With the days long, and the the exhaustion that follows intense, I have little in the way of solace to give…though may I offer you a Pokémon in this trying time?


Much like Gengar, I too am fighting tooth and nail against exhaustion…and am also dead inside

There has already been a great deal of excitement that has occurred since we have commenced our journey in Pokémon Pokopia, which does not surprise me in the slightest, as a fervent player of Animal Crossing (AC), which is one of the two sources of inspiration that this game borrows from, as there is always more than meets the eye within the cosy genre. Though I know that taste is subjective, so there is never necessarily an objectively wrong or right way to qualify an experience for everyone equally in a 1:1 exchange rate of perception and satisfaction, I do often ponder how many folks who outright reject “cosy games” as stagnant wastes of time, assert such an opinion before even sitting down to truly try it out first hand for themselves. There is a lot to be said about the enjoyment of focusing on the little things in life, and arguably, cosy games are essentially predicated on the foundational premise of celebrating the little things in life, so there may be an awful lot of psychological context here worth digging into someday that lies at the very heart of the matter. However, my focus today was not to psychoanalyze an entire collective of individuals with a certain mentality from afar, but more so to continue to deconstruct the experience that is Pokémon Pokopia, in all of its grandiose dimensionality.


…and I’m not just flippantly referring to what an absolute unit my boy Tangrowth is.

A reliable old saying I greatly enjoy is “trust the actions, not the words”, as I feel as if there is a great deal of indisputable truth to the observation, and to that point, one of the best ways, or at least, an incredibly easy tell that reveals how engaging a game ends up being, is that, at least in my case, I end up being late to the laptop to write my article, as I ended up having too hard of pulling myself away from the experience. Though somewhat problematic, due to how tight my schedule is, overall, quite a positive sign of merit where design is concerned, and helps reinforce the notion of just how robust an experience cosy games can end up being. The amount one can explore in Pokopia, is truly only succeeded by the number of tasks that are at any given moment to attend to, and how well everything just flows together to make the time playing the game just vanish in an instant.


Vanish in an instant very much the same way the denizens of the world of Pokopia seemingly did as well….

To follow up how I ended my post from yesterday, I had successfully proven myself as a trainer in the eyes of the Pokopia Gods (would Arceus be involved with that?), by making my current little Pokémon providence raise enough in comfort level, to gain access to a new area through what was a once sealed gate. Naturally, I wanted to see what was ahead, and low and behold, a vast new terrain to uncover laid before me, with untold amounts of Pokémon just begging to be discovered. As one would imagine, this new area comes with a whole new host of issues, and now that I’m already armed with a ton of knowledge, resource, and a plethora of moves with which to navigate the harsh terrain with, the ante will certainly be upped, in how much work will be required of me to get the locale prim and proper once more.


What a bunch of fucking flat-leavers

Though I did end up exploring the new area quite a bit, including helping a down on his luck Meowth drain his current habitat of water that had flooded his little area, I did take a moment of pause to weigh my options. I most certainly had the chance to press on here, including starting to build habitats to attract new Pokémon, and begin work on rebuilding the Pokémon  Center in this town, but then realized there was still a Pokémon Center that had yet to be built in my original location, and it almost seemed a shame to just leave things up in the air for all of me Pokebuds who are still in need of housing, help, and the finalization of said Center reconstruction, so I felt it best to cease my march forward, and double back to my place of origin, so I could get it in immaculate shape before we go our separate ways.

Non-Newtonian fluids just out in the wilds…hmm…the implications of what this means for the physics of the Pokopia world are astonishingly vast within any conceivable measure

This was a smart move it turns out, and not just for the sake of seeing all of the Pokémon I had helped dancing about and being merry and all of that deligthful silliness, but one of the ‘monz I left in the lurch was Magikarp, who I just totally got distracted in helping before officially fulfilling his request, so it would take no time at all to help improve his life. This proved to be of great benefit to me, as he, like many Pokémon who I have aided thus far, was nice enough to teach me a move that was going to be of extreme usefulness in my journey, which ended up being a basic jump technique, of which my character lacked up until that point. Don’t get me wrong; the world is extremely navigable without it, as one has the ability to climb and carve out a path once they get Rock Smash (received quite early on), but a jump is basically a 101 of gaming essentials, so it was well worth an investment of empathy to obtain.

While I’m of the mind basic housing should be considered an essential right as is…this is Magikarp we are talking about here, guys. The dude doesn’t have a whole lot he can proudly boast about having, Give the poor bastard something to look forward to, right?

Following this, I ran hither and thither, as I helped out my motley crew of Poke peeps, helping them improve their house, bringing them gifts, and just general conversation to accommodate them with some company. Though they all thanked me with rewards of various kinds, upon completing Bulbasaur’s request, I had accidentally happened into unlocking a mini-game, which ended up being a jump rope competition. I hadn’t considered with any great amount of concern about the mini-game factor, as my regular go to cosy game, Animal Crossing, is sorely lacking in this department, but it would seem as if perhaps there are more options at hand in Pokopia, which would be a nice change of pace, and would give off a feint whiff of
Pokémon Staidum about it, which would mark yet another game that Pokopia could claim it draws inspiration from, to create such a congolmeration of worthy merits from giants within the space for its own charming sensibilities.

While initially excited to hear about the inclusion of a new mini-game with which to totally immerse myself in, almost immediately after hearing it was of the jump rope persuasion, PTSD flashbacks of FF9 started to fill my war torn mind…the horror….the horror….

Having helped the majority of my Poke crew with their needs and desires, I finally had all of the resources and extra hands that I needed and at the ready, to get the local population to start work on reconstructing the Pokémon Center, which would help be a great pushing off point, if I did so choose to move on immediately following its construction. Who knows, though, Pokopia has a great way of distracting and enticing one with so many random adventures, one is rarely doing what they set out to do, even if said plan was concocted only five minutes prior.

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Like those times when you randomly get an overwhelming urge to just build a fucking bridge

Random distraction or not, there always seems to be something new and fun to look forward to, every time I boot up Pokopia.

Always just ust another day in paradise, it would seem.

~Pashford