Pokemon Go is heading to the Kalos Tour, or, if I'm reading the promotional terminology correctly, “Pokemon GO Tour: Kalos.” The team offers more Mega Evolutions, which sync quite well, of course, with last year's Pokemon Legends: ZA. But the developers are bullish on a new mechanic called Super Mega Raids, which the marketing materials strongly recommend you get at least seven other players on board with if you want to hold out.
Eight players (or more) go all in for Super Mega Raids, but you'll want to make sure your link holder is properly charged. Can you tell I don't play gachas much? But all is well – or at least it used to be. Time was, Pokemon Go was a pretty damn straightforward gacha, as gachas tend to go, but not anymore.
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“You must team up with at least seven other trainers,” says Pokemon Go's official website, “in order to take on exceptionally powerful Mega-Evolved Pokemon.” But you need the link holder to get into the action, and that's the crux of the problem.
“Starting with Pokémon GO Tour: Kalos, all Mega Raids, including Super Mega Raids, can be entered with a new type of resource, Link Charges. Depending on where you enter the raid, you will be able to use different resources to enter the battle.”
For those keeping score at home, this is the seventh, maybe even the eighth, virtual currency currently active in Pokemon Go. “The best way to collect link fees is to go on adventures with friends, old and new,” the site explains. “You'll be able to earn link fees by completing weekly challenges, opening gifts from friends, and checking in to select venues through Campfire.” In other words, get involved in our game veryand we're giving you a chance to do this, as long as you find seven or more people who are also highly engaged.
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Alternatively of course? “Link fees will also be able to be purchased from the in-game store or the Pokémon GO Web Store.” Don't get me wrong. Scopely, the new owners, isn't doing anything that Niantic didn't do beforehand. Niantic has also never been extremely unique in the gacha sphere; if anything, there are many, many, games out there with much worse procedures. The big problem, in my book, and in the books of many of my friends who still play Pokemon Go, is that this whole scenario hinges on an ideal.
People generally don't play Pokemon Go like they did ten years ago, or even five years ago. The game prints money, but not like it once did. The vast majority of once hardcore gamers are less so now. A decade has passed. It usually happens. The concern some in the still-active playerbase have here is that, outside of Japan, it won't be easy to line up seven people to attempt a Super Mega Raid on a hundred bucks. Combine this fact with the Link Charge issue, and we may be facing a situation where Scopely either lowers the difficulty, or many simply won't get those Megas. C'est la Kalos.
