Topic: Pokemon Picross

It's just a digital game, which happens to be free to start. That fact doesn't make it any less valuable.

If it's anything like Rumble World, then it's very worth the "big game" price. We'll just have to wait and see if it's worth it.

So far it seems that there's no reason to buy any picrites though. You earn them from pretty much everything you do. I upgraded my energy gauge and I'll soon enter the 4th area. Seems like the energy gauge is something that you can get rid of pretty quickly by just playing the game. The thing I'm more afraid of is that the cost of unlocking new areas. I'm enjoying the game so far although it has the same problem as most Picross games: The solution isn't always clear before they color it. I'd like to be able to know what the solution is just by looking at the black and white image but it's unfortunately pretty hard to fit a Pokémon to 10x10 pixels. Speaking of 10x10 puzzles, I hope I'll encounter bigger grids soon.

A couple of questions for anyone who has played so far. Does the game penalize you if you touch the wrong block or does it let you figure it out yourself? I've yet to miss click and I have no intention of doing that but I'd like to know. Also if anyone has played the same level twice, does the game give you the same amount of picrites every time or is it just the picrites from tasks you hadn't completed yet? If it's the latter, I'm pretty sure there's a way to get through the whole game without having to grind for picrites (or at least very rarely).

EDIT: Found the first 15x15 puzzle and answered my own question about penalizing for miss clicking. There seems to be no time penalty.

@Late - No rewards it seems for replaying levels. Which isn't good. I can't get to area 3 since I jumped on unlocking pokemon slots and my energy gauge.

@iphys - $40.03 Canadian [$37.47 with one time offers] and I assume that is taxed and therefore higher. Some different Math might make that lower.
One time:
200 - $1.24
800 - $4.99
Always:
200 - $1.86
1000 - $8.79
2000 - $16.29
4000 - $31.24

Aside from being unable to progress right now, I am enjoying it. challenges are nice and pokemon skills don't seem to make a big difference. I wonder where the 5th stage is in area 2 though.

@Aqueous: I didn't bother unlocking Pokémon slots since I'm not using them but after buying the upgrade to energy gauge I had just enough to advance to the 4th area. I didn't even notice that there's a 5th stage in area 2. I wonder if it's unlocked by completing all missions in said area. Area 3 had one stage that's not currently accessible since it needs a password.

@Late - I cleared everything perfectly in Area 2 but there is no sign of it. I don't think I'll be grabbing more Pokemon slots, until its achievement time because some call for 5 particular Pokemon. Its needed for one of the mural pieces too. I'm just hoping I can get 37 more picrites easily to get to Area 3.

I'm thoroughly confused on pricing now, since we can earn Picrites and spend them on so many things. Maybe that's their plan to confuse us into spending money, but the game seems playable without spending anything so far. I think it's not necessary to max out the energy gauge anyway though: 200 should be enough for any realistic 15x15, so I suppose we should just spend earned Picrites to access new areas and forget about Pokemon slots (hope the missions won't require more than 2) or the energy gauge. I do kind of like the game, so I might just spend a little to have a slightly bigger energy gauge and not feel so constrained.

I bought the discounted picrites (1000 in total). I assume that should be plenty.

Good plan. That's about my price point for this game.

Apparently some of the Pokemon only appear after you've played the game for certain amounts of time.

I do consider buying the reduced 1k picrites. That should get me unlimited moves and all team slots and still got something left to unlock new areas.

Not sure if we're allowed to link to other sites, but someone made a very informative post in the forum for this game on Gamefaqs that people should read if they're planning on playing this game for free or at least not forking out for several thousand Picrites.

Basically you're going to need to rely on the daily challenges to get Picrites to unlock new areas in the game because you won't earn enough from the missions. It's going to draw the game out for a while, so no point increasing the energy gauge to try to lengthen your play sessions, and you can always recharge the energy gauge mid-game by suspending your system if you have a puzzle that needs more than 200 energy units anyway.

I think i rather pay and play the game as i chose instead of waiting a year to be able to unlock everything ^^

I have been enjoying the Pokemon assists. Makes the game faster and more arcade-like.

I'll end up buying the endless health upgrade, but only if it's needed mid-puzzle.

@iphys - Thanks for mentioning it, I reset as I was badly trapped.
Link for anyone else: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/183130-pokemon-picross/72928481
Lots of good details in it.

In the mexican eShop there's a sale where you can buy 200 picrites for 12 pesos and 800 for 49... What the heck Nintendo?

EDIT: Oh I get it, you can just buy them once.

I like Picross, so this has been pretty fun so far.

Cleared area 4 but can't advance forwards. I need 80 picrites and I have 30. I guess I'll replay levels and get those tasks done. I got access to the special level on area 2 and was surprised to see that it was a 20x15 puzzle. The time challenge was 30 minutes, I solved it in 6 minutes.

Wow, 6 minutes. Took me 9 something, and I thought that was pretty fast.

It took me 14.

And that's because I already knew which Pokemon it was

I'm actually really bad at big puzzles.

5 minutes 30 seconds for me. I really think i will spend the money. I just love picross way too much and without money i will just get too annoyed ^^ I can't wait a year to finish the game.