Saturday Casual Gaming 221: Pokemon Quest

So, you may have noticed by now, but I freakin love Pokémon. I have loved these little Pocket Monsters since my misspent youth in the 1990s, and I love them today. I've loved watching the games evolve from 8-bit to 16-bit to the modern 3D era. I've watched movies and anime, read manga, and played some of the gaiden titles (side titles).

This is one of the newer Pokémon Gaiden games, and I've got to say, so far, it's pretty fun.

Look how chunky and weird they are! I love it!

Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken this long for Pokémon to join in the Minecraft/Voxel style, but I'm glad they have. Why? Because it's basically what it would look like if 8-bit games went full 3D without any upscaling. Seriously. I am a weirdo.

But what do you do in this game?

You're (I think) a researcher traveling to a group of islands where you use a combination of Pokémon friends and your weird drone MoBee to study and fight the local Poképopulation. Regardless, the style of combat is a lot more like the Pokemon Rumble game from the 3DS, except you have a team of 3 Pokémon. They automatically walk through various areas and attack the local wildlife, sometimes even destroying trees or rocks, and collecting ingredients and items.

You press on the attack icons to unleash special attacks from your Poképals!

Now, when you've finished a level and beat the level boss, you end up back at your base camp, where you install decorations, welcome new friends who've stopped by your camp (I got a random Dratini once!), and delightfully enough, you also get to cook! (Insert obligatory Breaking Bad reference here...)

You have a cauldron in your camp where you dump a bunch of ingredients you've found, but you can also just... toss random stuff in and see who shows up. Once you've got the ingredients in the pot, you go on little adventures with your friends, slowly filling up the time requirements. I will say this: If you don't have the "right" type to challenge a specific zone, it becomes that much harder to beat the zone. I'm kinda stuck in a zone where Grass has the advantage because I have no Grass types. I've been spending a lot of the premium currency (which you don't have to pay for, it's just... optional to do so) on bringing back what I've already found.

Speaking of currencies, you've got only the one: PM Tickets. Basically, you get 50 of these every 24 hours or so, and then you can earn more from quests. The more quests you complete through your gameplay, the more Tickets you end up with. These tickets are used to buy items and to use as Continues when you have a total party loss in an area.

My personal favorite part of the loot that you get isn't the Decorations, since they just kinda hang out at your base, I like the power stones that you add onto the stats page of your Poképals. They come in Strength-boosting and health-boosting, and they can really up your game!

I think that about covers Pokémon Quest, since there's not really all that much to it beyond what I've said besides "This game is fun"!

Go ahead and pick this up on your mobile devices (and possibly Steam?)!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC