Pokémon TCG Pocket

Darren

This is a mobile title that I have been invested in since it launched last year. The other day I reached Level 50, and I have nearly 7000 cards!

What's your opinion of the game?

tkarispe

I played TCG Pocket for a bit when it first launched, and I like the idea of a mobile version of the TCG (especially since keeping up with the physical TCG can be pretty costly), but it's frankly just not doing anything for me. I'm not a fan of how they simplified the game and changed the emphasis from multilayered strategy to just trying to get your most powerful card into play before the opponent does. I also don't find collecting the digital cards as satisfying as owning physical copies. And, as a mostly story-driven gamer, the fact that TCG Pocket has no storyline makes it difficult for me to find the motivation to play it.

I feel like TCG Pocket is good for offering a casual TCG experience for people who enjoy that kind of thing, but it's just not hitting any right notes for me as it is. Although, I would really love it if they added some sort of single-player campaign mode, because I really enjoyed the Pokemon TCG Game Boy game and I'd go crazy for a modern reimagining.

Sheep

Woah, level 50! That's awesome. I'm still only level 39 and mostly log in to open packs, do Wonder Picks, and collect my dailies/rewards, but that is more than enough for me. The artwork is so good. <3 Admittedly when battling I tend to let auto-play do the work for me, but I engage with the game primarily as a collector so that behavior isn't entirely surprising, I suppose?

tkarispe A single-player campaign akin to TCG for GB is an amazing idea. Given how much I loved that game I could see it being very fun, but I guess it's not something that would bring them a ton of profit. Fair enough that Pocket isn't entirely your cup of tea!

Mlu

tkarispe I would 100% be down for something like the GBC game. I loved it, and for some reason I was fascinated by Imakuni. I ended up playing the Japanese v2 when I found it existed as well.

I have a love-hate relationship with the TCGP. I'm still playing it, but as Darren can attest I complain about it all the time rofl. It has a lot of FOMO and bad mechanics. Everything is luck-based except for trading, and even that now will be messy with the EX card pack unless they fix some things.

On the other hand, I love the art. I mainly collect for the art and trying to finish the card dex for each pack, though I've given up on anything higher than a single star. If anyone here wants to be friends for trading, my ID is 2827-6219-2151-7780

tkarispe

Mlu Imakuni? is so great. I'm glad they kept him in the Western version of the game instead of removing him because Western audiences wouldn't know who he was. (I actually did know who he was, because I had an unofficial TCG guidebook that included information on sets that hadn't been released in the West at the time, including the vending machine sets.) And I'm still stumped as to why they never released the sequel outside of Japan. Maybe it was released so close to the end of the Game Boy Color's lifetime that they just didn't think it was worth it, and by then the Pokémon craze had started to die down anyway. Still a shame, though.

And to be fair, there are some things I like about TCG Pocket. The interface and aesthetics are really nice and it's a great-looking game. The artwork is gorgeous. And I think the infrastructure is there for the potential to be a really solid TCG emulator in mobile format. It just didn't choose to do that (probably because that's what TCG Live is for) and opted for a super-casual experience that seems to place more emphasis on collecting. Not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, it just didn't really hold my interest.

AngurisNeo

tkarispe my toxic trait is I won't stop hoping for a translated TCG2 for the Game Boy Classics on Switch every Pokémon Direct

tkarispe

AngurisNeo That would be fantastic. I'm seriously hoping for that too. There's precedent for it with other games ported to Switch, so I don't see why it couldn't happen.

Darren

To bring the topic back on track...

How are we feeling about the new changes that were just announced?

ICanSnake

Darren As someone who just got a 3rd Shiny Giratina EX this morning... I love the upcoming changes. I got my 2nd Shiny Giratina EX just a few days ago with no sign of Shiny Darkrai EX. Now that I have extras, I can finally offer it for trade for someone who has an extra Darkrai.

Speaking of which... If someone wants to make this trade, let me know!

KomodoZero

I'm teetering on the edge of giving this game up, it took me until yesterday to finally pull the card I wanted from the Deluxe Pack EX set, and it was from a wonder pick and not an organic pull...

This game is waaaaaaaay too reliant on RNG. It's one thing for the packs to be random, that's completely expected from a trading card game, but there is just so much RNG all over the shop... Even the wonder picks rely on RNG, I'd rather it never allowed you to pick from the five cards and just gave you one. It feels terrible aiming for a rare card and getting bogus, all by your own hand...

The new updates better be good, as I'm this close to calling it quits.

Juno

I was very into this game the first few months, I liked collecting pretty card arts and got decent at battling. But then they released new sets that wrecked my battle strategies and instead of changing up my decks I just lost interest instead.

KomodoZero

Juno Hate to break it to ya, but that's competitive TCG in a nutshell. Gotta roll with the meta or got rolled by the meta.

Juno

KomodoZero Yeah I know, that's part of why I've always just been a collector irl.

Phantom345

I really like TCG Pocket. I started end of last year I believe. I have 4 shiny Starmies, and 3 gold crown cards... I guess that's my Irish luck showing up.

Darren

Phantom345 That's impressive! I got the 3-star Pikachu again today from the "ex" booster. That's my second one.