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Pokémon Go

Started by Barry Admin, March 31, 2017, 06:12:28 PM

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Barry Admin

My Mum gave me her old iPhone 5s so I've finally been able to play Pokemon Go! It's alright, bit basic, but then I remembered that Ingress isn't an Android exclusive anymore, so I've got right into that.

Seems fun and impressive so far, did loads of waking last night trying to set up my first field. Might be a bit more socially-oriented than I can usually be bothered with, but it all seems deep and intriguing.

Anyone else still play? Or play any other games with a view to making fitness more fun? There doesn't seem to be much point in leaving it open, so I've been switching to Pokemon while going between portals, although I've basically lost interest in it already, I think.

Barry Admin

#1
Fair enough, I know the peak has well passed. Ingress is turning out to be corking, though, and I see why SNG loved it so much. As he said say back when, it's kind of awesome turning parts of the map over to your side, there's a wild sense of achievement.

So I had a great walk all evening, capturing points, trying to get to level 4. Did my shopping, got home after 10, and chilled out for a bit. Opened Ingress to read a message, and holy mother of fuck, my home territory was suddenly totally frog-coloured! I thought it was some kind of bug at first, but no, worst fears confirmed, someone has put an absolutely MASSIVE fuck-off field all around me.

Still trying to find/figure out if this totally neuters me, I think it does. However. Some guy is getting off nightshift soon and is heading out to take down one of the points.

So, yeah. When I first started I thought I was too late to the party, and that the uncapped points around me meant there was no competition. "Oh, there is competition" I was told, and I see now how accurate that was. Loving it.


Edit: and I'm back in the black! He's blown the fuck out of that massive field, it stretched for absolutely miles around me.

Noodle Lizard

I don't know if these are really touted/designed to be "fitness" games in any sense of the word.  But I think it's a shame how quickly Pokemon Go disappeared, as I remember a month or so of last summer being genuinely fun because of the sheer ubiquity of players everywhere you went.  The developers got far too complacent, I think, and didn't do anywhere near enough to augment the (simple) issues or release interesting updates in a timely enough manner, so people just got bored of it.

Moreso than fitness, I like that it got people out and about exploring their neighborhoods.  At least in my case, I learned of a few weird "landmarks" that I'd never have discovered otherwise, despite having lived here for years.  They never quite made the competitive element work, though, and ultimately that'll be the death of any game.  There was never any real "reward" for your time spent.  It was quite a fascinating phenomenon which won't be remembered.

Never played Ingress, mind.

Twed

In a more physical sense, Geocaching can be appealing.

kittens

loved pokemon go last year. going out in the centre of bristol at midnight, pissed, riding my bike and catching monsters. tonnes of other people doing the same thing, giving hints, comparing catches, it was wicked. i would go on huge walks to hatch my eggs and catch pokemons. felt like an adventure. it kinda died down quick though and i stopped playing until a month or so ago. since starting again i could feel myself catching the bug once more. foolishly i installed a gps spoofer and could direct my boy around town from my bed. now it feels pointless to play it.
so, advice is: do not install gps spoofer - this kills game. play with friends. catch every pidgey in the world. ummm. enjoy game. thanks

Barry Admin


kittens

Quote from: Barry Admin on April 02, 2017, 08:59:13 PM
Have you thought of giving Ingress a go?

hadn't even considered it. i tried it once years ago and it ate all my data, but i'm on a much better contract now so should be fine - it's very surprising how little data pokemon uses up. i'm worried that perhaps the only thing i liked about go was the nostalgia. probably isn't the case though. o.k. sure i'll give it a go tonight

Barry Admin

I figure the data usage has been brought in line with the conservative nature of Pokemon Go's over the year, but haven't checked. I got 2GB 2 weeks ago and haven't hit any warnings yet, anyway. I think you'll enjoy it as there's a lot more to do, and you quickly get competitive and territorial.

I spent the last few days just learning the ropes and capping portals all round the estate and village. I was knackered tonight and wanted to come home around the 3000 steps mark, ended up doing another 6000!

Well fucking worth it though, as I was able to farm enough keys to take over most of the estate. Did my first bit of glyph hacking too. I'd been swapping to Pokemon to spin for the free balls and stuff at Ingress portals, but didn't even bother opening it once today.

kittens

it does seem like there's a heck of a lot more to do than in pokemon. it's kind of ridiculous how little there is to do in that game, and how uninteresting those things are. spinning pokestops for small rewards, catching pokemon and fighting gyms, that's it. the gyms (or at least the ones round me) are so populated with ridiculously strong monsters that it's impossible for a casual player to even make a dent - everyone i know who plays just ignores them. so for most people, it's just catching the pokemon that is the fun part. it must be pretty fun though, to keep us all playing so long.
gonna download ingress now, may well prowl the streets in my pyjamas if it takes my fancy. it uses all the same landmarks as pokemon go, doesn't it? which is good as i have 2 pokestops in my house, so may not even have to leave

Barry Admin

There's scaling on the gyms now, and you can "buddy" a Pokémon to get candy, but, yeah. My one experience of a gym was that you stand there tapping the screen manically, seemed shite. Yeah though, gyms and pokestops are Ingress portals.

Give us a shout in here if you want to know anything, although I'm still learning myself. Half the fun is figuring it all out anyway, but I'll just say try to make small fields (links of three portals) so you maximise your space. You can't link across lines. And drop your key before you hacks a portal, so it gives you another one. The training missions are quick to do and will get you up to speed. Have fun mate.   


AND JOIN THE RESISTANCE!

kittens

joined resistance. seems i'll have to do a lot of resisting as my entire local area is controlled by the enemies. absolutely do not understand it so far but i'm fairly drunk so that makes sense, will give it a proper go tomorrow

Barry Admin

Being surrounded is good, you'll have a lot of fun if you get into it. You hack portals instead of spinning pokestops. The idea is to link three to make a triangle, but you need keys for the portal you're linking TO, so start farming keys.

Ah you'll get it when you're sober, it seems complex but it's really not, and you'll likely have people helping you in the Faction tab as well. It was all unclaimed around here, you're gonna have fun levelling like a bastard and going to war on the green areas.

Uncle TechTip

I still play ingress, although I don't really know why, just habit. I would say that the social aspect is central to it, and probably why it's still got some activity compared to Pogo. If you join the local hangouts and get to know the names of the local hierarchy, it helps retain your interest. Otherwise when you get to level 8 you'll wonder what to do next.

The hierarchy thing is real, there's a hardcore of players who will do all the organising and try to order people around, this gets boring quickly unless you work your way into the hierarchy. Niantic still organise games like the recent shards thing, meant to be something all players can join in with, and they can, but the local leaders on both sides are orchestrating teams and you find groups of 10 or more agents hanging round portals, it makes it impossible to get involved by yourself. Also niantic share secret details of where shards will appear and so on, which destroys the magic somewhat. My one and only anomaly was spoiled by this when I realised our team leader knew exactly which portal was going to be next in the 'secret' challenge.

Meeting up for informal farms is probably the most enjoyable aspect, but if you are not into the social side, I struggle to see how you will maintain your interest. Good exercise, definitely.

And you picked the wrong side.

amnesiac

It came as a surprise to me when I heard it first, but yes, Pokemon Go is also touted as a fitness app and has a step counter (I've never played it).

Although like all fads it is very short-lived

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-38311371

Barry Admin

UTT, reading your post made me realise that the guy who invited me to a local group has been vetting me in case I'm actually a spy.

I'm glad I joined blue as we're the underdogs, yay.

Uncle TechTip

Yes, you've a lot of that, it's all part of the fun, the subterfuge and secrecy. Do try and engage with any agents you come across, as despite my moaning it's never been less than pleasant - well a little bit prickly once when I met one particular player who used to drive for miles to smash your portal - you try and break through this and just be friendly.

Don't ever get attached to your portals or get into arguments over territory, the game is designed to favour attack and no portal is safe if they have the number one ingress commodity - time.

Cloud

#16
Quote from: Barry Admin on March 31, 2017, 06:12:28 PM
My Mum gave me her old iPhone 5s so I've finally been able to play Pokemon Go! It's alright, bit basic, but then I remembered that Ingress isn't an Android exclusive anymore, so I've got right into that.

Seems fun and impressive so far, did loads of waking last night trying to set up my first field. Might be a bit more socially-oriented than I can usually be bothered with, but it all seems deep and intriguing.

Anyone else still play? Or play any other games with a view to making fitness more fun? There doesn't seem to be much point in leaving it open, so I've been switching to Pokemon while going between portals, although I've basically lost interest in it already, I think.

Yep, I play both (L11 frog on Ingress, L29 instinct on Go).  It's so much easier with the latest Android where you can double-tap the task switcher to immediately toggle between them.  Ingress is a far more interesting game than Go, but I still enjoy the collecting aspect of the latter (it triggers the usual hunter gatherer instinct stuff, I think) and the way it makes me feel like a kid.  Unfortunately with Niantic taking forever and a day to improve it, the real kids which I think formed the bulk of the many millions of players (based on what I saw in July) very quickly branded it lame and moved on.  They don't seem to realise that to a kid, a year is an eternity.
We do have a good friendly Hangouts community here for our side (of Ingress) and they have one for theirs.  Some people do take it overly seriously sometimes and start fights but for the most part it's fun with the occasional cross-faction co-operative at Christmas and whatnot.

Very nearly gave it up as there's this one smurf here who takes great pleasure in putting up gigantic fields (so you can't really "play" i.e. create small fields underneath it whichever side you're on, so it often pissed off his own side too) with anchors that you have to climb mountains, take ferries, drive for hours, go to near-blackspots for mobile signal etc to take down.  Fortunately he seems to be calming down on that a bit lately.  To give him credit, I did derive great satisfaction hiking up a really awkward one to take down a field that had been oppressing us for a couple of months and the glory of being the local hero for a bit.

Ingress is a brilliant tour guide.  If you're away on some city break, throw the hotel's local attractions pamphlet away and try Ingress missions instead.  It has the big attractions as portals of course but also shows you some of the less known sights.

Tend to agree that it's not really a fitness app per se as ideally you want to be elevating your breathing and whatnot (unless you're a really brisk walker) but great for overall "basic activity levels" i.e. increasing daily steps.  If you're watching weight or whatever then spending the day wandering about playing these is certainly a fun way to expend some calories (which mount up nicely when you get to like 10k+ steps).

Edit: "Zombies, Run!" is worth a shot as a general fitness one, with zombie chases on.  Gets you to speed up when being chased and has a fun little story.  It only uses the GPS to track distance though.  On the other hand it doesn't have you standing around for ages like Ingress often does ("come on server, respond to my request to deploy a resonator some time today...")

Barry Admin

I love hearing your stories, great stuff, keep em coming.

I should have said exercise games (wik calls them "exergames" or some other risible portmanteau), but left it open for Kinect and wii fit or whatever.

Hit level 4 yesterday, woo. I'm out at the minute for a late night mooch, just hitting the local portals on my estate. That was the plan anyway! I've been an absolutely prodigious walker in the past, but needed something to get my ass moving again. Ingress has really done the job.

I always end up going further than I wanted or planned to. I've having to stop myself now from going and visiting some other portals, there's a real "one more go" feeling to this game. And I haven't even got to the attacking stage yet! 

I worked out you get better level drops from higher level portals, so I've been upgrading my home ones.

Because this phone is "old" now, I was also able to get a Mophies Space Pack for £23, when seemingly they used to go for over £100!?!! Gives me a much-needed extra 64GB; a tough, Otterbox-style case; and an extra battery. Seems to hold about 40%-50% charge.

I am absolutely loving life.

Mr_Simnock

I think it must have been the first game to ever get so may people outside for a good while for the first time in years and in this day and age of increasingly sedate lives that is massive.

Cloud

A word on levels in Ingress, they're roughly (not quite) exponential.  Get used to levels taking a while after 6 or so :)  Though it depends - I recruited some people who play absolutely obsessively and rapidly overtook me - I started early 2015 and am just starting to reach L12 now, but recruited some mid-late 2015 who were L8 (max equipment level, levels 9-16 are more about bragging rights) before I could blink and L16 within a few months.

Protip: you can link INWARDS into a field if you're going from a resonator on the border.  This way you can create opportunities for layering


In indoor fitness games, I'm looking forward to seeing what the Switch brings when Nintendo are done playing their usual scarcity shenanigans for the hype.  The original Wii really had this kind of thing nailed (loved Mario & Sonic Olympics 2012 and Wii Sports) and I thought it was a tremendous shame when they reverted to couch potato stuff for the Wii U.  Now they're back with portability and controllers you can wave around again.

Barry Admin

I'm visiting some of the slightly further afield portals I set up last week. They are all unclaimed, now most of them have at least one l8 friendly resonator stuck on them. Any idea why these guys are doing that?

Uncle TechTip

They're just claiming it to add to their portals captured stats. Also for the little bit of ap you earn.

Barry Admin

I see, it's weird they didn't do it before though. I just launched my first attack, which I was really looking forward to. It has two l5's and one l6 resonators, almost drained, took it down in no time. I've over-extended myself a bit physically though, I'm absolutely busted. And a bird shit on me, although my hair is only washed and conditioned so I'm super lucky he only hit my shoulder.

Dex Sawash

there is a portal 300meters from my house at the Lutheran synagogue, fuck'd if i'm walking over there though. Maybe on way to work tomorrow.

Barry Admin

Did you get it, Dex?

kittens, did you get into it? Or you back on the PoGo? I fired it up in the park again the other day and started to enjoy it again.

Grabbed a few that I didn't have before, put a new buddy on, and have collected enough balls while ingressing that I don't need to spend money on them. Gonna head to town and check out the portals and grab some new critters. On the sly though, like.

kittens

i tried with ingress but ultimately deleted it, along with pogo. i'm sure in a few months i'll get back into it so thoughts will come then


Barry Admin

Busgress was amazing, just hacking portals all over the shop, while also scouting out future targets. I had to pick up new gauzes and the head shop had a pokeball grinder. Did want.

Barry Admin

Oh and by the way, Cloud... even just the bus journey really, really emphasised what you mean about the discovery aspect of Ingress. I was absolutely stunned to see some of the landmarks I was passing, which I have never before known in a lifetime of using that route. Astounding, can't wait to visit 'em.

Ingress v2 coming soon too, btw.

Cloud

Must admit, I don't tend to use R8s when capturing uniques, perhaps because I find them quite hard to come by around here!  Got shitloads of 6s though.

Quote from: Barry Admin on April 08, 2017, 04:34:18 PM
Oh and by the way, Cloud... even just the bus journey really, really emphasised what you mean about the discovery aspect of Ingress. I was absolutely stunned to see some of the landmarks I was passing, which I have never before known in a lifetime of using that route. Astounding, can't wait to visit 'em.

Ingress v2 coming soon too, btw.

Also so much better on the bus than Pokemon Go, which has the "you're going too fast!" nanny popping up all the time along with "please try later".

But yeah it's great.  I used it in Edinburgh and stumbled across Sean Connery's birthplace (okay that's on guidebooks, funny to just stumble across it via Ingress though) and just generally little quirky little objects or bits of architecture scattered around that I'd never have noticed, down roads and paths I wouldn't have thought to wander down.  Some pics I took Ingressing there:

Spoiler alert





[close]

(Trying to tidy up the post by putting the pics in Spoiler tags but doesn't seem to be working)

And that's just tour missions, you can also just pick a direction and see what the portals are.  It's just that you get a lot of memorial benches.