Let's Go: So Far And Yet So Close

[Silktree]

I posted this review more than a month ago, but the blogs have been reset (again). There is no reason to let it go to waste, even if the blogs are not exactly buzzing with activity.

I rented a Switch and a copy of LGE, and finished the main content in two weeks (excluding Red, Master Trainers and about 30 Pokemon). Overall? I enjoyed it, and think it's a shame that so many fans refuse to give it a chance when renting is a thing (Flexshopper has just given me a full refund when I didn't even ask for one, but that's probably atypical). Do I think LGPE are worth $60? No, but few games are (I'll most likely rent the next Pokemon games rather than buy them). Do these games do Kanto justice? No, but I think that they're more enjoyable than RGBY (not including a certain hack) and FRLG, if only for the home console perks, partner interaction, decent remixes, portable box, overworld Pokemon and better (if limited) moves. This isn't easy for me to admit because the new protagonists and their silly rival still grate on my nerves, but there are other factors involved.

Allow me to list the good, neutral and bad:

Good

1. I am not much of a gamer, but I feel that I've only stuck with handhelds for Pokemon (and a few adventure games in 2013 that used the touchscreen a lot better than Pokemon ever did). It feels good to look at a big screen and hold a small controller, and it just so happens that LGPE are the first mainline games to offer that (or rather were designed for that, as you could even play Red/Green on the SNES). I didn't bother with portable mode at all, and while the graphics weren't impressive, they were pleasant and vibrant. Non-contact move animations were pretty nice to watch, along with the battle backgrounds, most cutscenes, gyms and partner interaction.
2. Many have praised the overworld Pokemon (wild and followers) and I can only agree. They add a lot to the sense of immersion and the suspension of belief that Pokemon are more than just digital battlers. I don't accept the criticism that the wild Pokemon are robotic; they don't stay put for very long and will go after you if you avoid them. They don't mingle with each other or act as if they aren't being watched, but that isn't a reasonable complaint.
3. The remixes, unlike FRLG and HGSS', are really good. I wouldn't say that I like them more than the originals, since some of those are magical given their limitations, but they capture their essence nicely. My favorite remix is Lavender Town; it is obviously less spooky than the original, but it is sorrowful.
4. The partner Pokemon (AJ the Eevee in my case) is truly adorable in play mode and it always seems to do something new. While most of the time its contribution outside battles is an aesthetic one, you can actually play as it at one point in the Rocket Hideout. How cool is that? I only wish you could do it to befriend Pokemon, but I'll take what I can get. I also love that the HMs (or rather secret techniques) have been assigned to it as opposed to random Ride Pokemon that don't even get paid. It will not be easy to go back to regular starters after this. Finally, I find it silly that some people boxed their partner because it was allegedly overpowered, when there is an alternative solution: Don't teach it more than one special move. In my case, Freezy Frost was useful at times, but its Haze effect never kicked in.
5. I like how the relative freshness (especially for a non-Go player) of the new catching system encouraged me to complete two thirds of the Pokedex while clearing the main story. Even if the animations were simple, it was nice to see wild Pokemon do something other than battle. That said, I'll admit that I did not pay attention to the tutorial when it said that I should point the controller at the screen during calibration, so when a Pokemon moved sideways, throwing a ball in the right direction would be hell. Usually I would just wait for that Pokemon to return to the center, which generally worked. This mistake was made by many players, so no doubt the tutorial could have been more explicit. Anyway, I hope this system evolves to include more ways to befriend Pokemon, be it in the 2019 games (unlikely if Masuda is to be believed) or Let's Go sequels.
6. The few improvements to the story don't go unappreciated. By that I mean incorporating Cubone rather like how Origins did it, but with two twists. I also like how Archer finally interacts with Giovanni and shows more personality. In fact, a lot of the characters express themselves better now through movements and some new dialogue. The weakest link would have to be Jessie and James, as they never made me laugh and poor Meowth was mute (but he had his moments).
7. This isn't new, but the Amie/Refresh in-battle effects are pretty much mandatory now (unless you turn off following because you're a bad person). At first I was apprehensive that it would reduce difficulty too much, but in practice all I cared about is how it made me (falsely) believe that my Pokemon cared about me, making my level disadvantage fairer and sometimes compensating for something annoying (status, flinch, critical hit or a miss - luck is inherent in battles). Not only that, but Pokemon would react to my (uninitiated) praise by looking back at me approvingly, which was adorable. I know that this was introduced in XY using the touchscreen, but I prefer to be surprised.
8. The portable Pokemon Box and Exp. Share allowed me to use two extra members. Rotating whenever I wanted, including in between Elite Four battles, was a nice experience. I probably wouldn't have trained a Dratini (for the first time) without these features.
9. Gym leader rematches and the debut of Green as an NPC. These battles don't take all that long, but they're still more satisfying than the zany post-game episodes of the 3DS games. I'd rather speculate about what Green's backstory is, and what Blaine knows about her, than witness more shenanigans for Looker's sake. I should also note that even the first set of gym battles feature some neat additions: Misty's Psyduck, Sabrina's Jynx and Slowbro (Lorelei overlap, but still), Koga's Golbat, Blaine's Magmar, Bruno's Poliwrath and Lance's Seadra (arguably not better than Dragonair, but it packs a bigger punch if you don't nail it first) and Charizard. I didn't include Agatha's Weezing because it absolutely should have been a Ninetales instead.

Neutral

1. The loss of abilities, held items and breeding: Truth be told? They would have barely affected the main story and wouldn't have made me any more interested in competitive battling. I think they should have been kept, but whatever. Game Freak actually did a decent job at compensating for the loss of breeding.
2. The removal of all post-Kanto Pokemon: Honestly, looking at Meltan I wouldn't have wanted to see random Pokemon in Kanto without any context. To me the major omissions are only the cross-generational relatives and some Johto Pokemon that were introduced in Kanto, be it in the anime or games. Still, it wouldn't have hurt anyone to make the games compatible with Bank and fully (one-way) compatible with Go. On the plus side, this way LGPE have their own metagame instead of barely being different from the USUM one.
3. Difficulty: I'm tempted to consider this a plus, as my point is that the difficulty is very malleable depending on how many Pokemon you catch and how many you use. I mostly just caught distinct species, and ended up doubling Koga's Pokedex requirement. Did that make the important battles too easy with my 8 Pokemon? Not at all. I was about 2 levels lower than most gym leaders, and around 5 levels lower than the Champion (10 in the rematch). I never lost, but only Brock felt like a breeze (the first time) due to my Bellsprout (hey, she needed training) and some of the post-Giovanni battles forced me to use items and make damage calculations in my head. So why isn't this a good thing? Because difficulty due to a level disadvantage is a bit cheap, and only Koga seemed to use a real strategy (the very annoying Toxic/Protect combo). But that's just par for the course; if you want to make LGPE no easier than most games, don't go overboard with the new features (including the partner's moves) until the post-game.
4. Master Trainers: Optional content is always nice to have, but I refuse to grind for it. I feel that the concept could have worked better, which I'll explain in another post. I appreciate the fact that they didn't just opt for a Battle Tower clone.
5. Candies: I'm glad that their existence means that it's possible to gain zero AVs and be on the same playing field as the non-master trainers, and also that the standard rules for online battles are zero AVs. What I don't get is why they thought a 200 AV metagame would be good even for casual fun. Oh well.
6. Go Park: It obviously has its use, but did it really have to replace the Safari Zone? That was one of the few places that made Kanto feel less urban. Funnily enough, an NPC mentions the Safari Zone as if it still exists.
7. Toned down references: Lt. Surge is no longer explicitly an American, Mew is just from some jungle, and Marowak was just taken and came back as a ghost. I am not bothered by these changes because they aren't retcons so much as euphemisms, so whatever.
8. Shiny hunts: It is now easier than ever to hunt for shinies (and good IVs) via combos. That's cool and all, but I am not a shiny collector and I'd only be happy to encounter one out of the blue. No doubt this is a popular feature, though.
9. Co-play: I would have used it if my nephew had been around, but it's a pretty cheap feature. Why not turn battles into double ones? Why not carry over Pokemon from another save file?
10. Lack of moves: While I mentioned that the games have better moves than FRLG (although those actually have more moves) and obviously RGBY, Game Freak went too far with the streamlining. While I'd never use the majority of moves out there in the main story, LGPE are missing 50-ish essential moves in my opinion. And why aren't Body Slam and Swords Dance TMs?

Bad

1. New characters: Chase, Elaine and Trace are simply pointless counterparts that dilute the importance of two staples (Red and Blue) and a fan favorite (Green). Masuda justified their existence by saying that kids don't want an antagonistic rival (based on what?) and deserve their own characters that belong to them. If that is the case, then why is customization so limited? Why not just use Red and Green with extensive customization options? Chase and Elaine do absolutely nothing to set themselves apart, except for a brief "Where am I?" scene that is dropped after mere seconds. Trace isn't annoying like some rivals, but he is painfully vanilla and is definitely outshone by Blue even in his reduced role. All he has going for him is adopting Cubone, and even then he basically stole Reina's role from Origins and doesn't even talk about Cubone after the Marowak incident. While I like his team members individually (very much my style except for Slowbro), as a whole the team isn't Champion material (to be fair, I still haven't defeated him in the rematch as of this post, due to a severe disadvantage). The truth is that Blue is a popular character for a reason and can be supportive as shown in Origins and these games. Trace will be forgotten very quickly, so I hope Masuda is satisfied. And how does Tajiri feel about his namesake being relegated to a battle that is a far cry from the Mt. Silver one in terms of atmosphere and context? For shame.
2. Lack of references: The only region mentioned in name is Alola, and that's unavoidable due to the forms. While it's neat to see Archer announce his plan, Blue become a gym leader, Koga consider joining the Elite Four and Sabrina predict the future, these aren't direct references to Johto - the region next door. I don't even remember any mentions of there being more Pokemon out there, which is poor worldbuilding that benefits no one. And it doesn't stop there, because LGPE are supposed to blend anime and Go elements. Why, then, are Jessie, James, Joy and Jenny the only anime characters? There are many good picks, but they even removed Yellow's AJ, Giselle and Joe. On another note, why is Prof. Willow relegated to a few YouTube videos, especially when an NPC hints that he cooperated with Bill in designing Go Park? Candela, Blanche and Spark studying the legendary birds would have been interesting, too. Game Freak really did the bare minimum here.
3. Lack of story expansion: This is a big one for me. I'll preface this by saying that I respect Kanto's simplicity and minimal intrusion, which is a reason why a lot of people do prefer LGPE to the Alola games. But I'm of the mindset that if a story is good enough and not overwrought, it will barely inconvenience anyone (see the Pokemon Tower-Rocket Hideout arc in these games). What annoys me is that LGPE do allude to a bigger story that never unfolds: Jessie and James tell Fuji that they need him to continue his research, while Mewtwo reacts to its experiment tank in Pokemon Mansion. At the same time, the Silph Co. president is baffled by Giovanni's proposition to use Fuji's stolen research to create new Pokemon. This reminds me of an unused character from RGBY, called Silph Chief. All I know about him (maybe her) is that he hid in the Safari Zone at some point, but he also had trainer data (no Pokemon, though). I can't help but think about Chief usurping the president on Giovanni's behalf, leading to the creation of more mutations (either based on known species, or maybe some unused ones). The cruel experiments would be stopped not just by the player, but also Mewtwo and Fuji who would make amends. Simple and yet potent, but alas all I get are teases.
4. Lack of extra content: If you are not into competitive battling (yes, a metagame does exist), Master Trainers or shiny hunts, then you're probably going to complete the story, rematches and Pokedex in under a month. Personally, what I look for in the post-game is additional locations I can explore and do something memorable in (which to this day, only the Johto games provided) and rental battles that can save me a lot of grinding. At the same time, more could have been done to add events and activities during the main story. I feel that all of the above could have been accomplished in numerous ways that I'll explain in a later post.
5. Lack of Pokedex expansion: Not importing all Pokemon is fine, but there are Pokemon that definitely belong in Kanto. Those would be all the cross-generational relatives, and arguably the following lines: Houndour, Murkrow, Slugma (debuted in Kanto in GS), Togepi, Marill, Snubbull and Donphan (debuted in Kanto in the anime). On top of all that, why not revive some of the prototype Pokemon? What exactly makes the Meltan line better?
6. Graphics: I said before that the art style has its charm, but three things bothered me: not being able to control the camera and actually feel that I'm part of the world, the grid structure being too apparent at times, and many characters (even Bruno!) having giant heads. I don't expect complete immersion, but please give me something closer to the anime. It's going to sting if the next games are a marked improvement in this department, but well, they should be.

Conclusion

LGPE are solid entries not only newcomers and "genwunners" can enjoy; you'd have to be pretty jaded to have nothing positive to say about them. I managed to appreciate them in more ways than one, all the while resenting Masuda for his lack of ambition. The bottom line is that I'll look back fondly on them and hope for, but not expect, something better from a possible return to Johto.

 

[Boss1708]

Very good review. I agree with pretty much everything, except:

- Chase and Elaine are adorable characters, and I think playing with brand new PCs that still follow the overall structure of the originals, is charming and refreshing.

- Master Trainers are s nice feature, but a Battle Tower should be (imo) mandatory in any Pokémon game, and both aren't mutually exclusive.

Great points, overall. As someone who hasn't played LGPE, this review voices my overall thoughts about this game very well.