Bought PK:LG, actually my first “real” Pokemon game, since I’ve never had any of the Nintendo handhelds.
This is actually a game where it’s significantly better to play in handheld mode than on a TV. Playing with the controllers in handheld position makes aiming and throwing the ball hugely easier, since you just need to center the screen and press a button, rather than do a throwing motion. I play almost exclusively this way (whereas the kids play together on the TV), and it’s just a lot, lot better.
Have to admit that I really, really don’t get the hate for this title (it’s been being review-bombed on Amazon, metacritic, etc). But then I’m perhaps the “wrong” target audience, because I’m not really a fan of Japanese RPGs - way too grindy, IMO, and the combat systems do not have the kind of depth to make this anywhere near fun enough. PK:LG hasn’t budged that opinion.
It does, however, succeed in being a game that I’m OK with playing (got to stay ahead of the kids, so that I can help them out), because it has been streamlined just enough to make the grinding tolerable to me.
The big complaints I’ve read are that: a) Catching is too simple, because apparently people prefer to fight 2000 catch battles rather than the catching mini-game - which just seems insane to me. This is much better. There are more than enough “trainers” dotted around the map for me to get tired of the combat. b) Some combat mechanics (mostly items) have been removed. Hard for me to judge, but I don’t see how a few items would add significantly more depth to the combat mini-game, so I’m skeptical that this is really all that important. c) Difficulty is too easy. I’ve not had any trouble so far, but then I almost never do. My kids have run into a few battles where they had to do it over - even with the OP partner pokemon - and even I’ve found it tough to win some battles if I’m at the end of a long, grindy “dungeon”, low on revives/potions, HP, and run into a trainer who counters my party strengths. I really fail to see how this would be improved by having players run back to the hospital/store multiple times during “dungeon runs” (or having us stock up even more on potions/revives), which would essentially be the consequence of increased difficulty. Want more difficulty, play without the OP partner (as mentioned above), or without using potions/revives/running back to town, and I’m sure most people would find the difficulty quite challenging.
The kids love it. They don’t mind the grind/filler encounters as much as I do, and just enjoy running around catching and battling Pokemon (biggest weakness is a lack of native language support, but that’s to be expected - Scandinavia is a small market). It’s succeeds at being a good game. It unfortunately also succeeds in demonstrating how the “gaming community” is becoming stupider and stupider each year, because while it’s far from perfect, none of the “hater” complaints about this game I’ve read would make it a better game for its target demographic.