How's my collection going? - Pokemon TCG Pocket.

Against all odds, even though it's been on the market for almost half a year, I still play Pokémon TCGP almost religiously. While the mobile game from Game Freak and Nintendo has a couple of questionable practices upon closer inspection, we can't deny that it's one of the most solid and addictive experiences found on any app store.

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In several previous posts, I've talked about my progress on this title, how challenging it was to complete certain connections like Genetic Apex or Mythical Island, as well as trying to analyze the nature of its combat system and how fair (or not) its daily booster system can be.

The truth is that regardless of how complicated it is to collect all the cards in a collection (involving opening an absurd number of packs and dealing with a trading system that seems specifically designed to make us not want to trade), TCGP is a refined game that, with its strengths and weaknesses, perfectly captures what it means to be a collector, from the feeling of satisfaction of acquiring a valuable card to the frustrated realization that we have yet another Rattata.

Shining Revelry is the latest set to be released, and while the release gap between this and the penultimate (Space Time Smackdown) was very short, we appreciate that it has a manageable number of cards, and the next set will likely take a little longer than usual to arrive.

This time around, it seems like the drop rates have been adjusted and are relatively fairer, making it easier to progress through the collection. However, the issue of those "special" cards and EX cards remains a nightmare. In fact, the only four cards I currently need to complete all my collections (two from Shining and two from Space Time Smackdown) are of this type.

The terrible EX chance percentages wouldn't be so alarming if the trading system weren't so unbalanced. Despite third-party apps like PokeTrade making it much easier to find the cards we're missing, trade points still significantly limit our ability to do so freely.

Beyond the infuriating nature of all this, I still find ways to enjoy this game, and in a way, I've accepted that everything is more enjoyable if I approach it from a casual perspective and don't struggle to cover more than what the daily packs and free missions allow me to accomplish.