‘Pokemon Go’ New Update Adds Enemy Defense, Offense Appraisal Feature

The latest update instituted by Niantic Labs massively popular "Pokemon Go" augmented reality mobile game has brought with it the capability for players to learn the strengths and weaknesses of an opposing pokemon, although the feature only gives an overview instead of showing the actual stat numbers.

Reports indicate that players of "Pokemon Go" may now get a better understanding of the opponents they come across thanks to the newly instituted update to the game issued by Niantic Labs, which patched the game so it now allows trainers the "Appraise" feature when in battle.

 As sample images provided Twitter user Will Erwin show, using the new appraisal feature will give a player an overview of the opposing pokemon's stats as given by their respective team leader. Activating "Appraise" in the battle menu will cause one of the three team leaders; Candela for Team Valor, Blanche for Team Mystic, and Spark for Team Instinct; to pop up and offer their own educated summary of the opposing pokemon's statistics.

The above suggests that the feature is only for players level five or above, as that is around the level that players can join one of the game's three teams. Since the team leader is the one to deliver the statistics appraisal, it stands to reason that joining a team is required to unlock the feature.

There is also another caveat to the appraisal feature aside from the presumed level lock; that being the way how the information is delivered. From the images Will Erwin shared, one can see that there are rarely any actual numbers mentioned in the team leader's statements. This means that the game simply takes note of the actual numbers, and then chooses a predetermined set of responses most appropriate for the numbers.

There are multiple issues with the system going the simple overview is; one is that it is hard to know specifically just how much is the difference between the stats and attributes of the enemy's pokemon and a player's own, while another is that it can take several attempts before a player can gain a more appropriate understanding of their opponent. This is because the responses from the team leaders seem to denote a degree of randomness or that they do not always immediately tell the player what it is they specifically wants to know.

Aside from the "Appraise" feature, the latest update to "Pokemon Go" also included some fixes aimed at further polishing the game. As what major update might come next, Niantic Labs assured players that they can expect more features to come in the future.