Update Impressions: Pokémon Go’s Generation 2

          

          Pokémon Go has a weird history, to say the least. A game that became a global powerhouse back in July 2016, it saw a slow and painful death thanks to the developers over at Niantic beginning to remove features from an already simple game. It also holds a bizarre distinction on this blog, earning both an 8/10 on my initial review as well as a place on my Top 8 Worst Games of 2016.

          The game found itself back in the news this week, as Niantic has finally gotten around to adding a bunch of Pokémon first introduced to the mainline series in Pokémon Gold and Silver, more commonly known as the Generation 2 Pokémon. Fan favourites such as Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Marill, Wooper, Wobbuffett, Heracross, Gligar, Skarmory, Milkank, Tyranitar and much more are now officially captureable, so long as you can find them.

          There’s just one major problem with this update: it’s still February out there, and with February comes miserable weather and Arctic temperatures.

          Nevertheless, I threw on my winter coat, pulled on some snow boots, and leapt out into the deadly Canadian winter in the name of journalism to ask one simple question: does Generation 2 make Pokemon Go worth playing again?

          One thing that I’ve found disheartening since I last played is that Gyms have essentially been hardlocked by the players. Every single one is dominated by Dragonites, Gyaradoses, fully-evolved starters and buffed-up Eeveelutions, making it near impossible to even put a dent in them without a massive group of friends working together at once. While the Gyms never really interested me in the first place, it is kind of sad booting up the game after several months gone only to find one of its major features has become obsolete.

          The other big thing that’s changed is the tracking. It’s become common knowledge that the original “three footprint” tracking mechanic barely lasted a few weeks after the game’s launch. This left the players wandering aimlessly hoping to stumble upon something rare, but more often than not winding up finding nothing.

          This problem is kind of fixed, as Niantic has implemented a “sighting” mechanic. Every once in a while a Pokémon will pop up on the radar with the image of a nearby PokéStop next to it, giving you a general idea of where it is. It works most of the time (but sometimes your desired Pokémon will just refuse to show up for whatever reason). Unfortunately not all the Pokémon are given this treatment, and you’re still occasionally stuck wandering around hoping to find something.

          As for the Generation 2 Pokémon themselves, it does seem that Niantic has shifted the spawn rate around so they spawn about half the time, with the Generation 1 Pokémon making up the other half. Despite this, while Rattata, Pidgey, Weedle and crew have reduced in appearances compared to late August when it seemed they were literally the only Pokémon in the entire game, they still do pop up way more often than they should.

          I went on two different walks on two different days to get as many results as possible. Day 1 I walked around the block in my hometown for about 15 minutes, and on Day 2 I went to the local zoo for a few hours.

          Over the course of the few days I spent playing I was able to capture several popular Generation 2 Pokémon, such as Sneasel, Togetic and Girafarig. Similar to the early days of the game you’re almost guaranteed to find something of Uncommon or greater rarity with each walk, provided you stay out for longer than a few minutes. As I mentioned before, the spawn rate is still not quite up to scratch, with Rattata, Pidgey and Weedle continuing to appear twice as much as literally any of the over 200 creatures currently available, and even the Generation 2 Pokémon suffering from a bit of Spinarak and Ledyba overflow. While it is nice to see these guys at first, once you’ve captured their evolutions it can get tiring to see them appear on the radar in place of something new and cool.

          Still, the rarities seem to have grown more common in turn to help alleviate this problem a bit. On Day 2 I caught Azumarill, Togetic, Chikorita and Larvitar within an hour of each other, and I’ll bet if I stuck around longer more cool stuff would’ve popped up. Back when the game first launched capturing something new and cool was the best feeling in the world, and when the community had to resort to using fanmade maps to find the cool stuff because Niantic trashed the tracking system, I was so disappointed I quit the game entirely. Now, the spawn rate has been improved, and with the tracking system kind of making a return, that feeling has returned.

          So is it worth freezing your buns off to go find a Wooper? Short answer: no. Unless you’re playing from a car, the game isn’t that fun to play in the ice-cold winter. But the Generation 2 Pokémon are here to stay, and I think that once all the snow has melted and everything’s gotten warmer again it’ll be a fun game to pick up again. It’s free, after all, and I loved the fantastic community that was built off the game back in July. If we could see the return of that in the summer months (and who knows, maybe we’ll have Generation 3 by then), I think it would be well worth going out to catch ‘em all once again.