Useless Rewards in Pokémon Games

Ideally, when one gets rewards in games by doing things or spending in-game currency, the rewards are expected to be good - that is, useful - at least in some ways. However, it may be possible that some rewards in some games turn out to be utterly useless, being not worth it for the efforts. It seems that it's hard for Pokémon games to escape this observation, and there are or have been a number of rewards that are likely to fulfill this observation, whether now or in the past of the games.

Those who have played the main series games of the first generation might have recalled purchasing a certain Pokémon (Magikarp) close to the share of Mt. Moon. It is true that purchasing the Pokémon is the fast track to obtaining it, but at the same time, with the Pokémon being readily available in most places, it might not be worth it, even with a chance to obtain ones with good stats. Therefore, the opportunity to obtain it in this way might very be described as one that gives out a useless reward.

Meanwhile, presently, Pokémon Go is hosting an event that, like many events, often has complementary Field Research task rewards. Still, based on different considerations, one of these may be considered not worth the effort. Right now, there's a task that rewards Marill, but one has to evolve two Water-type Pokémon in order to obtain it. Given the paucity of water Pokémon that evolve without the usage of many resources nor much effort in obtaining those resources, this task could be considered useless in some ways; it may be better to wait for other opportunities or to skip it entirely if usable species have already been obtained.

Also presently and concurrently occurring in a different game, Pokémon Unite, is the "Pokébuki" collection event. One of the rewards of this event, however, involves the exchange of the collection currency (flower petals) for 300 Fashion Tickets. The problem with Fashion Tickets, however, is that for players long in the tooth, they are largely unusable, as they are likely to have obtained many of them by other means and used them to obtain all the items in the shop, leaving the rest unaccounted. It is true that it may always be possible to obtain more items, and for those who are just starting out this might be fine, but at the current pace of things, this exchange may have to be ignored due to its inutility.

Rewards in many cases are always good, but they're not necessarily useful, as any of the above in different Pokémon games may indicate. This is especially the case if they can be gotten easily with time or just somewhere else in general. Though utility could depend on the eye of the beholder, it should also be plain to see how its absence is manifested, and that should make for wiser decisions and efforts to obtain rewards that are truly useful.

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