the student council type but has a strong sense of justice, so I guess Cheren mixed with Hugh. Though I give them credit for not giving him an Eevee or a Ground-type since the player only gets a Pikachu, gives him something unique (though I'm guessing they did this so they could have a Dusk Lycanroc in the game).

At least it is not one of those alliterations they forcibly wanted to use in Z-Moves.
Eh, I was alright with the Z-Move alliterations (you should see the Japanese names for some of them).

What we should be seeing it that it's at least not Let's Go Partner Moves naming (never forget Baddy Bad).

  • On the edit team (in system), trainers have stars next to them. Gacha confirmed. The menu shows the 4 friends and a 4 star Whitney so either rolls are (however good luck here) or Whitney is story unlocked.
  • Rosa is 5 star while the other friends only have 3 star, including the OC. Looks like our starting characters will suck unless you can heavily upgrade em, and 5 star Rosa joins as a gift just after or during the tutorial to get players hooked.
Interesting "Snivy" Rosa is 5 stars, you'd think they would save a higher rating for her with one of the alternate costumes they can put her in from the PokeStar Movies:
 
On the topic of gacha and game system, I can see this happening, though I can be completely wrong:
  • 1* to 3* characters will be fixed in the gacha, so characters like Starmie Misty and Onix Brock will be available every time.
  • 4* and 5* characters will be featured trainers. These will include Snivy Rosa (really, whose idea was it to call her メイ, which would either be Mei or May) and Tyranitar Brock. Featured trainers are basically ones that become exclusive with every gacha series. These will probably cycle in and out.
  • If you roll duplicates, you can use those to limit break (unlock the level cap) characters for them to get stronger. Level caps will be different for each rarity. For example, 1* may have an initial limit of 20 and can be limit broken four times to 40 (each limit break will increase level cap by 5), and 2* will be 25 up to 45, 3* will be 30 up to 50, 4* will be 35 up to 55, and 5* will be 40 up to 60.
Obviously the above is assuming that there are multiple versions of each trainer, each featuring a different Pokemon.

Some (most?) games of this nature usually have a way for you to increase the rarity of all characters to 5* using resources, so that's likely what's going on with the player character.
Hm... maybe. But that would also mean the level is for the trainer, rather than for the Pokemon or the partnership (or friendship I suppose). Unless you strengthen/enhance the outfit rather than the Pokemon itself?
 
Kinda weird that you have a "rarity" assigned to your own character as well
FEH gave 2* rarities to the main characters, so it isn’t super odd.
Iris's design is from BW but they mention she's from B2W2 (since it mentions she is Champion I guess you could say this is her casual attire when she's not acting as Champion, but we've only saw her like that once in B2W2 in overworld sprite form, this design is still more recognizable as her from BW
The anime design (based off the original) is probably more recognizable to non BW players?
Interesting "Snivy" Rosa is 5 stars, you'd think they would save a higher rating for her with one of the alternate costumes they can put her in from the PokeStar Movies:
The costumes would fit well into the suit mechanic, and who’s to say there aren’t 6* or updates for still 5* alts. Plus she’s a protagonist so she’s more important?
 

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I have this fever dream that this Gacha game will be essentially a multiverse event where the TOP trainers from each universe unite in this region Pasio and fight each other in teams of 3. Idk why and Idk how but frankly IDC.

If the game follows this line of thinking then please take my fucking money.

This is what I ultimately want from this Gacha game but I highly doubt that this will be the case.
 
Does this hint at a release on or before August 2 (from the destination link)? I find it hard to believe they'd sell this kind of merchandise before the game is available. Then again, the exact same article still says "summer 2019" for the release date.

Cant believe I didn’t notice the autobattle option.
Idk how egregious this is compared to other Gachas
Do we know what autobattle does? I don't know anything about the term other than "gachas tend to have them".
 
Do we know what autobattle does? I don't know anything about the term other than "gachas tend to have them".
It's just that the AI plays instead of you, normally with some con such as not using some special abilities and the such. Not to mention making questionable decisions...
 

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