Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee!
Sep. 4th, 2023 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingAfter writing a review of the book Monster Kids, I got super nostalgic for Pokémon, so I brushed off my copy of the 2018 game Pokémon: Let's Go, Eevee. Along with Let's Go, Pikachu, this is a remake of the original Pokémon Red and Green with beautiful Nintendo Switch graphics in which you make use of a simple mechanic based on Pokémon Go to capture monsters.
The pokémon catching mechanic uses motion controls directly modeled on Pokémon Go. This is to say: the motion controls are very simple and require very little actual motion. I usually hate motion controls, but I'm fine with what's going on here. In fact, I find the catching mechanic of the Let's Go! games vastly preferable to the nitpicky "paralyze it and get its HP as low as you can" technique of the mainline games. You just toss a pokéball and get a pokémon, easy peasy. After the capture, all of the creatures in your party get experience, with multipliers based on various factors that are easy to manipulate.
You still use traditional battle mechanics to face roadside trainers, gym leaders, Team Rocket, and so on, but these battles aren't a challenge. Your starter pokémon (Eevee or Pikachu) is overpowered to a ridiculous degree and can blast through most encounters unscathed. As in Pokémon Go, every successful capture provides you with stat-boosting candies, so it's easy to optimize your party right from the beginning if you're so inclined.
Essentially, the Let's Go! games are a gentle slope meant to introduce Pokémon Go players to the mainline series. As someone who has become far less patient with level grinding as I grow older, I appreciate that you can basically just walk through this game and enjoy its charm with having to worry about complicated and extraneous bullshit.
The Kanto region lends itself to a streamlined experience, as none of the towns or dungeons (or gyms) is too big. Each area expresses its theme concisely so that you can enjoy it and move on. Since you're only dealing with the original 150 pokémon, you don't have to worry about the weird gambling addiction shenanigans of later games in the series, which are filled with "this pokémon has a 1/256 change of appearing on a single square in a giant field, and that square changes every day" garbage.
There are a few special pokémon (such as the original three starters) that you can only catch under certain conditions, but this isn't a big deal. Within the first thirty minutes of the game, I had myself a Bulbasaur, and that's really all I needed. You can also choose a pokémon in your party to walk around with you, and this is lovely. My game was just me and my Bulbasaur jogging around Kanto and enjoying the scenery while bopping along to the updated OST, and I had a great time.
The Pokémon: Let's Go! games are simple and elegant, and I guess you could say that they're perfect for Pokémon fans who have outgrown the more tedious elements of the series gameplay. And honestly? In terms of graphics, this set of games looks way better than Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
The pokémon catching mechanic uses motion controls directly modeled on Pokémon Go. This is to say: the motion controls are very simple and require very little actual motion. I usually hate motion controls, but I'm fine with what's going on here. In fact, I find the catching mechanic of the Let's Go! games vastly preferable to the nitpicky "paralyze it and get its HP as low as you can" technique of the mainline games. You just toss a pokéball and get a pokémon, easy peasy. After the capture, all of the creatures in your party get experience, with multipliers based on various factors that are easy to manipulate.
You still use traditional battle mechanics to face roadside trainers, gym leaders, Team Rocket, and so on, but these battles aren't a challenge. Your starter pokémon (Eevee or Pikachu) is overpowered to a ridiculous degree and can blast through most encounters unscathed. As in Pokémon Go, every successful capture provides you with stat-boosting candies, so it's easy to optimize your party right from the beginning if you're so inclined.
Essentially, the Let's Go! games are a gentle slope meant to introduce Pokémon Go players to the mainline series. As someone who has become far less patient with level grinding as I grow older, I appreciate that you can basically just walk through this game and enjoy its charm with having to worry about complicated and extraneous bullshit.
The Kanto region lends itself to a streamlined experience, as none of the towns or dungeons (or gyms) is too big. Each area expresses its theme concisely so that you can enjoy it and move on. Since you're only dealing with the original 150 pokémon, you don't have to worry about the weird gambling addiction shenanigans of later games in the series, which are filled with "this pokémon has a 1/256 change of appearing on a single square in a giant field, and that square changes every day" garbage.
There are a few special pokémon (such as the original three starters) that you can only catch under certain conditions, but this isn't a big deal. Within the first thirty minutes of the game, I had myself a Bulbasaur, and that's really all I needed. You can also choose a pokémon in your party to walk around with you, and this is lovely. My game was just me and my Bulbasaur jogging around Kanto and enjoying the scenery while bopping along to the updated OST, and I had a great time.
The Pokémon: Let's Go! games are simple and elegant, and I guess you could say that they're perfect for Pokémon fans who have outgrown the more tedious elements of the series gameplay. And honestly? In terms of graphics, this set of games looks way better than Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
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Date: 2023-09-05 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-07 12:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-09-07 12:11 pm (UTC)I've never completed a Pokédex. There's so much research involved, not to mention strategy and organization (and luck). Seriously, I admire anyone who's gone the distance.