TouchArcade iOS Gaming Roundup: Pokemon Go Fest, Strike Team Hydra, The Elder Scrolls: Legends and More

Hail Hydra!

hmmmph....I knew it....

I got my 'eye' on you!

FWIW, the popular media has covered Pokemon Go Fest as a horrible unrelenting disaster where millions of players lost their lives, but looking beyond the headlines, it seems like there were substantial problems, but also fun to be had. If you're curious, check out the PoGoFest-related videos from Trainer Tips ('https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrtyNMe3xtv3CLg5QR78HzQ'). (Yes, Niantic did pay for his hotel and airfare, but he's been very upfront about that and has been very level-headed in his coverage of the game over the last year, so I tend to believe his take on things.)

I've seen a number of people who weren't there anxious to stick up for Niantic based on videos by a few different YouTubers who were paid to be there, paid to make videos, had all their lodging/travel paid for, and have a massive vested interest in making sure they continue having that business relationship with Niantic's influencer outreach department. I was there, and the best way I can describe the vibe of the event was like being in a bar moments before a fight breaks out- Those few minutes where you're not sure what's going to happen yet, or what's going to set it off, but there's enough people who are at an overall level of anger where it's not going to take much to push it over the edge.

When I was completely unable to play the game, or participate in any of the challenges short of standing in line at the water tent, I shifted gears to talking to as many people as I could. I wasn't cherry picking only people who looked pissed, but rather, just anyone who gave me any level of eye contact or otherwise looked like they might be interested in talking to a stranger with a media bracelet.

The vast majority of the people I talked to were unhappy at best, most were disappointed, and some would uncomfortably rant about the game and the event because you gave them an opportunity to. Were people able to play Pokemon Go throughout the day? If you're on the right carrier, and were patient enough, sure. It also wouldn't surprise me if it got better later in the day, as most people started leaving by around 3:00 in the afternoon. Were most people having a good time and glad they came? In my experience, no, and again, that's from talking to dozens of people floating about the event.

What seems more likely- The actual real-deal media outlets who were there, at the event, and talking to people in attendance at the event are making up these headlines and Pokemon Go Fest was actually a really good time for everyone there OR are the YouTubers who quite literally make their living on Pokemon Go, who are paid by Niantic top to bottom, are sugar coating absolutely everything because their livelihood depends on Niantic?

I have no reason to lie, or embellish things. The worst thing that happens to TouchArcade is we need to buy a $20 ticket to the next Pokemon Go Fest instead of getting a media badge because they were mad enough to remove us from their media lists. Our world keeps spinning. If these big YouTubers get cut off, and can no longer participate in these exclusive reveals and other things that drive their channels... Where do they go from there?

I think the sooner people realize that YouTubers, particularly the bigger ones, aren't these universally objective arbiters of truth and instead quite often are up to their necks in behind the scenes promotional contracts which has a massive impact on the videos they produce, the better.

I got that too. Now imagine clear weather, going to the raid as soon as it starts and no one showing up to help. I'm convinced I'm the only person who plays in my town. I have sat on the 1 gym for weeks straight before.

It's worth googling "pokemon go" and (name of your town/county/nearby cities/state), to see if there's an online community for your area. I have the benefit of living in a moderately large city, and found a subreddit for my area that pointed to a Discord server where folks are calling out high-level raids that they see, and then coordinating going to them (e.g. if half a dozen people say, "oh, hey, I could be there in half an hour", suddenly you all have a plan). I can do level 1 & 2 raids on my own, and level 3 if someone else happens to be around, but all the level 4's I've gone to have involved using that local Discord group - and that's netted me the Lapras and Tyranitar that I'd searched in vain for over the past year (you really need half a dozen high-level players to take down most level 4 raid bosses reliably). I haven't gone to a legendary raid (Articuno or Lugia) yet (busy week), but I fully expect that's going to involve either coordinating on Discord or at least checking Discord to see reports of which local parks are getting crowds. (PSA, Articuno is here through Monday, to be replaced in raids by Moltres, then by Zapdos the following week.)

Playing in a small town has always posed a problem for collaborative aspects of the game, but I'm not sure I really see a way for Niantic to fix that, in a game that uses the real world as the game board.

I complain here and on every pokemon go post I see because Niantic will not respond to my "support" questions. All automated nonsense. I know it gets old to read but that's the reason

When you have millions of players/customers, it's difficult to give individual responses to most questions (unless said customers are all spending hundreds/thousands of dollars each, like with Apple/etc. - otherwise it's hard to fund a large support department).

FWIW, the popular media has covered Pokemon Go Fest as a horrible unrelenting disaster where millions of players lost their lives, but looking beyond the headlines, it seems like there were substantial problems, but also fun to be had. If you're curious, check out the PoGoFest-related videos from Trainer Tips ('https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrtyNMe3xtv3CLg5QR78HzQ'). (Yes, Niantic did pay for his hotel and airfare, but he's been very upfront about that and has been very level-headed in his coverage of the game over the last year, so I tend to believe his take on things.)

Yes I hope they come up with a way to stop the cheaters entirely. I'm in no way good. I've got a 2828 rhydon and everything else is below 2300. I'm level 29. I'm not complaining that Pokémon aren't abundant enough(if you can find a spawn), it's pretty good.

Cheaters suck. And, oddly, playing in a populated area can be a little disheartening when all the gyms were stuffed full of high-level Dragonites, Tyranitars, Snorlaxes, and Blisseys (and almost always the other team). I could spend an hour taking down a gym, only to have it filled back up with ten Dragonites and Tyranitars the next morning.

I'm level 33 and finally got enough candy to evolve a 96% perfect Dragonite recently (after nearly a year of collecting candy), and this last week's crazy-go-nuts doubling of everything (the worldwide "rewards" from PoGoFest) netted me enough stardust to finally power that Dragonite up to just over 3000 CP (my first 3k+ Pokémon). He takes his place in my small 2500+ crowd alongside a pair of really good Machamps (both evolved from Machops, and fighting types are what you really want for Tyranitar/Snorlax/Lapras raids), and a couple of really good Vaporeons, but my favorite attacker is still an Exeggutor with Zen Headbutt/Solar Beam. A face-full of Solar Beam just takes down all sorts of Pokémon. So satisfying. BTW, this page: Raid Boss Counters ('https://pokemongo.gamepress.gg/raid-boss-counters') is really helpful for figuring out what Pokémon to use against each raid boss.

(And the app Poke Genie ('https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/poke-genie-for-pokemon-go-auto-iv-calculator/id1143920524?mt=8') is great for figuring out which Pokémon to evolve/power up and which to recycle - you feed it screenshots and appraisals, and it tells you their IVs and "% of perfection" and ranks their movesets - it crashes at least as much as the game itself, but it's still extremely useful.)

It's hard for me to find any because there are no spawns around my house and im 8miles from a pokestop. I like how challenging it is to get good pokemon for me, it just blows my mind how easy it is for city players. I had to walk 128km to evolve into charizard and oddly, I feel good about that.

You'll hate me for this, but from my couch I can see 6 Gyms and over 20 PokeStops. But that doesn't mean that it's raining high-level Pokémon here. Over the past year, in a big city, I caught 2 Snorlaxes in the wild (after never seeing one outside a gym for the first 6 months, I caught 2, at random, about a week apart - both with terrible IVs but one with the best moveset, Lick/HyperBeam - it's a shame she's only 29% perfect), and I walked that better Snorlax 196km to get enough candy to power her up. I also walked a MagiKarp over 100km in the process of getting enough candy to evolve a 100% perfect Gyarados. And currently I have 30km on that Lapras I got from a gym raid.

If you haven't already looked into The Silph Road's Global Nest Atlas ('https://thesilphroad.com/atlas'), it's worth a look (as are some of their other tools, and especially the Silph Road subreddit ('https://www.reddit.com/r/TheSilphRoad/') - all sorts of good info there - also a decent place to search for/ask for pointers to a more local group).

I don't get how Niantic can market a game for everyone, but yet make one segment of the population have an entirely different experience. Niantic is still to acknowledge this is real.

I think the problems are: a) it plays better in populated areas but they can't tell you precisely where every one of those are in meaningful ways ("offer void in the following 17,000 small towns: ........."); and, b) to make it not be an entirely different experience (well, different, but some sort of level playing field), they'd need to write a substantially different game for less populated areas, and they've had their hands full with just what they've got working so far.

I've kind of given up on really ever doing well at this game. Most of the time if I am already somewhere promising, I'll give it a go. But my days of actively going hunting for Pokémon died out when we went all over the place one day and found nothing but the same old Pokémon we already had in abundance.

And there were a few times I found gyms defended by Pokémon at level 3000 and they'd only just been released a day before. So my daughter and I figured there had to be some kind of cheating going on. I do credit Niantic for trying to stamp out cheating.

Yes I hope they come up with a way to stop the cheaters entirely. I'm in no way good. I've got a 2828 rhydon and everything else is below 2300. I'm level 29. I'm not complaining that Pokémon aren't abundant enough(if you can find a spawn), it's pretty good.

It's hard for me to find any because there are no spawns around my house and im 8miles from a pokestop. I like how challenging it is to get good pokemon for me, it just blows my mind how easy it is for city players. I had to walk 128km to evolve into charizard and oddly, I feel good about that.

I don't get how Niantic can market a game for everyone, but yet make one segment of the population have an entirely different experience. Niantic is still to acknowledge this is real.

It would be little better if Niantic would add in a tracker, because you can't tell where the Pokémon in "sightings" are even at. Even a cold and hot approach to tracking would be awesome.

I got that too. Now imagine clear weather, going to the raid as soon as it starts and no one showing up to help. I'm convinced I'm the only person who plays in my town. I have sat on the 1 gym for weeks straight before.

I complain here and on every pokemon go post I see because Niantic will not respond to my "support" questions. All automated nonsense. I know it gets old to read but that's the reason

I've kind of given up on really ever doing well at this game. Most of the time if I am already somewhere promising, I'll give it a go. But my days of actively going hunting for Pokémon died out when we went all over the place one day and found nothing but the same old Pokémon we already had in abundance.

And there were a few times I found gyms defended by Pokémon at level 3000 and they'd only just been released a day before. So my daughter and I figured there had to be some kind of cheating going on. I do credit Niantic for trying to stamp out cheating.

I've gotten a notice that there's an Articuno on the loose. There's a monsoon going on so Articuno will be safe from my pokeball throwing skills for now.

I got that too. Now imagine clear weather, going to the raid as soon as it starts and no one showing up to help. I'm convinced I'm the only person who plays in my town. I have sat on the 1 gym for weeks straight before.

I complain here and on every pokemon go post I see because Niantic will not respond to my "support" questions. All automated nonsense. I know it gets old to read but that's the reason