[Let's Go] Mega Evolutions confuse what Let’s Go, Pikachu and Eevee! wants to be

An opinion article! Hope it's a decent read.

Let's Go is already confused on what it's supposed to be. Now, I wouldn't mind a spinoff for Pokemon Go on consoles. Which this kinda is. But GF is using it to "ease players into the main game" which is 10 ways of wrong. Pokemon was never hard, so what easing could people really need? 6th and most of 7th gen is super easy. Easiest the series has ever been. Hell, as kid (born in 96) with other kids around my age when I was 6, we were playing gen 1 and 2 with no issue. Some of could could hardly read.

I am not really fond of how the industry is going right now. They're promoting the idea to people that something is too hard or complicated, and it spread really fast where many people believe it. So now they have an excuse to work less or put less effort into games. Perfect example is Fallout 4. There was no need to remove nearly all the G out of the RPG. You could play Fallout 3 and NV on the easiest setting with little to no challenge for the most part.

Whatever happens, I hope the actual game in 2019 is full of content, and some degree of difficulty for anyone who can breathe.

After re-reading the article I'm changing my position on this. It's not bad but it's not great either. It's nice that they're updating Gen 1 with the new typings(specifically Fairy) and Mega Evolution but if you're acknowledging future additions with regards to game types and special Evolutions, why not acknowledge new species for Kanto related Pokémon? I mean if they're allowing Alolan variants(which are only there to bolster the lack of Dark, Steel, Ghost and Dragon Types in the region), then why not allow Scizor, Steelix, Magnezone, Blissey, Crobat, and other Evolutions of Kanto Pokemon?

I can only agree with the article, especially that you're obviously a fellow Crobat lover. (to heck objectivity)
But, more seriously, it really is weird to see that Mega Evolution AND Alolan forms are available while they are not including the rest of cross-regional evolution lines for the rest of the Kanto Pokémon, like Zubat line, Pikachu line, ...etc.
The inexistence of items and abilities is not much understandable either, they are too lazy to include them for sure! But at least, that's kind of not big of a matter...

I liked the initial concept of the game, and at the beginning I was considering getting a Switch just so I could play it (I don't have any type of console gaming system, and have been thinking for a long time about which one I'd like to get when I save up the money), but more and more it's starting to feel really gimmicky. If the goal is to (essentially) Pokemon-Go-ify R/B/G, it doesn't make any sense to add mega-evolutions. Especially if it's going to be a watered-down version of mega-evolutions. To me it almost feels like they realized that maybe it's too simple for veteran players to be interested and threw it in just to appeal to them, or they just thought it was a cool thing to have and didn't think through how it would actually fit in with the overall game.

The more I hear about these games, the more baffled I am to see anyone excited to actually spend money on these.

Brand goes a long way, it seems.

I was one of the people excited about the game, before knowing any of this information. Now, I don't even see much of a reason to buy it.

Let's hope they learn from their mistakes on this one, because it seems way too late for any redemption on Gamefreak's part so close to release.

This game is just to bide time for Gen 8. Look at all the Pokemon that are unavailable that evolve from Kanto mons. Stuff like this proves they want to make it as different as possible so players have something new to play. But this also proves that Go is not a good game for a story adaption. If Pokemon need Megas in order to make it more intresting, what does that say? I do wonder if Special will return, though.

I am not in favor of Mega Evolutions and Alolan forms replacing cross-generational relatives, but it doesn't take rocket science to figure out why that is. Let's Go could turn into its own series revisiting Johto and Sinnoh in the not-too-distant future, but there is no point in waiting for a return to Kalos or Alola.

I can only agree with the article.

The more and more I find out about this game, the more I feel confident that this game isn't meant to the more competitively-minded players at all. Heck, this could be seen miles away. IMO, it's probably going to be a really light-hearted, casual game that blends in GO with your usual main series traditional gameplay. It's what it seems to be marketed as, after all.

That said, I do agree that it is rather odd that abilities are completely missing, here. :s I don't personally think there's anything complicated about abilities, even if you're a newbie to Pokemon in general. Omitting hold items is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary; it's not difficult to figure out how to give your Pokemon a berry so it can heal itself, among other things.

In the past, Game Freak never felt a need to go this far (or far at ALL) when it comes to handholding. I wonder why they've changed their tune in recent years?

I'm really not sure why they're including Mega Evolution when they're taking abilities and hold items away in this game. I mean, I've always hated Mega Evolution, always will, but wouldn't this effectively nerf pretty much....all Mega Evolutions?

They're watering down Pokemon way too much in these games...

colours said:

[...]IMO, it's probably going to be a really light-hearted, casual game that blends in GO with your usual main series traditional gameplay.[...]

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Yeah, I think they want Let's Go to be as similar to GO as possible. Although, the only thing that I see they have in common is the capture system. And yet, it's not exactly the same lol...

Palamon said:

[...]but wouldn't this effectively nerf pretty much....all Mega Evolutions?[...]

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You guys forget that Mega evolutions have considerably increased base stats. They actually need such a nerf!

Thanks for all the comments! Much appreciated.

Kurapika said:

I can only agree with the article, especially that you're obviously a fellow Crobat lover. (to heck objectivity)

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Woo, Crobat!

But, more seriously, it really is weird to see that Mega Evolution AND Alolan forms are available while they are not including the rest of cross-regional evolution lines for the rest of the Kanto Pokémon, like Zubat line, Pikachu line, ...etc.

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Yeah, it's such a conflicting thing. Cherry-picking the additions, basically.

The inexistence of items and abilities is not much understandable either, they are too lazy to include them for sure! But at least, that's kind of not big of a matter...

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If anything it may be more effort - they're using the same engine as SM/USUM after all so they've reworked items and took out the Hold Item system, for instance. I do wonder if LGPE still has data for Abilities inside, just... turned off?

Unown Seer said:

I am not in favor of Mega Evolutions and Alolan forms replacing cross-generational relatives, but it doesn't take rocket science to figure out why that is. Let's Go could turn into its own series revisiting Johto and Sinnoh in the not-too-distant future, but there is no point in waiting for a return to Kalos or Alola.

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It could, yeah - probably depends on sales of LGPE.

colours said:

The more and more I find out about this game, the more I feel confident that this game isn't meant to the more competitively-minded players at all. Heck, this could be a seen miles away. IMO, it's probably going to be a really light-hearted, casual game that blends in GO with your usual main series traditional gameplay. It's what it seems to be marketed as, after all.

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I agree there - it's been said as much by Game Freak/TPCi, and also reflected in, e.g. removal of Battle Spot, GTS, etc.

That said, I do agree that it is rather odd that abilities are completely missing, here. :s I don't personally think there's anything complicated about abilities, even if you're a newbie to Pokemon in general. Omitting hold items is absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary; it's not difficult to figure out how to give your Pokemon a berry so it can heal itself, among other things.

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Indeed. Over-simplification, really. You don't see it for brand new IPs which become successful either!

This article brought up something very interesting that I hadn't considered. I always felt the removal of items and abilities, regardless of how unnecessary it seems, was for the sake of simplifying the game, as it's meant for younger players and people who felt overwhelmed with how "complex" the mainline games are. I hate the inability to use cross-gen evolutions, but gen 1 gets to exist in a vacuum all the time so what can you do?

But the main thing here is Mega Evolution. At first I thought it actually made sense to have Megas and not cross-gen evolutions, because the games are meant to be super easy, and Megas are so strong that they do trivialize most of the game. But I hadn't considered your point about abilities: some Megas, especially Kangaskhan, are powerful because of their abilities. Without them, they may not trivialize the game as much as before. How will they accommodate for this? Increased stats? Or is it just something they didn't consider when balancing the game?

Either way, without access to abilities, Megas really do seem out of place in an otherwise gen-1-only game. I already knew I wasn't going to get the games, so honestly this doesn't change anything for me. But it does make me worry on how they plan on handling the games coming up next year. If they turn out to be the typical "first games of a generation" in terms of difficulty and content, I won't see why they felt the need to make LGPE at all except to capitalize on the (from what I can tell) significantly decreased (compared to when it first started some years ago) popularity of GO.

Rivvon said:

[...]some Megas, especially Kangaskhan, are powerful because of their abilities. Without them, they may not trivialize the game as much as before. How will they accommodate for this? Increased stats? Or is it just something they didn't consider when balancing the game?

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Again, you guys forget that Mega Evolution have Increased base stats. (A total of 100 bonus to their base stats)
For exemple, Kangaskhan has around 490 total base stats, when it mega-evolves it gets +100 bonus stats and such it ends up having around 590 total base stats. Almost the same amount as a pseudo-legendary or a mythical Pokémon.
So yeah, even without Parental Bond, Mega Khan is still strong enough to be top tier in PLGO.

Kurapika said:

Again, you guys forget that Mega Evolution have Increased base stats. (A total of 100 bonus to their base stats)
For exemple, Kangaskhan has around 490 total base stats, when it mega-evolves it gets +100 bonus stats and such it ends up having around 590 total base stats. Almost the same amount as a pseudo-legendary or a mythical Pokémon.
So yeah, even without Parental Bond, Mega Khan is still strong enough to be top tier in PLGO.

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Yes but those increased stats aren't what make Mega Kangaskhan good. Skill Swap Parental Bond away and it becomes a lot more lackluster. Think about Megas like Mega Audino and Mawile. Even with increased stats, it's their Abilities that allow them to shine. Certainly, Mega Kangaskhan is better than regular Kangaskhan, but the removal of Abilities is absolutely a nerf to them, and I'm sure some regular 'mons like Snorlax and Nidoking will be just as strong choices. In the end it's still the idea that including Megas without their signature Abilities is taking away from LGPE's identity of being "gen 1 in a vacuum for the third time," but if they're willing to break away from that fantasy for the sake of Megas, why couldn't they do it for evolutions like Magmortar and Crobat?

Rivvon said:

but if they're willing to break away from that fantasy for the sake of Megas, why couldn't they do it for evolutions like Magmortar and Crobat?

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There's an argument to be made that while mega evolution as a concept was founded in Gen 6, it won't break the Gen 1 immersion because every Pokemon that can mega evolve still are Gen 1 Pokemon; they don't change into a different Pokemon entirely, as is the case with cross-gen evolutions.

Game Freak seems to have the "flexibility" to allow for certain features of previous generations to be included in so long as it doesn't disrupt from the actual Kanto feel.

colours said:

There's an argument to be made that while mega evolution as a concept was founded in Gen 6, it won't break the Gen 1 immersion because every Pokemon that can mega evolve still are Gen 1 Pokemon; they don't change into a different Pokemon entirely, as is the case with cross-gen evolutions.

Game Freak seems to have the "flexibility" to allow for certain features of previous generations to be included in so long as it doesn't disrupt from the actual Kanto feel.

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Different Pokemon entirely? Um... Charizard is Fire/Flying. Mega Charizard X = Fire/Dragon. How exactly is that the same Pokemon? Same with Mega Gyrados going from Water/Flying to Water/Dark, Pinsir from Bug to Bug/Flying and Mewtwo going to Psychic/Fighting if you go Mega Mewtwo X. Furthermore, with no abilities, Dragon Claw and other contact moves are not beefed up on Mega Charizard X. You'd be better off using Charizard Y and turning into a Special powerhouse without the abusive Drought ability to make you even stronger.

Also Crobat, Scizor, Kingdra and other "Johto" Evolutions could have been added had they done a reverse Gold, Silver or Crystal by doing Kanto first and then doing Johto as a secondary post-game(with Team Rocket attempting to regroup by taking over the Radio Tower). In addition, Pinsir(or Beedrill) will be the go-to Bug Type since Scyther doesn't have a Mega Evolution(but Scizor does).

TLDR: Let's GO could have been a Gen 1/2 remake with new Fairy Type and Mega Evolution thrown in for good measure.

CodeHelmet said:

Different Pokemon entirely? Um... Charizard is Fire/Flying. Mega Charizard X = Fire/Dragon. How exactly is that the same Pokemon? l

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Mega Charizard is still fundamentally Charizard. Mega Pinsir is still Pinsir. I'd like to know how that's the same in any way to cross-gen evolutions.