Pokemon Go is out now!!!

[redblood]

A pretty significant security issue you guys should keep in mind.

Update

 

[Hellis]

I'm using dummy acc sooooo

 

[Turtle of Doom]

I've been hearing of all these people forming big groups to hunt for pokemon...

Why the hell would you do this if pokemon can be swiped away by others?
Wouldn't being a group just create more competition?

It doesn't work like that. You can't steal pokemon from another trainer, they're available for everybody to grab. It's a lot of fun to go in a group. Or to go to a place with a lot of pokestops and gyms because there's bound to be a lot of people there. We went to a public park tonight and there was at least 150 people there... at least. We put some lures on a cluster of pokestops and hung out there for a while. It wasn't until there was a larger group around that the rarer pokemon showed up. Could have been a coincidence, but there was no competition to catch them.

 

[Kagayours]

It doesn't work like that. You can't steal pokemon from another trainer, they're available for everybody to grab. It's a lot of fun to go in a group. Or to go to a place with a lot of pokestops and gyms because there's bound to be a lot of people there. We went to a public park tonight and there was at least 150 people there... at least. We put some lures on a cluster of pokestops and hung out there for a while. It wasn't until there was a larger group around that the rarer pokemon showed up. Could have been a coincidence, but there was no competition to catch them.

Yup! I went out with a friend a few days ago and we tracked down Pokemon together (sometimes the radar on one person's game updated before the other, so both of us watching it helped us track things down more efficiently), and we were both able to catch anything we came across.

Also, I heard someone claim that the amount of Pokemon that show up is directly based on how many people nearby are playing the game. Which seems... weird, but, I also went to a park recently where I saw a lot of rare Pokemon, and it generally seems that I encounter more Pokemon in the city than in the suburbs, so... I suppose it's a plausible theory. o_o

It feels weird, though. So often I try to walk down suburban side streets and seek out more nature-y areas because it just intuitively feels like I should be able to find more Pokemon in places that are less densely populated, but, no, I keep finding the best Pokemon in city streets and parking lots... >_>

Well, except for that Lickitung that jumped out at me in the suburbs. But the server crashed when I threw a Pokeball and it got away from me. ;_;

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

It wasn't until there was a larger group around that the rarer pokemon showed up. Could have been a coincidence, but there was no competition to catch them.

It feels weird, though. So often I try to walk down suburban side streets and seek out more nature-y areas because it just intuitively feels like I should be able to find more Pokemon in places that are less densely populated, but, no, I keep finding the best Pokemon in city streets and parking lots... >_>

That... seems like backwards design. :/
Not just from a "stay out of tall grass" perspective, but once the initial Pokemon GO hype dies down it might draw even more players away cause of the now increased difficulty.

That being said, I myself plan to go mostly solo with this for a few reasons.

1. Not really in the mood to be constantly interacting with Strangers
2. Going on a solo 'journey' just feels more immersive.
3. Like wise, areas like tall grass also feels more immersive.
4. If Pokemon GO really only has the Kanto 151 so far that means filling the Pokedex is going to be laughably easy. I'd rather keep it somewhat more challenging and not be able to fill up in just a few runs.

 

[Kagayours]

That... seems like backwards design. :/
Not just from a "stay out of tall grass" perspective, but once the initial Pokemon GO hype dies down it might draw even more players away cause of the now increased difficulty.

That being said, I myself plan to go mostly solo with this for a few reasons.

1. Not really in the mood to be constantly interacting with Strangers
2. Going on a solo 'journey' just feels more immersive.
3. Like wise, areas like tall grass also feels more immersive.
4. If Pokemon GO really only has the Kanto 151 so far that means filling the Pokedex is going to be laughably easy. I'd rather keep it somewhat more challenging and not be able to fill up in just a few runs.

Dude. It may only be the original 151, but it's still gonna take you way more than a few runs. O_O Especially since lots of species of Pokemon don't even appear until your trainer is a high enough level.

And there's also the fact that the only way to evolve Pokemon is just to catch more of the same species. And, understandably, some of them require a lot of captures in order to evolve them. O_O And then you have Eevee, which you'd have to evolve three different ways, so... yeah. OH, and the starters? Yeah, I can imagine they'll be a bitch to evolve... Seeing as how I have literally only obtained ONE of each starter (Charmander I picked at the beginning, Squirtle I spent literal hours tracking down as it tiptoed around me the entire time, and Bulbasaur I was lucky enough to hatch from an egg). I mean, it is possible to encounter the starters' evolutions out in the wild, but they certainly don't seem to be very easy to find or very common to begin with. I have only ever seen the Squirtle line out in the wild -- having seen a Wortortle come up on my radar ONCE, but I lost it before I got anywhere close -- and I've only ever seen them when I'm basically right next to the lake. I have no idea how I'd go about finding wild Bulbasaurs or Charmanders.

There are a whole bunch of un-evolved Pokemon that I've only ever obtained ONE of, which means it'll likely be a long time till I can manage to evolve them. In addition to the starters I mentioned, there's also: Horsea, Abra, Machop, Tentacool... And probably more, but that's just off the top of my head.

Hell, it took me forever just to get a Butterfree -- because I had to catch a ton of Caterpies. And Caterpies, for some reason, are much rarer than Weedles (at least where I live).

Not to mention the entire location-based aspect that encourages you to go out to new places. I happen to live near a Great Lake, which makes it easier to find water Pokemon, but I'm sure there are other environments that are filled with Pokemon that I can't easily find.

And then there are Pokemon that have got to be just plain rare. Like, I saw a gym with a Hitmonlee in it and thought, "where the fuck did he find that?", and then I saw a gym with an Aerodactyl and thought "where the fuck did he get that?!". I suppose they were probably just chance encounters in the wild, but, hoo boy, they must've been rather lucky to find them. O_O Or they must've just sunk a ton of time into the game... And that's coming from someone who's already spent at least 3-4 hours, probably more, per day on this game since it came out. And that requires a lot of walking and physical stamina, you know. I can't imagine how hard it would be to find, say, a Chansey, or Lapras... And I have no idea how legendaries are supposed to work in this game.

And I'm not bringing all this up to complain or anything. I think the challenge in the game makes it very rewarding! But if you think the game's going to be so easy that you can complete the entire Pokedex in "just a few runs"? Yeah no... It's not that easy. >_>

The person I've met so far with the most completed Pokedex had captured 80 as of yesterday. And while that certainly sounds like a lot to me -- as I've only caught about half that -- there's still the fact that the last few Pokemon in the dex will probably take a lot longer to catch than the ones that came before it.

ALSO, YOU KNOW, THE DEVS SAID THEY WOULD ADD LATER GENERATIONS OF POKEMON ANYWAY SOOO.... Yeah. I think it's a bit much for you to assume it would be "laughably easy" just based on that. =_=

If anything, I see the 151 Pokemon as an attainable goal, something to work towards before they release Gen II. It makes the whole thing feel a lot more within-reach than just going straight into a quest to get 720. O_O

All in all, the devs have definitely made it sound like they still have a lot planned for the game's future, so I don't think we need to worry about it getting too stale too quickly.

And in any case!!! I really like the launch version as it is and there's very little I can complain about, with the server issues being the most obvious thing -- but that's really a completely different sort of problem than anything I could say about the gameplay. The way I see it, Pokemon Go is already awesome, and it can only go up from here. :P

 

[Razilin]

In my quest To Be A Master, I'm also having fun nicknaming my 'mons


I evolved a Kukuna

I now call it KukunaMatata. because lion king.

And I named a Goldeen "Aquaman"

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

And there's also the fact that the only way to evolve Pokemon is just to catch more of the same species.

... Say what now? o_o

 

[Razilin]

... Say what now? o_o

each time you capture a pokemon of a species you already have (or transfer it to Prof. Willow/Cheap Professor Oak), you get "candies."

candies are used to evolve a 'mon, but you need a certain number of them depending on what stage of evolution you're at

example, it takes 12 "weedle candies" to evolve weedle to kukuna, and 50 more to evolve further

so a lot of time is spent capturing and transferring extra weedles to do this

 

[Turtle of Doom]

That... seems like backwards design. :/
Not just from a "stay out of tall grass" perspective, but once the initial Pokemon GO hype dies down it might draw even more players away cause of the now increased difficulty.

That being said, I myself plan to go mostly solo with this for a few reasons.

1. Not really in the mood to be constantly interacting with Strangers
2. Going on a solo 'journey' just feels more immersive.
3. Like wise, areas like tall grass also feels more immersive.
4. If Pokemon GO really only has the Kanto 151 so far that means filling the Pokedex is going to be laughably easy. I'd rather keep it somewhat more challenging and not be able to fill up in just a few runs.

I'm level 16. I've gone out just about every night since it has come out. I have 71 pokedex entries. Now, I could have more, but I'm waiting to evolve a few things. Going to turn on an experience boost and do a bunch of evolutions at once. Now 71 is quite a bit. But that's also involving a fair bit of traveling. A fair bit. Also, to evolve a magikarp you need 400 candies. 400! And magikarp aren't as common as you want to believe.

 

[Razilin]

I'm level 16. I've gone out just about every night since it has come out. I have 71 pokedex entries. Now, I could have more, but I'm waiting to evolve a few things. Going to turn on an experience boost and do a bunch of evolutions at once. Now 71 is quite a bit. But that's also involving a fair bit of traveling. A fair bit. Also, to evolve a magikarp you need 400 candies. 400! And magikarp aren't as common as you want to believe.

i named my magikarp after one of my students....the spacy, gormless one. I lul'd.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

each time you capture a pokemon of a species you already have (or transfer it to Prof. Willow/Cheap Professor Oak), you get "candies."

candies are used to evolve a 'mon, but you need a certain number of them depending on what stage of evolution you're at

example, it takes 12 "weedle candies" to evolve weedle to kukuna, and 50 more to evolve further

so a lot of time is spent capturing and transferring extra weedles to do this

*All I can imagine*

I'm level 16. I've gone out just about every night since it has come out. I have 71 pokedex entries. Now, I could have more, but I'm waiting to evolve a few things. Going to turn on an experience boost and do a bunch of evolutions at once. Now 71 is quite a bit. But that's also involving a fair bit of traveling. A fair bit.

That's kind of what I mean though.
If people are already half way there within a week, that's a rather short lifespan for such an Ap. o_o

Then again, if more Generations get added later like @Kagayours said then that would fix the problem.

Also, to evolve a magikarp you need 400 candies. 400! And magikarp aren't as common as you want to believe.

I was JUST reading about this! XD

 

[Turtle of Doom]

Then again, if more Generations get added later like @Kagayours said then that would fix the problem.

It's already set up for the next generations to be added. They're already "typed" with the current gen. Fairy type and dark type didn't exist in first gen, but yet there they are. Fairy typed jigglypuff, etc.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

Also I've been seeing a lot about these 'teams'. My news feed is outright filled with people throwing outright hatred towards one another over it.

But I have to ask... What exactly is it?

It's already set up for the next generations to be added. They're already "typed" with the current gen. Fairy type and dark type didn't exist in first gen, but yet there they are. Fairy typed jigglypuff, etc.

I hope so, since a lot of my favourites are Johto Pokemon. :P

 

[Kagayours]

Also I've been seeing a lot about these 'teams'. My news feed is outright filled with people throwing outright hatred towards one another over it.

But I have to ask... What exactly is it?

I hope so, since a lot of my favourites are Johto Pokemon. :P

When you get far enough in the game that you can start encountering gyms, you choose one of three teams to become a part of – Team Instinct, Team Mystic, or Team Valor (which are also just sometimes called "yellow team", "blue team", and "red team", respectively – since they're all color-coded like that). But the only way the teams really effect gameplay -- at least as far as I'm aware of -- is at the gyms.

The gyms aren't run by NPC's or anything. Instead, all the pokemon in the gyms are owned by players, and each gym is controlled by one of the three teams. If the gym is owned by a rival team, you can battle them in an attempt to lower their prestige, and if you beat them enough times, then some of that team's pokemon start getting kicked out of the gym. And if you kick all the rival team's pokemon out of a gym, then you can place one of your own pokemon at that gym, effectively taking that gym away from the rival team and adding it to your team. For example, I'm Team Mystic, so any time I see an Instinct or Valor gym, I'll want to try to defeat them and hopefully take over the gym (although, you can preview the gyms before you battle them to see what pokemon are there and how high their CP's are, and I tend to only battle rival gyms that I think I'll stand a chance against. >.> )

If you find a gym that's already owned by your team, then you can add one of your own pokemon to the gym in order to further strengthen that gym, so that it'll be harder for a rival team to defeat and claim it. You can also engage in "friendly battles" with your team's gyms, though I'm not entirely sure what all the possible outcomes for that are. I've only done a friendly battle with a Mystic gym once, and I thought it would allow me to kick out one of the weaker pokemon in the gym and replace it with a stronger pokemon of mine -- since I thought that particular gym didn't look very strong, and I wanted to improve it for the strength of the team -- but, for some reason, friendly battles only allow you to go in with one pokemon (despite the fact that a battle against a rival team lets you go in with a full team of six...), and so, despite the fact that there were a few weaker pokemon in the gym that I did easily beat, I couldn't get through the whole gym with just that pokemon, so I was defeated and wasn't able to swap any of the pokemon that were there. o_o In any case, losing to that gym still raised that gym's prestige level, and, it's on my team, so... that's good? I'm still hoping that winning a friendly battle against your team's gym would allow you to add one of your pokemon to that gym and kick out the weakest link... I mean, that would only make sense. o_o

Friendly battles haven't interested me nearly as much as taking out gyms owned by rival teams. OwO So, most of my activity at gyms has consisted of taking out rival teams, and adding my pokemon to Mystic gyms that didn't yet have a full team (although I haven't come across many of those, either).

Edit: AND THAT BEING SAID, although I personally have just been viewing the whole thing as friendly competition... I suppose I can see how people might be getting a bit too riled up about it. o_o"

 

[Turtle of Doom]

If you find a gym that's already owned by your team, then you can add one of your own pokemon to the gym in order to further strengthen that gym, so that it'll be harder for a rival team to defeat and claim it. You can also engage in "friendly battles" with your team's gyms, though I'm not entirely sure what all the possible outcomes for that are. I've only done a friendly battle with a Mystic gym once, and I thought it would allow me to kick out one of the weaker pokemon in the gym and replace it with a stronger pokemon of mine -- since I thought that particular gym didn't look very strong, and I wanted to improve it for the strength of the team -- but, for some reason, friendly battles only allow you to go in with one pokemon (despite the fact that a battle against a rival team lets you go in with a full team of six...), and so, despite the fact that there were a few weaker pokemon in the gym that I did easily beat, I couldn't get through the whole gym with just that pokemon, so I was defeated and wasn't able to swap any of the pokemon that were there. o_o In any case, losing to that gym still raised that gym's prestige level, and, it's on my team, so... that's good? I'm still hoping that winning a friendly battle against your team's gym would allow you to add one of your pokemon to that gym and kick out the weakest link... I mean, that would only make sense. o_o

You can help raise the gym's prestige and eventually add another slot for additional pokemon.

 

[Kagayours]

Also!! I noticed a very strange glitch in the game (though thankfully it's a mostly harmless one).

Apparently if you evolve a Pokemon, its character model will be higher up on the screen than it's supposed to be. It fixes itself once you exit the stat page and come back to it -- but, if you stay on the stat page immediately after evolving a Pokemon, then it'll be higher up on the screen than normal. I noticed this when I realized that I couldn't check the CP of my newly-evolved Pokemon without exiting and re-opening the stat page, because the Pokemon itself was in the way. o_o

Better yet!! If you evolve twice in a row, all without ever exiting the stat page, the character model will go up even higher, to the point where it looks like it's floating off of the screen entirely. O_O

For example:

Spoiler

Here's what a Weedle's stat page should normally look like. Notice how the model is on top of the white box.

Spoiler

Here's a Kakuna that was just evolved. It's a lot higher up than it should be, floating way above the white box, and covering up its CP.

And if we evolve it a second time...

Spoiler

Bye Bye Butterfree Beedrill. O_O

 

[Turtle of Doom]

I noticed that too, Kaga. It's weird.

 

[God]

Anyone else NOT playing this?

 

[Artorias]

Got a mothafuckin 823 Hitmochan from my 10k egg.