Pokémon GO

[Kong Wen]

It seems silly not to have a thread for this here, given how huge it is, even though it's not available in all territories yet.

What starter did you pick? What team are you repping? Have you had any interesting, scary, or funny encounters with other players "in the wild" yet?

[MerlinDrazziw]

The game is not available here yet, but there are already a lot of players that downloaded it from foreign digital stores. About the latter, shouldn't this thread be in the Mobile Gaming section? Read this elsewhere:

We presume that out of every 100 units earned at the App Store, 30 would go to Apple, 30 to (software developer) Niantic, 30 to Pokemon and 10 to Nintendo. Hence, we don't think Nintendo will earn much directly from the game. However, Nintendo will earn income from its equity-accounted income of owning 33 percent of Pokemon Company.

As for the game itself, I may try it out but don't think I'll play it as long as I played other 'similar' games. As I've never played any Pokémon games before, I don't know what starter I will pick...

[Niahak]

UN: SReinbachIII
Picked Bulbasaur (which I haven't used) as starter. Starters don't matter anymore, since you need to capture more of the same type to improve pokemon.
Team Blue (aligning with friends and, thankfully, co-workers)

Fun experiences so far:
- Wife and I walked a lot more and talked to more strangers than we usually would
- Walked ~1 mi in the rain to get to a nearby Gym and stole it from Red. Some guys pulled up in a car and helped train it up for us

Nothing scary yet. Not a ton of excitement but enough to keep us engaged.

It's not terrible as a casual player if your expectation is just finding, capturing and improving Pokemon rather than being the very best and having eternal stranglehold on a gym. Gyms are biased to the attacker really heavily so you will still be able to invade fine with ~1/2 or less CP of the defender.

[Kiwi the Tortoise]

UN: SReinbachIII

Schtolteheim Reinbach III, best username ever!

[Claytone]

Been playing this. I have a pretty mediocre data plan, so I don't play outside much, but I've caught what I can from my office and home. Mostly, I'm interested in it as a cultural phenomenon. Wouldn't have predicted it would blow up this much! Makes me happy to see people excited about the IP, though. I know it means a lot to me.

I picked Team Yellow in honor of my school colors. Hopefully I can capture a gym crown some day!

[Niahak]

Schtolteheim Reinbach III, best username ever!

Yep! That was my backup when Niahak was taken.
My wife's is actually just ReinbachIII (mostly because she let me try it on her phone and didn't realize she'd subsequently get addicted).

Now we're hoping for a patch allowing her to rename so she can at least have a name she likes. I haven't managed to sell her on Suikoden yet.

[Kong Wen]

My wife's is actually just ReinbachIII ... Now we're hoping for a patch allowing her to rename

Haha, amazing!

My screen name is ThisOldNeon

I pretty much just picked it up to be a casual observer. I certainly don't plan to conquer any gyms or any of that nonsense, but I'll happily snag any poker mans I see when I'm out on my nightly walks. I took Charmander as my starter because (and I don't know if the game follows this logic at all) I live on the Atlantic ocean, so I figured there would be more opportunity to see Squirtles and Bulbasaurs in the wild.

[Claytone]

My wife's is actually just ReinbachIII ... Now we're hoping for a patch allowing her to rename

Haha, amazing!

My screen name is ThisOldNeon

I pretty much just picked it up to be a casual observer. I certainly don't plan to conquer any gyms or any of that nonsense, but I'll happily snag any poker mans I see when I'm out on my nightly walks. I took Charmander as my starter because (and I don't know if the game follows this logic at all) I live on the Atlantic ocean, so I figured there would be more opportunity to see Squirtles and Bulbasaurs in the wild.

The game does more or less follow this logic. Living on Puget Sound, I see lots of Magikarp, Goldeen, and other water-type indicators on my phone whenever I'm at home. Work is on a lake, so I see other water types here, too. So yes, generally, there are some rules. Jigglypuffs and Clefairies tend to be near mountains too. Gastlies show up more prominently at night.

Clefairies also show up near the Space Needle, which I find particularly clever, since they are hinted in game as having descended from the Moon. Very nice touch, IMO.

[The Shoemaker]

So far I like the experience around the game and how everybody is into it, but I haven't had a great experience with it. All day it has taken forever to log in and the game constantly freezes. I went for a 30 minute walk and was probably able to use the App for about 5 minutes :p

I had a better experience last night when I used it. I have two Pokestops next to my home, one of which was a neat mural I didn't know about, which I thought eas pretty cool.

So far I think the game looks to be a fun casual experience, I've just been having a lot of technical difficulties.

[Drauks]

I've also run into constant freezes, usually right when I've caught a Pokemon. This app straight up destroys my battery, as well.