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[Pokémon Masters] Nothing going on right now.
Lucascraft
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
What is it? A brand new Pokémon mobile game. It's a character collector / battler game.
When is it? Release date is August 29, 2019
Who makes it? DeNA (the company responsible for Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, and Final Fantasy Record Keeper)
Why is it? To become the very best, like no one ever was...
Compatible OS: iOS / Android
Genre: All-star team builder
Cost: Free-to-start with purchasable in-game items
Official Website(s):
https://pokemonmasters-game.com/en-US
https://www.pokemon.com/us/app/pokemon-masters/
Core Concept:
- You are the main character in Pokémon Masters, and you'll embark on an exciting adventure with a Pokémon partner of your own.
- Meeting and working together with formidable Trainers from other regions is a core aspect of Pokémon Masters.
- The battles in Pokémon Masters are 3-on-3 matches that play out in real time.
- Players can direct Pokémon to unleash attacks as usual, but Trainers can use their own moves and healing items in battle for the very first time.
Sync Pairs:
Each collectible character in this game is referred to as a "Sync Pair." A Sync Pair is the combination of the Trainer and their Partner Pokémon. In this game you will be building teams comprised of multiple Sync Pairs.
Examples of a few Sync Pairs that are confirmed will be in the game (not all are in at launch):
- Red & Charizard
- Blue & Pidgeot
- Brock & Onyx
- Misty & Starmie
- Cynthia & Garchomp
- Korina & Lucario
- Stephen & Metagross
Videos!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gms2G2cs54w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fgAkufnFqI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPZJHGvFQnE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwZ5THSm8lAPre-Release Press Coverage:
https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/07/24/pokemon-masters-microtransactions-dont-seem-limiting-gameplay-has-a-lot-to-offer
https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/23/20707465/pokemon-masters-preview-nintendo-dena-ios-android-hands-on-microtransactions
https://www.gamespot.com/articles/pokemon-masters-is-light-on-microtransactions-big-/1100-6468650/
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The pre-release version is very much an incomplete game. They have stated as much. It's a truncated character list, only the first several chapters are available, and there are other modes and features of the game that are going to be part of launch that aren't in now.
And yeah, as @homogenized said in the other thread, there are already plans for alternate versions of characters. Brock being the first one. They even have a silly term for the outfits.
They are called "Sygna Suits" which is pretty much just nonsense. But here's a quick video about it.
I have very high hopes for this game. Even if it seems a bit "basic" right now, DeNA knows what they are doing, and this game will not stay as it is for long.
I will happily say that there is no stamina or NRG in the game at all. You want to steamroll from Chapter 1 to 10 in a day? Have at. You lose a fight? There's currently no option to use gems (premium currency) to start the fight over, or even revive from that point, but there's also no real need. No fight at the moment requires spending minutes analyzing strategy and careful ability selection. If you lost, you can grind a couple of levels (it really makes a difference), or you can spend Trainer Books (exp) on a trainer to boost them right away. You get books by the bucket, but that's also because by the time you finish the story, you'll have about 12 different trainers, so if you really want full type coverage, you'll be boosting trainers regularly.
All trainers have two attack moves, and two kinds of support/buff moves. Rosa, who you get very early into the game, starts with a party buff that raises Sp. Attack by 2 levels, and can be used twice, making her one of your top supports for clearing the story. They also all have passives (some trainers have more than 1) for things like sleep or confusion immunity. You unlock them with items you can farm from stages that are available every day, and don't seem to disappear.
There are stages that provide extra rewards, but can only be done 3 times every day, and they cycle each day. However, all training stages (the permanent and the daily) have Normal, Hard, and Super Hard difficulties, and for the dailies, each difficulty can be done 3 times.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
First time-limited event and scout are Blue & Pidgeot
"Hello fellow humans!"
The best stuff you could get from events are gems, evolution materials for your Pokemon (the ones that can evolve) and trainer books that raise your 3* trainers to 4* trainers (or 4* to 5*). All the other farmable items you need to unlock moves or trade for money are handed out to you in excess by the game's daily missions, though you could eventually run out if you spread your supplies thin across all 15 types. It's definitely enough to give 5-6 trainers their unlocked moves and passives.
Spoilering the rest in case people are interested in seeing for themselves:
Once you get to Chapter 10, you unlock co-op battles, and they're special raid versions of boss fights you've done before. The first one is against Sygna Suit Brock and the rest are against your PML challengers from Chapters 11-13 (where the current content ends).
The nice thing about co-op battles is you don't NEED to play with your friends to start the fight. If you wait more than 10 seconds without any friends joining, the game will give you the choice to fight with NPC sync pairs to do the fight instead, though obviously you're at the mercy of the game's random AI to help you win if you're not strong enough by yourself.
Regarding Blue/Pidgeot as a featured Sync Pair...
Steam: TheArcadeBear
I'm on iOS in the U.S. and I'm playing. Getting occasional loading errors, probably from server load, but I'm in and I got my Nintendo account linked, made my dude, and I'm advancing through the pre-game cutscenes.
i'm interested in seeing how this weirdly dense (?) gacha works out for them.
there seem to be very few rolls and they matter quite a bit as a consequence... but also the story characters are good and usable.
If I'm not mistaken, you'll need to finish Chapter 10 before you can do anything with friends. That's when you unlock co-op battles, and there are only a few of them for now.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
Getting XP seems to be pretty easy, at least for now. The major limiting factor that I've come across is those bronze megaphone things that you need for learning new skills.
I haven't figured out what to do with these energy drinks yet. But I'm also assuming they'll teach me at some point. I stopped at Flannery's chapter last night to try some of the other modes in the game. I did all the solo story stuff for everyone I've unlocked so far. I also did the Normal difficulty tier of all the power-up dungeons.
Strike for your dps pokemon, tech (hybrid dps/support) and aide for your support pokemons.
The megaphones also get used for moves, as well as skill capsules (for passives).
Skill capsules also get used to trade for Trainer books (100 req.) and the books are what raise your trainers * rank.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
Not super thrilled about it being real time, but hey. At least it's somewhat slower paced.
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
I kinda like real-time as it applies to Pokemon as it makes speed a sliding scale as opposed to a binary *are you faster y/n* matter as it would be in a turn-based situation.
Anyways, I've downloaded this as well, will check in with my friend code later once I've had a chance to play a bit.
Yeah, the only incentive pulling available right now is for paid currency, so there's no reason not to pull as you go, especially since you'll eventually want at least one levelled pokemon of every type for type matchups down the line.
That said, I did do a 10 pull and got Karen with her Houndoom (5 star)!
Dissapointed that Houdoom is a dark uni-type. I figured all pokemon in this game would just be one type, but then I also got Clawitzer who is water/fighting so, yay for Houndoom, but boo for not being dark/fire like in the main games.
Houdoom is still one of my faves though so... well done RNGesus, you've got me for a bit longer.
And all the Alolan trainers sync moves are just z moves, which I guess means they're basically the same thing.
You can also get a guaranteed 5* if you use the appropriate scout banner. Just swipe left when you're on the sync pair scout page. It's a 10-pull, one-time thing only though.
If anyone wants a list of sync pairs you get through the story, so you can focus your upgrade materials a bit better, I've spoiled the list so far (up to the point I'm at, which is chapter 17).
Rosa - Grass
(free summon) Whitney - Normal
Barry - Water
Flannery - Fire
Erika - Grass
Skyla - Flying
Korrina - Fighting
Norman - Normal
Pryce - Ice
Iris - Dragon
Hapu - Ground
Sygna Suit Brock - Rock
Hau - Thunder
Flint - Fire
Clair - Dragon
Viola - Bug
Nanu - Dark
Koga - Poison
Acerola - Ghost
Steam: TheArcadeBear
It doesn't sound like that great a deal, though, since it's paid gems only at 300/spin. You're losing out on 20 spins if you spaced them out with the daily discount in order to guarantee a 5*. Maybe that's worth it? I'm not really familiar with gacha systems.
Unfortunately, I only really spend money on Pokemon GO right now, and only when I need more egg incubators or raid passes, so it usually gets $25 from me a month. That's about all I'm willing to give it.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
I think it's less about liking Pokemon and more about liking gacha. It's easily my favorite media property but I'm not boutta drop $30 on that.
I did, however, drop $10 on a starter gem set because the illusion of efficiency for the daily 100 gem spin played me like a fiddle.
The three I got from that 10pull are:
Karen+Houndoom
Olivia+Lycanroc
Phoebe+Dusclops
And also, I guess was Rosa just a guaranteed 5star from the story? My Rosa is 5 star. I guess everybody probably has that, huh?
Makes me wonder if they plan on introducing a bunch of "trash pulls" later in the game's life cycle to slow down progression, like allowing us to collect all these generic dudes like Ace Trainer, and Mountaineer, and Swimmer and so forth.
Like, why does the 1-star and 2-star classification even exist if everything starts at 3-star. Doesn't make sense to me.
A lot of Gacha games do this, where the units you pull with limited resources are, at minimum, 3*. Free units from non-limited resources can be 1-2* and are generally never useful. I think Masters does it just because it's familiar terms for mobile game players, and conformity helps understanding.
They better give me the option to get the Punk Girl on my team at some point.
Also don't forget to do your daily login bonus. Logged in last night and apparently it resets at 2am.
I'm waiting to do the 10 pulls until Blue drops.
Also, because I've had this extra time to play, (and maybe they fixed it...) but I can finish the Normal and Hard Supercourses, but I don't touch the Very Hard (even with a team of 55s).
I've seen the Supercourse cycle back around and the Very Hard will be locked again, and I can re-do the Hard. Which means I get 30 gems again as a first clear bonus. And this has happened with every Supercourse so far...
Steam: TheArcadeBear
hehe, regarding R/SR/SSR format: "Woo, I opened a pack and got 5 RARE cards! I'm so lucky! Hunh? What do you mean that's a shitty result? What? "rare" are the most common and basic cards?"
God marketing trickery is so insidious. They're not RARE they're COMMON.