Pokemon GO is amazing! I was walking around my apartment complex this evening and caught Caterpie, Weedle, Rattata, Spearow, Zubat, and, best of all, an Eevee!

I saw there was a Pokemon Center at the Masonic Temple around the corner, so I went to check it out. When I got there, I saw two dudes on bicycles stop and pull out their phones. I said, "I guess I know what you guys are up to," and we all laughed and they told me about some of the cool Pokemon they caught around town. I'll need to take my kids on a bike ride tomorrow evening and check it out!

It's pretty amazing for sure. We went on a 3 mile walk around our neighborhood and caught 6 and then went to a shopping center and there were three gyms and a ton of Pokemon! Our pokedex is at 15 right now and it was a serious blast.

I would be seriously hyped if it weren't for the fact they gutted a perfectly fine battle system in order to promote microtransactions and not canibalize on the mainline games. Don't get me wrong, I love the concept and it would give me something to do when my girlfriend wants to go geocaching, so I might even get a usable smartphone for this, but it could have been so much more!

I get not implementing full battles versus wild Pokemon, that doesn't make a lot of sense given that you probably are on your way somewhere when you use the app, but not having the standard battles versus other trainers (oh, lets not forget that you can't battle your friends or trade with them, the very core concept of every Pokemon generation with the split of editions).

I really am a bit angry at Nintendo, this could have been the perfect Pokemon game by removing the boring grindy parts from the game and replacing them with actually fun activities outside. But mobile game shenanigans with overly prevalent microtransactions (from what I gather through previwes, please correct me on this, I want to be wrong!) and a fear for the mainline (which, really, there is ways around that without gutting Go, which will never be able to offer a story and could be used to push those mainline games with promotional actions) disapoint me greatly.

Eh, I haven't read about what the micro transactions are for, nor am I hyped about competitive battling. It's a mobile game. I'm just excited to take my kids out on adventures and catch Pokémon. So I guess I'm not the one to ask.

Luckily I have two poke stops that i can grind from my desk lol. So I will probably never need to spend money. Even though my step son used 38 poke balls this morning to catch a pidgeotto. Granted, it was 130 CP so well done on him but still, thats a lot of poke balls.

I do wish you could battle against wild pokemon though.

Just installed it. Apparently I'm within reach of a gym from my bed, but I need to somehow get to lvl 5 before I can start battling. I work form home (when not traveling) so I fear I'll never reach lvl 5.

Just installed it. Apparently I'm within reach of a gym from my bed, but I need to somehow get to lvl 5 before I can start battling. I work form home (when not traveling) so I fear I'll never reach lvl 5.

Don't worry. I played for about an hour last night walking around my neighborhood and am already at lvl 4. It won't take you long. Just a couple evening strolls and you'll be there!

I don't play. However I can say that as part of my job we have found what would normally be "suspicious activity" at parks or other places that turn out to not be suspicious for the normal reasons. Instead we are finding areas that don't normally have people milling around at 0100 hours or later, that turn out to be people trying to catch pokemon.

Working in a historic city with tons of landmarks is great. there are poke stops everywhere. (europeans can go ahead and put "Historic" in there)

definitely a big advantage over living/ working in a suburb

It took less than 24 hours for the first car crash to happen from it. So that is interesting.

Indeed. It's sad that people sometimes put so much value on virtual reality that they neglect reality.

As an aside, I really like how the phone vibrates when a Pokémon appears so you don't have to keep your eyes glued to your phone the whole time. Good feature.

Eh, I haven't read about what the micro transactions are for, nor am I hyped about competitive battling. It's a mobile game. I'm just excited to take my kids out on adventures and catch Pokémon. So I guess I'm not the one to ask.

If that part manages to live up I am still very much interested in trying it. Its just that its lame how they implemented some mobile game nonsense battle system when the one the original games use is just as usable on phones and (at least to me) a lot more enjoyable, not because of competetiveness, but because it is excellent at giving your Pokemon an identity. It is a mobile game, but it also has Nintendos brand behind it. I wish they'd raise the standart for mobile games, the market there is quite frankly disrespectfull to its consumers.

On a less complainy side, does anyone know what kind of phone is suited for this? It should play smoothly, but be affordable and have good battery life. No idea about smartphones.

Indeed. It's sad that people sometimes put so much value on virtual reality that they neglect reality.

As an aside, I really like how the phone vibrates when a Pokémon appears so you don't have to keep your eyes glued to your phone the whole time. Good feature.

The plus thing will be great as well. That way you don't even have to have the App open.

I'm at about lvl 4 and a half now. Will I want to be the same color as the gym, or different from it? What will be easier to level my pokemon up?

So now you can catch pokemon at your local gym. AWW yeah!

It took less than 24 hours for the first car crash to happen from it. So that is interesting.

Any info on what pokemon was being caught when it happened?

It was Porygon wasn't it? It's always Porygon who's to blame.

I wonder what the tech support for that game is like:

Q: "I've caught severall pokemon inside and around my house, but they are all ghost pokemon! Is my place haunted?"

I'm at about lvl 4 and a half now. Will I want to be the same color as the gym, or different from it? What will be easier to level my pokemon up?

I don't have a smart phone, but I've been following the game enough to tell you that if you are the same color as the gym and there are fewer than 3 Pokemon there, you can leave a Pokemon to fight for that color. If you successfully fend off other trainers, you can get gold. If you are a different color, you can try to knock out the other Pokemon and then you can become the new gym leader (and hope that other players of your color come support you by depositing Pokemon to the gym). It's kinda like a cooperative king of the hill game.

Pokemon. Adventure. Oh man! So I was sitting at home just about to go to bed, and I decided to check Pokemon GO one more time. Luckily, there was an Eevee nearby, but not close enough to catch from the comfort of my living room. I need more Eevee so I can get Vaporeon - my all-time favorite Pokemon! So I ventured out in the dark with my phone, which had only made it up to 15% power. "That's enough to catch Eevee," I thought to myself. As I walked around my apartment complex, I passed a guy with his phone out. He stopped and said, "Hey, you're playing the same game I'm playing." Turns out he's on blue team, too, which is awesome.

So I continued out of the complex and down the street to catch my Eevee, and it was the most powerful Eevee I've found yet: CP 107! So I head back home, pleased with the catch. But wait! What's this on my PokeRadar? It's a Squirtle! Can't go to sleep with that thing so close. I scoured my apartment complex, but to no avail -- it was off down the street and around the corner where I had just caught Eevee. So I make my way back out, and glance at my phone. 3% power remaining. I pick up my pace and eventually get to a T-intersection, with Squirtle just two "steps" away on the "closeness scale." Left or right? I choose right, but Squirtle drops off the radar! 2% remaining. I hustle back to the left side of the turn, and there he is in the bank's parking lot. 1% remaining! I throw my Pokeball. No go. I throw another, and miss. C'mon, I must catch you, Squirtle! I throw another Pokeball, and gotcha! I caught Squirtle! As soon as I cleared the screens and it reported my XP gain, my phone powered off. Just in time!

That would have been a great story right there, but on my way back into the apartment complex, I saw my new friend wandering around, and informed him of my successful capture. He said he'd been searching for the Squirtle, but couldn't find him. I directed him toward the bank, and he thanked me for the tip as he hurried off to catch his own Squirtle. Man, I am having the time of my life!

I really am a bit angry at Nintendo, this could have been the perfect Pokemon game by removing the boring grindy parts from the game and replacing them with actually fun activities outside. But mobile game shenanigans with overly prevalent microtransactions (from what I gather through previwes, please correct me on this, I want to be wrong!) and a fear for the mainline (which, really, there is ways around that without gutting Go, which will never be able to offer a story and could be used to push those mainline games with promotional actions) disapoint me greatly.

Re: microtransactions. The thing you probably need most of all is Pokeballs, but you receive more Pokeballs when you level up and when you visit Pokestops, so they're not really in short supply. I haven't figured out when you'd need Potions or Revives yet, but I think you need them to heal Pokemon after you battle, i.e. they don't revive on their own, and there's no Pokemon Center (correct me if I'm wrong about that). The one time I fought a gym and lost, the game froze, so it didn't save the data from the battle. Incense could be helpful, but I haven't tried that yet, either. So long story short, it's looking very much like you don't need microtransactions at all.

As for the battles, I like that I can pick up the game and get moving. There's no studying moves and planning how to EV train my Pokemon. Each Pokemon gets two moves, and they change as the Pokemon gets stronger. I think it fits nicely, and I appreciate how straight-forward it is. I will probably buy Pokemon sun/moon, and that will satisfy my urge for battling.

P.S. You can also nickname your Pokemon, which helps give your Pokemon identity.

Eh, I haven't read about what the micro transactions are for, nor am I hyped about competitive battling. It's a mobile game. I'm just excited to take my kids out on adventures and catch Pokémon. So I guess I'm not the one to ask.

If that part manages to live up I am still very much interested in trying it. Its just that its lame how they implemented some mobile game nonsense battle system when the one the original games use is just as usable on phones and (at least to me) a lot more enjoyable, not because of competetiveness, but because it is excellent at giving your Pokemon an identity. It is a mobile game, but it also has Nintendos brand behind it. I wish they'd raise the standart for mobile games, the market there is quite frankly disrespectfull to its consumers.

On a less complainy side, does anyone know what kind of phone is suited for this? It should play smoothly, but be affordable and have good battery life. No idea about smartphones.

Nintendo has been pretty upfront on how their mobile games will not replace their standard games.

How would the game having proper combat replace the mainline? Pokemon Go can't really deliver a storyline the way the DS games can.

Hit level 12. The gyms in my area are glitching badly. I defeated them multiple times but didn't push the team out.

I wonder if I'll acquire more poke balls over time or if need to buy them.

Hiked a trail at a metro park and all the benches dedicated to people were pokestops.

No idea what I'm doing when I battle at a gym yet. Frantic tapping for a few seconds and then I'm dead.

Chews through my battery fast!