Getting Back Into Pokemon Go

C.T. Russell
Jun 22, 2018
5 min read

Hey guys. Welcome back to Tome Time Tea. The topic today is Pokémon Go.

I sighed after watching the trailer for "Let’s Go Pikachu" and "Let’s Go Eevee." Why? Well because I knew it would come to this. I opened up my Pokémon Go App.

When the original craze started I was right in the thick of it. It came out the summer before I got married, so it was actually pretty nice to have more motivation to get outside and walk. I wasn’t a part of any stampede, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t go out of my way a few times in the name of catching them all. I even watched a few Pokémon Go YouTubers to try to learn more tips and tricks.

There were some issues. The lag, the difficulties holding gyms, and of course the over abundance of pidgeys and ratata. Who knew becoming a Pokémon master would involve so many freaking pidgeys? But, I was willing to over look those issues. Part of me figured it would get worked out. After all, the game was new and like nothing else that had ever been made. So I was willing to forgive getting kicked off the server for a little while. At least until the game was more established. I was finally able to live out my dream of being a Pokémon trainer.

Only the problems with lagging continued. I wasn’t able to hold a gym for longer than ten minutes, so I couldn’t get any coins. I was at least able to make use of the pidgeys. I kept a ton and used a lucky egg while evolving them all. It made for a good way to level up.

The final straw was the egg event back in December 2016. It was all about hatching eggs. Which is great. The only problem is that it costs money to buy incubators to hatch said eggs. The amount of incubators given at the event was next to nothing. I remember feeling like I would have to use my money to make use of the event. And that did not sit well with me.

One of my final eggs from before I put down the app.

So, I stopped opening the app. I stopped playing. I know the game needs to make money, but there are other ways to go about it. Less obvious ways.

I expected the game to die off. Honestly, I thought it had. What I didn’t know was that the community was still thriving. Sure, it wasn’t causing mass stampedes like before, but people were still playing. What’s even more amazing to me is learning about people from rural area’s continuing to play. Seriously I found a documentary by Nick from the YouTube Channel Trainer Tips about Pokemon Go players in Morocco. The dedication and passion they displayed is incredible. Here’s the link to go check it out: https://youtu.be/nvccb0Gvao4

It’s fairly safe to assume "Let’s Go Pikachu/Eevee" was started a long time ago. Probably when the craze first started. It is easy to see why Nintendo would want to capitalize on a world wide phenomenon. From the looks of the game, it’s a more simplified version of Pokemon, meant for parents who grew up with Pokemon to play with their kids. I don’t have kids, but I will still be playing it. At least it’s not going to be the new style of the main game.

Since I already own a switch it seems like a fun way to spend the time. The Kanto region is always nice to visit, but it would be nice to visit different ones.

Opening up the app after over a year of being away from it was a strange experience. The screen was busy with all sorts of new features. So, let’s get into the updates.

One of the first things I noticed was the weather icon up at the top. It mirrors the weather of real life. The weather helps to determine what Pokémon appear, gives certain Pokémon a boost in battle, and gives you extra stardust for capturing a Pokémon of that type. For example Sunny weather boosts Grass, Ground, and Fire types. Which is going to be most of what I catch, considering I live in Southern California. At least it means I wont be seeing that many Pidgeys.

Lower on the screen is a little pair of binoculars. On it is a list of research tasks. The first one is field research. These tasks tend to be pretty simple (hatch an egg, throw a nice throw, catch a few pidgeys, etc.), after completing them you get a reward which can sometimes be a Pokémon. Finish 7 and you get a special reward, That’s how I obtained my Articuno. The other is the special field tasks. These can be more challenging because it’s your way to catching one of the most elusive Pokémon, Mew. There are 8 sets of three tasks. When you complete three tasks, you get a reward and an animation of Professor Willow doing professor things.

Another thing that clutters the screen is a bunch of timers. It feels like the game is screaming at me to pay attention. To be fair, it's warning when the next raid battle is. Which are pretty important. A number of useful and awesome Pokémon can be captured from Raids. It all depends on the level of the raid. The higher the level, the more intense the battle and the bigger pay off.

Word to the wise though, don’t attempt anything over a level two by yourself. I might have made the mistake of attempting to battle a level four all by myself… Yeah, I did not stand a chance.

Raid battles are a way of building a community. A way to find new friends. Even high level players need a buddy. There are places online where you can find people to raid with. Also if you get to a place right before the raid egg hatches in a popular area there’s likely to be some other players nearby.

TM’s are a fantastic inclusion in the game. It allows a player to change their Pokemon’s moves. Sadly it’s random, but I can think of a few Pokemon I evolved that ended up having an unfortunate move set.

Gym battles are a lot different now. There’s still a lot of screen tapping, but now there’s an easy button to press for the charge attacks, which is nice. Plus there’s a bit of a pause between Pokemon, so that you can switch Pokemon if you want. Another big change is that Pokemon have a motivation gage. The longer a Pokémon is in the gym, the lower their motivation, which lowers their CP. Your fellow team members can feed your Pokemon berries in order to keep up their motivation. Now for every 10 minutes in a gym you get 1 coin. This caps out at 50 coins. I know some people weren’t happy with the change, but I was actually able to get some coins through this new system so I’m fine with it.

I still have a few issues with the game. The lags are still pretty bad. My sister recently got lagged out of a raid and then couldn’t get back in because it was registering as she had used her raid pass for the day. It is still more difficult for rural players. Then there’s the fact that it’s a total energy suck. I mean, a one hour walk is about all it takes.

All in all, it’s been pretty fun being back. It’s been an added boost to my motivation to go for a walk. I love hatching eggs and thinking about the nice walks I went on to make that happen.

Let me know if you picked Pokemon Go back up or if you never put it down in the first place.

Thanks guys, I’ll see you later.