the gym stuff is really poorly documented. you're supposed to swipe to avoid attacks. best way to do that is wait until the screen flashes yellow (which indicates an attack coming) and immediately swipe left/right, then tap to attack. keep doing that until they drop dead.
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 15 July 2016 12:46 (seven years ago) link
btw the gym stuff is a bit of a wank. you can defeat a gym and claim it, and within 2 minutes someone else will have taken it from you. if you watch a gym in a populous area, you can actually see it change colour constantly.
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 15 July 2016 12:49 (seven years ago) link
Great advice, thank you. Went to my first gym just now and maybe slightly overestimated the efficacy of my team...dead in seconds. Knew nothing of this swiping method, which will definitely help in the weakly defended gyms near my house. Also, why is Zubat such a shit in every game? I'd rather not have the points.
― It certainly is punk of the Church of England to think that way (tangenttangent), Friday, 15 July 2016 13:17 (seven years ago) link
zubat is shithouse but golbat (evolved zubat) is formidable.
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 15 July 2016 13:21 (seven years ago) link
Not even messing with gym stuff right now. I just want to collect them all.
― Jeff, Friday, 15 July 2016 14:17 (seven years ago) link
The proposed slogan - Pokemon: Want To Collect Them All! - did not test well with the 6-9 year-old demographic and was sent back downstairs for a rewrite.
― j.o. seasoning (how's life), Friday, 15 July 2016 14:27 (seven years ago) link
Am playing this but slightly embarrassed about it. Like walking down the street covertly checking my phone. Have not yet worked up the nerve to go to a gym yet. Drove by one in my neighborhood the other day and there were like a dozen teens hanging out on their phones.
― circa1916, Friday, 15 July 2016 14:35 (seven years ago) link
games that end with "Go," ranked:
5. Stratego4. Lego Battles: Ninjago3. Grim Fandango2. Go1. Pokemon Go
― a simba man (Will M.), Thursday, July 14, 2016 5:47 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
u missed lara croft GO
my favorite game is HBO Go
― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Friday, 15 July 2016 15:04 (seven years ago) link
has this been linked yet? It's incredible:
https://vimeo.com/166807261
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Friday, 15 July 2016 19:38 (seven years ago) link
Hitman Go is pretty rad. It's basically just a board game in videogame form.
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Friday, 15 July 2016 19:39 (seven years ago) link
http://www.polygon.com/2016/7/13/12173204/boston-detailed-pokemon-go-google-map
lol
― http://porno (DJP), Friday, 15 July 2016 20:25 (seven years ago) link
that vimeo vr piece is excellent
― thrusted pelvis-first back (ulysses), Friday, 15 July 2016 21:53 (seven years ago) link
wow
― Autumn Almanac, Friday, 15 July 2016 23:20 (seven years ago) link
a friend of mine works for squeenix and hes wondering why they havent sued pokemans over the 'go' thing since they have hitman, tomb raider, etc go games
― carthago delenda est (mayor jingleberries), Saturday, 16 July 2016 03:31 (seven years ago) link
i caught a squeenix yesterday
― Autumn Almanac, Saturday, 16 July 2016 05:39 (seven years ago) link
it's nuts to me how much of a wild fad this is, like it's already bigger than major social networks
we just don't seem to get ubiquitous almost monocultural fads like this anymore, everything is a slower burn. haven't seen anything like it since 20 years ago when pokemon happened
― qualx, Saturday, 16 July 2016 08:33 (seven years ago) link
i tried to get it on my S3 using an apk but it runs so horribly ;_; i got way too excited
― qualx, Saturday, 16 July 2016 08:35 (seven years ago) link
haven't seen anything like it since 20 years ago when pokemon happened
I don't think even that blew up this far. This is closer to Pac Man Fever levels.
― JimD, Saturday, 16 July 2016 09:17 (seven years ago) link
i agree it's bigger now, inevitably, esp because pokemon was mostly a ~kids~ thing and Go is a ~kids then plus kids now~ thing
but in terms of how the media talks about 'crazes', this is so late 90s. this actually feels as ubiquitous right now as the media was treating pokemon back then. the star wars revive might come close. maybe the first avengers movie but the whole marvel thing took forever to build up. i'm probably forgetting stuff.
― qualx, Saturday, 16 July 2016 09:33 (seven years ago) link
there was never this much unavoidable meta-content about any Pokemon game before this. And before you say "oh yeah social media buzzfeed etc." I mean mainstream entertainment sites that traffic in movie reviews, tv recaps and celeb gossip are now making listicles of every creature in the game http://www.vulture.com/2016/07/151-pokemon-go-ranked.html
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 16 July 2016 14:08 (seven years ago) link
I don't play this but I do read while walking so I am kind of in the club right
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Saturday, 16 July 2016 14:58 (seven years ago) link
I was in the occasionally-get-yelled-at-by-cyclists club long before this came outUsually on the work phone, too, which is even more hip, imo
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 16 July 2016 15:24 (seven years ago) link
Workemail GO is a lot easier on the battery, too
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 16 July 2016 15:28 (seven years ago) link
xxp If you're reading this thread, yes.
― Andrew Farrell, Saturday, 16 July 2016 15:28 (seven years ago) link
Now instead of yelling the cyclists will be like "ayyyy powerballs amirite" and you can go "sure thing! You betcha!" and they will go "awesome sauce!" and carry on and you will go back to your longread
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Saturday, 16 July 2016 15:36 (seven years ago) link
servers down in the ukgot an egg at 9.97km haha
― nxd, Saturday, 16 July 2016 15:39 (seven years ago) link
servers down in the us seems like
― thrusted pelvis-first back (ulysses), Saturday, 16 July 2016 15:48 (seven years ago) link
Walked over to the park last night, attacked the gym there, took a few goes to figure out that oh, you're just meant to tap on the other monster etc. But eventually I took down the gym leaders! Turns out when you defeat a gym leader, the game doesn't say "ok you're the new gym leader", it says "ok, this gym is now neutral". And in the 10 seconds it took me to figure that out, some other dude had claimed it. So I did all the work and someone else (from a rival team!) gained. It wasn't a fun gaming experience.
Worse though, the guy then strolled over and wanted to chat. "Hey, you're catching pokemon? I just took over the gym back there! I don't really understand it, all my pokemon seemed to die really fast but then I tapped on the gym anyway and it said I'd claimed it!". I explained what had actually happened and did my best to be jokey about it but in truth I totally failed to hide how salty it'd made me and I think he came away with the impression that I was a bit of a dick. It wasn't a fun social experience.
― JimD, Saturday, 16 July 2016 16:50 (seven years ago) link
https://vimeo.com/174821377
the dude who pulls over with his car still running and just jets into the park.i am curious how this is gonna play tonight.
― thrusted pelvis-first back (ulysses), Saturday, 16 July 2016 16:53 (seven years ago) link
Town full of people starting and stopping and swearing all day as servers dropped out at various crucial junctures of egg incubation/lure use. It's riddled with errors but I have never loved anything so much. I have the original theme music playing in my head constantly. I wish it was as hysterical in London as the above video.
Sure a ton of trenchant think pieces are being written on this as I type, but this kind of mass phenomenon really attests to the overwhelming destruction of societal belief systems we've suffered this year. Suddenly people (even non-gaming folk) feeling the need to form ultra-escapist countercultures. Everyone desperately seeking an easy new unity that can't be found in politics, but which might just be found in the universal adoration of Psyduck... Not saying it wouldn't still be enormous under more 'normal' circumstances, but the end times atmosphere is certainly escalating the need for camaraderie.
― It certainly is punk of the Church of England to think that way (tangenttangent), Saturday, 16 July 2016 20:35 (seven years ago) link
otm
― Treeship, Saturday, 16 July 2016 21:41 (seven years ago) link
Those tall ships really lifted the nations spirits after watergate
― O, Barack: flaws (wins), Sunday, 17 July 2016 08:05 (seven years ago) link
once you get around level 20 the game starts to get ridiculous. pokeballs randomly curve when you throw them, pokemon butt the balls away a lot more, they break out of the balls a lot more (standard balls, superballs, megaballs, whatever). it's not even related to cp because they all do it, even the cp10 ones. rather than the usual nintendo method of making early achievements easier and introducing more difficult monsters/levels/map areas, it's like niantic thought "hey we should make the entire game harder by doing dumb shit". combined with the worsening server problems it's less playable every day.
― Autumn Almanac, Sunday, 17 July 2016 08:23 (seven years ago) link
xp lol
I think server errors are the contemporary equivalent to your Gameboy running out of battery in the car on long trips and are therefore deeply necessary to the whole psychology. I'm not at level 20 yet.
― It certainly is punk of the Church of England to think that way (tangenttangent), Sunday, 17 July 2016 08:55 (seven years ago) link
makes sense tbh
― Autumn Almanac, Sunday, 17 July 2016 09:41 (seven years ago) link
My phone is too old for this. Surely no-one has ever suffered as much as me.
― inside, skeletons are always inside, that's obvious. (dowd), Sunday, 17 July 2016 09:57 (seven years ago) link
"My phone's getting too old for this shit"
http://cdn.watchloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/b964ab54-73ef-4532-b95c-9207de585afd_original_image_500_500.jpg
― Drop soap, not bombs (Ste), Sunday, 17 July 2016 10:52 (seven years ago) link
literally hundreds of people at 10pm Saturday out by 59th and 5th playing in big crowds. never seen anything like it.
― thrusted pelvis-first back (ulysses), Sunday, 17 July 2016 15:48 (seven years ago) link
out in canada! now canucks too can enjoy the world famous failed log-in simulator
― Autumn Almanac, Sunday, 17 July 2016 22:14 (seven years ago) link
wonder what changes they'll implement (and when) to keep casual interest up once the craziness dies down. a lot of people don't really give a shit about the gym system and there isn't much to work for if you're one of them. would expect them to ramp up the social media aspect, not just pokemon/item trading but posting/chat, friends list type stuff, gifts, maybe actual one-on-one dueling. but this is all built on the infrastructure of a completely different game with a different and much less massive following
having 3 teams (really 2 and a scrappy underdog) might've been a mistake with so many people. wonder how things would look if they based the teams off the original 8 gyms rather than the original 3 game colors
and there should absolutely be pokemon that are only available to catch/hatch if you're on certain teams. it's not like that right now is it? once they do make trading a thing, is it gonna matter? "does anyone want any of the 14 rattatas we all just caught"
― qualx, Sunday, 17 July 2016 22:38 (seven years ago) link
I definitely think a more social element needs to be introduced. Like it's crazy how introspective looking at a terrible approximation of myself walking round a map for hours makes me. I mean, I would be that way anyway, but this is much more formless and given to attacks of dark energy, not unlike Zubat. Someone needs to write a Bionian deconstruction of the Pokemon oeuvre.
Trading is essential. Not out of exclusivity necessarily, though I'd be interested to see what kind of economic system arose out of that within the game. Also think a social 'clan' system could be fruitful for irl meetups and discussions about sightings etc though no idea how that could be executed so that it deflected creepiness. One-on-one duelling would also be a great addition, yes. I like the thought of approaching other players like Pokestops.
― It certainly is punk of the Church of England to think that way (tangenttangent), Sunday, 17 July 2016 22:49 (seven years ago) link
i'm guessing their whole roadmap is going out the window at this point.
qualx otm re no unique pokemon per team. right now the choice of team is almost completely arbitrary (apart from yellow's reputation) and the whole gym setup is a bit silly. this more than anything reflects how pokemon go was never meant to be a core offering imo.
― Autumn Almanac, Sunday, 17 July 2016 23:03 (seven years ago) link
otoh if they eventually make it so you can interact with people simply over the internet and not based on GPS, and they implement trading, it'll bring with it the kind of unholy black market that nintendo probably doesn't want associated with it. see the recent crap with the counterstrike skins market or the years of WoW character market on ebay.
― qualx, Sunday, 17 July 2016 23:18 (seven years ago) link
Went out on the weekend with the bf and kids to play this. And I still dont feel it. I was willing to be turned round on the matter but this is just like Animal Crossing with too much walking. Did nothing for me.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Sunday, 17 July 2016 23:26 (seven years ago) link
if "walking game has too much walking" is a criticism i'm not sure you were reeeeally willing to be turned around on the matter
― qualx, Monday, 18 July 2016 03:56 (seven years ago) link
True dat.
― Stoop Crone (Trayce), Monday, 18 July 2016 04:01 (seven years ago) link
Battling at the gyms is pretty shit, isn't it? Would love the turn based thing they used to do. Collecting stuff is fun though. Been finding excuses to walk.
― circa1916, Monday, 18 July 2016 06:16 (seven years ago) link
gyms are shit and apparently extremely unbalanced? big problem seems to be that vaporeons are one of the best at fighting and super easy to evolve? every gym is just being run by vaporeons. which are way stronger than flareons for some reason (even though i'm seeing a lot of flareons around too) which are in turn way stronger than jolteons. which makes no sense because jolteons are objectively the cutest? this sucks. i just want jolteons :(
― qualx, Monday, 18 July 2016 07:44 (seven years ago) link
the entire game mechanic is shit really if you think about it for more than 2 seconds
― qualx, Monday, 18 July 2016 07:46 (seven years ago) link
there's no incentive to actually stick with a single pokemon because the leveling and fighting mechanic is so far from the original series
imagine the end of landmark pokemon original series episode "bye bye butterfree," ash is just like "oh, that butterfree? whatever. i just read a few pages of a book about pokemon so i'll probably find a much higher-leveled base caterpie to evolve soon"
― qualx, Monday, 18 July 2016 07:52 (seven years ago) link