Genwunner Plays Pokemon Let’s Go, Eevee!

By: Justin Hopkins

As we inch closer to the end of the series. We take a short detour off the main road, for Pokemon Let’s Go. Their first on the Switch Platform and I was both excited and a little worried. Call myself Genwunner for a reason and the fact I got to go back and relive Kanto again, but I was a little nervous about what I was walking into. I knew a little about what I was getting into. About Catch Combos and Pokemon wondering about in the overworld and such. Picked Let’s Go, Eevee due to the fact I dislike Pikachu more, but still not a huge fan of Eevee either, but was still excited to get started and now that Mui’s journey is over. Lets break it down and discuss.

(Blogger note, Let me address Ultra Sun and Moon. I haven’t forgotten about them. Paulie held a poll about whether Ultra Moon was different enough from Moon to warrant a playthrough and the vote came back No. If you feel differently, please say so and I will take it under consideration.)

The Journey

The game kicked off with Mui waking up and being greeted by the villainous Paulie. Eager to get out and get our Pokemon. Like a pro that I am, skipped the Lab and went to the trail, where we were the one to catch an Eevee and watched the ball bounce away. Catching up to it at the Lab and despite my best efforts. Picked Eevee and named hum Majin Buu and after delivering Oak’s Package and smacking Paulie around. We were off to the races, but kind of slowed down. Playing with Buu and debating about how I was going to build a team. Had a pretty set team when I was a kid, but choose to try out another to mix it up. So, before we made it to Viridian Forrest. Added female Nidoran named Bulma. Building them up along the way by mostly catching Pokemon that I dumped into the bag. My focus staying on Bulma and Buu. Getting to Pewter where I got way to excited over babysitting a Slowpoke and getting real thankful over the fact I caught a Bellsprout and took my rage out on Brock for that dumb rule and had a true geek out moment at seeing Blue. After the nightmare in Moon and a slew of friendly rivals. Was so glad to see Blue. Whop lost a bit of an edge through him maturing, but still had a bit of sarcastic wit and happy nevertheless. Rejuvenating my spirit and tearing through Mt. Moon’s Rockets and Jessie and James. Saving Misty for later. Running through second Paulie fight mostly off Eevee. Wasn’t even over leveled. Eevee is just a hoss in this one. I went this way because I had a memory off Oddish and Abra being up this way. After spending an embarrassing amount of time. Started to doubt myself until I pulled up a list. They moved Abra a few routes south and to my horror. Oddish is Pikachu exclusive. Caught Vegeta the Psyduck but he wasn’t long for the team. Thanks to Zippy Zap, Eevee dealt with Misty and we moved on. Catching 18 the Abra on the way to the S.S Anne. Training him up during my run through the boat, but I was worried about Surge…Not as a trainer but his stupid trash can puzzle. That thing would hang me up for so long and it still rages on. I beat Surge faster then it took me to open the door, but it allowed me to move on to the next leg and I really needed to start building a team. It was still just Buu, 18 and Bulma and I wasn’t sold on Bulma yet. While I didn’t find any in Rock Tunnel. That changed quickly. Adding Tien the Hitmonlee and 17 the Gastly while we were saving the poor Cubone, in a satisfying ending to the Poketower that I never knew I needed. Once I got the flute though, it was a mad dash to Fuchsia Stopping only to catch Caulifla the Ponyta. Excited to see the Safari Zone. Only there is none. Replaced it with the Go Park. A place to shift Pokemon from Pokemon Go and after a bit of playing around, sent some over. Frieza the Alakazam and Kale the Vileplume. They were not over level. I never committed to Go long enough for that. Highest was Alakazem at 28. So grinding was necessary still, but the team was complete and it was time to start knocking off challenges. Caulifla dealt with Koga and Erika. We took Giovani in Silph-Co before 17 and Frieza tag team to down Sabrina and team effort for Blaine and Giovani again. Getting by Paulie with ease and immediately got lost in Victory Road. Stumbling on Moltres byu accident, but was luckily prepared for it. Managing to find my way to the League. Team of Frieza the Alakazam, 17 the Haunter, Kale the Vileplume, Tien the Hitmonlee, Caulifla the Rapidash and Buu the Eevee, and after one shot, became Champion of Kanto for the first time in decades. Kicked off Post Game by collecting the other two Legendary Birds and a slugfest between me and Mewtwo. Leading to the best encounter in the game, with Green. I laughed way to hard at her throwing pokeballs at me. Rematching the gym leaders and then came the hard part, The Master Trainers. Replaced Kale and Caulifla for Psyduck and Charizard (because I knew where they were) and started Catch Combos. One set included a 116 Gravelers which included no shines. i was high enough to win 6 and finally took down Red for a change. With all of that done, it felt like it was time for Mui to retire home and wrap up this adventure.

Review

I had such a great time playing this game. They really brought Kanto to life in a beautiful way. The colors all popped and the designs of the Pokemon were gorgeous. Places like Mt. Moon and Cerulean Cave were just amazing. The cinematic scene were a lot of fun that added to the place or situation. From little things like Eevee getting excited and running to inspect the fountain in Cerulean or even the dumb celebration of high fiving his tail. I was fine with the changes they did make, like seeing the heartbreaking Cubone Story and loved the fact he got to go with Paulie and grow into a Marowak of his own. To the more intense moments of encountering the Birds or Mewtwo. As corny as it sounds, they brought my childhood to life in the best possible ways.

I found that they really made it fun to catch Pokemon again, in my opinion. Finding myself just walking around. Watching what Pokemon came out. Going on random catch combos just to see which rare pokemon came out. Seeing pokemon like Chancey so early blew my mind, but got so much more fun at the end, when you see Dragonites and Charizards flying overhead. I spent so much time walking around and had a great time.

I loved the focus they put on interacting with your Pokemon. Eevee growing on me, from a pokemon that I didn’t care for going in and ended up loving it by the end. Interreacting and feeding him berries. Watching him moving around during the cinematics to see his reaction when around the Legendries. It carries over to the Pokemon that you pick to follow you. A component that should be in every game. True happiness is riding on the back of Haunter. I love the fact that you have the option to interact and feel like you get to bond with your pokemon and they are more then just go and fight the others.

It was fun seeing Red and Blue, despite how much it really throws the storyline out of the window. It was good to see Blue continue to grow and mature a bit. Being able to fight Red was fine, but Green stole the show. I wish we could have had her for a rival cause it was a blast dealing with her during the short time you do.

Mixed wise, Paulie was fine. Another friendly rivalry, which has run its course, but after the Nightmare known as Hau. He was fine here, and I feel like they could have done more with Jessie and James and having Meowth talk wouldn’t have been a big deal.

Negative… I am really hung up on the roller skates being taken away from me. They were so much fun. Please give me my skates back, but that is it for complaints here. Call me bias if you like, but I had a lot of fun with Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee. Brought the first Generation back in a wonderful way, love the cinematics, and adored the fact I got to interact with the Pokemon and seeing them in the wild was a nice way to go. Final Grade – A

As always, I hope you enjoyed and….

Thank You For Reading!