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Pokémon GO was not only culturally relevant for longer than anyone expected a Pokémon mobile game to be, there are a lot of people who played it Day 1 who are still hooked today. It has accomplished this longevity by rewarding the collection process better than any main series Pokémon game has to date as well as constantly updating with new events, new Pokémon, and new mechanics.
The Pokémon Let's Go games are built to work alongside Pokémon GO, but are they going to have a similar staying power behind them? Generally core series Pokémon games bank off of their replay value for more casual players and completionist opportunities for the more hard core gamers. A game that encourages you to transfer Pokémon from GO and only has one starter to choose from doesn't seem to be asking to be replayed over and over, so what strategies do you think the developers are going to use to keep players coming back after the main story is complete?
Here are some possibilities I thought of. Feel free to discuss any of these or come up with your own theories.
1. Reward players for catching Pokémon and completing the Pokédex. I think this is the most likely option since it's such a huge draw for Pokémon GO. I've never been one for catching them all since it feels very tedious with essentially no reward. Gen 7 made it somewhat worthwhile to catch a lot of Pokémon by granting you more and more access to the Poképelago as you increase the number in your box, but still once I unlocked the islands I had no reason to continue collecting. I think Let's Go will likely focus more on the catching and collecting aspect of the games than previous main series games have and make every capture, especially new species, feel much more rewarding.
2. Load the games full of content. Once you've collected your share of Pokémon, these games may offer more things to do with those creatures than previous games have. We already know you can dress up your partner Pikachu or Eevee, but they could expand on this for other Pokémon as well. They could also include minigames similar to the Pokéathlon. This would be especially fun with local multiplayer, assuming they provide enough variety of games, either competing against each other or working together to beat teams around the world.
3. Staggered content release. Nintendo's been all about this strategy recently, most (in)famously with Splatoon but also with other games such as Arms, Mario Kart, and even major adventures and RPGs like Legend of Zelda. Let's Go could take tips from its parent game GO and release more Pokémon down the line as trainers collect all the ones available up to that point, possibly even opening up new areas or entire regions as DLC. This would probably be the most controversial option and may not appeal to casual players who don't tend to play games with heavy amounts DLC.
The Pokémon Let's Go games are built to work alongside Pokémon GO, but are they going to have a similar staying power behind them? Generally core series Pokémon games bank off of their replay value for more casual players and completionist opportunities for the more hard core gamers. A game that encourages you to transfer Pokémon from GO and only has one starter to choose from doesn't seem to be asking to be replayed over and over, so what strategies do you think the developers are going to use to keep players coming back after the main story is complete?
Here are some possibilities I thought of. Feel free to discuss any of these or come up with your own theories.
1. Reward players for catching Pokémon and completing the Pokédex. I think this is the most likely option since it's such a huge draw for Pokémon GO. I've never been one for catching them all since it feels very tedious with essentially no reward. Gen 7 made it somewhat worthwhile to catch a lot of Pokémon by granting you more and more access to the Poképelago as you increase the number in your box, but still once I unlocked the islands I had no reason to continue collecting. I think Let's Go will likely focus more on the catching and collecting aspect of the games than previous main series games have and make every capture, especially new species, feel much more rewarding.
2. Load the games full of content. Once you've collected your share of Pokémon, these games may offer more things to do with those creatures than previous games have. We already know you can dress up your partner Pikachu or Eevee, but they could expand on this for other Pokémon as well. They could also include minigames similar to the Pokéathlon. This would be especially fun with local multiplayer, assuming they provide enough variety of games, either competing against each other or working together to beat teams around the world.
3. Staggered content release. Nintendo's been all about this strategy recently, most (in)famously with Splatoon but also with other games such as Arms, Mario Kart, and even major adventures and RPGs like Legend of Zelda. Let's Go could take tips from its parent game GO and release more Pokémon down the line as trainers collect all the ones available up to that point, possibly even opening up new areas or entire regions as DLC. This would probably be the most controversial option and may not appeal to casual players who don't tend to play games with heavy amounts DLC.