If the weekend of Pokemon Go Fest 2022 was alleged to kick off the Season of Go and introduce a broader storyline to get followers excited for the summer time, it failed miserably.
Niantic’s annual celebration is without doubt one of the highlights of the 12 months for the sport, however sadly, this model of Go Fest was disappointing on a number of ranges. On one entrance, gamers needed to cope with a bug tied to incense and lures. It led to a variety of head-scratching moments as gamers tapped on incense-specific Pokemon solely to seek out that they had disappeared.
The extra evident difficulty and the one garnering extra complaints was the shortage of shiny variants for gamers. Saturday was a slog as gamers had a troublesome time getting these uncommon creatures. Final 12 months after Day 1, I had a decent haul of 38 shiny Pokemon. This 12 months, that shrunk right down to 13.
A part of that may very well be blamed on RNG aka probability, however a few of it may very well be blamed on the general construction of the primary day festivities. This was a Pokemon Go Fest with none rhyme or purpose with an excessive amount of happening. Earlier efforts had a narrative that was supported by the roster for the day. In Pokemon Go Fest 2019, gamers needed to catch Kricketot, Bronzong, Loudred and Jigglypuff. These seemingly random Pokemon have been wanted to get up Jirachi from its slumber. It created a rewarding a-ha second on the finish of the storyine.
Final 12 months’s Go Fest had the same musical theme, however gamers have been put accountable for placing collectively a band they usually had costumed variations of Pikachu, Gardevoir and Vibraza to assist them out. These Pokemon tied the occasion collectively as gamers caught Pokemon by means of 4 completely different habitats. It ended with an encounter with Meloetta.
For Pokemon Go Fest 2022, logic was thrown out the window when it got here to the habitats. In the meantime, Niantic opted to offer gamers extra selection in how they approached the Particular Analysis for Shaymin however there actually isn’t any apparent purpose why Klink, Tropius or Torkoal are concerned on this questline regardless of being rewards. Furthermore, by attempting to accommodate completely different playstyles, the search lacked a singular focus and contributed to a day that felt chaotic with Staff Go Rocket battles, raids and rotating habitats.
Making issues worse, a few of the picks for every habitat made no sense both. Why is Wingull, a pokemon that nests on steep cliffs by the ocean, in Tundra. Not less than Meditite technically labored with the biome as a result of in response to its lore the creature lives in excessive and chilly locations with Medicham. Binacle and Skrelp are more unusual selections for the Rainforest Habitat. One other curious choose was Hitmonchan with out Hitmonlee.
The general roster wasn’t as cohesive thematically, and when it comes to what gamers need, the pocket monsters accessible have been missing. It had quite a bit Pokemon that already had Neighborhood Days or occasions. Sure, it’s good for newcomers, however for veterans (and whales) who've performed the sport for years, there wasn’t a lot new other than Shelmet, Karrablast, Numel, Shroomish, Unown B and Axew. That’s not sufficient and people variants weren’t simple to come back by. I’m ashamed to say I did greater than 30 raids earlier than I acquired my one shiny Axew, and my PokeBall Plus failed miserably at selecting up the slack whereas I used to be distracted.
All of this added as much as a disjointed and simply wretched expertise. Let’s hope that no matter Niantic has in retailer in August makes up for the practice wreck that gamers skilled Saturday.