Saturday, August 27, 2022

Pokémon Go Fest 2022 (Global), Finale

Where there's a beginning, there's an ending, and today, that is at hand. As detailed early in the current Pokémon Go season, there would be a finale event for the marathon of Go Fest events throughout the season, and now is the time for that. Unlike the two-day global soiree at the beginning of this season, the finale event is only a one-day affair, much like Community Day as an example. Regardless, those who purchased tickets for the earlier global two-day event get access to this finale event as well, which is why I'm here today; it could also be purchased directly or as a gift for a lucky beneficiary.

For this event, the execution remained within the 10 AM to 6 PM framework of the earlier two-day event on each of the days. This time, the event was broken down into four habitats, which had specific Pokémon of the Bug, Fighting, Electric, Rock, Poison, and Grass types, gradually progressing in that sequence over the course of the event. Those who paid for a ticket and activated Incense (which is lengthened to two hours in this situation) gain extra appearances from characteristic Pokémon of the prior Go Fest editions this season in each habitat, including the "monkey trio" and some regional Pokémon plus Unown forms, with the addition of Shiny Unown N and Unown X for this edition.

The reason that the four habitats are as such is that they represent the types of the first four Ultra Beasts, which were also introduced in the preceding Go Fest events (Nihilego in Global, Buzzwole in Seattle, Pheromosa in Berlin, and Xurkitree in Sapporo). These Ultra Beasts returned today to the raid stage as Level 5 raids for everyone to deal with, appearing every two hours in the order of Pheromosa, Buzzwole, Xurkitree, and everyone plus Nihilego. Ticket possessors had the courtesy to raid them with up to 9 free on-site passes and an additional 3 premium passes in a bundle, with the latter also available to everyone; on-site raids as in the former also rewarded 1.5 times the XP. As well, all the Ultra Beasts when encountered can now be captured within Beast Balls, the special capture ball for this purpose.

Research and the related Collection Challenges remained a point of importance. Today, the latter featured four sets that were to be completed within each bi-hourly habitats with eight Pokémon each. Field Research featured tasks that are characteristic to each Ultra Beast and the ultimate goal of the Special Research. As for Special Research, everyone got a short two-page set that deals with the recovery and return of Professor Willow from Ultra Space (appropriately titled "Willow's Return"), for which when completed by ticket possessors unlocks a longer six-page set (titled "A Radiant Reunion") that is intended to be completed gradually (two pages at a time) as each Ultra Beast makes successive appearances, or all at once in the usual manner afterwards. As for that ultimate goal, Shaymin in its Sky Forme awaits at the end, which explains the remaining Grass type feature of the Pokémon appearances.

As usual, there were other remnant bonuses for everyone and some more for ticket possessors. For everyone, photo bombs featured a Pikachu with a scarf just like what Shaymin wears, Munna in the last two-hour period may be obtained in its Shiny form, new Ultra Beast and Ultra Recon Squad apparel are available in the Shop, and stickers with the Ultra Beasts and Shaymin are available. For ticket possessors, spinning PokéStops rewarded more XP, Eggs could be hatched at half the distance, and Shaymin forms may be switched after capturing the Sky Forme. Back to everyone, after the event hours, there was an influx of Lunatone and Solrock... which might be indicative of things to come in the next season.

I had the opportunity to spend the day with a few of my raid fellows in our former Community Day spot, which is more expansive and suited for this event due to its Gyms and walking areas. We went through as many of the perks as possible to capture Pokémon, complete the variety of tasks demanded by Research, and most importantly raid for all the Ultra Beasts whenever possible with other friends, both on site and off site. The Shiny rate wasn't all that great, but we still managed to catch a few, sometimes more than a few. Still, the real focus and objective were the Ultra Beasts, whose appearances today were the novelty of the event.

Much has been dealt with in the global edition of Pokémon Go Fest that kicked off the season as well as subsequent editions around the world, and this finale celebration for everyone couldn't have been any more appropriate with the entry of the Ultra Beasts for all. At least, with their availability for everyone, the "ultra" state is retained in the ones that could be successfully captured, as Pokémon Go prepares for what's beyond that "ultra" state as Go Fest and eventually this current season concludes.

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