I have always played on a home console, so I never got a chance to try them. Even on the Switch I had been avoiding the games, because I read online that they are poor quality filled with all kinds of unacceptable things.
At the start of this year I was looking for new games and saw Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu in discount. I bought it on an impulse. I began to play it and it turned out that the wild pokémon catching mechanics didn’t bother me at all (which seemed to be unacceptable change according to the Internet). I felt like there were still tons of trainer battles to do and I liked that the gameplay varied, but since this was my first pokémon game, maybe I was just being ignorant.
Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the game and decided to give Pokémon Shield a try afterwards also. I bought the game full price with the expansion pass, and maybe it was because I played the game with an expansion pass (which apparently had addressed many of the complaints) that I did not really understand what the outrage was all about. There were hundreds of new pokémons compared to Let’s Go Pikachu and discovering them for the first time was a blast! Pokémon Shield hooked me and I got addicted to Pokémon.
I ended up purchasing even the spin-off games like Pokkén Tournament DX, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX and New Pokémon Snap, and while it was refreshing to see different kinds of pokémon gameplay, I still prefer the main series. From these though, my favorite is Pokkén Tournament DX.
Last week Pokémon Unite released and got its fair-share of bad press regarding its microtransactions. Despite that, I started it on day one and it’s been fantastic! I’m now at the second highest rank (Ultra) by being completely free to play. I’ve played some MOBA games in the past, but what has turned me off from them is the length of the matches. It can be hard to commit to a 40-60 minute match and losses are devastating (especially if I think it was my team’s fault). In Pokémon Unite, the ranked matches are always 10 minutes or you can do a 5 minute casual quick match. This is perfect for me: I know exactly how long one match will take and it reminds me of Splatoon…”just one more match” (and if I lose “because of my team”, no big deal, it was only a 10 minute match). The game is not perfect, but it is extremely fun.
I am now eagerly waiting for Diamond Shining Pearl, considering I’ve heard many to say that Generation 4 is the best. Pokémon Legends Arceus is looking very promising also. My this year’s gaming has pretty much just consisted of playing the different pokémon games and I have to say I regret listening to the vocal fanbase and not getting the games sooner.
It seems like the number one complaint online regarding the main series as a whole…