Keeping It Free... or Augmenting It

The advent of mobile gaming has brought a play paradigm into light: games can be completely free to obtain and then progress through, but to accelerate progress, some things can be obtained by spending some money. This paradigm is known as free-to-play or F2P, though it may also be called free-to-start. Since then, some Pokémon games have adopted this paradigm, whether on the 3DS or mobile phones. I've played through some of these games, and I've managed to keep my progress mostly free, though I'm also motivated to spend some money to augment them.

I've made significant progress through Shuffle on the 3DS since it was first released, and I've managed to keep all that progress completely free; I've never spent a cent to buy even one Jewel. Of course, this is also mostly because I've never been able to spend money for eShop vouchers, and therefore I don't have an eShop balance to buy Jewels with. Given how things proceed, and the fact that some Jewels may be obtained through daily bonuses, I don't foresee spending any money for Jewels, except if I ever accumulate an eShop balance and spend some of what remains after purchasing a different game. It would be a different story if I played Shuffle Mobile instead, in which case I'm likely to spend for Jewels there.

Likewise, my Rumble World progress has been completely free because of the inability to spend for Poké Diamonds, which I've noted last year. And yet, they can (and need to) be used for so many things, which means many are needed for them. Because of this, and also because of the fact I've worn out my 3DS last year - perhaps as an aftereffect of playing the game - I've effectively stopped playing. I'm not likely to resume playing the game in light of this, as even any leftover eShop balance I may have are better divested in Shuffle, something I've made better progress on, even without purchase of any Jewels.

In Go, the only mobile Pokémon game I've played so far, I've been more liberal in purchasing PokéCoins, and I've done so occasionally to make up for a deficit if I don't have any returning Pokémon from a Gym on a particular day. What I perhaps won't do is purchase large amounts of PokéCoins, since in my area, they exorbitantly get more expensive the more of them are purchased at once. I would rather purchase the smallest amount possible and continue to do so every so often, while earning the rest by placing Pokémon in Gyms. It may be a slow progress, but at least I can try to minimize spending.

It's great to simply be able to play Pokémon games for free, even if some parts invite, demand, or practically require spending for further progress. It's a standard paradigm for modern mobile gaming that isn't about to change any time soon. I'm certainly not against it - the developers need some money after all - but I also need to weigh my spending options. At least I can hope of making as much progress as possible without spending, then spend only as needed where it counts.

One year ago: Ball Redesign?