Pokemon Go is a fantastic title that just about anyone can get into. The resurgence of something as once-in-a-lifetime as PokeMania was a big laurel to rest on the mobile title’s shoulders. While the success of Pokemon Go was a great feat for both Niantic and GameFreak, why hasn’t that hype continued since 2016?
While no game can be perfect forever, some elements can change in the modern Pokemon Go day that may bring back some old fans. There’s no doubt been improvements since the good old days, but some setbacks as well. In this article, we’ll take a look at Pokemon Go as it stands today and answer the question: what can Niantic do to bring fans back to the game?
Restore Remote Raid Passes
Location-based games hit a particular spot in 2016. The idea was novel then, playing into people’s curiosity until it got the better of them. Fast forward to 2020, we have an opposite problem for the game. No one can go out, and no amount of novelty can make it easier on the Go population—the solution: Remote Raid Passes. The answer was pretty clear: If Niantic game players have the freedom to play, the end result is that they do so. One major change that caused, more or less, a mass exodus in recent times on the app was the change to Remote Raid Passes.
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Since the going outside situation is viable again, Niantic pulled the Remote Raid Passes back a bit, stunting features and limiting use. Naturally, this made many players upset because fewer features are always going to be met with an outcry, no matter what a developer removed or why. Even if the game was meant to be more of an on-the-Go experience, Niantic seemed to not take into account that players prefer convenience over gameplay philosophy. Removing the 5-time use limit provides Niantic with a good problem to have: players playing their game and enjoying themselves.
Simplify Route Gameplay
The gameplay required to get yourself some Zygarde Cells is via Routes. This new system was accepted with caution but endured many complaints. Players reported glitchy Routes that don’t reap the rewards promised, resulting in either abandonment for non-committed players or frustration for those too attached to the game. Making Routes more simple and easy to navigate, especially for a mobile title, would benefit the game in leaps and bounds. Routes, unfortunately, have a problem with spawning rewards for one’s efforts, which can make the entire process arduous to do on a daily.
Players have often reported instances where a Zygarde piece at the very end of a Route will either be very hard to find or if one is even there at all. As it stands now, there are no guarantees that players will be rewarded for their efforts, making the process in dire need of tweaking. What’s more, is that the end-of-route animation causes the Zygarde cell to despawn. While this glitch isn’t a constant, it certainly is enough to raise some general outcry.
And while YouTubers and various other help within the community have devised workarounds to avoid this, the necessity of a community to uphold a game by the bootstraps of its shortcomings isn’t pretty at all for this big of a title.
Make Zygarde Cells Easier to Gather
Because Zygarde Cells only spawn at the end of the Route, this can make them a little frustrating to obtain for even dedicated players. It takes a whopping mass of 250 cells to evolve Zygarde, and you can only get a maximum amount of 3 per day. With only one spawning on a Route (if there even is one) at a time, both the Zygarde difficulty and the glitchy entrance of Routes have combined to create their own unique, aggravating problem. While the slow progression does align with Go’s whole aspect of keeping moving with slow progress, some players may not be as enthusiastic as they are irritated.
Make All Pokemon Obtainable – Even for Those Without a Switch
Those who play Pokemon Go as a free-to-play, standalone title get a bit of a handicap right out of the gate. Those without a Nintendo Switch are essentially locked out entirely of Pokemon like Meltan or Gimmighoul, which both require a great amount of collecting from main titles and transfer to the mobile ones. With the advent of Pokemon Home, there is a bit of a workaround for purely mobile players in the case of Meltan. However, for Gimmighoul, that blockade is still there. Mobile players will still need to find some way to get a copy of Scarlet or Violet to fill out their Pokedex.
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Making these options less restrictive by making obtaining these Pokemon possible in-game can offer much freedom to purely mobile players. Encouraging gameplay between mobile and console titles can be an enticing option for console players. However, rewarding those who purely play Pokemon on their phone may encourage them to buy a main game more than having sour grapes out of their reach.
Published: Aug 17, 2023 01:39 pm