I’m going to nerd out for a little bit. And discuss the reasons on why I will never play Pokémon Go. Pokémon Go seemed like such a ground-breaking game. It allowed players to go out into the world and capture Pokémon from their phones. Almost as if it was real. People could make new friends, to go out into populated areas and capture different Pokémon together.
But as a fan of the Pokémon games on the portable devices (Gameboy, Gameboy Advanced, DS, 3DS), I have a little, well actually, a lot, against the mobile phone game. Okay to start things off I am going to talk about what Pokémon Go did right. For starters, it brought Pokémon into the real world. We could see them through our phone, we could see them on the street or at the mall, while walking, that was pretty cool. Another plus was being able to meet people and it helped people to come outside and make friends. It showed us a new way that technology could bring the real and the virtual together.
Now here is what I do not like about Pokémon Go. Battling. Battles in the portable game are so essential to the fun. Having a team of 6 to carry around and having to strategically use them to defeat other trainers, gym leaders, and ultimately the Elite Four. Each Pokémon would have four different skill moves with varying effects and abilities. Gyms in Pokémon Go hardly do Pokémon justice, some building with a team that owns that part and is a gym leader because he has the Pokémon with the highest amount of points just does not really give me satisfaction if I were a gym leader, there was no training of my Pokémon, just luck and hoping that the Dragonite I caught was stronger than the current gym leader’s.
When it came to experience points you did not have to capture the same Pokémon over and over and over again, just to watch them disappear/merge. All you had to do was take them out and battle with other Pokémon, defeat them and gain experience points. It is like going to the gym, working out, watching yourself get stronger. In this case, you are watching your own Pokémon get stronger from battle to battle, leveling up as they go, in Pokémon Go you don’t get that same satisfaction.
Another part that could be improved with Pokémon Go is the where Pokémon are caught. In the portable games, you have to travel to different types of areas to catch those different types of Pokémon, If I want a water type I have to be near or in water, if I want a bug type I have to be in a forest. It would not be very possible for me to catch a Squirtle in a desert.
I felt a real connection to the Pokémon I had in the portable games, I had my first Charmander when I was 8. I watched my Cranados evolve into a Rampardos when I was 10 and I transferred him over throughout the next generations. Now, what started out as an 8-bit flat sprite is now a full-on 3D dinosaur. It has been great to see technology evolve.
But to close this all off, I want to state that I know that Pokémon Go is still in Alpha, and it was a good idea. I just do not see it as real as Pokémon games could get. It still has quite a way to go before it will become something I invest my time in.
