My first virtual convention of the year turns out to be for Pokémon Go :D

The one virtual convention that I have actually attended so far in 2020 wasn’t for either board games or role playing games but for a casual video game, Pokémon Go. Pokémon GoFest 2020. Mind you, part of the reason it worked for me was because it was a casual game that I didn’t need to set aside a designated time to participate. I could also do it with my wife, which was a big plus.

Lockdown parenthood doesn’t allow for extended downtime, which is why I have yet to play a game of Scythe online despite meaning to for months. (Plus trying time remember how to play and use the interface :P) But a casual video game that is designed to be played in tiny bursts, that’s a lot easier to do.

That said, it was really the fact that I could do it with my wife and it was a family activity that really made it work for us.

While we had fun finding shiny Pokémon and fighting Team Rocket as they flew around in balloons (Niantic has worked hard on making a game based on geo caching still work when you can’t go anywhere), the real highlight was using the invite function of remote raid passes so we could play with folks we haven’t seen in months.

The last message of the event was about playing under the same sky. Virtual conventions are a shadow of in-person conventions but they are all about community.

Going to almost the start of Pokémon

Over the last couple months, I have gone from a vague awareness of Pokémon to a definite interest in the franchise.

It all started with Pokémon Go. No, I haven't been playing it. My wife has. And our two-year old became fascinated with Mommy's game. She played Pokémon Snap for him because it was a cinematic game that showed him lots of Pokémon. 

Then we showed him the cartoon, episodes from the first season. I have to say that neither Ash nor Pikachu come across as being very sympathetic in the first episode. However, they both proved to be not the jerks they seemed to be and grew on me. 

(What is with Shonen heroes so often being idiots? That ended up souring me Son Goku in the original Dragon Ball although Monkey D Luffy in One Piece has grown on me)

So that is when I took the big jump. I downloaded Pokémon Yellow and started to play. That's the revamp of the original games only with elements of the cartoon thrown in.

So, I'm only twenty years late to the party but I'd still shown up. And I have to say that it is an interesting world that I have found myself in.

For one thing, it seems like all of the fauna in this setting are Pokémon but only a little bit of the flora. Is everyone a vegetarian? How does meat even work? And why are humans the exception to the rule? Or can you catch someone in a ball?

Still, as someone who has played a lot of role-playing games, many of the ideas do makes sense. And the balance of each pocket monster only being able to have for moves does make for some interesting choices. I do have to admit that the game seems to be built around and grinding for levels.

I will never play every game in the series. Not even close. But I do plan on finishing Pokémon Yellow and I might very well try the new version coming out at the end of the year.