By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
Forbes Magazine‘s Paul Tassi suggested a great idea, and that’s to sell extra slots to players wanting to walk more than one Pokémon in the latest update of this game. Since people in real life can take several dogs on a run, the idea can translate well into the game. But the list should not end here. I feel this recent add is decent enough to get me outside again, and walking lots.
Fellow writer James Shaw still will not join me in my gaming adventures as he is not into mobile gaming. As for his thoughts on Pokémon, he is not as interested in this franchise as much as his very dated love for Ranma½ (not a big deal, since I prefer Sazan Eyes) and he has told me he is unwilling to watch the dub – while I have no problems with American voices in foreign products these days. I’ve gotten over my elitism but apparently my buddy has not. To each their own, but one of these days, I’ll see him playing this game. He’s my pal after all and he’ll be tagging along. It’s just a matter of time. For the time being, I have a Snorax named James Shaw in the game for my next ‘mon to walk with. They both sleep lots, have a fuzzy head and are big boned.
If there are any Easter Eggs in this new feature, I’m hoping they will show up after a week of walking the same ‘mon.
I like to see the stamina stat improve by one by staying with the same buddy over a long period of time. The rewards have to require the player to be dedicated to one Pokémon for at least a month than a week (which can be easy to abuse), and within this system, by staying with the same ‘mon, the rewards can easily stack. Again, to prevent abuse, the stat can not improve by more than 25%. Everyone wants their little pocket monster to gain more hit points to survive those gym battles, and I would like to see this game reward a one HP gain per day until the Pokémon hits its level capacity. To not put a few rules in place can lead to power-gamers abusing the system.
With the buddy system, there’s the potential for Niantic to introduce concepts from Bandai’s Tamagotchi. I’ll be keeping my eyes glued to reports and observe if anything has improved with the Magikarp I have been walking with. With putting 48km in one (and I’m still going), I am close to finally evolving it to a strong Gyarados. Now please give me that Hydro Pump or Dragon Pulse.
Tassi’s article can be read here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/09/14/niantics-next-pokemon-go-goldmine-should-be-extra-buddy-slots
