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Pokemon Masters EX Delivers on 25 Years of Nostalgia




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MagicPolly



Joined: 26 Nov 2020
Posts: 1568
PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:04 am Reply with quote
I had a really fun time with Pokemon Masters and honestly I'd probably still be playing it if I didn't lose my account when I switched phones.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 2:07 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
It's easy to be sceptical about gacha games, but with events and challenges being added frequently, Pokémon Masters EX can be rewarding without spending a single cent.

This is what nearly everyone says about their favorite gacha game and it's this reasoning that's made my distaste for them even stronger.

How are most people able to play without spending anything? Because someone is paying for it. Who? How much are they spending? Five dollars here and there? 10? 100? 5,000? More than they should?

I don't know, you don't know, and so it almost seems unfair to bring up when we don't know. But we know the stories of how people can get addicted to these and spend too much, and we know these games absolutely go out of their way to twist the arm at every turn - maybe not your arm, but someone's.

"Who's paying for it? Who cares? Look at all the free stuff they just gave me!!"

I'm not saying anyone's a jerk for playing these things at all (I feel this way from playing them), but I'm just disturbed how much handwaving is done these days.
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Blazi



Joined: 25 Oct 2021
Posts: 501
PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 2:25 pm Reply with quote
Kicksville wrote:
Quote:
It's easy to be sceptical about gacha games, but with events and challenges being added frequently, Pokémon Masters EX can be rewarding without spending a single cent.

This is what nearly everyone says about their favorite gacha game and it's this reasoning that's made my distaste for them even stronger.

How are most people able to play without spending anything? Because someone is paying for it. Who? How much are they spending? Five dollars here and there? 10? 100? 5,000? More than they should?

I don't know, you don't know, and so it almost seems unfair to bring up when we don't know. But we know the stories of how people can get addicted to these and spend too much, and we know these games absolutely go out of their way to twist the arm at every turn - maybe not your arm, but someone's.

"Who's paying for it? Who cares? Look at all the free stuff they just gave me!!"

I'm not saying anyone's a jerk for playing these things at all (I feel this way from playing them), but I'm just disturbed how much handwaving is done these days.


You've... never understood gacha elements have you? A lot of people who pay for gachas (especially gachas that are fair and have good deals) enjoy paying for them since they love the game, they want to buy stuff to support the company. It's like if you saw a movie in the movie theater and bought a DvD of it since you liked it a lot. I play Arknights, it's a fantastic gacha with fair rates and great for f2p players, and I've spent a lot of money on it, why? Because I love the game and want to support it to keep it running, and guess where that got us, Arknights getting an anime adaptation, and why should f2ps have to care of who is funding it? They show their own appreciation by spending time in the game and playing it a lot. And for people who spend a little, most games have an monthly pack which with a lot of people buying it, adds up to be a lot. I feel like you should take things less seriously.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 2:56 pm Reply with quote
Admittedly, I nearly didn't post because that's the exact same response I always get. "Well I spend money just because I like it!", and some form of "you don't understand how it works" or "you've never actually played a gacha game", etc.

None of that means these games don't specifically profit from methods that encourage people to spend well beyond what is reasonable for them. That's the thing of it: as I've said, neither you nor I can see directly how other people are spending. We don't know how much your favorite game benefits from individuals who are susceptible to the tactics these games use to keep them spending, to the point of unhealthy addiction.

I think not knowing can be comforting, because then you can assume whatever you want. "My game is one of the nice ones, I spend a smart amount (or nothing at all), so there's no problem". In my case, without knowing and seeing how these games operate, I can't help but be skeptical.

It's great you're enjoying the game you like. I am not attacking you for playing it, or even for spending money on it. But I do not like how easily people dismiss what these games can do to certain individuals.
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Blazi



Joined: 25 Oct 2021
Posts: 501
PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 4:13 pm Reply with quote
Kicksville wrote:
Admittedly, I nearly didn't post because that's the exact same response I always get. "Well I spend money just because I like it!", and some form of "you don't understand how it works" or "you've never actually played a gacha game", etc.

None of that means these games don't specifically profit from methods that encourage people to spend well beyond what is reasonable for them. That's the thing of it: as I've said, neither you nor I can see directly how other people are spending. We don't know how much your favorite game benefits from individuals who are susceptible to the tactics these games use to keep them spending, to the point of unhealthy addiction.

I think not knowing can be comforting, because then you can assume whatever you want. "My game is one of the nice ones, I spend a smart amount (or nothing at all), so there's no problem". In my case, without knowing and seeing how these games operate, I can't help but be skeptical.

It's great you're enjoying the game you like. I am not attacking you for playing it, or even for spending money on it. But I do not like how easily people dismiss what these games can do to certain individuals.


Hm, I can see your point, and it can lead to unhealthy addiction as you said, there's also a lot of dangers of sending money on things that won't benefit you directly, like it won't earn you money or gain you something that will have worth in real life, but that's mostly with any purchase you make, whether it pay to see a movie, buying some of kind of toy, of course those will have more effect in life than a gacha in app purchase, but you can see where I'm going with this. And games that are f2p are much more popular (unless your Genshin) since they feel more free to have the person buy in app purchases or not, and games that try to take advantage of you or force you to have the most overpowered equipment or people to clear something, don't do as well, since when both are money wasted, at least the f2p type game feels more fair.
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cfalcon



Joined: 28 Feb 2007
Posts: 37
PostPosted: Mon Oct 25, 2021 6:07 pm Reply with quote
Glad Callum is enjoying Pokemon Masters too! I agree with Callum that skip tickets make the game less of a time sink and speed up progression, and that it's rewarding to see mainline game character development continue.

As someone who plays Fate Grand Order also, PM is FAR more generous in its overall 5* rates, amount of premium currency and proper pity system, which makes it far easier to obtain gacha characters as a F2P compared to most gachas. Plus some of the best units are free welfares that can be earned through events.
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SenpaiDuckie
ANN Community Manager


Joined: 16 Sep 2021
Posts: 457
Location: PH
PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2021 2:36 am Reply with quote
Post removed.

Please be respectful on your posts!
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SenpaiDuckie
ANN Community Manager


Joined: 16 Sep 2021
Posts: 457
Location: PH
PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2021 3:03 am Reply with quote
Blazi wrote:
Kicksville wrote:
It's great you're enjoying the game you like. I am not attacking you for playing it, or even for spending money on it. But I do not like how easily people dismiss what these games can do to certain individuals.


Hm, I can see your point, and it can lead to unhealthy addiction as you said, there's also a lot of dangers of sending money on things that won't benefit you directly, like it won't earn you money or gain you something that will have worth in real life, but that's mostly with any purchase you make, whether it pay to see a movie, buying some of kind of toy, of course those will have more effect in life than a gacha in app purchase, but you can see where I'm going with this. And games that are f2p are much more popular (unless your Genshin) since they feel more free to have the person buy in app purchases or not, and games that try to take advantage of you or force you to have the most overpowered equipment or people to clear something, don't do as well, since when both are money wasted, at least the f2p type game feels more fair.


I will have to say though, I am one of those players who caught themselves in a rabbit hole where gacha became addicting. I think of it as trying your luck and it is dangerous, as it does feel like gambling. I think the Gacha is alluring and it is all because of either the event's summons, costumes, weapons, etc. I've never played Pokemon Master EX but have heard of it when it first came out. But what I know is this -- Gacha can also be seen as a grinding element for players. Due to materials and all, that's why people spend money on it.

Thinking about the points raised, I'll still stand with them. And I'd say that the moderation of spending money or playing Gacha are all dependent on the player now. Self-control is the key for this in order to also be able to maximize the enjoyment of the game. Smile
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Tenbyakugon



Joined: 11 Jan 2012
Posts: 788
Location: Ohio, United States
PostPosted: Tue Oct 26, 2021 12:39 pm Reply with quote
So this game isn’t canon
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enurtsol



Joined: 01 May 2007
Posts: 14746
PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2021 3:31 am Reply with quote
For what it's worth, there was a story awhile ago that shows 0.15% of mobile players account for 50% of the mobile games revenue
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kotomikun



Joined: 06 May 2013
Posts: 1205
PostPosted: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:28 pm Reply with quote
MagicPolly wrote:
I had a really fun time with Pokemon Masters and honestly I'd probably still be playing it if I didn't lose my account when I switched phones.


It looks like there's an account linking thing, though you'd probably still need your old still-working phone to set it up: https://gamewith.net/pokemonmasters/article/show/10844

In regards to "are gacha games unethical," well, there's no ethical consumption in capitalism. The free-to-play model increases access by not requiring people to pay $60+ and in theory harvests most of its funds from rich people, but also gives the rich people unfair advantages and can cause overspending through gambling mechanics. Pros and cons. Ultimately companies use this system because it makes more money, so it's not going anywhere unless it gets outlawed or something.

Masters never really interested me because Pokemon Go simultaneously takes up the poke-gacha slot in my life and diminishes my opinion of Pokemon in general... and the humans were never the best part of the franchise anyway.
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Karasu-Lacryma



Joined: 20 Feb 2015
Posts: 113
PostPosted: Thu Oct 28, 2021 10:57 pm Reply with quote
That one infamous sponsored Twitter hashtag for the app is all I remember of any of my time with it.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 5888
PostPosted: Fri Oct 29, 2021 2:37 am Reply with quote
Tenbyakugon wrote:
So this game isn’t canon


If we’re being fair even the main games themselves can have some shaky canon.

Which leads to things like Red canonically being the only PC whose considered a Champion/Former Champion after their respective game.
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