People Are Review-Bombing Pokémon: Let's Go Across Major Sites, Amazon Japan Blocks User Scores

Wow, ‘fans’ saying the game’s made for kids and yet that’s exactly how they’re acting.

Considering a mainline Pokemon entry has actually been confirmed as in development and likely to release in 2019, this is particularly stupid and makes little sense.

I might understand this if they had not already announced the next gen Pokemon game.

Comments should not be counted as reviews...

This is why we can't have nice things.

They're making a traditional Pokemon game next year. It wouldn't have come out any faster if this game had never existed.

Sad fact that the anonymity of the internet breeds these types of toxic people. If you dont like it fine but let the rest of us enjoy it. Word of mouth and genuine reviews will win the day.
It's the same nonsense these twits do with movies e.g. Star Wars, Black Panther.

Nothin' new. People react in a negative way to changes.

I was skeptical at first but I've never been a big critic on Pokemon games. I'm having a blast playing the game and although some things being removed is tough to get used to I still think this is a quality entry and a step into the right direction for the series.

"STOP LIKING THINGS!!"

Best Buy does it right by only allowing qualified buyers to leave reviews.

It happens with every major game, but I can see Let's Go having this kind of problem. It's actually not a bad game, it just approaches things differently. More importantly, the real Pokemon game will be in our hands this time next year. People have no patience anymore, I swear...

If you think this is bad wait till Smash comes out and the Waluigi and the whataboutmycharacter whiners, start leaving negative and one star reviews. Sigh.

@nessisonett the original Pokemon yellow was also made for kids and featured random battling.

@Hyrule

As sad as it is to agree with you, you're absolutely right, apparently 70+ characters just isn't enough...

Looks the same as a bunch of comments on this very site.

the only negative thing about this issue is the censorship of the criticism on the major market giant website as amazon. double standarts as ususal

Good game. Hope they will support the pro controller down the line...

I am loving this game but I have no problem with people leaving bad reviews.

Imagine having such an empty life that you spend your days writing negative reviews on the internet for games you haven’t even played just because you don’t like the look of it. Sad existence

@Crono1973 Bad reviews are one thing, but review-bombing is something very different.

thats gonna be a mega yikes from me dog

This one cracked me up on amazon. I mean really Nintendo didnt release enough information??!! They announced 4 pokemon games on one day clearly mentioning the mainline game is coming in 2019.
Disclaimer this is an amazon review as an example of review bombing. It's not mine lol
1star:
"What a waste. I thought this was gonna be a proper Pokémon game but with the Go type of capturing.. No.. the capturing is pretty much the Whole Game. This was gonna be my first proper Pokémon game after seeing how the old games played and got excited for the pre-release. Nintendo didn't release enough info about the game to realise it was this crap. Less than 30 mins and I am returning for refund."

@Crono1973

It's fine to be critical of games, but these people simply aren't leaving "bad reviews" — they're actively trying to sabotage game sales because they don't like the casual approach of Let's Go.

Review bombing is best used when a games company has done something terrible (Fallout 76 making a lazy, empty game built on a 15 yr old engine, or Battlefront 2 having the worst lootbox system ever) but because they made a Pokemon game to take it back to Gen 1 and the only big thing they changed was taking out the animal fights from random pokemon encounters you downgrade them? That makes no sense, I for one am having a great time.

these people don't deserve Pokemon, Nintendo and games at all! They are the worst! if they don't enjoy it ok but if they just hating on the game without EVER played it - they should be ashamed!

I just don't get it.

I've been playing Pokemon since the very beginning when I was 10 years old. Only with Moon I got into the mechanics of the meta-game.

Now, I really like the abilities, item, IVs and EVs and team-building. I am learning at my own pace.

Then they release a remake of the first Pokemon I fell in love with (yellow) and I bought it day 2 and am having a hell of a time.

I even like the Pokemon Go mechanic for capturing the critters - although the joy-con sensibility let me down.

But it is not a bad game by any means. It is fun as hell and the soundtrack - oh man.

These people need some love, seriously.

@Hyrule
Alright have fun they will release your big boy Pokemon game filled to the brim with 50 complex systems and animal on animal fights in Winter 2019. Hope you enjoy the wait while the rest of us know how to have fun with Let's Go.

I was a little skepticsl at first, but the is by far the best Pokemon game in the series. I’ve been having an absolute blast. I grew up with Pokemon Yellow, so this is a dream come true. I’m not interested in a “mainline” game these days, there’s too many Pokémon and I don’t know any of them, so I don’t get excited by seeing any of them. Also, the new catching mechanic is way better, you no longer have to grind random encounters to level, you just catch the Pokémon and your entire roster gets experience points. My only complaint is that you can’t use the Pro Controller, I think motion controls are garbage, you literally “waggle” the controller to trigger an action that could have been done with a button press.

@Hyrule is that a review from you or is that a citation? O_O it is confusing lol

@Friscobay the only negative thing about this issue is the censorship of the criticism on the major market giant website as amazon. double standarts as ususal

Agreed, why do people think that's ok? Review bombing is just another way of saying 'too many people don't like this and are speaking out'.

@steventonysmith I think that it might have been a citation but dunno could also been his review... if it is from him, screw it Nintendo said it clearly enough that this one will be different. if it is a citation then the first 2 sentences or so makes sense...

Its a review from Amazon ppl not mine. Put the pitchforks and torches down lolol. i have the pikachu lets go bundle and Im 7 hours in lol.

As we all know by now, if you like a game it’s a 10, if you don’t it’s a zero.

Frankly if I didn’t like the look of a game because of motion controls or something, not only would I not buy it, but I wouldn’t review it either.

@Crono1973 this ain't bad reviews... You can't review a game without ever played it! That's like I go to Metacritic and hate on all PS4 games because screw it...

@Hyrule I knew it XD damn you gotta edit it fast before you get like hundreds of answers XD put " or so before and behind it XD

I do not like the look of the game, and I do thibk it is a cheap cash grab; however, I would never leave a review on a website without playing it first. That is ridiculous.

@MisterDevil hahah just edited before my house mysteriously burns down lololol

@MoonKnight7 Ever seen game companies promote their product with positive messages from reviewers? They are trying to affect sales so they can make more money. They don't care if the game is good or bad, their only goal is to make you think it's good so you'll buy it. Unhappy consumers doing the same thing in the other direction is worthy of censorship?

I have stopped looking at negative reviews since about a week after the game was announced because if the childish nature of the reviews. This game gives people exactly what they have been asking for for years, Pokemon that can follow you. Yes, it is a bit awkward levelling up your Pokemon with the Go style catching mechanic but other than that it is a pretty decent game and if it is a cashgrab that they threw together to play off Go's success it is a decent cashgrab and makes me excited to see what they do with the next Gen games.

@Hyrule lololol XD and ye see a big dragon flying away with a person on it XD

People were told to vote with their wallets, which unfortunately doesn't work, because with a decent marketing campaign any product can be sold to ignorant masses (and with Let's Go there's an army of "fans" who woke up from a cold sleep after nearly 20 years). So in order to have their voice heard, they decided to give those games low scores (but I agree that all 0/10s and 10/10s given to Let's Go should be purged, since they clearly come from trolls) on game oriented websites. I don't really see what's the issue here. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Such a shame. The Nintendo community is relatively calm and nice to be a part of, but every now and then the minority ruin it and give the community a bad reputation. This is beyond childish

@SouzetsuAerir same mate. Like you say it's not traditional Pokemon and has a few new additions and a few removed but overall it's a blast. The new catch system would be more than welcome to return in the future as opposed to the boring luck of the encounter, beat the health down then catch mechanic of old. I do however feel that a fight before a catch would have been better just with visible Pokemon on the map. The graphics are charming and it's a fun game to play.

Fans will be fans. Don’t worry, eventually the disgruntled super fans will get bored and stop bombing the game, then only the real reviews will be left. Be it positive or negative reviews.

@Yorumi well for starters it’s a lot easier to hide the fact your review is fake when you are being positive.

And absolutely nobody was surprised by the stupidity of people. Stay classy, folks.

Next time, when you want valid reviews, maybe put in the code of a valid copy before posting them on a website where sites like Amazon or Gamestop will validate your copy. No need for censorship, no need for fraudulent reviews that questions the credibility of a review at best.

I've been skeptical of review sites for many years both from critics and the community alike. It's like trying to talk with an anti-vaxxer, spout incoherent non-sense that tries to act and think like a real expert but has few understanding of what the theory is all about.

It sad but to be expected. Still doubt it only disappointed fans however as the hardcore fanbase of each console hates seeing the others get a success

It is beyond pathetic and only supports the view that a segment of the gaming community feels they are heavily entitled and anything not designed for them, which they feel should have been for them, deserves what is basically childlike whining and toy throwing from their prams.

These over-aged infants feel that game companies should cater to them alone and are incapabpe of even conceiving the notion that there are other people out there companies may want to occasionally develop a product for. Then their unbridled rage over something as completely unessential as a freakin video game.

These people need to look at their own lives because if review-bombing truly makes them feel like they’ve achieved something trust me; the majority of the human race thinks otherwise (apart from achieving a reduction in value to the human race).

@Crono1973 yep it is shocking. They better juge the "bombers" copy-pasting kids reactions. everybody is so self-centered nowdays they are completely missing the point. Everybody knows better.

Wonder if our old friend Sligeach Eire has been keeping busy on Metacritic...

What’s the big deal? People are acting like a review bomb is the equivalent of pooping into someone’s shoe.

These are what we called TROLLS. If they are doing legit reviews they should identify their real identities to prove they are doing it right. But you know they won't do that.

People need to get over themselves. This is pathetic. As for me, I’m patiently awaiting Christmas so I can try Let’s Go Eevee for myself. 😃

@Yorumi so what you are saying is that it’s easier to go unnoticed if you’re being positive.

@Jingo_Unchained That's just another way of them complaining over how this game isn't Gen VIII or how it's for newcomers that may or may not have started from Pokémon GO, and not for long-time veterans. It's basically elitism at its stupidest, even if it means that they would ironically come across as whining, immature crybabies in the process.

@MH4 it's really good mate. I'm sure you will enjoy it lot.

Pretty pathetic to be honest. In some cases it is justified but from the onset it was made clear that this was a re-imagining and not the 9th Gen main game instalment, which was already confirmed.

Disappointed that people feel the need to trash the game before even trying it.

Why you are surprised by those kids reviews and not by the censorship from a market giant ? Guess what, Pokemon Let's go is a mediocre and lazy game with good amount of cuteness (and great symphonic tunes btw). We are basically happy to see the new 3d models of pokemon and this is what they sell for 60€. Did i buy it ? Yep. Marketing is working just fine on me. But please stop saying it is a game for newbies. I dont buy this narrative. I started to play pokemon from Emerald and boy it was never a rocket science. And i'm not being negative or positive, i will continue to play it even if it has this pokemon parc mediocre feeling all around it

Immature and stupid. That’s all I have to say.

It is entirely possible that i am a special snowflake but not once in my life have i ever used Metacritic of all places as a measurement to judge or buy a game nor will i ever.

Best thing will always be different youtube video reviews where you see actual gameplay.

@Jingo_Unchained : I was playing Tomodachi Life the other day and one character had a feather in her hair. Big whoop. I'm more annoyed with the lack of cultural representation in games. I'm so sick of extreme (yet noisy) minorities having their every whim indulged.

Even the Let's Go games are full of PC omissions when compared to the originals.

It's annoying when it happens to a game you really like, but review bombing is a legitimate form of consumer protest, especially considering how difficult many of these companies make it to really communicate with them.

Similarly, some Australian websites, including JB Hi-Fi, have disabled reviews for the game.

Between this and garbage outlets like kotaku complaining that motion controls are the devil and ruining peoples experience... Gamers and the so called Gamer Elite Journalist aren't that difference... Trash all around

This is so childish. I was very sceptical too but I pre-ordered the game regardless. And oh boy I sure am happy I did. In my opinion this game is the best Pokemon game since Diamond and Pearl. Pokemon kinda lost its way in the last few Generations. Especially Generation 7 was really rough and I am glad Gamefreak took a step back to uts roots with this game.

@Yorumi well yeah and I get you, it’s just human nature.

For example: “love the game, every minute is filled with fun” could pass a true opinion for any game; after all people like things, “I like things too!”. People will ignore it and move on, feeling validated at best.

On the other hand say “This is a waste of time, terrible, I gave up on it”, and you’ll have people stopping to ask “did you actually play it?” and “but why?”

@Yorumi

You're absolutely right !

Be Nintendrones or get away... ^^ Like it's not possible to talk facts.

@Silly_G This is so dirty. The perfect exemple of comments sections serving sales. They never cared about giving you the choice.

@Crono1973 @Friscobay I think you're missing the point about the amazon thing. I don't doubt that amazon are more then happy to remove bad scores, as it means they will sell more copies. But user reviews are also supposed to help customers in making purchasing decisions. Do you really think the hundreds of "Baby game for babys!! Worst gam evr!" 0/5 reviews are useful to anyone?

@afternoontea Yep, because it shows the controversy about this item they are selling you for 60€. Do you believe in non partial and objective intentions of amazon to help you out with the purchase by removing customers reactions ?

@afternoontea But it's also shooting down reviews with genuine complaints. Let the customers decide which reviews they consider to be useful. I would certainly do some additional research if I'd noticed that there are hundreds of "Baby game for babys!! Worst gam evr!" 0/5 reviews.

@Preposterous exactly. People are not stupid and capable of additional research.

@Friscobay Oh yeah, I'm not saying that amazon have our best interests at heart. I'm just saying that there are some legitimate reasons for getting rid of obviously irrational user reviews.

@afternoontea no there is no legitimate reason for deleting users content from the sales website if it is not to improve sales. Nobody cares about your interests as a customer in this case.

@Yorumi can you give an example of people review bombing something positively? I don't know if I've ever seen that happen.

As a general comment, I'm very excited for this game and fake review scores aren't going to influence me. People are clearly just being childish because the game wasn't made for them, and for some reason, they can't handle that. Not to say that there aren't people who posted legit reviews about hating the game, but hundreds of reviews on day one of the release? That's definitely a review bomb and I wouldn't take it seriously for a second.

@sauce suicide squad?

I can’t believe people are being so childish as to give the game bad reviews WITHOUT PLAYING IT simply because it is not the “hardcore” experience they wanted. If you try it, and you don’t like it, that’s perfectly fair, as that’s your informed opinion about the product; but giving the game a 0 arbitrarily and blindly just because it “looks bad” or you think it’s “dumb” or “for babies” (just to quote some of the reviews I have read out there) without ever touching it is beyond immature and petty. It may be a bit of a hyperbole, but it is almost like bashing Mario Kart because it does not play like 3D Mario; they are, simply, two different styles of games catering for different players.

The Let’s Go games are reimaginings of the originals with a different spin, and are in no way meant to be a new standard for the “core” series going forward. Put the torches and pitchforks down, people, and chill.

@sauce Considering how Let's Go's score on Metacritic didn't plummet to 30s, I think it's safe to say that it's got a fair amount of "positive review bombing" to counter negative reviews - proving that among the people who apparently are happy with their purchase, there are also some, who don't have anything better to do (including actually playing the game) than to wage wars on the internet.

@Rika_Yoshitake If you're disabled and you can't use these motion controls, then they have ruined your experience haven't they? They could have easily made the motion controls optional, but they didn't, and now a lot of people who might have otherwise wanted to play this game physically can't. Do you not see how it's ridiculous to conflate people whining about a game they don't like, and legitimate complaints about accessibility?

The Let's Go games are wonderfully adorable. Yeah they're gimmicky but sometimes life needs a little gimmick in it to bring a smile to your face. Seeing Pikachu (since that's the copy I bought) smile and say "Pika Pika" and all his other sayings and using the Poke Ball Plus to catch, and then hearing a pokemon inside the ball speak and bounce around.....it takes me back to when I was a kid playing Pokémon Red and Yellow for the first time on my Game Boy. Negative people on the internet need to loosen up and get a life.

I was in 6th grade when red and blue came out, I'm 31 years old now and still love the series I won't be buying Pokemon Go mainly because I have too many other games in my backlog but it's a shame to see consumer tactics like this employed that hurts the company and won't lead to better pokemon games.

This kind of behavior makes me wish they release let's go 2 next year instead of a full fledged game. Just to spite these whiny babies. "BOO HOO the game I like was changed I'll pretend it deserves a zero". A lot of people work hard on these things I wish others would appreciate that.

@tguk911 I'm 32 years old....and I've been loving Let's Go Pikachu! My hubby is 35 and he's been loving Eevee. True fans of the franchise will absolutely fall in love with these games. Hopefully when you've cleared your backlog, you can give these a try. I know Nintendo is working on the more "hardcore" next generation of games coming out in 2019 but I also hope that they decide to make a Let's Go set of games for the Johto region. Sure we had Heartgold/Soulsilver but I think the Let's Go series should continue!

@steventonysmith why in the world do you keep mentioning animal on animal fights as if that’s a bad thing in Pokémon? You do realize that we still battle them in the game, right? That has and will always be a part of the games.

The other mainline games aren’t even complex at all. Children are capable of understanding the mechanics very easily.

Is anyone genuinely surprised by this news?

That’s disappointing

In my view this game is hampered with not being able to trade online, no pro controller support, having to do the stupid flick at the screen, amongst other little niggles.
Not a 8 but more like a 6.

I would not worry,as most of the masses buying this game will not even look at reviews.

You would assume the first week’s sales would be existing gamers who have been reading about the game for the last few months and watched the directs.

How they can be shocked about the game is beyond me. It even says on the back of the box ‘A first Pokemon adventure for everyone’ or something.

I would hope the review bomb ‘community’ are not the target market for any game anymore.

@Kidfunkadelic83 Thanks! 😃

Loving the game. But why aren’t people allowed to say negative things about it if they choose to?

@Mgene15 People are allowed to say negative things if they want. However, if they are giving bad user reviews to games they probably haven’t played, then it becomes an issue. Go to Metacritic and read some of the negative reviews. There’s one guy who claims you can’t take your starter out of your battle party, so it’s pretty obvious he hasn’t played the game.

@DarthFoxMcCloud
Yeah I'm sooo behind, I just finished Xenoblade 2(I cried during the end) and I want to replay the entire Kingdom Hearts series to get ready for 3 cause I haven't played them in forever. From what I've heard from people that played it so far they said it's fun which is really all I care about so hopefully early 2019 I'll make time, I'm not into competitive battling or anything I play to catch pokemon and the story.

This is sad. It’s still optional to pick up this game.

Personally, I’m planning on enjoying the game as much as possible, I play both classic Pokémon games and Pokémon Go. I’ve never played Pokémon Yellow before, so I thought maybe I can experience some of that in this game. I have ordered Let’s Go Pikachu, but it hasn’t been delivered yet. I’m not going to let all these kids destroy my experience, I’ll just avoid all the reviews and more about this game.

@afternoontea They are optional but since you couldn't be bothered to look it up, don't expect me to explain it to you here.

@IronMan30 Yes, i am really loving it and was surprised to hear that so many people dislike it but I have no problem with negative reviews.

This is pathetic. Seriously, there are some "gamers" who put way more effort into inventing drama and adding toxicity to everything than actually enjoying their supposed hobby. It's really sad.

On the subject of “censorship”, when a score is not an actual personal review but the deranged ranting of an overgrown spermatozoon then yes, it deserves to be deleted; as does any overexcited ranting 10/10 if neither have played the game. Even if the game was a huge disappointment for someone who played it; I find it very hard to believe that warrants a 0/10 review as that implies the game is completely unplayable and broken.

This is clearly nothing more than some form of deranged “protest” to vent their own anger at not being served their desired morsels.

After watching people playing the game I'm glad I skipped out, I'm not one to review bomb, but if I had picked this game up I would not have been happy. The game looks super boring due to the new catch mechanic and really does for the most part give little reason for using different pokemon outside of trainer battles and gym battles. Also due to this from what I've heard the game is way easier than other games from the sounds of it. The game definitely does not deserve high ratings in my opinion, but it also doesn't deserve super negative ones, based off the gameplay I've seen i would guess something around a 6.5-7 would have been an appropriate rating.

Kind of ironic that before the game comes out Friday, people were saying how "professional reviewers" and fans are shills and drones. Now certain people are forming a army (free I assume) reviewing the game they don't like and never played.

I like opinions from all sides and informative reviews to educate on the game (hopefully non bias) but actions like this give fans and gamers a bad stereotype. It's less about the game itself and more about the personal agendas/power to send out.

this game doesnt need to exhist i bought it then bought the poke ball for the "full Experience" and its boring, catching new pokemon without weakening them is so dull. and theres no need to throw all you got to do is a whip of the wrist so why not just let me push A and move on from motion controls they are a gimmick and always have been.

@ultraraichu It's less about the game itself and more about the personal agendas/power to send out.

Do you complain when publishers promote an objectively bad game? for publishers, it's all about corporate agendas.

@Almighty-Koz I have found it's best to play it in handheld mode. Motion controls are used to center the Pokemon and then you press A to throw the ball.

I buy games from a website based in my country(Brazil). I can only post reviews for titles that I bought and were already delivered. Is that such a hard thing to do?

@Crono1973 no. It can’t be. Something wrong with the new Pokemon game and peopl are reacting in a binary way. That’s impossible. /s

It’s a shame companies are so adverse to hearing this feedback. I wonder if Nintendo reached out to Amazon to “correct the issue.”

@Rika_Yoshitake I did look it up actually, if you're referring to how you can technically play it without motion controls if you place it on a flat surface. But I didn't think it was worth mentioning, since it might as well not be considered an option. The switch is supposed to be a portable device. If you're only allowing this play style when the switch is stationary on a flat surface, then you're still punishing disabled players because they won't be able to use the switch portably, which is one of the main selling points isn't it? Again, there's absolutely no reason they had to make them mandatory in every other scenario. It's still a valid criticism, and not one that should be conflated with irrational fan reviews.

It seems that some people never left play school and need to grow up.

To be honest, it is quite childish, I always disliked review-bombing, it distorts the view of a game, since most people look at the reviews. I personally quite enjoy the game.

Haha, userscores.

I believe that user reviews are extremely irrelevant and I never look to them to decide if I'm going to buy a game. People will childishly review bomb a game for something as simple as it not being on their console of choice. Also, most people are stupid and can't put together a well-written review anyway. These sites that allow user reviews need to find a way to confirm if you own the game or not.

On that note, Pokemon Let's Go is a solid 8 for me. I love everything about it except the mandatory motion controls. The catching mechanic is fun and I hope it stays in the series, but I do hope the next games are more difficult and trainers actually have full teams of Pokemon to battle instead of 2 or 3 against your six, and scale a little with your highest levelled Pokemon in your party. For instance maybe like at least within five levels or something. Aside from that, these are my favorite Pokemon games since Black/White.

I think this is immature and stupid. Hold my mustard while I review a new Mcdonalds's hamburger without tasting it. It is not fair to the developers who poured out there time and energy for it. I am enjoying my wife playing the game, I got her Let's Go Eevee for her bday. It is very charming.

@hatch haha you caught me! I begrudgingly bought the game because it’s Pokémon and I am a fan but I was not expecting to really enjoy it.

Then I played and at first it was painfully easy, but then I started finding the charm in the game. It also helps that you can completely avoid motion controls in handheld if you want.

After about 12 hours of play time I am throughly enjoying the game. I do wish it had pro controller support for tv play, but otherwise it’s another great entry in the series.

@NintendoFan4Lyf Username and misspelling checks out.

@Gameguy98
I am poking fun at those who won't even give this great game a try because they changed the way of how you capture wild pokemon. I keep bringing up the fact if the only reason you are upset with the new game is because you can't jump a wild pokemon and force it into a one on one animal fight until it's an inch from death before you capture it, that's weird

@KingBowser86

How mature. You don't have a counter argument, so you make fun of his username.

@tguk911 I'm the same. I play Pokémon to "catch em all" and the "story." I don't do competitive....it's too complicated. Lucky you finished Xenoblade Chronicles 2...that's on my to-do list (I have an extended Christmas vacation so I'm hoping to finish that game plus the Torna expansion). I'd love to play through Kingdom Hearts Remixes to get ready for 3 but I don't think I have the time for that. If only the PS4 was portable like the Nintendo Switch, HAHA! Good luck!!!!

The attitude is immature

I too wish this game would crash and burn in a garbage bin but, like, who’s got the time..it’s not THAT serious

@bratzdoll It is actually really good, I am a die-hard fan who has every entry and love it.

@electrolite77 Every fan base now unfortunately.

Always spectacular[ly hypocritical] when fans, mentalities that shouldn't exist in the world themselves, project the very idea upon things like Fiction. But while fans will sadly exist as long as audiences do, Fiction will likewise exist as long as the miracle of human imagination and creativity does. And fan-minded trash campaigns like this here is ultimately doing little but lowering the innately debatable value of "score aggregator" sites and the whole concept of "user reviews". If I want to scout ahead of a possible purchase, I seek info about the product, not info about eleventy zillion people's tastes and preferences out there.

You'd have to be a real loser to go out of your way to do that.

@NintendoFan4Lyf Is there any constructive way to vent dissatisfaction with a particular release in the first place? I'm asking out of genuine curiosity, because I cannot think of any way that wouldn't be immediately labelled as "trolling" by people who disagree and has any chance of actually changing anything.

@Preposterous

There are certainly better ways than giving a game a 0/10 with a review that makes it obvious you haven't played the game.

@Frenean Sure, but what ways exactly? I'm asking for actual alternatives.

Look all I'm saying is, making a bunch of dummy accounts and reviews to hurt sales of a game you don't think should exist because it doesn't appeal to you personally, especially when you haven't played the freaking game, is BS. If you played the game and didn't like it, cool. Post that review. Same with positive review bombing, which to be fair, is usually corporate, or in response to negative review bombing, both of which are also BS.

The whole point of a review is to let people know your experience with a game to help them make a purchasing decision. If the game doesn't appeal to you, just don't play it. Complain about it online. But don't try to artificially lower (or raise!) the score because you saw the features of the game, thought they were dumb and bad for the franchise, and decided not to play it at all because "that's not pokemon." You may not think it's worth your time, you may be wildly unhappy that the game exists, but nobody cares. Artificially changing the scores of a game you HAVEN'T PLAYED by using dummy accounts is immature and stupid, and anybody in here trying to justify it is either trolling or doesn't understand what a game review is.

@Kit Yes, some people think corporations are their friend, they need to outgrow that.

@sauce I highly doubt they did that to directly hurt sales, honestly. I mean, do people really base their purchase habits on opinions found on the internet? Were you affected in any way by all that review boming? Do you know anyone who was? Sending a message to the developers, who usually are monitoring things like that, seems much more plausible.

@NintendoFan4Lyf See below.
As for review bombing, I might agree, but reviews do get "moderated" even when most of these companies say "Oh, reviews aren't paid for or maintained" or whatever. And frankly, if the game is so egregiously off-base that it's that upsetting to people that are enthused about the franchise, that should be expressed -freely-.

@Frenean Oh, I do! But I've also been trashed far too many times for trying to discuss reasonably that I've become jaded and will jump on hypocrisy. Any extroverts that carry a torch for a company that doesn't deserve it should be shot down. Despite not having one in their initial post, I'll give a simple summary that says all that's needed about this cashgrab:
Pokémon: Let's Go! very naturally removes some archaic design pillars of the Pokémon series such as annoying random encounters (with the added
benefit of making low level and other types of playthroughs much easier) and reduces the "war of attrition" by reducing catching Pokémon to a simple scenario that doesn't drain HP. This, unfortunately, comes with a heaping helping of half-steps in integrating with Pokémon GO even after useless and predatory plastic accessories, lacking control options, and an absolute lack of challenge that makes a Pokémon (or any video game) journey intriguing for the young mind.

You and everyone else are going to have to meet us sourpusses half-@$#!-ing way and stop automatically defending "your side" 100%, because we didn't get jaded overnight and nobody likes being upset or on the attack all the time. In my case, I just want a bloody worthwhile video game.

That's depressing that even Japan is doing this. I had higher hopes for the population there....

The rhetoric is a tad immature, but the game deserves negativity. No retail console game as barren and empty as this game deserves praise from the industry.

Here’s a simple rule for a happy life: things that other people like don’t ruin your enjoyment of the things you like. Pokémon fans already get a YEARLY of a new, expertly crafted RPG. If they can’t find happiness in that they have no business playing a game about positivity and friendship in the first place.

This is completely acceptable. Companies should NOT cater to the mobile casuals. Either make your games how you used to or don't make it at all.

@Rafx even then it wouldn’t make any sense. Pokémon fans already get an almost yearly release of new installments. It’s not like Metroid of F-zero

@NintendoFan4Lyf You're essentially telling me to do things that no one will actually bother to look at, because it's only a single drop in the big sea of comments on the internet, easily drowned out by the sound of cash flowing to Gamefreak's bank account.
People review bomb because it results in something that is not easy to ignore; we're having this conversation, because someone from Nintendolife decided it's an interesting thing to report on. Low user score on metacritic probably will go unnoticed by Gamefreak, but bad reviews on Japanese Amazon must have caught their attention.
Have you ever considered why sometimes people go to protests? Because calm and collected responses rarely work.

I'm 15 hrs in and only 3 badges I love it.that being said I can't till next year for the new one.I also hope after the 2019 games.they will remake gen 2.

@Wintersoulis from the time I spent with it.its far from based on pokemon go.catching pokemon and candies is it.besides seeing pokemon in the wild which I do like.

@Crono1973 I expect them to do stuff like that, as with every business selling good and service. Be it games, movies, appliances, food, etc, you know the motive is money.

It's just questionable when it comes to people that is not involved directly in the business, like us gamers. Well as far as I know.

Given the amount of information and access to the game it's pretty simple to get a good idea of what the game is. Honestly I'm pretty disappointed in the game, it's a high definition repeat of yellow, but lacking many of the things players loved. It's worse than just easy, it's whites and therefore unrewarding. Some level of challenge should be expected, but my team was level 70+ after just 6 hours of play and Eevee doesn't care how many badges I have, she just does what I say.

@Slim1999 no weakening pokemon before capturing? I need to feel a challenge when doing anything in Pokemon. Ever since the 3DS, Pokemon has fallen to the casual side of gameplay, ESPECIALLY Sun and Moon. I want to be lost in a new area, not have my hand held by a marker on a map.

@NintendoFan4Lyf Blindly-positive reviews. That's the only logical purpose that review-bombing would carry. But then, none of this is about logic in anything remotely near a "perfect world" - it's the internet, and people seem to be galavanized even harder, these days.
And, keep in mind, just because it's not a "core entry" doesn't mean it doesn't reflect or affect the rest of the franchise (see: Mega Man, Sonic, Star Wars, etc.). Nintendo's / Pokémon games live and thrive off of emotional and qualitative components. Otherwise, people would have just played Pokémon GO and the entire franchise would have fad-died like every other game (actually, it darn near did anyway in the mid-00's).

Utterly stupid. If you dont like the game and have played it fine, g ahead and review. But doing it just for the hell of it doesn't help anyone. The developer cant improve a game if they cant tell the real review from the fake so you accomplish nothing

@ultraraichu Maybe you should expect consumers to give negative reviews to products they don't like too. Consumers don't get paid for it either.

@Wintersoulis Pokemon never had a challenge so i never did understand this argument. I had Red and Blue on the original Gameboy an never once was it a challenge. For the most part you could always use the starter..just like every single other pokemon game. I did that in X as well. I've seen a lot of people argue that this one as too easy but they are all easy. They are meant for children not adults.

This is why I never pay attention to user scores on websites.

Reviews are trash. Keep being entitled fat lazy neckbeards. The sales will speak for itself.

@Preposterous yeah, I do look at review scores before I buy things. That's what reviews are for. "sending a message to the publishers" is a sad excuse to justify throwing a fit about a game one doesn't want to buy in the first place.

@Crono1973 I do. I am not saying that they shouldn't. I just prefer to be more constructive and knowledgeable in a product that they own, which in this case a good amount don't.

Same applies for reviews that are blindly positive. I don't want somebody to tell me how great a product is and they never even played it.

@NintendoFan4Lyf Oh definitely, I do believe Masuda even dubbed it as such. I was fine with the series myself until Gen 3 when EV's/IV's and such just bore down too far. Battle Frontier didn't help, either. Even Gamefreak agreed! That's why I -am- legitimately glad to see an entry that isn't afraid to say, "Hey, we got this wrong, check out the cool way we fixed it!"

And, well, thanks for letting me vent/putting up with my vigor in the process. I've been "debating" for far too long alongside an absolute mixed bag of intelligence/maturity levels with seemingly no great direction or results coming out of my one real hobby, so it gets to be draining over time.

Speaking of which:

@jeoncs Biased generalizations don't help your argument or the situation. Sales numbers are just as subject to "blind Pokémon-franchise purchasers" on the same extremist tangent of the other side of this fence.

@KingBowser86 Don't care. I'll repeat it. Reviews are trash. If you base your decisions to purchase something on them you're a fool. There are beautiful people fluffing them for sales and pissy whiners that are doting on them to try to reduce sales.

@jeoncs Reading a well-written review might give you a bit of information that makes you say, "Oh wow, this isn't for me," or "That's perfect!" That said, I wonder how many people actually read good reviews (and how even fewer people write them...).
As a whole, yeah, you've got a point. But well-made reviews serve a fantastic purpose.

@NintendoFan4Lyf That's fine, but there's no excuse for lack of difficulty settings that would actually make the game "for everyone".

I like this game maybe the haters need more blood and guns in their games can we have a game for kids for once and it is amazing in grapifics and yes I paid for mew.

@ultraraichu I don't want somebody to tell me how great a product is and they never even played it.

Meet the marketing team.

@Crono1973 You do realize I'm referring to the customers and people writing "reviews" right?

This is a review of the article about review scores.

1 of 5 stars

By no means is this score a reflection of the editorial value of the article or the aforementioned game. This star rating is purely a reflection of my perceived slight about my ownership of someone else’s intellectual property, which by the fact of me playing its predecessor, I own creative control over the development process, gameplay design, and marketing efforts.

@ultraraichu Are you saying that it's ok when a marketing team upsells a game even though they probably haven't played it and certainly haven't paid for it?

@Kevember Imagine if we had a way to avoid having to pay for this game and just wait for Pokémon 2019... Too bad we are all being forced to shell out $60 for a game we may not want to play.

How do you know you won't like it until you play it? You can't judge the game without playing it! /s

Well, it is a lazy cash grab to be fair. And I can't see how anyone can have fun with this abomination. I hope that they don't make Gen 8 too easy.

Many (dumb) people don't understand this is a spinoff. They expect this is a main series game

@Crono1973 I already cover that in post #171. I expect them (publishers, owners market team, etc.) to do stuff like that because it is their job to sell products for legal tender. That is why we go to people that is not involved with the business in the hopes of making a more informed buying decision.

@irock Many (dumb) people don't understand this is a spinoff. They expect this is a main series game

...and they should know too right? I mean they usually pay $40 for a main Pokemon game and this one is $60. Clearly it deserves some slack.

@ultraraichu I just see a glaring double standard and you don't. Consumers negatively review a game with nothing to gain but marketers get paid to tell you a game is great even if it isn't. For you, it's the consumers who are in the wrong.

Validated purchaser = genuine review score. Anything else should be purged (positive or negative).

I usually read negative reviews of products I’m interested in to see if their concerns/disappointments would match my own. I ignore two word reviews. Or anyone YELLING IN CAPS.

@Crono1973 I have not say customers are in the wrong, especially if they leave a negative review. I have not say that marketers are saints or anything close.

I think you're under the impression that I'm defending the brand, company, marketers, or something, when really I don't trust them because they have an agenda and don't care about my personal interest or situation. This is why we go to other websites and people not affiliated with them. A review, positive or negative from a person that played the game and can give an analyzed report on it.

Salty tiny Lego bricks. The game is actually really good. This is the problem with controversial games like this and public review sites. They don't like it, they simply review it as being garbage. That's why you use sites like this one, or Polygon, IGN (even though it's not very valid), etc.

User reviews is the cancer of gaming. Metacritic too.
I buy games on impulse. This is my thing

Gotta love toxic fans complaining that this is a "cash grab". Like, DO YOU EVEN POKEMON, BRO?

This franchise practically perfected the art of the cash grab. From almost-but-not-quite-identical dual releases, to the traditional "one more serving" later that year, to the remixed and slightly upgraded version a year or two later, to the addiction-feeding slogan "gotta catch 'em all!" to the tie-in CCG to the endless merchandising to store-exclusive Pokemon to cheaply made by-the-numbers anime that is literally designed to remind consumers of certain Pokemon they may not have in their collection...

I'm shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, to hear that this once-pure and artistic series has stooped to blatant cash grabs like Let's Go. 0/10, this game killed my childhood and burned my hometown to the ground. (Did I do that right?)

@Mr_Pepperami

I experienced a lot of time as usually fanboys are cultist from another system that does stuff like this to games not on their platform. And honestly, it wouldn't be surprising if this is the very case here with many of these lowlives. Especially with a certain extremely toxic fanbase out there that this sort of behavior seems customary of.

@Crono1973

"Ever seen game companies promote their product with positive messages from reviewers? They are trying to affect sales so they can make more money. They don't care if the game is good or bad, their only goal is to make you think it's good so you'll buy it. Unhappy consumers doing the same thing in the other direction is worthy of censorship?"

First of all, you say "censorship" like Amazon Japan is taking down or editing reviews (it isn't). They just hid the overall star count cause they know people are spamming it, therefore it's not an accurate representation to help people with their purchase. The reviews are still there, the stars, or lack-thereof, are still there. Dare I say it, people will actually have to read those customer reviews!

And just so I fully understand your comment, you think this is ok because it acts as some form of "balance to the marketing system." Wow, that's... muddy. Yes, let's just flood the entire review system with bs comments that don't mean anything to battle that positive marketing! That'll show em! And we wonder why no one trusts anyone these days.

Customer reviews are not intended as some invented philosophical battleground of good vs. evil; it's to try and provide helpful context to someone on the fence about a product. And let me be clear, not everyone will like Let's Go, but given how many 0s appeared on the first day tells the narrative that review bombing is taking place. Those aren't honest opinions, and I don't think they should waste anyone's time.

It's completely fascinating that you think review bombing is ok just cause a marketing team pulls a positive line or two from reviews to sell a game. Talk about a race to the bottom that's not helpful to anyone.

Probably find sevral are one person too...
also im enjoying it way more than i expected. Iv got Lets Go Eevee btw.

It's just dumb when silly Internet mobs do stuff like this for no good reason. From all accounts, these are actually really solid core Pokemon games, despite are few obvious little differences here and there. This is not the time for the mob to act.

I am not interested in this game at all but I would never be part of a review bomb unless it is something the developer adds to the game post launch. E.g Completely breaks the game, Adds in microtransactions that are pay to win.

The last time I was part of a review bomb was when payday 2 (note this is for the pc version) added in loot boxes that added skins to the game. While the skins themselves is something I can ignore but when they add in bonus random stats to those skins for your weapons was something I completely disagreed with.

EDIT: They later removed the ability to buy the item needed to open the lootboxes when they got the rights back from the publisher and also removed the stats from the skins so now it is just a nice added random bonus you can get now which I am ok with.

This is the toxicity that puts me off the gaming community. Maybe the negativity and complaints would actually be worth reading if it was level headed constructive criticism and not "Omg 1 starz, this game is 4 babiez!!1!"

ignoring that fact that this a side game geared at a different audience.

Wonder how many people are criticising this, but were fine with the review bombing of Federation Force.

@Crono1973
People usually pay $40 for games on weak, dedicated handhelds. $60 is standard pricing for full HD developed home console games. The price has nothing to do with anything. The game shouldn't be given any "slack". But at the same time it shouldn't get marks against it
for not being something it was never intended to be, and it dang sure shouldn't get marks against it from salty fanboys using review bombing as a weapon to quell their inner spite

@Yorumi
to actually have a real impact on the score you have to get a LOT of people doing this. That alone says something

The amount of people doing it is directly correlated to how big the fanbase is, and since so few leave reviews anyways, it only takes a small percentage to have an effect.

What it says is the core Pokemon fanbase is massive and butthurt enough to try to sink the game's scores without even playing it or trying it, while most normal casual players dont care about leaving reviews. They just wanna play the game.

The fact the game scored well from actual unbiased reviewers in the media, and places like reddit and our own forums are chock full of people saying "wow, I was skeptical but after trying it, this game is pretty great!", that says a lot. And if the people trying to tank reviews actually managed to try it themselves (with an open mind, cause without that their decision is made beforehand) they'd probably be saying the same thing.

I never got into Pokemon and yet this is the first one that sucked me in immediately. So much better than past games, and most of the points of contention turned out to be complete non issues (like the fact you battle as much as you catch, and the catching turned out to be more fun than battling!). That says a lot.

All this review bombing says is that the Pokemon fanbase is not going to be outdone by the Metroid and Zelda fanbases for worst of all time

@Kevember

Who's forcing you to buy anything though man? I've not heard of even one incident of where Reggie or a hit squad sent from the higher ups @ Gamefreak were going around & putting guns to folks heads or abducting loved ones or some $#!t to get folks to but ANY of their products. You can do what tons of other normal people do & just keep your money in your damn pocket if the product in question doesn't meet your requirements or standards. All of this excessive whining, hyperbolic anger & disappointment along with the stench of entitlement is pretty pathetic though.

You control your own destiny as far as your spending habits habits go. So you have no one to blame but yourself if you're spending the money on items that you deem so unworthy or whatever. As a consumer myself trust me when I tell you that it IS possible to control spending impulses & keep your money in your pocket. And that's coming to you from a guy who has a virtually unclear-able backlog because he at times is frivolous with cash (amassing said backlog and other things).

Gamers are so silly. Such a gang/hive mentality. If it isn’t what they as an individual want then no one ever is allowed to enjoy it. I thought playing games were about having fun? Hopefully review sites will remove the crap posts.

Welcome to the internet. It's a wonderful place.

This is nothing new. That's why you read the reviews to see if they even played it.

I have Let’s Go Pikachu and I’m enjoying it immensely. I’ve played Pokémon since Red and Blue and I don’t get the hate. I think that Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon were abominations and this game is awesome. I don’t get the hate whatsoever.

@JaxonH Dont forget the Smash fanbase. That might be the worst of the bunch.

@Yorumi
Except you can't divert the discussion to people giving good reviews. This is about review bombing. If you want a separate discussion for people giving false good scores, there's a time and place. But right now the discussion is about people tanking scores out of spite for a game they haven't even played.

At the end of the day, it doesn't take a leap of logic to reason that masses of people dishing out 0/10 day one are tanking scores, and obviously are acting out of childish emotion (lack of restraint).

They dont have to like the direction, but they do have to actually play the game before assessing their judgement, and anyone giving a 0 is clearly too emotionally invested against the game to have bought it, particularly when the reviews are going up the minute it releases.

This is a case of something quite obviously pathetic and that should be denounced without exception. Pointing the finger and saying "ya but a few of these guys over here might be giving higher reviews" doesn't make this any less wrong, and only serves to try to justify one wrong with another potential wrong.

I don't understand how anyone could say anything in response other than "this is hogwash and the fanbase should be ashamed". Its a clear case of hating change, refusing to try something before judging and sabotaging out of spite. Its the lowest of the low. It's as bad as Zelda fans sabotaging Sterling. If someone wants to actually play it, then say ya know, I dont like this, and give an appropriate moderate score, that's one thing. But sticking their fingers in their ears screaming la la la la I hate this game and I won't even give it a chance despite countless people reporting how good it is, that's just fanboy nonsende. Especially when a normal game was announced before this one even released to assure fans this wasn't replacing the traditional.

Now? I hope they make all the Pokemon games like this. Not only because its actually more fun, but so everyone who tried to sabotage it without even trying it can reap what they sow. Nobody is shutting down legitimate bad reviews, they're hiding the mess the fanboys made who gave 0 without playing it. There's always a few children giving undeserved 0 and 10, but when it's a statistically significant number tanking with 0's on release day what is generally agreed to be a fantastic game, that's completely unjustified, and it should be called out.

@Phle it is amazing! I am one of the so called "hardcore" pokemon gamer/fan and I enjoy it to the fullest! The nostalgia is so real I almost got tears when I got my "first" pokemone! Them feels! The feeling that I am a 7 year old kid again and getting to know the world of Pokemon is amazing! Sure the fighting feels a little short but it is soooooooo enjoyable! Playing with Pikachu/Eevee, seeing the Pokemon in HD, the world... Amazing!

@Yorumi
Disagreeing with a 6/10 is far, far different than a 0/10. A 0/10 is always unjustified, no exceptions.

I dont disagree with "those who disagree", I disagree with people who dont own a rational, evidence based opinion based on experience. And anyone, anyone giving a 0/10 on release day is lying, and is not giving a fair and reasonable assessment. It's as simple as that.

The problem is saying anyone who disagrees with that just disagrees with negative opinions. And that's just factually not true. Reasonable negative opinions based on experience are polar opposite of unreasonable spiteful opinions based on hot air.

Easy,someone behind paying ppl to do bad reviews in order to sabotage and manipulate Nintendo share price.
If I dun like a game,I wouldn’t take time to see the reviews of it not even write reviews.

I'm disappointed with the frame rate being 30, but it is a great game and I'm enjoying it. Too bad people are spamming negative reviews.

Giving a 0 or a 10 for a review is certainly not immature, it's a valid review score.

I didn't expect let's go to score very well critically or publicly so I'm not surprised. I don't like the term review bombing, some said it was done to breath of the wild but I think that game was seriously over hyped and given far too many 10s so I would call that equally review bombing. Its just a matter of perspective.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with issuing a 0 on auser rated system, if the game was better it would receive substantially less zeros, yes??

Okay, so I get that the games might be a bit on the disappointing side, especially with how lazy some parts of the game feels like; but at the same time I truly feel like the games have loads and loads of love and passion poured into them, they're supposed to be great games and they truly are to a certain point but afterwards it kind of dwindles down into "eh, I've seen this two hundred times already" and it kind of gets stale.

The reviewers that rated it a 0 or a 1 or even a 2 were indeed immature by being so negative about it, though I do get that it feels like a slap across the face for them; look on 4chan's board /vp/, they're very... 'passionate' about Pokemon. But come on, it is just a bit childish to hate on an otherwise beautiful game just for the sake of making it look bad.

I myself haven't played the games but I've seen enough footage from livestreams and playthroughs to know that Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee are not games for me, nor will they ever be because they do not appeal to me.
However, though I am of the opinion they are a bit lacklustre when it comes to how the experience feels, as I don't feel wowed, just mildly entertained and at that point the grinding for Pokemon just feels tedious when there's no thrill of battle. But truly, the games are gorgeously crafted, the remade soundtracks are amazing and you can really see they tried their best to stick to their plan and made an easy to pick up game for kids to enjoy and get into with a cutesie artstyle and everything with it.

So to conclude my statement;
While the game does deserve it's criticism for lacking in various important areas such as replayability, thrill management and depth of the game, it doesn't deserve the beatdown it is getting for it is still a stunningly gorgeous game carefully crafted with lots of time, effort, passion and especially a lot of love for Pokemon and that is where the game truly shines.

It is easily worth a solid 14 out of 10 for how beautiful it is, though it does deserve a critical 4 out of 10 for the fact it'll be lacklustre after 14 to 17 hours of the game.

Is it worth the 60 euro price tag? Not so much.
Is it still worth trying out at a cheaper price if you want to? Definitely.

Just a bunch of manboys having a tantrum because they didn’t get what they wanted.
99% of these reviews are from people who even haven’t played the game and just want to boicot it.
I haven’t bought it yet but all the people I know who had are quite happy with it.
In the end it all comes as the Internet being a toxic place full of falsehoods and people who have nothing better to do than hate on others.

@nessisonett I honestly don't see what is wrong with Pokemon games being made for kids anyways. Isn't that what they originally were? All of these "adult" Pokemon fans got into it when they were kids because that is the target demographic.

@Mr_Pepperami Yeah I mean just imagine being the kind of person who gets so offended at the notion of a Pokemon game being made for kids that you feel a need to dedicate most of your time to trying to sabotage it. The thought alone makes me cringe.

@bolt05

Not even close man. A 0 review would indicate that it is an absolutely broken, uncontrollable, buggy, unfinished mess of a game or something. Basically something that you would not even be getting a license to be put on anyone's system. There is absolutely no reason for a zero score unless it's absolutely broken illegal software that could potentially break your system or some crap dude. I was trying not to agree with a lot of gaming media and journalists, but game as a becoming way too entitled for real. And why even early on I never wanted it to became so mainstream as I saw this kind of stupidity coming.

That is like me giving the last god of war 0 for how abundantly meh Iit was after all the overhype I received on how great it supposedly was, spiderman for being a bit of the same & nothing special as well for all that a lot of fanboys gave me or forza because I am not that into regular car racers. However, I can see that they're well me games and certainly would be lying to myself & others if I said they deserve zeros.

@Yorumi
No, a 5 or 6 star isn't any better (actually it is, because it's a less extreme lie) but it can't be demonstrably proven. This can. Hence why we call this out and not that. Because if there's any chance it's a genuine reasonable opinion we dont want to risk it. But this? There is no chance of that.

And you're right, who is without sin here. But unless you're going to take that stance every time someone does something out of line, in both directions, and argue the merits of fanboys defending indefensible positions, dont selectively take that stance here. And while we have all sinned, that doesn't mean we dont call it out when we see it. It still has to be called out and recognized as being wrong.

And in this case, I totally think fans are being unreasonable and there's not a point to be made. The only point they're making is "we dont care if every single main game has been catered to us and there's yet another main game catering to us in just 12 months, we demand this game cater to us too- we will not allow games to deviate or appeal to anyone other than ourselves, despite being vastly outnumbered by those who welcome this ONE SINGLE GAME with ONE SINGLE CHANGE with open arms".

The fact they announced a new main "core game" before this one even released, that mopped the floor with any reasonable argument that Pokemon Let's Go should be anything other than what it is. Fans have zero argument. Zero reason to protest. Zero reason to be upset (aside from the incredibly entitled reason stated above).

The internet is rife with unreasonable behavior. This is one of those examples that should be framed for all of eternity for others to see how not to act.

@JayJ I know right? Seriously if it’s not your thing then fair enough but imagine being that sad that you have to pretend that you’ve played the game and hate it just cuz you perceive it as different from what you wanted? It’s pathetic.

@gameboy1975 so by your logic the scale should start at what 3, 5? If i think a game you assign a 10 to is rubbish and deserves a zero, guess what thats how the stoey is written. Its subjective, this is why user scores and critical reviewer scores both exist.

It looks to me like the vocal fanbase have spoken on this game... and they're not impressed. Its a valid response even if you disagree with it.

@JayJ

I hear you man. I agree with this & some of what you said in a previous post. However we are actual adults it seems. Where a lot of these so called "mature gamers" (both of which are doubtful) these days seem more like overgrown 6 year olds. As a lot of these guys try to justify their participation in a child's Hobby and playing with toys by throwing out terms like mature, kiddy, and everything else.

When in all actuality, we are grown @$$ men and women being this heavily involved in a kids hobby. So we need to just suck it up and enjoy ourselves or STFU & go do something serious somewhere else since we insist on trying to act like we're so serious & above participating in a child's pass time. Get the hell over yourselves, out of your mom's basement & get a girlfriend/boyfriend or something.

@Jingo_Unchained Getting offended is a choice, and that's precisely what the SJW's made in the case of Mr. Game & Watch.

@JaxonH nobody is required to demonstrate why they assigned a review score. They can leave their score and be done. I'm not defending the "review bombing" but I can understand it. Isn't this why most people ignore the user reviews and run with the critics, but then there's instances where the critics get it wrong and the user reviews are much better.

Thats why there are both included in the metas. Its also why I ignore all reviews and make up my own mind nowadays based upon the publisher and the polish I can see in marketing material before a game launch.

Don't most hardcore gamers pay attention to these things anyway? Casuals are going to buy let's go for their kids anyway so I doubt these scores will affect sales.

Crickey there's bigger issues in the world right now but players gonna play play play, Nintendo fans gonna write write write....

@MoonKnight7 Let's Go is a real Pokémon game, that's the thing.

@bolt05
nobody is required to demonstrate why they assigned a review score

Nobody gives a crap about the user score meta. This isn't about that. This is about the shameful behavior of an immature fanbase who stoops to the lowest low out of spite and childish stubbornness. And the people who jump to their defense. Funny how quick some are to attack even the slightest whiff of defense for a company, but large swaths of people can literally review bomb a great game and those same people will argue how that's ok.

Nintendo fans gonna write

And those spiteful toward Nintendo gonna write. And review bomb. And then defend the review bombing and make excuses for it.

@Krest_arisen Pokémon Let's Go actually makes some of the biggest changes the series has ever had. Maybe you're just not a Nintendo fan?

I'm actually planning on picking up Let's Go Eevee before forming an opinion unlike some people, but I'd be lying if I said that some of the gameplay choices that were shown off/explained/leaked before release (no wild battles, barely any post-story content, and Candy being used to boost actual stat points, how Meltan is obtained in Go, and how many Meltan Candies i costs to get Melmetal) didn't rub me the wrong way.

That said, some fans are scared about what effect LGPE will have on the core games coming after the 2019 game. Some VGC players were worried if they would be the "required" games for the rest of 2018-2019 season but TPCi announcing that USUM would be the go-to game for said season quelled those fears for a while. With the recent reveal of how Stat Candies work they're now fearing that those will be transferred to the core series (which I doubt given that you can turn those boosts on and off when batting online).

To put in simpler terms (and somewhat more relatable terms for Nintendo players): Some Pokemon fans are worried about LGPE causing a "third pillars" scenario for Game Freak.

@Almighty-Koz How about you man up and lose your phobia for motion controls? Get over yourself.

The internet hath no fury like nerd rage. Personally I think it looks like a lot of fun and I'd probably pick up Let's Go Pikachu if I had a Switch.

@JaxonH "we dont care if every single main game has been catered to us and there's yet another main game catering to us in just 12 months, we demand this game cater to us too (...)"
You know, it really shows that you're new to this franchise, because quite a number of fans have been waiting for a Pokemon game that would really cater to them for over 6 years (since BW2) and, frankly, the future doesn't look very bright with the success of Let's Go. There has been a certain degree of discontent among the fans with what Gamefreak was doing starting with gen 6, probably the worst offender being pandering to the fans of the original 151 and overt simplification of gameplay (in an already easy series of games).
So you could say it's YET ANOTHER GAME that is not good enough, even though it could have been fixed with just a few difficulty settings - I don't get why people ignore that, it's a thing that could be easily implemented to satisfy everyone.

@Crono1973 No, because whining doesn't solve anything. Instead, vote with your wallets. The people have spoken, and Pokémon Let's Go has been well-received.

@Bolt_Strike It seems that you haven't played the game. It's full of life and filled with content. Give it a shot.

@Wintersoulis Don't be so selfish. You're displaying the same childish behavior as the review bombers.

Nintendo shouldn't listen to the whiners.

@bolt05

I'm not even going to get into what is logical with someone who thinks that a 0 is appropriate for a finished, non broken game since it doesn't seem to be your strong suit.

@Preposterous So just like every other Pokémon game. Why single out this one?

@gameboy1975 Yeah it comes off as people suffering from arrested development. I wouldn't call video games a child's pastime because it has grown well beyond that in the 21'st century, but there is definitely a whole subset of "hardcore gamers" out there who appear to be grown adults but come off more as pissed off teenagers desperate for validation, trying to appear more mature than they actually are.

The fact is that getting emotionally wrapped up in a hobby is very immature, and if you get to the point where you feel a need to lash out at others and attack things because of your mindset regarding that hobby, it is probably time to take a minute to re-evaluate yourself.

@Kevember @Crono1973 No one is forcing you to buy the game. If you don't like Let's Go, don't buy the game and shut up. Never mind that your "hardcore" game gets released next year.

@Dog You mean the difficulty settings? Because 1) they were present in Pokemon games before (BW2), 2) it has become a standard for Nintendo games as of late to give the players a range of options how they want to play their games. Super Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Taiko no Tatsujin (even though it's completely unrelated), to name a few - they all take into consideration both total newcomers and veterans of their series/genres.

@Dog Well see, if you speak with your wallet and don't buy it then you're opinion of it won't matter because you haven't played it.

It's quite a racket. In order to properly voice a negative opinion about the game, you must first pay $60.

@bolt05

Lol GTFO here dude. What the hell are you do you think that you're doing? You were surely quick as hell to come in here with all of your writing & in full on defense mode. So uhhh, why aren't you somewhere helping to solve these problems in the world you speak of or at least elsewher discussing these more important issues somewhere? You know instead of being here just like everyone else while pretending & perhaps convince yourself that you're somehow better? Yeah, let's get dat @$$ off of that high horse kiddo before you fall off into your own bs and hurt yourself.

@Onkel_Laser On the contrary, Pokémon Let's Go has provided bigger changes from any previous games. That's certainly not a "lazy cash grab", and many people are having fun with the game.

Get over yourself.

@irock @Crono1973 Quite the contrary, Game Freak has called Let's Go a main game. Anyone who says otherwise are in denial or are intentionally deceiving others.

@Dog There's literally nothing other than the main story and Master Trainers. Easily the most barren games since the originals themselves.

@JayJ

I hear you man, and I agree a lot with your assessment, but it is still generally a kid's past time for sure. Hell, just because grown men like My Little Pony & have now made BronyCon an actual thing which has become something more over the years doesn't mean that it wasn't made for kids lol.

@Preposterous It's been a long time since I played BW2, but didn't Easy/Challenge Mode require you to beat the game first? I also know that Easy Mode was exclusive to White 2 and Challenge Mode to Black 2 unless you used wireless/IR communications to get the opposite version's mode.

@Dog I think it plays like a main game with some changes and I am enjoying most of those changes. Still, it's ok for people to have negative opinions about this game and I think it's ok for people to form an opinion and voice it without having to pay $60.

Also, what's with this 'it's a kids game because it's easy' stuff? I had more time to spend on games when I was a kid. These days I have less time to grind and/or repeat the same platforming level over and over until I get it right.

@Crono1973 I think it all matters on how you choose to voice your criticism. I agree that it is ridiculous to think that you must buy something in order to have an opinion about it, and there is a number of games that I have been vocal about not wanting or not liking that I never bought. The difference is that I wasn't going around review bombing those games. If you are going to write reviews you really need to have some experience with the thing that you are reviewing.

@grriffinn09 Yes, that's how it worked. Nevertheless, Gamefreak made it an option, which, instead of being developed further, was unfortunately dropped from subsequent games. Let's Go with its drastic changes to the core gameplay would be a very reasonable place to bring difficulty settings back.

@gameboy1975 thanks for being downright abusive.

Its ok to disagree but you took it too far.

Its ok to vote 0 on a game you don't like. Disagree, discuss, whatever this site used to be good.

@Crono1973

Well I wouldn't say that, as you could just have access to it (maybe at someone's else house or whatever) and get an opinion. It's not fair to say that just because you haven't shelled out the money or on it personally that you can't have an opinion on it. However, I DO feel like you have to put in the time to actually be able to form an opinion that could be taken into consideration and perhaps respected.

@gameboy1975 I think it is all on what kind of games you are talking about. With games like GTAV and RDR2 for example it would be ridiculous to imply those are meant for kids due to the nature of their content, but when it comes to games like Pokemon it is totally fair to say they are meant for kids.

@JayJ So you do think that people should have to pay to write a review? We all know how Pokemon plays, we can all imagine how a Pokemon game would be with the well known changes in this game. If you have been following the news for this game then you already have a good idea if it's something you will like.

@Crono1973 Precisely! If you have no interest in a game, then you shouldn't review it. Objections?

@JayJ I completely agree. Nintendo have always been kid-friendly and to be honest, I don’t think that’s such a bad thing. It helps the next generation of gamers get hooked and then they can always play the older games if they want a challenge. Ah yes, the good old days of Pokemon, where the entire original games were borderline unplayable thanks to no special split and broken stats.

@Dog Yes

@JayJ

Oh, I never said that some of these games out here aren't for kids. I'm talking about the overall hobby itself though mi amigo. I mean in all honestly we had games with lewd and crude elements since the beginning of console gaming & perhaps sooner. There were games on the turbografx16 that had profanity & ones on Atari that were AO & full on about sex man. Well before this industry supposedly "grew up" & stuff like GTA had people clutching their pearls. This medium has always had mature and risque content, it just became easier to make out the pixels and relate.

@Crono1973 There is a big difference between "having a general idea of what something is like by reading some things on the internet about it," and actually having a valid opinion to criticize it with based upon personal experience. You are basically trying to validate rumors when you do the former. Reviews are not meant to be a means to push "things you heard," they are meant to reflect personal experience.

@Preposterous
And those complaints may (or may not) be valid, but they're irrelevant to the discussion with regard to this particular game, because this particular game was clearly marked, labeled and sold as something a little different, and a more traditional game was announced before this game even released to absolutely ensure everyone knew this was a one off. So if people have complaints regarding that, they can direct those complaints at the next game... but not this one.

@JayJ
If someone can't even agree to something so blatantly obvious as the fact it's fundamentally wrong and invalid to ascribe a 0/10 to a game they never played and have no personal experience with, then you're wasting your time because all logic and reason is out the window for whatever follows.

Yes, that means actually buying the game for $60. Or borrowing it. Or stealing it. I don't really care how they obtain it, but they dang well better have played it before trying to slap a score on it.

@JaxonH What a neat technique. "I don't like this argument, so it doesn't apply to this discussion".
Just give me one good reason why this game shouldn't have difficulty options. While you're at it, tell me: if I have announced that I'm making a terrible game, would it be shielded from all criticism?

@JaxonH The problem is that pricing is supposed to balance developer costs with consumer demand. Consumers don't really like paying more for intangible factors such as increased development costs so usually the developer has to sweeten the deal in some way to make the extra cost worth it to them. Console games do cost more, but with that also comes extra benefits such as better graphics, larger and more open areas to explore, more content and features, etc. LGPE has none of this, it's literally a 3DS quality Pokemon game for an extra $20. That's what makes it seem like a cash grab. There's far less content in this game than other Switch games, heck there's even less content in this game than 3DS Pokemon games. It's simply poor value from the consumer end.

As for this series being yearly, like @Preposterous said, none of the recent games are really doing what the fans want. Every game since XY has been designed to pander to mobile gamers and they almost completely ignore the complaints of core gamers. LGPE isn't just a spinoff that suddenly went casual. It's a culmination of all of the problems the core fanbase is sick of taken to its biggest extreme yet. And with the kind of track record they've had, there's really no reason to trust next year's game won't also be a barren, linear, handholdy, casual pandering cash grab until we've actually seen it. They've yet to demonstrate with their actions that they have any interest in appealing to the other side of the equation. Basically the Pokemon series is in the same state the Mario series was in before Odyssey. The games, while popular and high selling, were incredibly simplistic and lack in ambition, even in the 3D console space where fans generally expect more content and higher quality, and the games were really divisive because parts of the fanbase wanted a deeper and more fulfilling experience. LGPE is basically Pokemon's Super Mario 3D World. The question is when will we see Pokemon's Super Mario Odyssey?

@Bolt_Strike
It seems many would disagree, given how many saw the value as being worth it when they bought the game. In your opinion, the value isn't worth it. That's your judgement to make. In my opinion it is. If this game was on 3DS it would be $40. It's not. It's on Switch, it's HD and therefore it's $60. That's the only difference that's ever separated the pricing. $60 games like Smash and Monster Hunter got discounted on 3DS to $40. If it's not on a 240p handheld then no discount is expected. And unless the game is going to end after 10 hours then it's not too short on content. And I've already seen friends who put 10+ hours just in the first day. So I don't think that's going to be an issue.

The great thing about living in a free market is that if you personally deem a game to not have the value the price suggests, then you can wait for the price to drop until it does offer the value you personally want.

@Preposterous
I wasn't talking about difficulty options. Difficulty options are a legit criticism imo. I take no issue with that. I was referring to everything else. At least that's something substantial and reasonable. Although, according to most impressions from gamers I've read who have powered through the game on reddit, the game seems to get kinda tough after a few gyms and isn't nearly as easy as most thought.

"Game that purposefully targets casual audience gets sh*t on by hardcore fans."

News at 11.

@Dog its not a phobia its just pointless, it adds nothing and anyone who says otherwise needs to go outside and actually do things, gaming on a console is about relaxing not throwing invisible balls with a timing mechanism, im not saying dont have a motion control option but there was no reason for the excluion of pro controller or using the joycons as two controllers without motion or using the joycons connected to the joygrip especially since in handheld mode it works the way it should on those.

@JaxonH And that's why game length is measured by how much content is in the game instead of just game length. Someone could very well just play through the same things they've already done over and over again if they really like it, but how much content there is, the amount of areas in a game, what kind of features it has, quantifiable stuff like that is completely objective and helps you determine a good deal from a bad deal. It doesn't matter if both games are longer than 10 hours. If you have one game that lasts 30 hours and costs $40 vs. another game that lasts 20 hours and costs $60, the former game is an objectively better value, that is solid math that can't be argued with. People are entitled to their opinions about whether or not a particular feature is good or bad, but if they're content to spend more money for less content they're not being smart consumers and letting the developer take advantage of them.

@Bolt_Strike
Value cannot be considered without also considering the quality of enjoyment.

Otherwise the game with the best value would just be an endless game of chess. Another game might offer more time spent with regard to cost, that doesn't detract from the fact that the original game still offers enough value to be worth purchasing and once you consider the quality of entertainment for each of those hours you enjoy the game, only then do you have the complete picture.

And that's something that you cannot objectively quantify for me or anyone else. You can tell me another game would give me more time with it per dollar, but I don't base my decisions based on how much time with that per dollar I get. And neither do most others. I simply ask a yes or no question of, is it worth it based on multiple factors, such as time offered and quality of enjoying that time. And if the game looks really fun, then I'd rather get 20 hours with it then 100 hours with some other game. Which, to add to that, what good is 100 hours if I stop playing after 10 because it doesn't hold my interest?

And I can definitively tell you that I am enjoying this Pokémon many times more than any other Pokémon game I've played. This is the first Pokémon game that addicted me within 1 hour. And THAT means I'm gonna play to completion whereas I stopped playing others after 1 hour, which means I'm getting far more value from Pokémon Let's Go, even at $60, than I ever got from Pokémon X/Y or Sun/Moon. And because value also takes into account quality of enjoyment (which varies by person), and that quality of enjoyment will impact the hours actually spent playing the game (rather than just theoretical hours on a chalkboard you could potentially get), at the end of the day all you can do is speak for yourself. You have no say in the value I get from a video game, or anyone else.

@Bolt_Strike eh, value is subjective. I've played plenty of games that are less than ten hours long that were far more enjoyable than games that lasted 60. You can't use words like objective and then follow it up with two subjective words (better and value). Also, the rhetoric is more than just a "tad" immature, any person who is so laughably insecure, small, and childish to write a review and score a game they've never played a 0/10 deserves to be put on blast and laughed at and shunned by society. I've been playing since R/B/Y and I can honestly say that Let's Go is taking the series in a better direction, the only things they need to work on is a difficulty slider, make the motion controls optional, and maybe have a little more post-game.

Or you know, the game makes Pokémon veterans feel like their beloved franchise is headed to a terrible death.

If you are part of the Pokémon community then you would know exactly why this title is getting so much flack.

There's no boogeyman "trolls" just disgruntled veterans.
I get it.

@NLkize

If you review bomb a game without having even played it, you're absolutely a troll. Sorry.

@JaxonH Except if they added more to the game, that quality would be there regardless. But if they were to retain that same quality AND add more to it? Then whatever value you had for that experience increases, or at the very least stays the same if you choose to ignore the added features. It's not just about what this game did in comparison to what other games did. It's about what this game did vs. what this game could've done. And it's hard to imagine that this game would've become less valuable to the people that already enjoy if there had been more to it than there was, whereas it would also attract people who aren't satisfied with the current amount of content but would be happy to try the game if it were meatier. Likewise, if the price was say, $40 instead of $60, then the people that are already happy with the game at $60 would gladly pay $40 for the same experience and would even consider it a steal, whereas players that were more skeptical would be willing to try it if it cost less. Those intangible elements of quality don't really stop objective factors such as pricing and content from affecting demand, if it did we wouldn't study economics.

@Bolt_Strike
Ok, so you're saying it could have done even more. That may be true, and I'm not disagreeing with you but...

That's not going to stop me or anyone else from buying it if the game looks like it's going to provide massive enjoyment for the money... obviously. And I did actually study economics, and maximizing revenue is not as simple as dropping price to sell more copies because now you're selling $20 less per copy for millions and millions and millions of copies that would've sold for $60 instead of $40, and the people buying it for $40 would've bought it for $40 anyway after the price dropped. So they basically just lose $200 million for nothing (Which is why they're not doing that). But I'm not here to debate the economics of maximizing revenue in a free market.

I'm here to tell you that the game obviously provides enough value to justify the price for the vast majority of consumers, or else people simply would not buy it. And not only does it provide enough value, people are literally thanking the developers while handing them their cash. Because that's how much fun and value they're getting out of this game. Sure, it could've been more (when is this not the case) and that would've been fantastic, but let's not waste time assessing hypotheticals that don't exist.

The game is awesome and one of the best $60 games I've purchased on the Switch to date. That may or may not be true for someone else reading this, but I really don't care whether it's true for someone else reading this. All I care about is whether it's worth it for me and it most certainly is. If it's not worth it to you, then by all means don't buy it. Or take my suggestion and wait for the price to drop until it is worth it to you to buy it.

@NLkize
the game makes Pokémon veterans feel like their beloved franchise is headed to a terrible death

Ya, despite the fact the developers went out of their way to announce a new "normal" Pokémon game is coming before this Pokémon game even released, to specifically assure them that is not the case.

It's an irrational and terribly unfounded feeling. I absolutely don't get it.

Just see the Nintendo share price in recent months,you will understand why got so much haters.Well probably bought haters and some influences by them.

The boss profit from Nintendo drop behind all these are purposely defame their own game icon,I suggest japan government should investigate who is manipulating all these.

@JaxonH And again, that assurance is meaningless when the recent "normal" games are also heavily simplified and designed to pander to mobile gamers and they're not ready to share details that prove otherwise. Just because they say it's a hardcore traditional experience doesn't mean it's actually going to be something they enjoy, it's a PR statement, they don't want to ruffle any feathers so they're going to make it look enjoyable regardless of what it is.

@Bolt_Strike
No recent normal game has "pandered to mobile gamers". So I don't see a need to provide evidence to the contrary when there's no evidence supporting it in the first place.

Unless you have any actual evidence to back up what you're saying, that the next game won't be a traditional experience despite them explicitly stating it will be. If the game releases and isn't what people want then they can complain about it at that time. But levying complaints against something that hasn't even happened yet? And has no evidence to suggest it will happen? That's a waste of time.

Whatever complaints people have with the main series, they can take it up with the next main series game when it releases. But keep it separate from this game which has nothing to do with it.

@JaxonH Look no further than the infamous Battle Frontier in ORAS:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/2olmtb/interview_with_masuda_on_oras_and_why_there_is_no/

They explicitly stated they removed the Battle Frontier from ORAS by pointing to how mobile gamers don't spend as much time on video games and don't like things that are too demanding or challenging. This has been their MO since XY, removing extra content and making things easier and more handholdy because they believe gamers have the attention span of a goldfish. The only thing that really separates the "traditional experience" as we know it nowadays and Let's Go is pretty much just the capture mechanics, other than that they're designed under the exact same design philosophy. It's this design philosophy that the hardcore veterans are getting sick of and while the game may very well be traditional experiences with traditional wild Pokemon battles there's no guarantee they won't continue the trend of keeping the games simple and mindless for casuals. Because apparently to them, hardcore gamers that actually spend time exploring and engaging in the extra content don't actually exist anymore.

@Bolt_Strike
No, there's no guarantees. But... there's no guarantees. Meaning wait and see what the next game actually entails before proceeding to complain about it. The fact is the director of the main series is stepping down so whatever his ideas were are leaving with him. Someone new will have their own ideas.

But regardless of whether that's a valid concern, it's a concern for the 2019 game, not this one. Right now, people should be enjoying this game for what it is because we may never get another one like it. Hopefully Lets Go becomes its own series because I like it way better than the normal Pokémon games. Then people can have their core games they like so much and they can put all their other ideas into the Let's Go series.

In any case, it's a time to celebrate. A fantastic new game has released that finally got me into Pokémon and I intend to enjoy it to the fullest and share in that excitement with others. Next year's game will bring its own complaints. People can complain about next year's game next year.

Wow, this is the longest comment thread I’ve seen on this site. Even some of the really hot articles with controversial or political topics don’t come close to this. I guess some people just really don’t like casual gamers.

I honestly doubt it’s even Pokémon fans.

People review bombed breath of the wild. I don’t think they were fans of the series offended by new things.

Some people just troll video games. Some do it by console war. Some just want to watch the world burn.

I mean, ive been vocal about how I feel. I think the game is a bit overpriced,
AND a lazy stopgap, because Gamefreak wasn't prepared for the success of the Switch. For that, I'd give it a review score of around average, at best. But review bombing with zeroes is a bit extreme, especially since we're getting a proper Pokemon game next year.

If that one ends up being a disappointment for us core fans as well. Then we might just have to move on and ultimately vote with our wallets.

Pre-ordered the game day 1.
Wasn't sure what I'd think of the catching mechanic, but I think it moves the series down a better path by removing the monotony of fighting to weaken pokemon before catching it, and replacing it with something different/new/interesting. Having pokemon in the overworld is nice, a lot better than randomly trying to encounter what you want, especially if your goal is shinies.

I thought the game would be too easy, and there are some OP moves Eevee can learn, but the game has some difficulty still in it (at least, I can't charge through it all with just my high stat Eevee without pokecenter stopping).

The changes to TMs and HMs are nice. The TM change may be a bit OP, but it encourages me to actually use and experiment with them.

Putting the focus on catching (and benefitting the user with exp with it) is actually an ingenious idea. Removes more of the grind, and encourages you to actually catch 'mon and several of them. Allows me to evolve several more pokemon, and again, experiment with different ones.

The RNG is not very good, even increased shiny chances seem to be too small, and making the user have to get catch combo 31x prior to having a decent shot of good IV pokemon is tedious. It's nice that the option to get a good IV pokemon is much more available, and not too too hard to attain, but ....do I want to put that much work into getting a good/competitively decent version of all the pokemon? ...No, nor do I have the time for it.

The master trainer idea is decent (haven't gotten there yet), but seems tedious for pokemon like caterpie/metapod, who can't learn any new moves. It'd be a total waste of time to try to level them up to try to get the title, is what I assume it will be like. Again, haven't gotten there quite yet. I know for online battles they can do the things of force/leveling the pokemon to all be at level 50, that would be a much better way to battle master trainers. Then you don't have to grind out levels, and it's all about the IV's and moveset of the pokemon. It'd be a billion times better if they did this, but based on what I know, it's not this way, but rather requires the indiv pokemon to fight at their given level (way too grindy). So it seems the idea was there, but not quite the execution.

All said, I'm at Celadon City, and if anything the game is super pretty. Loving the way everything looks, and the gyms are beautiful to see for the first time as I encounter them in game (I've been avoiding spoilers). The music is grand, the classic battle theme is the best! I'm hoping they expand on the ideas here in this game, perhaps as a separate series so as not to peeve off the competitive fans. And instead make leveling easier, shiny encounters much more reasonable, etc. For me, it's all about catching the pokemon, and experimenting with teams in battle. Classic pokemon is too grindy to experiment and to try to make a number of pokemon viable, it's more like choosing a select 6-10 pokemon and then keeping them bc you've already invested too much time/TM's in them. This Let's Go approach is much more suited to experimentation and creating more varied 'mon, to get to what we all want, more competitive battles, but being able to switch up the 'mon to keep the strategy more varied. An unfortunate general weakness of pokemon is that legendaries are too good stat-wise compared to everyone else, such that everyone ends up using the same few pokemon. Making more pokemon viable is the way to keep longevity and interest fresh, I'd say

Wow so a bunch of self important selfish grown children leaving the lowest grade on a game just to show who's boss on the internet. Wow, real mature, real brave, and really full of crap.

Hopefully every last one of them ends up banned from whatever service they're on doing childish stuff like that. It shows they can not be trusted and therefore not allowed to leave comments or reviews on a product because it will scare off legitimate comments both good and bad, plus those looking to read them to learn for themselves.

Yeah keep on review bombing this game till it gets a 0/10. I support this doing from trolls and serious game reviewer alike.

Its bad enough if game developers did nothing to innovate their games, but here they decided to dumb it down and cut off existing content further and also inserting useless gimmicks into the game,
Just to please casual gamers. They are basically taking shortcuts with less effort made and hoping to cash in on the 'pokemon' brand itself.

They want newcomers of course, but there are ways to do it without dumping off their existing fanbase!!!

@Evilworm

"Wah they made a game not focused on my particular tastes and even though they're making a more hardcore game next year I want this game to fail because who cares about bringing in new fans for a game series that has stagnated in the last few years"

It's frustrating though, the Let's Go games could have easily been good games, but every design decision was just bafflingly bad in execution, like the Neo Geo Mini. I still want it, but only after a major discount, like the previous mini console.

I got Lavender Town Syndrome.

@Frenean if this game is all like positive goodness and sells well....then next year 2019 pokemon game is gonna take reference and be just like this crap......

@Evilworm

It isn't crap though, that's just your opinion. Play the game, I'm sure it'll put a smile on your face.

I dont need to play the game to voice my opinion. What the fans felt at Blizzcon 2018 Diablo is exactly what I felt for this game.its an off season April fools joke. Nobody played diablo immortal yet no?

Technically speaking I HAD played the game in pokemon yellow. I HAD played Pokemon GO. I HAD seen some lets plays videos of pokemon lets go. Didnt like it.. its a pain..my eyes bleed and i CAN give a negative review about it. Alas you make the final decision. Also there are troll 0/10 review of course but at the same time there are troll 10/10 reviews as well.

The user scores in Metacritic are well balanced IMO despite the claims of trolls alike.

@Evilworm the user scores are irrelevant, it has an 81 critic score which matters a lot more. It's a great game that is faithful to the originals. Is it my favorite Pokemon game? No, but it's definitely the best one since Black/White 2. Let's Go and Diablo Immortal are two different situations, people are mad about Immortal because we haven't heard anything about Diablo 4 yet whereas we're getting a new mainline Pokemon game next year. Even if you don't like Let's Go's beginner friendly direction, in no way is it a 0/10. The game is well made, very pretty and has a great soundtrack.

I dont want to go against other pokemon fans but when you put Mew on a DLC that costs way too much and if you put up streams where your starter pokemon oneshots the whole elite 4, then i can understand why people are putting 0 on the game. I havent even touched it but based on this Mew thing, the mechanics, the price of the game and the oneshoteverything, i can pretty much understand why people grade it this low. Especially when Leafgreen and Firered seems to have much more content while costing tons less, and that game is way older than this one. Ill wait for the next gen instead.

@Samsamsam it is for the pokeball controller and not only mew.You even haven’t played the game still say can one short elite 4 easily.If one short must working hard on training Pokémon,in any version of Pokémon if work hard can also do one shot thing.

What your understanding is far beyond normal logic.

The only problem I have with "review-bombing" is, that it may lead to a decision which nintendo could make, to kill this line.
I do like Let's Go, especially the point of NO random encounters (after 20 years of sticking to the franchise, it's kind of some vacation for me). But what I wanted to say is, I'm could see me wishing for an Let's Go Gold and Silver part, but with dat amount of stupidity and hate around it can ruin a whole series to fans who like it.
If you know what I mean.

Options to make the game harder:
-No moves from tutors.
-No partner move.
-Use the "Set" battle mode.
-No 2nd controller ally. Never.
-Don't use your starter, you don't lose anything by putting it in a box, it will still be there with you.
-Limit use of TMs.
-Cycle your pokemon regularly so you're not over-leveled.
-No items in battle.
-Etc.

@Pdarklight Take a good look at the levels of pokemon the guy is using while oneshoting elite four.. I am not the type who completely sides with negative reviewers intantly, but when people are others immature for being negative, then i am curious about it. And what i have seen, i side more to the negative reviewers than the people defending this game. People are mad at many things such as not being able to take off XP-share, op skills, removed content compared to the advance remakes only 153 pokemon, warning signs such as putting Mew on a paywall, and i can totally understand why, especially considering this games cost. The opposite effect happened with the movie Venom. People rated it highly, i went to watch it, and i enjoyed it. So to me, it is usually the "loud minority" who is largely correct, but not all the time. I am sorry, i do respect mature people more than immature people, but when it comes to game reactions, i dont know what side to choose. I have been listening to mature people praising a game hating on the "loud minority" just to end up with a game that i sold a week later due to having the same problems the "vocal minorities" had.

@Samsamsam please play it first then come with you one shot everything theroy.I am playing it abvious now at lvl 30 I can’t one shot even gym leader with lvl 30ard.but in other version of Pokémon I can do one shot with gym leader after training.

I can feel your hate towards Pokémon from your comments and total base on your non logical stuff.I will stop arguing with you since you are just another hater.Can say rate 0 is fine for your nonsense reason and ignore every other good improvement in this game.

This is comment number 326

@Pdarklight
I dont hate Pokemon itself. I love pokemon Gold and Silver and i absolutely adore the designs of the ultra beasts, especially Buzzwole and Guzzlord.
As for now, this game doesnt seem to match what i want for my price and i can totally understand the negative reviewers, especially when the negative reactions is backed off proof with Youtube videos and the Mew-addon which is a bad sign. But not that i care much about this game, i hated Pokemon Go and i can skip this game because what i want is a true remake or a new generation. With ingame wild battles.

@PolarExperience You should have seen the Federation Force and Starfox Zero threads...wow. I'm watching this one and enjoying thoroughly though.

People are petty and stupid, what else is new?

This is not a game for those who do not like Pokémon Go and for the Pokémon veterans. Once these guys understand that Nintendo wasn't thinking of them when they made the game, I think we'll be OK. I played two games of the main series and I'm enjoying this one as well. They have nothing else to do so...

Have this become a trend? Just take a look at Fallout 76. Almost the same thing all the hate it got.
I think its a trend, but I love both games.

review bombing is the very few ways gamers have of protesting against a company but this is rediculous it's not exactly a standout game but to review bomb it because it isn't the mainline game and don't like the changes in it is stupid

I never pay attention to user reviews for videogames or movies on such sites because there are always the 0/10 voters. It makes the user scores useless, as theres no basis behind them other than simple immaturity.

So far Pikachu Lets Go seems to be a lot like how I remember Pokemon Yellow, but with prettier graphics and a different capture system.

@JaxonH No, it's a concern for the series as a whole, not just the next game. This is a consistent pattern that's occurred over several games and Game Freak has done next to nothing to improve the situation despite the complaints.

Also, Masuda stepping down may mean nothing. The last few games have had various directors (XY and LGPE were Masuda, ORAS and SM were Ohmori, and USUM was Unno). It's not just Masuda, it's Game Freak as a whole.

@Bolt_Strike
its a concern for the series as a whole

And the next game is the next game in that series as a whole. So unless someone wants to perpetually complain about past games that are years old, the next game should be the focus of the "series as a whole".

Point being, if people have issues with the main line series, take it up with the main line series. NOT the game that is specifically developed to deviate from the mainline series (which most people are finding out is a great game anyways).

@JaxonH Again, this game isn't as far off from the mainline as they'd like you to believe, the distinction between this and the main series is near meaningless.

@Bolt_Strike
Can't have it both ways. Can't complain about how different it is and then turn around and argue how similar it is.

It has GO in the title. And a "core game" was announced before this was even released. That right there is enough to completely shut down any argument that this game is "the new direction" or any nonsense along those lines. It's meant to be different (but not too different) and it's not meant to supplant the core series (as evidenced by GO in the name and a core series game announced alongside it.

So Idk what you're arguing about.

With such diehard fanboy attitudes no wonder why Nintendo can laugh all the way through and not care the least bit about product quality when they count on the next switch game to make them tons of money. It's ridiculous.

Why don't the fans actually ask why the game was review bombed in the first place instead of unquestioningly showing their "loyalty"? If every new game is treated like this, fine. But when the reaction to this one title is so negative, there's clearly some major problem going on. I mean,even RDR2 is review bombed by non console players, but it keeps a score above 7.5

And apparently this is one way for the players to unite and resist against the power of the industry. Why don't you publish an article questioning how the media reviews of absolute cashgrab titles even like no man's sky or FIFA can always be so positive? You won't because you're also part of it. Players start from an uneven ground. If the media are allowed to post ridiculous positive reviews, they figure the only way for them to do it is to post ridiculous negative reviews. How is it surprising?

OK, so there's a major entry coming next year. Then why are they selling a dumbed down childish version at full price before that? If that's not a cash grab (like many other publishers are already doing), then what is? It's a very dangerous slope and people can be understandably upset.

Not to mention many seem to be totally fine with Amazon censoring reviews so that this title can keep selling to oblivious fans. Fine. If you're so happy handing over your hard-earned cash to Nintendo it's your freedom. It's just tragic. I know better things to do with my money. Such reactions just distance me from the gaming community a bit more. Review bombers can be childish, but so are the unquestioning fanboys.

Pokemon Go was a global sensation on the smartphone 2 years ago. Pokemon let's Go is trying to attract those smartphone users with it's back to basic formula.

As always, Nintendo is too late. No one cares about Pokemon Go anymore, making a dumbed down Pokemon on Switch will only disappoint hardcore fans.

Meh, I knew exactly what this game was before I purchased it. And I'm enjoying my purchase. Haters gon' hate; Players gon' play video games. Folks' negative opinions of something they've not experienced isn't going to change my enjoyment with something, and it's also not even worth engaging in an arguement about.

Plus, there's enough different outlets to get a good idea of whether a purchase is good for a buyer. Youtube has plenty of folks sitting and playing games for everyone to watch.

It's also not censorship. Humans love hyperbolic reactions.

With all the craziness in the world you'd think something like this wouldn't piss me off so much. FFS, I can't wait for Smash Ultimate to come out so that entire mass of "fans" can have something better to do other than continuously trying to bring everyone else down to their miserable level.

Not only are there a million and a half trainer battles, the game is gorgeous, relaxing and still jam packed with tons of stuff I would consider more along the "main line" route.

I sit here playing Let's Go Pikachu and I'm already hoping that Pokemon/Nintendo keep the ball rolling and make another one. Yes, I'll play the 2019 release. Yes I want a Gen 2 version of this game. Badly. Haha.

I've had to essentially ditch most of the Nintendo YouTube related channels but it came in waves. A few when they whinged at the announcement, with smug additudes and comments. Then a few more when it came out and they all acted confused that it was getting reviews perfectly in line with most Pokemon release.

To any of these types of fans reading this, your ongoing war against all the franchises you claim to love just fuels your suffering. As it should be. If you can't sit back and enjoy a pokemanz or find something else to do (or have reasonable critiques that don't bake cookies all over other people's fun) then please, play something else.

@Frenean wrong people are mad about Diablo immortal / I am Mad about pkmn Lets Go not because we waited too long for it to be annouced or released.

Its because the fear of our game developers losing touch with us. These devs thought WE wanted a mobile game.Gamefreak thought WE preferred pokemon GO over the mainline series because all they do is basing on the sales figures of these mobile games instead of what fans wished for.

Thus developers tend to innovate leaning towards these mobile gaming trends.

@Dog

"Let's Go is a real Pokémon game, that's the thing."

Well of course it is, but I'm talking about the "next gen" pokemon game which is why people are review bombing — cause that's what they want. That's all I meant saying that. Basically, there's no reason for these people to be this upset, cause the game they want will be in their hands this time next year.

@Spectra how is it badly designed? It’s just different from the main titles. It is not a core Pokémon game. People are loosing their minds about it being too easy like every Pokémon game isn’t a walk in the park

@nessisonett Irony at it's finest. I highly doubt the game was supposed to be "deep" as the Series itself isn't what I call "deep" by any means.

I'm willing to bet that most of the reviews are from who haven't even played the game yet, riding the bandwagon.

They don't like this game but will pay retail price FOR A WIIU PORT JUST BECAUSE ITS ON THE SWITCH. Now that's Irony.

@Rossageroll Is it really the majority, though, or just the vocal minority?

@kevin74 I said the minority, I think the majority of Nintendo fans are just that and love anything Nintendo related
Unfortunately it is the negative minority that are the loudest though

It's good I don't listen or follow petty user reviews on any of those sites.

@Rossageroll "I think the majority of Nintendo fans are just that and love anything Nintendo related"
That's a oversimplification of Nintendo gamers and fans and most would question where your getting that conclusion. There are different factions and you shouldn't mix them unless you want flaming back from either side.

@Rossageroll "Unfortunately it is the negative minority that are the loudest though"
No it's the internet that has perpetuated the problem. Glad they are now telling them your abuse is no longer tolerated online. That's how you fix problem childs. That's what I call those types.

@SwitchForce Only from personal experience of people I know, it doesn't speak for everyone. For example I get excited about any Nintendo announcement, with the exception of Kirby as it's about the only series I never really liked. I wouldn't see the need to express that in such a way that it damages the sales of the game, however. I would still hope that it is a good Kirby game that fans of the series would enjoy

@Swaz There is literally no "waggle" in this F*cking. game

It requires timing...observation...and actual physical skill to toss the ball into the target.

It's not "easy" like pressing a single button

I'm in full support for any bad comments this game can get, but only if they actually bought it, played it and still didn't liked it. Not buying it and just giving it a bad score because they don't like it is stupid. If you don't like them, just don't buy them like I did.

@Spectra if yellow is the game that is supposed to be the most like the anime it makes a lot of sense though. Ash almost never battled wild Pokémon he just tossed a ball.

@Brutchie-bear I think Nintendo was trying to make it clear how this game was very inspired by the original anime series.

Metacritic has been a cesspool for years and even more so with games expecting to sell big, I still remember the nonsense between Horizon and Zelda last year and Nintendo fans were worse in that.

This game isn't for me but I would never review it as I haven't played it and wouldn't want to put anyone off who has a genuine interest

@Retupmocnin ...Are you trolling?

@JaxonH I never complained about the game being too different, but even if I did, that's not a contradiction. A game can be both too similar and too different if only certain aspects are changed. It's not about it being too similar or too different, it's about making the right kinds of changes. Which in this case, is the simplification and handholding. They've both kept the things they've simplified in the past the same and found new things to simplify. And it's that entire direction that people are getting sick of, not simply the games being too similar or different. The fanbase will only continue to be divisive and toxic so long as Game Freak continues limiting content and difficulty for the sake of targeting a specific audience, and again, they've yet to definitively prove that they're not, so the negativity will continue until they do.

Started playing this evening and yeah it's easy but I'm really enjoying it. The game is full of character, I got to run through mt moon without fighting a million mandatory zubat and using the pokeball accessory made me grin like I was a 6 year old again playing yellow for the first time. It's got it's faults but it's a great game. I'm not a casual player either I've owned almost every Pokémon game since red and blue.

@NintendoFan4Lyf I just had a similar incident on another thread where I couldn’t tell if I was being insulted or complimented on a previous comment. I decided to take the high road and call it a compliment 😂

@Bolt_Strike
Those changes were the entire point though, regardless of whether you or anyone else personally liked them. They are the sole reason I am now into the series and, as of today, can honestly consider myself a new fan.

And I like what I'm playing, as do a considerable number of others.

I can certainly empathize with fans who, for whatever reason, want a game to take a certain direction and it does not. I can empathize. But just because they're not getting what they want doesn't justify screaming bloody murder every time a game releases. If they consistently demand a different direction and the developer consistently doesn't go in that direction then I think it might be time to accept that it's not going to happen, that's just not the direction they want to go in. And there is no right or wrong direction.

If people don't like a specific aspect of the game and would like to voice their opinion about it so that the developer can at least take it into consideration then I encourage doing so. Hit up their Twitter and voice those opinions, and let them know what you would like to see. But perpetual raging against the creators creative choices accomplishes nothing and only serves to poison the narrative around each game.

It's simple. You (not you you, but the general you) don't have to like it but you do need to respect the fact that it is their game and their creative decisions, and if this is the creative route they choose to go and there are people who enjoy it... then back off already. There are people who are enjoying this game. There are new fans coming into the fold such as myself because of this game. The world does not revolve around the diehard fans who think they have an eternal right for the game to be developed as they explicitly demand.

@x-Lyfa I kno exactly what you mean. I like let’s go as well

@JaxonH Again, it's a matter of opportunity cost, not just opinion. The business logic behind these creative decisions is questionable at best and the measures they've taken to create the kind of game they want are completely unnecessary. What really speaks volumes about how much they simply don't understand the modern industry is how the expected the Switch to fail and get overtaken by smartphones. Instead, it's been a rousing success so far primarily being driven by large, open ended games like BotW and Odyssey that are pretty much the antithesis of the kind of experience that Game Freak thinks is the key to success. That just shows that they don't understand console gaming and think mobile is the end all be all more than anything else, not that this direction was chosen because of any kind of business savvy. Again, you have to wonder, was this really the absolute best possible option for them? In a series that regularly sells millions would this particular direction for the series have made them the most money? There's much more evidence against that notion than for it, conventional wisdom based on years of sales data says that the best course of action for them would be to create a game that's ambitious, large scale, open ended, and full of content and to try and appeal to a diverse range of tastes and playstyles.

Considering that during the whole time this game was under development, the company and many other game reviewers advised this wasn't going to be a next-gen game, it was very clear from the beginning that this is a remake of pokemon yellow and that it shows new features that future pokemon games may have, I consider the game delivers in many aspects, I've be en having a blast, enjoying memories and wishing that I had the quality of this game back when I first played pokemon yellow, it's truly a nice tribute to the original game.

I didn't believe that the game would be any good before release, but it's not bad. I love the way you encounter pokemon, where one can dodge whichever you don't want. Also the new way to get good IV pokemon is nice for a poke casual like me. What's bad are the non existing battle animations, which make the 3D stuff obsolete.

The games have brought some nice changes to the series, but also some bad ones. I hope the good ones will make it in to the main series games coming 2019.

They can review-bomb all they want, but the ultimate barometer will always be with actual sales, and from the looks of things, the Let's Go entries are selling hotcakes. I love that these people think they actually matter when they don't at all.

@Bolt_Strike
was this really the absolute best possible option for them?

Maybe, maybe not. I dont pretend to know such things. And I dont buy into anyone else here knowing either.

And regardless, it's their decision to make. And even if they could have made more money, fans don't know squat. Fans dont know a dang thing about running a business or maximizing revenue, all fans understand is "I demand this, I'm upset I didnt get what I want". Basement dwelling internet fans always claim "they know best" more than the analysts and educated men and women who dedicate their lives to running a company successfully.

So sure, maybe they could have made more money. Or maybe they couldn't. Who can say. I dont know and neither does anyone else, and speculating about it is wasted breath. Even IF they could, maybe that's not all there is to it. Maybe they want a certain kind of experience, plain and simple. Bottom line is, it's their game, fans dont know a anything beyond what they demand and want, and if someone thinks they know how to run a company better then go start one and do it better. Show dont tell. If it's that easy, "just do what diehard minority demands". But it's not and anyone telling themselves that is kidding themselves.

And ya, they were wrong about Switch. But so were most of the fans in this comment section. I remember pre launch. I remember all the people saying it was gonna fail. So how are those same people gonna criticise Game Freak's failure to see success? Either way, sure they were wrong. Doesn't mean everything they do is wrong.

After all, they made the most successful game in history with Pokemon GO. Sure seems they know what they're doing to me.

Well now it's just Pokemon, GO AWAY PIKACHU.
I took a pika at all the other comments. Bad Puns Initiated

As dull as I find the game, this is just sad and childish.

"although with many zero-score reviews appearing on the day of the game's release (which just so happens to be when Metacritic first starts to allow review scores to be submitted), it's clear to see that fans of the series are using the feature as an opportunity to vent their frustrations, rather than actually test the game for themselves."

So... Just because people are posting reviews on the first day we assume that it is review bombing? Where is the evidence in that.

Fyi for the sake of my argument I have taken the liberty of taking a quick look at some numbers so people will see how unbelievably bias this statement is.

Zelda breath of the wild has received more than 400 reviews on metacritics on the first day of release and most of them are positive.

Since this article was written on Monday the 19th and the game was released on the 16th which gave it approximately 3 + days for the reviews to rack up to 558 reviews on metacritics. In the same time frame Zelda has far exceeded that number of reviews.

If people want to fact check me on metacritics reviews are 100 per page so just sort by date and click on the 5th tab and the 7th tab from the highest number.

Other popular titles also have similar results with many reviews in the first day and the following days after, which actually makes sense if you're not such a casual gamer. Personally I have beaten the elite four in Pokemon let's go in 3 days.

I think it is very double standard to say that if a game is heavily reviewed and those reviews turn out to be negative it is automatically called review bombing, fake and malicious while positive reviews are considered otherwise.

All this being said, it's just sad that sites like Amazon would condone this type of censorship and much sadder that some people on this site and this comment board finds it completely fine to defend this type of behavior based solely on baseless assumptions.

ps. I enjoyed the game.

Well Im enjoying it even though ive not played it

I don't know that it's really getting "review bombed." I was reading a bunch of reviews, and to me, most of them sounded like real opinions rather than a true review bomb campaign where you see virtually verbatim posts over and over again. But for the people that bought it and are honestly disappointed... Didn't they make it pretty clear what this game was going to be?

The new catching mechanics aren't as terrible as I thought they would be. My only complaints are its way too easy and the box system

Reacting this way, posting very negative reviews over and over again without having played the game, that's just pure nonsense. They also did it with the excellent Zelda Breath of the wild. And they won't accomplish anything: If the game sells enough there will be another one. And some of the "casual" mechanics will spread to the mainline series. That's just how it goes.

Me, so far I like it. But yeah, its casual. I am not a gigantic Pokemon nut though.

While I'm fine with people leaving negative reviews you technically can't leave an actual review unless you play it if people are leaving reviews negative or positive without playing it you should stop it's called a game review not a game preview