We’ve been getting a lot of new information about Pokemon Masters, the mobile collaboration between The Pokemon Company and DeNA. But we’ve heard nothing about a release date — until now.
Pokemon Masters will launch for iOS and Android on August 29. Pre-registration is open now via the game’s official website, which also hosts the many trailers and tidbits of information released up to this point.
The Pokemon Company also released a batch of new trailers going over the game’s various mechanics and systems. There was some new information about how progression works, along with how players can level up their Sync Pairs and partner Pokemon.
In a hands-on preview, USGamer confirmed how players acquire Sync Pairs to begin with. As we reported on previously, it is a gacha-type system.
Acquiring new Sync Pairs done through a process called Sync Scouts, where the player rolls a die for a random Pair. These are, indeed, ranked by stars, though unlike Fire Emblem Heroes, their ranking isn’t static. It can be increased as players progress through the story and complete different Training activities.
Each roll of the die costs 300 Gems, which can be earned by playing the game or purchased, and these Gems are the only microtransactions in Pokemon Masters.
Should players scout a Sync Pair they’ve already scouted before, it increases the power of that existing Pair’s Sync Move. Each roll of the die earns three Scout points, and once 400 have been acquired, the game lets players buy whatever Sync Pair they want outright.
A big focus in the newly released trailers is Training, which, in Pokemon Masters, takes the form of daily missions. Completing these unlocks various rewards and bonuses, from items like Potions or other attack items to eventually unlocking Pokemon level caps. Unlocking these caps lets a Pokemon grow even further, which means it can become stronger, learn new moves, and even evolve.
Finally is the battle system. While there wasn’t much new revealed about it, the game does emphasize smart pairings and relying on support or defensive strategies often overlooked in the main game.
Sync Pairs are divided into three groups: Strike, Tech, and Support. The first and last are self-explanatory, and Tech focuses on debuffs and status attacks. Rather than stacking a party with all Strike Pairs, the idea is to use Tech to weaken opponents, Support to buff your Strike Pair, then Strike to inflict higher damage.
As of now, Singapore and Canada are getting an early preview of Pokemon Masters that transfers data to the main game, but there’s no word of whether that’s coming stateside as well.
