Pocket Master App?

Knock-off apps have always been insanely popular…even if obvious app is being obvious. Ever since I played “Zanda” awhile back (one of my first-ever blog posts here), these apps sometime infuriate me, but, over all, they make me curious.

So, I will be honest with you. I have been getting Ads for things like: “Monster Tail” which is openly looking for “Pokemon Masters”. I forget what drew me to Pocket Masters…but the Ad stood out to me because I thought that maybe the creator of the hack Moi-mon had finally made their own little game for Android Devices.
No…just no. I have downloaded Pocket Masters and have been playing it for days now…and I don’t know which is sadder: The fact that it’s nothing like a Pokemon game at all OR the fact that I’m addicted to it -_-;

So…lets just take a moment and explore this app, shall we?

 

• What is the game about?

—From what I have been able to gather, this game has a very loose story centered around a very angry Mewtwo character. Mewtwo is mad because she was created by Team Rocket for evil, she wants to get revenge on the world, and now, all the Legendary Pokemon are coming together to stop her before it’s too late. Somewhere in the midst of all this, your character (who is never shown) becomes a Pokemon Trainer, gets mixed up with Mewtwo and now must stop her, and everyone thinks you are Team Rocket so they are always trying to hurt you. Oh, and a future version of whatever starter Pokemon you pick shows up to help you on your journey but only appears in dialogue and during certain boss battles.

To sum all that up: Nothing about this story makes any fucking sense!!!

• How is it like Pokemon?

—Well, other than the characters having the looks of Pokemon, there being certain Pokeball animations when summoning a monster, and the fact that you can evolve your Pokemon as you progress in the game: NOTHING. Seriously…there really is nothing that “screams” Pokemon in this game. There are map locations named after places via the actual canon games and what-not, but this game has nothing to do with Pokemon. Granted, you can only have 6 Pokemon in a party…but, they all fight at the same time (minus the 6th Pokemon which is a backup), and it’s a strategy game. Pokemon only get maybe 1-2 powers to use and they only light up sometimes like a Final Fantasy limit break or something. It’s really, really, odd.
You can generally look at a character and say: “Oh cool, that one is supposed to me a Growlithe, and that one is a Machop.” then you get Pokemon that you cannot figure out at all, and later on you find yourself laughing and feeling sad all at the same time because Meowth is one of the only Pokemon that has not been made into a cute anime human, and the human name for a Psyduck is ‘Piss’.    X’D

• So, how do you play it?

—Goodness, where do I even start?

So…the goal is to build a Pokemon team that you can travel around with and complete challenges or stages. These Pokemon are generally summoned from a summon station. One summon per day is free, and then the rest either cost hatcher cards or special stones. Pokemon summoned are always random…and there are 4 Pokemon types: Attack, Defense, Distance, and Healer.

A sword on the Pokemon means it is always on the offense and will be your hard-hitting Pokemon. The shield represents your defense Pokemon that can fight or stay back to protect the healer. The bow and arrow means your long-range attackers, and then a green pair of fairy wings means that a Pokemon is a healer.

Th reason why you need to know the different types is because you are now playing a battle strategy game. To progress in the game, you must go through “stages” which are locations taken from the Pokemon world. While exploring these stages (quite simply tapping on blocks to make them disappear), you will run into Pokemon that want to fight you. You can not run from a battle, and, once the fight has started, you will find your party standing on 9 blocks worth of space. These blocks of space are kinda like your base. The goal is to not let enemies get past you and attack your Crystals…or, that’s what they tell you in the game. But, so far nothing has ever attacked my crystals, and when all your party members have been killed, it’s naturally a game over for that stage and you have to start over.

Anyways, Pokemon can travel outside this base or grid of 9 squares to attack waves of enemies. After so many waves, a boss Pokemon appears and once that is defeated, you have essentially won the fight. Winning all fights in an area clears the stage. Simple, right?

Well, YOU as a person gain experience and level up…but your party needs to be leveled up as well, and this requires “berries”. But only soothe berries are universal for leveling up. You will find the not all Pokemon have the same types they had in the game, rather, Pokemon like a Clefairy are now rock-type and so they can now use rock berries to level up. Having chose Bulbasaur as my starter, she could use grass berries to level up, and etc.

Pokemon can level up until lv.10, ad then they need a badge to open up their new level cap to lv.20 — after that it would take 5 Elite Badges to open up their level cap to 40 and etc etc etc. How do you get badges? Well, after you play a stage in normal mode (and you reach a certain level), you will now have access to “elite levels” on the same map which offer you better loot. Sometimes these are stones, fragments of a Pokemon, and/or badges. You also get a lot of dawn stones for completing elite stages, and these are needed to “awaken” your Pokemon (essentially it’s like speed training and you just up their stats by using dawn stones and feeding them the souls of a preferred Pokemon…no joke).

So, not only do you have to take care to level up your Pokemon by find berries…but, you have to get them “gear” too. gear can either be found or it can be earned in the Factory. The factory is a place where completing a battle stage will earn you any gear item of a certain quality (all depending on the difficulty of the fight you did). Pokemon need to be equipped with a sword, a helmet, armor, boots, a necklace, and a ring. You have ordinary equipment and the rare equipment so always switch out your Pokemon with better things you might find. Gear levels up as well, and to enhance gear you need gold…and lots of it. So, make sure you’re leveling up a Pokemon’s gear. Gear can only ever be enhanced to the level equal to the player. So, if you’re a level 7, your gear can only go to level 7, but if you’re a level 30, the gear can be enhanced to level 30…

Pokemon can also evolve…and evolution is important in this game. Pokemon are strong if you level them up, but, that strength can only go so far. Look for Pokemon that evolve. In order for a Pokemon to evolve, they have to reach a certain level point, and then you must have the elemental stone they need to change. Clefairy needs to be level 10 and have 3 rock stones. Bulbasaur needed to be level 16 and have 20 grass stones.

It’s not that it’s so hard to pick up…but, there is a lot of stuff to take in for sure.

• What other features are there?

—Again, where would you like me to start? You have the basics like the summoning station (to get new Pokemon), the factory (which can earn you gear, gold, and evolutionary stones)…then you also have a guild system which allows you access to certain perks and items, and a friend system which allows you to get more energy when you’re running low.

There is a black market where one uses Pokesouls as currency (any Pokemon you are not using, or any duplicates you might earn from the summon station can be sacrificed to get Pokesouls), there is the mall where you can buy items, and then there is the gear factory where any gear of the same kind can be combined to create something new and better (very handy).

There is a PVP system in play known as the “Arena”, and there is the “Champion’s Tower” which is a separate challenge system which wants you to climb to the top of the tower using only the same HP you had from the start. There are special events for Mythical Pokemon to appear, and you can fight them to earn either a fragment from them, or other loot. Lastly, there is a place called “Wonderland” which is for the high-level people to explore. It allows you to explore for loot and do other challenges where people can come in and defeat your team to steal your goods.

Pokemon eggs exist in the game and are a special event. A pokemon egg takes 24 hours to hatch and is always something random. For those wanting to spend real money in-game, there are VIP bundles one can purchase which offers them a lot of different perks…and there are the typical daily login bonuses and things like that. This game has a lot to offer, and has actually become pretty addicting.

 

• Conclusion:

—In conclusion, I can not say that it is a bad game…but it really did lure people in using Pokemon as the grab. I think that it is brilliant, but, there will always be those things I do not like about it. The tutorial sucks and does not show you much. Plus, with so much being unlocked at later levels, you’re always being interrupted from gameplay to be shown the new features you just unlocked. The English tends to…suck in this game. I know they have had to translate this game into so many different languages so that people can play, but it can get really terrible at times, and it makes you laugh. Also, waiting for stamina to refill is a pain. Also, exploring new areas does not make it feel like it is really new. The map icon may be different, but the textures and colors are the same, the battles are all the same, so, it can get really boring really fast on some days. I find myself coming back more for the arena than anything. Lastly, being able to chat with people is really cool…but the chat is only filled with people wanting to be added as friends, and then people that want to talk about cock and titties. No joke! So, an interesting feature…but, people are assholes.

But, let me know what you think! This app is free-2-play and if you try it, let me know how you feel about the whole thing. What is your personal opinion of knock-offs? Do you think Nintendo will shut this game down? Does it sound fun and interesting? Do you think the game offers too much and maybe it should be simplified so it’s not so confusing? Who would you choose as a starter and why?

I plan to have my GuildWars EotN Review up soon…and I am really sorry that I have been putting it off for so long. Anyways, that’s all I have for this one, and as always, I will see you in the next blog 😉