Pokémon Picross (2015)

I have crawled back out from the depths of the Pokemon Picross swamp to give an update.

I have finished all of the normal-mode puzzles, however many hundreds of puzzles there are. I have finished both murals (a couple hundred puzzles on their own). I have done pretty much all normal-mode related medals (89/100).

What's left is basically re-doing all of the hundreds of puzzles in alt-mode. Slightly different (more annoying) rules, but I can't do it right now. I have already been struggling to get through the last few worlds of normal-mode due to Picross fatigue, and I don't like alt-world mode, so I need to take a break and actually play some other games for a while. I miss having a reason to come check on the Grouvee feed and have stuff to actually update.

I expect to get back to this eventually, or maybe even make it a daily thing to blast through a puzzle or two with my stronger abilities and just meander my way through it for a few months. I really like the thought of getting it to 100%, but I can't handle really focusing on this anymore right now.

For as much as I love Picross, and as easy as the abilities make it so you are barely even doing whole puzzles, I am burnt out. I can't believe it happened, but it did. So, not that anyone actually cares, but maybe you'll actually see me bopping around the site a little more again :)

(The scary thing is, I may not be able to stop.....)

As my time with the My Nintendo Zelda Picross winds down into my remaining 15 Mega Puzzles, I realized I still needed MORE (regular) Picross, so I ponied up the money to finish unlocking this. 9 Picrites a day just isn't fast enough for the crazy amount of puzzles left in total. Plus achievements, plus goals, plus "collecting them all". This will have put me at basically a $35 total to just own the entire game. There are some weird remnants and references to be being a free-to-start, but it's otherwise just a full, giant Picross title, with a lot more interesting twists on the genre than ever before seen. Totally worth it to me (see my review)!

It does feel weird though that I don't need to do the daily training I was so used to doing...

I am at the 15/16/17 tiers of stages at the moment with all achievements I can actually get so far, since I have to backtrack with Pokemon I won't get until further down the road.

Pros:
-- One of the best implementations of free-to-start I have seen (see link below for full review digging deeper into this)
-- Tonnnnns of Picross to play, with the allure of "catch 'em all" as you uncover hundreds of Pokemon
-- Pokemon powers are a nice twist on the Pokemon genre, even if it makes puzzles way too easy

Cons:
-- Almost too many puzzles to expect to clear by hand, if you refuse to use Pokemon powers (this would also limit your achievements)
-- While you can technically play the entire game free, the unlock loops becomes too slow to really make this enjoyable, or even feasible
-- Achievements where you beat puzzles with certain Pokemon in your party are basically impossible without just following a guide

Check out my full review at TheKlotzNet

I downloaded and started Pokemon Picross yesterday night. I don't know what I think about this game. The Pokemon special abilities just allow you to cheat at the Picross puzzles which isn't something I like to do. I'm upset that they handed out the in game currency like crazy, made me spend it on increasing my energy gauge and Pokemon slots, then I hit a wall where I need more of that to unlock more levels.

So yeah, as much as I like Pokemon and Picross, the Picross E games may be the much better value here.