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Pokemon LGPE first impressions

UltimateNinja

Praying for the holy relics
Most of your criticisms can be explained with just one note of information: The game was designed for children.

The whole Pokemon series was designed for childen since the very start and nobody was bummered by those features in over 20 years of history. This is absolutely no excuse for their flaws, especially since things like Day and Night cycles, Online features etc. doesn't even have something to do with the whole "LGPE were designed for kids" direction the games are supposed to be taking. And things like the confusing experience system definitely isn't something more kids friendly than the old one.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
With the Elite Four looming for me, my near-final take is that these games are plenty of fun, with some deep flaws. But the flaws are not structural - tweak the physical mechanics of throwing Poké Balls and the wonky odds of a capture and that would take away a good deal of the issues right there. That doesn't necessarily help this game, but it bodes well for the future. Particularly as, presumably, traditional wild captures will be back for next year's entry, and the rest of the game is an excellent core and visual foundation upon which to build. Ultimately I'm pleased, if perhaps not as pleased as I could have been.

But I have a feeling that Nintendo and Game Freak are saving them for a future update to the game. I get it, they said they wouldn't do paid DLC, but they didn't say anything about free DLC.

MUST we discuss this again?
 
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I've logged about 20 hours into the game since launch, and am about to fight Koga for my 5th gym badge. I was kind of ambivalent about the game pre-launch, but I would have to say I've enjoyed it immensely so far, bar a couple of complaints.

Pros:

- 3D environments and characters look great - love details like the oddish-shaped potted plant and the character designs have been translated to 3D really well
- I love the expanded elements of world building, with different characters appearing to supplement the plot, although it does feel ridiculously hand-hold-y at times, especially how you get the tea and the gold teeth.
- Building on that, new gameplay sections, such as a thing which happens in the Rocket's Celadon Hideout, really highlight how video games have expanded even since FRLG in 2004, it's good to see GameFreak not sticking rigidly to the contents of the older games with no attempt to change things around
- Even super-low encounter rate Pokemon are relatively easy to find (unless you want good IVs/natures), so no more spending an hour or more hunting for a single Abra
- Some trainers are surprisingly powerful, like the gamblers and some of the ace trainers
- Progression through the game feels super fast, probably due to the removal of random encounters

Cons:

- Maybe I just didn't catch anything for a while, but there's a bit of a level spike around Celadon/the Rockets/Fuchsia where every trainer's pokemon is suddenly the best part of lv40? Also, because everyone's Pokemon learn powerful moves early due to the massively revised move pools, training lower level pokemon through battle becomes an immense pain
- No held items or abilities really hurts some pokemon (although I can finally spam ground moves on the hundreds of Weezing that are in the latter half of Kanto)
- Catching can be super inconsistent and aiming is sometimes really finicky
- Feels like there are optimisation problems - the game hangs for several seconds when entering/exiting some buildings and stops to think a lot between turns in battle
- Running is too slow, I keep trying to press B to go faster, and a lot of the ride pokemon are so large they bounce of obstacles all the time and constantly despawn

The only really big problem I have with LGP is that ultimately, regular trainer battles feel pointless. They give so little EXP versus chain catching that they're near useless for levelling team members and just feel really unsatisfying. If I didn't constantly need money for healing items and balls I would actually be dodging trainers, especially on the interminably long routes to Fuchsia (although that's a problem that's always been in the Kanto games)

Aside from that, though, I'm really enjoying the game so far, despite having recently replayed both FireRed and LeafGreen. This feels like a fresher, faster Kanto, and it really benefits from infinite TMs and the removal of HM moves, which are probably the best changes from recent generations. I wanted to add more specific Pros, but a lot of them are spoilers.
 

GAK Attack

Member
The only really big problem I have with LGP is that ultimately, regular trainer battles feel pointless. They give so little EXP versus chain catching that they're near useless for levelling team members and just feel really unsatisfying. If I didn't constantly need money for healing items and balls I would actually be dodging trainers
I look at the trainer battles vs wild catches as going hand in hand. You can't just do one or the other. You need to catch to get exp because it is clearly the fastest way to level up. And you need trainer battles to get balls and money.

One of my biggest dislikes so far is that all my money has to go to balls/catch items because I run out so much faster catching this way than in other games (when I could just kill a wild pokemon and not catch it for exp). I want to buy TMs and cute accessories and other fun stuff but I'm stuck spending everything I have on the essentials to make it through.

I feel like it's actually possible to actually fill the dex easily in this game, minus version exclusives, and I'm committed to trying it. I've never filled the dex for any game (not counting Sinnoh when 'seeing' a pokemon was enough to check it off, I miss those days). I'm at 72 species caught right now, about to face Sabrina (6th gym), so almost halfway there.
 

BCVM22

Well-Known Member
One thing I hope becomes standard, as hardware allows, are the visible wild Pokémon in the overworld. No longer dreading walking through dungeons and wild grass and being able to select your wild encounters is huge in and of itself, but to see wild Pokémon animating and running around as you pass by helps to make the map seem so much more like a living world. I was surprised by how much I appreciated the feature in the latter regard.
 

WhiteBlair

ベストチャンピオン。
One thing I hope becomes standard, as hardware allows, are the visible wild Pokémon in the overworld. No longer dreading walking through dungeons and wild grass and being able to select your wild encounters is huge in and of itself, but to see wild Pokémon animating and running around as you pass by helps to make the map seem so much more like a living world. I was surprised by how much I appreciated the feature in the latter regard.
Given the fact all Pokémon up to date had their walking and running animations in the Sun Moon dump data, LGPE was used as a test subject to see how well the Switch handles the feature.

Also, multiple Moltres were spawned through hacks to test if the hardware stutters, and it handled just fine. I am pretty confident at this point that it will be back in 2019.
 

PrinceOfFacade

Ghost-Type Master
The whole Pokemon series was designed for childen since the very start and nobody was bummered by those features in over 20 years of history. This is absolutely no excuse for their flaws, especially since things like Day and Night cycles, Online features etc. doesn't even have something to do with the whole "LGPE were designed for kids" direction the games are supposed to be taking. And things like the confusing experience system definitely isn't something more kids friendly than the old one.

No, the series was never explicitly designed for children. It was made for a general audience.

This is why the original games featured gambling, voyeurism, and alcoholic references, as well as why the manga and anime still contain gun violence and sexual themes. Kids just so happened to be the ones who clammered for the game, and thus they became the majority for the first decade.

Let's GO is actually the first main series game specifically designed and marketed for children.
 

Nockturne

Well-Known Member
One thing I love about Let's GO is the vibrancy of the colour schemes, its a little off on some of the character models (most of the white player characters look sunburned to me) but for the Pokemon its sooooo much better than the 3DS models. One of my biggest pet peeves since X/Y is how faded or washed out some Pokemon look (Voltorb is always my go to example, it should be the same shade of red as Groudon imo) but that is not the case in Let's Go
 

Sαpphire

Johto Champion
A little further in, and having skipped Lt. Surge for now, I’m in love with these games. This version of Kanto has infinitely more character, color, texture, and charm. It’s gone from my least favorite region by miles to one of my favorites.

The game is much tougher than I expected depending on the team and approach - with a team of cutesy unevolved ‘mons and a little underleveled, I got severely trashed around the Rock Tunnel. Which was fun!

I’ll probably by switching to a legitimate team now, but it was great to see that the game can be just as hard as the rest of the series with the right mindset.

Lavender Town specifically has moved way up my ranking of coolest locations in the series - they nailed the atmosphere this time.

The only thing I’m a little salty about is figuring out how to get some of the trade evolutions.

Lorelei is the coolest.
 

Flamer

Well-Known Member
Bought Let's Go Pikachu over the weekend, but only played around half an hour or so. Haven't even made it into Viridian Forest yet. The catching mechanic is fun. Was worried it'd all be motion controls in handheld mode, but that's just to aim, which works very nicely. Keen to play it on the TV and try it out with the Joycons. Can't say I prefer it to wild battles, but its a nice change of pace.

Most interesting new feature I've found so far is the idea of using candy to boost stats. Now, I've read that the cap on how much you can boost stats is incredibly high, and the problems that causes with HP + Def ultimately outweighing Atk, but the concept itself could be a nice replacement for EVing in the future. Say every time you beat or catch a Pokemon you get one candy, and feeding four to one of your Pokemon increases the stat by one. Basically the same as EV training works in the main games, but having control over which Pokemon you apply the boost. Means that you could actually make use of all the EVs gained during your play through, rather than them getting split out across an in-game team that you'd never take online.
 

Ducolamia

SAYYYY WHAT???
Just finished Sabrina, so I'm almost done with the game so far. I have more things to offer.

That being said, while the game isn't super difficult it did make me faint a couple of times. This surprised me considering that I expected it to be smooth sailing all the way.

That being said in regards to the difficulty, Pokemon has always been easy, but they decided to make and already easy game even easier so I don't know why I see comments of people noting (not here really btw) that the game is easy. Like it's the same as complaining Crash Bandicoot isn't as hard as Dark Souls. I went into this game fully understanding it would probably be easier than others in the series considering it's marketing. (Hell, there's a move called Splishy Splash in this game) Really, this is babies first Pokemon RPG. Something my little brother got into really quickly. So I think it does it's job there.

That being said of course the game has flaws. The main issue is the movepool. The movepools in this game are trash. Even with the buffs to certain moves if you get an unlucky mon, you're stuck with garbage moves for the first half of the game minus your starter. TMs only help so much because while most of them are useful the ones you get from coach trainers are not worth it really. Minus a few. Hell, I had a Vileplume and it doesn't get SolarBeam until the 50s. What happened to the TM for that?

The balancing issues also can be reworked as well. Your starter is too OP. I know it's to hone in on the marketing for the Pokemon, but dammit, they could've balanced it out a little. If we get a sequel, they should work on that. With Candies, special moves, and all that...all this does is further exaggerate the balancing issues of starter Pokemon, the fact you can basically one shot everything with a high enough starter. With USUM we were finally at a point in which this wasn't a problem. A bit of a step backwards if you ask me.

Overall, I still like these games and I'll find more to comment on later but it is flawed to an extent.
 

Captain Jigglypuff

Leader of Jigglypuff Army
I’m currently infiltrating the Silph co. I never got the Rocket outfit. Where do I get it? Also I surfed to Cinnabar Island as soon as I got Sea Skim before defeating Koga and revived Aerodactyl and Kabuto. Both are currently at level 45 and Kabuto is now Kabutops. I am satisfied with the games. I did not expect the level spike to happen right after Celadon. Mew and Eevee are my star Pokémon and I love watching Mew float by as it follows me. I only put it back into its Pokeball to test out the. Aerodactyl Ride but switched back shortly after. The graphics are amazing and I caught a Bulbasaur early on into my adventure without realizing how rare it was to find. I got Meltan and caught eight in total with the Mysterious Box in Go. I haven’t had much luck with the app since my iPad doesn’t have constant WiFi or 3G connection but the Box should help me gather all the necessary Meltan Candy to evolve it eventually. I’ll just keep sending one Meltan every Sunday to open the Box and make more spawn.
 

Ignition

We are so back Zygardebros
Oh I forgot to mention (thanks @Zhydra) but my favorite part of this game was giving the orphan Cubone a happy ending. Small detail, but I'm more of a fan of the smaller details that give a sense of word building
 

Prof. SALTY

The Scruffy Professor
beat the E4 sunday morning, now im just completing my dex. I'm sitting at a 138/151 and plan on getting the last few this week. Absolutely loved the story. Sabrina's lose facial expression was one of the cutest things ever. I liked Erika's new gym layout, though the "pick the right girl" game is missing... shame... BLANE'S GYM IS SO FUN! I love how hype he got. everyone has so much personality and I absolutely adore this game. it feels so fresh.

now for the negatives... The pokeball plus is REALLY not made for my giant man hands and pressing the 'a' button really hurts. berries seem to do next to nothing in catching; I've never even seen the ring change colour using the golden razz berries. I REALLY with Venusaur was rideable... it's not fair that charizard stole the spotlight AGAIN. I accidentally chose the wrong hair/eye colour while trying to figure out the pokeball plus at the start and i wasn't allowed to press back to change it as it would just open the name menu again.

none of these negatives have been even close to a real problem though. Great work, Game Freak
 

pokeplayer9994

Well-Known Member
As someone who doesn't have much time to play the game, I have fallen in love with The Pokeball Plus. <3

I work in retail and have to walk around a lot. With the Pokeball Plus I was able to get my Level 2 Mew up to Level 20 before I even faced Brock. I can't wait to see who else I can get so high so quickly.

As for the rest of the game, I love the visuals. The characters look better than some made them out to be.

The main gimmick of having to throw the pokeball proves more difficult when you run into evolved versions of the Pokemon. I actually ran into a Beedrill, but missed my chance to catch it. It kept moving around and I had a hard time. I even tried berries and it STILL got away.

Still, I am enjoying this game and I'm hoping to play more of it soon.
 

GAK Attack

Member
Hell, I had a Vileplume and it doesn't get SolarBeam until the 50s. What happened to the TM for that?
Solar Beam TM is found in Victory Road. But yes, I echo your points about the move pool. I noticed it first when I looked up my team to see their move pool and saw that several them should have gotten a move by their current level, but hadn't. Not really sure why they felt that was necessary.

Just about to face the E4. My team is all level 50-something - 53 to 58 range - so I'm pretty satisfied with that. Just need to get some PP Up so I don't run out of moves. Then it's back to completing the dex.

Trying to decide if I want to buy the Eevee version as well; Eevee's special moves look so fun and give it great coverage, even if they are overpowered.
 

Sαpphire

Johto Champion
I’m feeling the distinct urge to start over with the female protagonist instead because she looks way cooler, but I’d lose my Mew as none of my friends have the game. I am salty.

That’s one of the only things that really bugs me; we don’t get multiple save slots. That’s never been a thing, sure, but it could always start now!
 

WhiteBlair

ベストチャンピオン。
I’m feeling the distinct urge to start over with the female protagonist instead because she looks way cooler, but I’d lose my Mew as none of my friends have the game. I am salty.

That’s one of the only things that really bugs me; we don’t get multiple save slots. That’s never been a thing, sure, but it could always start now!
Technically, you can. Create a new Switch profile and choose the opposite gender to play as the female protagonist with the new one.
 
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