What do you think about LGPE?

[Snowy.ninetales]

LGPE was the second Kanto remake, but LGPE opened up a lot of things being that we could get a let’s go Johto game. Though it is apart of the main series, it’s not the most popular and most likely counted as one of the worst to the Pokémon fans alongside BDSP.

But I want to know what you think about it. Do you hate it or love it? Please explain your reasoning!

As for me I think they are good remakes, though they aren’t the best, there are better remakes but its just about preferences and if you had a good time. But something bad about it is that’s it’s very slow paced and I need to often take breaks of it.

 

[wanderist]

I like it well enough. It's probably my least favorite of the Switch games, but I still found it enjoyable. The catching mechanic could get a bit annoying at times, but it was also a nice change of pace from the norm. Also love the Pikachu/Eevee bond with the trainer. The little changes in the story were kinda neat too.

It's honestly my favorite of the Kanto games. Kanto is just always a boring region to play through for me, but LGPE was the most fun I'd had with it.

 

[DawningWinds]

It's okay. There were some things I liked a lot, but most of them are ultimately kinda superficial? Like the being able to ride your Pokemon or being able to interact with your partner. They can't make or break a game for me by any means. I'm not a fan of the forced exp share introduced in those games but I also don't hate it with the passion some people do, and I only mildly disliked the catching mechanic. It's still an overall enjoyable experience, but even by Pokemon standards nothing super special.

 

[There Is No Arceus]

i honestly didn't like most of the changes they made to the pokemon formula, but i can't fault them for trying something new, even if it didn't work imo. it's clear that a lot of love was poured into these games, and i can understand why people would like them, but to me, FRLG is still the definitive Kanto experience.

 

[Jimothy]

I only just got a Switch this year (specifically for PLA) so I haven't gotten around to it, but I do intend to buy LGE. From what I've seen they are the best looking Pokemon games and offer way more unique interactions for its roster of monsters than we're used to.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Never played it in full, but I tried a demo and couldn't get into it. I couldn't figure out the catching mechanics and they feel completely butchered. And everything else about the game just looks to be same old Kanto simplified for a casual audience, which is the exact opposite of the kind of experience I want and also the exact opposite of what I think the series needs. The game had a few good things going for it (such as Pokemon in the overworld, co-op, and changing nature boosts), but everything it has done well has been done better in some other game, so I honestly don't have anything good to say about it. FRLG is by far the better Kanto remake (although IMO no remake has truly done Kanto justice and what it really need is a reimagining more along the lines of what BW2 or LA did for their respective regions), and I would honestly like to forget this game ever existed.

 

[Battista]

Definitely flawed but I had plenty of fun. Arguably my favorite games to shiny hunt in, and as cheesy as their names are Partner Eevee’s signature moves are fun to use in-game.

 

[Gengarzilla]

It feels like an anachronism. LGPE was designed to introduce GO players to the mainline Pokémon games, yet at best it only loosely resembles that said series. I'd say its intended role has been completely superseded by Sword and Shield in every aspect and now it's just the inferior of Kanto's two remakes (and the other was a literal GBA game for heavens sake).

 

[There Is No Arceus]

It feels like an anachronism. LGPE was designed to introduce GO players to the mainline Pokémon games, yet at best it only loosely resembles that said series. I'd say its intended role has been completely superseded by Sword and Shield in every aspect and now it's just the inferior of Kanto's two remakes (and the other was a literal GBA game for heavens sake).

what's wrong with GBA games? some of my all time favorite games are from that era

 

[Bolt Strike]

what's wrong with GBA games? some of my all time favorite games are from that era

In a technology driven industry like gaming where they're constantly replacing older games and consoles with newer ones, having a newer game that's worse than an older one defeats the purpose. Doubly so when they're not offering some way to purchase their back catalogue (which aside from finding a used product on Ebay for a ridiculous high price, they do not, Nintendo does not offer a way to legitimately purchase GBA games with their current products). In order to no longer justify selling a Switch and its games and stop selling the 3DS/Wii U and they're games (and for the 3DS/Wii U to similarly replace the DS/Wii in the same way, and so on for every past console), they need you to feel like the Switch is better in every way. And for the most part, I think they have, but that's not the case with LGPE vs FRLG, the Switch's Kanto game offers even less than the GBA's Kanto game. That's totally backwards from what you would expect of the market and speaks volumes of the missed potential with LGPE.

 

[impervious_gakko42]

I only played about an hour or so into Let's Go Eevee, so I don't really have much to contribute, but to me they just felt forgettable. The Pokeball controller was interesting, but the novelty of it wears off pretty soon. Maybe they weren't the greatest games, maybe they weren't even that good, but I had fun with my brother in multiplayer. Definitely took a couple steps away from the usual Pokemon formula, for better or for worse.

In the words of Ian Brutalmoose, it had plenty of good ideas, it just could've used some more good ideas.

 

[Fitzy3386]

Personally, I think LGPE are the best way to play in Kanto. (RBY benefit heavily from the nostalgia filter, as my first games, but can be a slog to return to, FRLG were a hard meh to me). The catching mechanic was the weakest part for me, but I didn't hate it. The visuals were such an upgrade from the Alola games. And the partner mechanic was the best the series has ever done at making Pokémon feel like partners. It was cutesy, but it's a game for kids. Cutesy isn't a negative if it's done well.

 

[hanecco]

I loved the graphics - it was exactly what if hoped a switch Pokémon game would be, the story tweaks and callbacks to current-ish games (like Mina's cameo) were also a nice touch. The partner mechanics and new motion controller catching helped to make caring for/acquiring Pokémon less of an abstract activity too.

 

[Fairy Wind]

I really liked it. The only issue that stuck out to me was that you couldn't battle wild Pokemon for EXP, only by catching them, which meant that I went through more Poke Balls than I normally do, which means spending more money on them. That was a pain early on in the game, though it was less of a pain as the game progressed and I had more money.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

It's better than people give it credit for, for it's time it was a very fun, charming, and good-looking Pokemon experience. Graphically it looks better than any other main series game on the Switch, SV's graphical issues are well-documented at this point and it's sad to see that the most modern-looking main series game is from 4 years ago and the 4 games to come out since all look bad when compared to LGPE side-by-side.

LGPE had massive potential to be a good game and be true to the Kanto experience without cutting content. I THINK the reason why they cut held items and abilities as well as all non-Kanto Pokemon besides the Meltan line was to try to make it feel like Gen 1 especially since Pokemon GO initially launched with only Gen 1 Pokemon. I also think the reason they added in Mega Evolution was because this was still a continuation of Gen 7 which had kept Megas up to this point, the first game to remove Megas was SwSh only because those games were introducing a replacement mechanic in Dynamax. I'm fine with them adding Megas and even keeping a restricted Dex, however, I would've opened up the Dex to include all evolutionary relatives of Gen 1 Pokemon, so Pokemon like Pichu, Kingdra, Magmortar, Sylveon, and so on. I'd also keep the Alolan forms to keep the Alola/Kanto tie-in lore. I would however keep held items and Abilities in, and I'd heavily modify the candy system so that instead of just being able to candy your Pokemon to max stats, the candies would just be a direct replacement for EV vitamins and feathers, you'd still only be able to max out at 252 for a stat and 508 overall, it's just that you'd do this in a process of feeding candies instead of earning them in battle or gaining EVs with items. I think this would be a more than fair compromise to have this game act as a cross-between of GO and the main series, and still keep the familiarity of candies and the fundamental concept of "more candy = stronger" without diverting from the established formula of stats in the main series.

Oh, and I'd make the GO catching optional, something like what Legends: Arceus did, where you can just chuck Pokeballs and catch that way, but you can also enter the battle screen and catch from within there as well. I personally liked the GO catching but I can understand that it's not for everyone, they could've added a quick little tutorial to be like "hey you can catch just like in GO or you can catch in the classic main series style".

Keep the Master Trainers, but make them all Level 100, keep Red/Green/Blue as the final bosses and Mina as a repeatable battle. This last bit is a controversial take, but I don't think VGC should've ever stopped moving from version to version, so all these changes I'd hypothetically make to LGPE would've made the games more appropriate for VGC, a little throwback season of just Gen 1 and relative Pokemon would've been kinda refreshing to see I think, especially since VGC wasn't around back in the Gen 1 days.

You do all of the above and LGPE would be a 10/10 game, it's still a pretty solid casual experience for when you just wanna be laid back and play a Kanto game. I do not necessarily consider any of the other Kanto games to be superior to LGPE, only because of how good the presentation is in LGPE, and being able to ride with certain Pokemon and actually have realistic proportions, something other games can't seem to really nail down, is super nice to see.