Pokémon Go |OT| As in "Go Outside"

I just ran into 8 different people I know playing this at the local college. None of us knew the others were there and we just had this organic party form and wandered together. This is everything I've ever wanted since I was 8.
 
Wait the incense works even when you're not moving?! o_O. Bloody hell I got 5 of them only used one when I was riding around with a friend. Always upset when I go home for the day like "I wanna catch pokemon!"
 
The day of release I checked in with this game and people were bagging on it really hard.

Some how now it's what everyone is talking about.

So which is it. Good or bad?
Well, the server/login issues on the "day of release" (which hasn't officially even really occurred yet, for everyone) were almost unprecedentedly bad. They got slaaaammed. But those and general glitchiness seem to be getting better little by little, though there are some problems which need to be fixed quickly.

The game itself as conceptualized, especially if you live somewhere where you can really get the most out of it, is unlike anything I've ever played. The "gameplay" mechanics in the traditional sense are all super thin, and there's little in the way of instructional conveyance in the first place. This certainly isn't a "hardcore gamer's" game or anything close to the same genre as the Pokemon RPGs. But everything about it is geared toward getting you to go out into the real world somewhere, scratching your collectathon itch, talking to other actual people and helping them or learning things from them, and developing fun rivalries and collaborations for territory control.

In just a couple of days it has frankly caused me to totally reassess what a videogame release can look like from here on out. It compels me to get up and leave my apartment on impulse. It's addictive, which is rather more helpful than it was on the Game Boy Color as that means I extend bike rides, hang out in places I'd never otherwise go, and walk for short trips I'd otherwise have taken by car. It introduced me to a park I never knew existed 2 miles from my home. It connects people in the community that would haven't had the remotest excuse to meet before. Plus there's a healthy dose of potent nostalgia for one of my favorite gaming eras ever.

The only thing I could even compare it to is Ingress, and that didn't enable me to randomly meet any other human beings, and I guess Miitomo which I never knew anything about. And neither of those had pokemon.

Good or bad is honestly not an easy call. I don't have a clue what I'd give it on a traditional ?/10 gaming review scale. But it's something alright.
 
Ok I'm confused on how to get excellent throws.

At first I thought the circle had to be at its biggest point. That gives me "nice throws" though, but I assumed it had to be PERFECT to get excellent. Then someone told me it had to be at its smallest point.

Earlier today, I got excellent from it clearly not being at its smallest point, but still pretty small. Does it have to be as big as the pokemon or something? Or maybe as big as a pokeball?
 
Ok I'm confused on how to get excellent throws.

At first I thought the circle had to be at its biggest point. That gives me "nice throws" though, but I assumed it had to be PERFECT to get excellent. Then someone told me it had to be at its smallest point.

Earlier today, I got excellent from it clearly not being at its smallest point, but still pretty small. Does it have to be as big as the pokemon or something? Or maybe as big as a pokeball?

It's how fast you throw the actual ball for me at least it has nothing to do with the size of that circle.
 
All I can find are Zubats around me. I've evolved like 3 of them now lol

7OTIrBB.jpg


And ive got another eevee further down the list, and 2 nearby me at the very moment but its 5am.

Also got cloyster, machop, diglett and a quite a few uncommons but at low levels. Only have 3 pidgeottos to check moveset upon evolutions.
 
Ok I'm confused on how to get excellent throws.

At first I thought the circle had to be at its biggest point. That gives me "nice throws" though, but I assumed it had to be PERFECT to get excellent. Then someone told me it had to be at its smallest point.

Earlier today, I got excellent from it clearly not being at its smallest point, but still pretty small. Does it have to be as big as the pokemon or something? Or maybe as big as a pokeball?

You get Nice Great or Excellent from hitting the Pokemon inside the ever decreasing circle. So you have to hit them right inside that circle. It's difficult.
 
Just turned it on for the first time today. Caught an Abra on my bed. He was actually about half a block away, but when I tapped him it let me catch him.

How far away can you be to catch them?
 
Out in suburbia at 34 years old catching Pokemon when I'm approached by a group of teens and one of them ask me to help him catch the bat Pokemon. I caught it earlier so was confident I could help and 4 throws in I catch it for him, he tells me I'm the man, we do the whole bro mid-five/hand shake hybrid and he goes to catch up with his friends.

This game.
 
So now that we've had some time to spend with it, do water types really pop up closer to bodies of water?

No water pokemon appear by the lake at my lake club, which is whack.

I've read about people finding water pokemon where there is no body of water for miles.

Water pokemon are borked.
 
Uuuuuggggh got such a bad sunburn playing today.... Remember your sunscreen when you're on the Go, GAF.
Heed this! Lots of people right now spending a bunch of time in the direct sun they'd ordinarily have been spending indoors at a computer- really really worth the minute to put on some sunscreen.

Also consider some bug spray for your trainer's kit... mosquitos were out in FORCE tonight, really wish I'd had some OFF! :P
What do these medals do
They're just achievements, I believe.
 
Out in suburbia at 34 years old catching Pokemon when I'm approached by a group of teens and one of them ask me to help him catch the bat Pokemon. I caught it earlier so was confident I could help and 4 throws in I catch it for him, he tells me I'm the man, we do the whole bro mid-five/hand shake hybrid and he goes to catch up with his friends.

This game.


Yes.....we had a growlithe pop and you knew it to because it was greyed out. Watched a kid go up the street turn around probably because distance increased and saw all of us with our phones out and asked if he could tag along....I thought it was cool. Made friends with a bunch of younger kids.
 
I saw a Scyther that was 3 footprints from my apartment. I walked all around the complex to try to find it, lost it in one section of the complex, and it was still 3 footprints the whole time. I got in the car and drove down the road, parked, and checked: STILL 3 footprints, and I had to have driven at least half a mile. WTF.
 
So now that we've had some time to spend with it, do water types really pop up closer to bodies of water?
I've heard all kinds of stuff and their zoning may well not be perfect. But the canal by my place absolutely generates water types and especially Magikarp on a regular basis, far beyond the possibility of coincidence.
 
I saw a Scyther that was 3 footprints from my apartment. I walked all around the complex to try to find it, lost it in one section of the complex, and it was still 3 footprints the whole time. I got in the car and drove down the road, parked, and checked: STILL 3 footprints, and I had to have driven at least half a mile. WTF.


If footprints don't change within a hundred feet or 30 meters as each footprint is aprox 10-20 meters I would stop. It's bugged before where all searching Pokemon are 3 footprints and nothing pops.
 
No water pokemon appear by the lake at my lake club, which is whack.

I've read about people finding water pokemon where there is no body of water for miles.

Water pokemon are borked.

Yeah i've got a lake / park near where I live, and a bayou stream of sorts...seen krabby pop up on the list, but never that close to the lake. I wonder if there really is anything that determines what type appears or if its all just rng dependant on trainer level.

tumblr_oa2fc2D6jB1vzjnvio1_1280.jpg


Hmmm..?


How are people getting so much eevee candy to even test that though o.O
They pop up alot in some areas for some reason.
 
It's a bit rough in places (things like having to have the app open at all times are annoying) and light on features, but obviously has enough to it to be pretty addicting. I'm excited to see how it develops over time.

There is one solace in how you have to keep the app open, which is that Pokemon Go on iOS will not let the screen automatically lock for as long as it's open.

You can keep it in your pocket and let the game buzz when it sees Pokemon nearby. Which is about as good as I imagine it's going to get until the Pokemon Go Plus is more widely available, or iOS allows apps to do more stuff in the background.

I imagine the former is more likely than the latter.
 
Yeah i've got a lake / park near where I live, and a bayou stream of sorts...seen krabby pop up on the list, but never that close to the lake. I wonder if there really is anything that determines what type appears or if its all just rng dependant on trainer level.


They pop up alot in some areas for some reason.

Yeah I've got tons around here but still that is a LOT you need to catch... they need 25 each to evolve
 
Living near a university is the best. Went down there for the evening and it was packed full of people catching Pokemon. So many lure modules running, it was a great time. Was fun going on scavenging hunts with random people when things like Meowth/Psyduck would pop. Got about 5 levels today.
 
I think that is false. :P

Out in suburbia at 34 years old catching Pokemon when I'm approached by a group of teens and one of them ask me to help him catch the bat Pokemon. I caught it earlier so was confident I could help and 4 throws in I catch it for him, he tells me I'm the man, we do the whole bro mid-five/hand shake hybrid and he goes to catch up with his friends.
This game.
Yes.....we had a growlithe pop and you knew it to because it was greyed out. Watched a kid go up the street turn around probably because distance increased and saw all of us with our phones out and asked if he could tag along....I thought it was cool. Made friends with a bunch of younger kids.
Today I had conversations with some younger teenagers, some parents who were definitely older than me (and their 1 year old trying to chase ducks prompting comments that he will be good at catching pokemon one day), other guys on bikes, a kid on a skateboard, even one dude around my age with some obvious disability, just out there, catchin' mons. I honestly can't think of any circumstances under which I'd have met any of these people today otherwise, let alone all of them.

I wonder how many people are playing this game. It has to be ridiculous.
 
What I found hilarious is we having a lake on campus that is notorious for being polluted and gross. Not only did it spawn water pokemon, but Koffings as well.
 
I still don't understand the gyms. There was a friendly gym near me, so I went to go help defend it. It was prestige level two and already had two defenders. I fought there a little bit and won my first battle, but lost the next few. I didn't leave a pokemon behind to defend because I don't think I was given the option? Did me fighting and losing help that gym? I feel like by winning the first battle I weakened the defending pokemon and made it easier to defeat for another team. I'm confused.
 
Man it must really help being in large cities. It has taken a lot of work just to round out this team.

yeah well your scyther multiple evolved eevees parasect seadra and high level gloom all make me hate you right now.

but we're still cool.

Having electric type Pokemon is really useful right now. Being everyone and their mothers using pigeot.
edit: My Electabuzz is so clutch, I one-shot the higher level pidgeot guarding the IKEA excepttttt 1hp glitch :|

I want that swedish-owned gym goddamnit.
 
So this game is kind of bullshit.


First, apparently Gyms can go away? Used to be two gyms by my house but they are gone now.


Also walking around in areas not near a pokestop... worthless.

If you don't have a pokestop nearby this game becomes the worlds worst pedometer. Walked nearly 5KM and didnt see ANY pokemon unless I was near a pokestop. Which in my area, despite it being a pretty populated area and tons of shopping places and big streets, no stops.

Doesn't even seem to count steps right.



Meanwhile my friend who yesterday we were the same level, is now level 14 last time I checked, I'm level 7. We've been playing the same amount but he goes to a college that has like 20 pokestops all nestled together.


So yeah... really making me lose interest in the game seeing as you really cant just go anywhere, if you arent going to poke stops, there is no point.
 
So this game is kind of bullshit.


First, apparently Gyms can go away? Used to be two gyms by my house but they are gone now.


Also walking around in areas not near a pokestop... worthless.

If you don't have a pokestop nearby this game becomes the worlds worst pedometer. Walked nearly 5KM and didnt see ANY pokemon unless I was near a pokestop. Which in my area, despite it being a pretty populated area and tons of shopping places and big streets, no stops.

Doesn't even seem to count steps right.



Meanwhile my friend who yesterday we were the same level, is now level 14 last time I checked, I'm level 7. We've been playing the same amount but he goes to a college that has like 20 pokestops all nestled together.


So yeah... really making me lose interest in the game seeing as you really cant just go anywhere, if you arent going to poke stops, there is no point.

Never heard of this before
 
So this game is kind of bullshit.


First, apparently Gyms can go away? Used to be two gyms by my house but they are gone now.


Also walking around in areas not near a pokestop... worthless.

If you don't have a pokestop nearby this game becomes the worlds worst pedometer. Walked nearly 5KM and didnt see ANY pokemon unless I was near a pokestop. Which in my area, despite it being a pretty populated area and tons of shopping places and big streets, no stops.

Doesn't even seem to count steps right.



Meanwhile my friend who yesterday we were the same level, is now level 14 last time I checked, I'm level 7. We've been playing the same amount but he goes to a college that has like 20 pokestops all nestled together.


So yeah... really making me lose interest in the game seeing as you really cant just go anywhere, if you arent going to poke stops, there is no point.

Yep. They absolutely need to fill the dead spaces somehow. Gym thing is new to me. Haven't seen one disappear
 
I think I'm done catching common Pokemon. I feel like I'm wasting too many pokeballs on pidgeys and Zubats I just transfer. I have their evolutions and while I need stardust, I think I'll be more selective from now on

I only catch them now because they're around and still give 100 XP
 
Don't know anything about gyms disappearing, but otherwise, it's hard to argue with any of that, more than any game in history your experience with this is going to depend on where you live and/or travel to regularly.

Maybe they can implement some kind of automated pokestop system if ones aren't connected to another real one in a certain distance. And yeah it sounds like I should be saving my incense for when I got hiking/etc away from pokestops.
 
I think I'm done catching common Pokemon. I feel like I'm wasting too many pokeballs on pidgeys and Zubats I just transfer. I have their evolutions and while I need stardust, I think I'll be more selective from now on
I find it really easy to get Pokeballs, since I have a cluster of six or so Pokestops a block away from where I live.
 
You need to walk with incense.


Lol.


you need to train at the same colour gym as you, 1vs1 and raise prestige points, when your prestige points are high enough, you can fortify it with one of your own pokemon. To a max of 3 pokemon for that gym. You will only be able to put one poke there though,

Ah I didnt know fighting the same gym raises prestige, I think it would just challenge for the leadership.
Ones in my city are crazy, 1400 CP pokemon with 20+ Wins
 
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