My Pokemon Go Gameplay Diary, Tips, Updates, Tricks and More (Updated Regularly)

So I have been playing Pokemon Go ever since it hit the Philippines last week and boy I wish I had more time and more Pokeballs to catch them all ASAP, level up, battle and take over gyms, earn Pokecoins and buy more stuff to fully get the best out of this massively successful Pokemon Go mobile game. 

Ever since I started playing this game and based on what I have been seeing online and witnessing what's happening around, I think this Pokemon Go craze is going to last a long time. Lure Parties are happening everywhere, different brands and businesses whether it's in local or national level are all jumping into this Pokemon Go madness by either throwing lure module parties or by releasing ads and commercials with a touch of Pokemon on top.

That being said and since I see myself not quitting this game anytime soon I decided to create this article where I would like to discuss my progress and discoveries on playing Pokemon Go here in Davao City, Philippines. Hopefully I will be able to continue play this game on a daily basis despite work and other blogging-related stuff and schedule conflicts and give you guys latest updates, tricks, tips, and probably legals hacks about Pokemon Go as I play on. If you also have some questions or tips playing this game, please feel free to use the comment section below and we will talk about it.

So when the Pokemon Go officially arrived in the Philippines in the morning of August 6, while I was still asleep and dreaming, I immediately downloaded it to my smartphone (of course that happened after I learned about the news and realized it was real). Walked around and checked the nearby Poketops and Gyms to see how it was actually working, I was able to catch some wild Pokemon, got some Pokeballs, and I was happy since then.

On that same day, I even wrote a Pokemon Go Beginners Guide: Philippine Edition to share my then current knowledge of the game and some of the things I have learned about it since initial roll out in early July. You may want to check that out and see if you are still missing some things about the game.

That same day I learned that some Android users were shocked and disappointed to know that their devices were not compatible with the game. When they searched the Pokemon Go on Google Play either it would not show up in the search results or it would say "Your Device isn't compatible with this version", even if the device meet the Pokemon Go system requirements and specs. Thankfully there is still another way on how to download the game and play on their smartphones. If you are still unable to download the game due to this issue, my Quick Fix post might to able to help you how to download the apk version.

That quick fix tutorial helped a lot of users start catching one Pokemon at a time, but there are some other users even those who were able to download it from the Google Play still encountered another issue, the GPS Signal Not Found Error. Thankfully again, there is a workaround for this in addition to making sure that GPS is properly activated and set to "High Accuracy" mode, check that workaround in this another follow up post of mine.

So far those are the big issues we have countered and have been aware of as of yet. Unfortunately, not everybody is able to play up until this very moment. Some of them are Asus Zenfone 2 users, good thing is people from Asus Philippines are so helpful providing some temporary solutions while they currently work with Niantic Labs (the game developer) people to have this fixed permanently as soon as possible. Because according to Niantic, smartphones with at least 2GB RAM and Android 4.4 Kitkat should be able to play Pokemon Go but seems many of the devices were not included in the roll out. So Asus is still working on that.

Then a few days after the initial roll out in the Philippines, a Pokemon Go app update was released (0.33.0 for Android and 1.3.0 version for iOS) giving users another chance to change their nickname for one time only, as well as bringing back the Battery Saver feature in the settings section of the app.

That was basically what have happened so far for the first week of Pokemon Go in the Philippines. Also be careful when using cheats and hacks while playing Pokemon Go, Niantic Labs is now permanently banning users who are caught cheating the game. See more of my Pokemon Go related posts and future articles through this tag here in the blog.

So where am I now in the Pokemon Go world?

As of this writing, I am at Level 11 and I am under Team Mystic. Kaway kaway sa mga Team Blue diyan! hehehe

And here are the Pokemon I have caught so far.

I know I am not that powerful yet but I am getting there my fellow Pokemon Trainers. I have been enjoying it so far. A few power up and evolving have also been done with a couple of egg hatchings. Here in my area in Davao city especially in the downtown, Voltorb, Rattata and Pidgey are the most common ones even when Lure Modules are used. Magnemite is also one of my most caught Pokemon so far. How about in your places?

When it comes to battling gyms, no I have not tried it yet, because I think I am not that powerful yet and I want my Pokemon to be more leveled up and evolved before I start fighting Pokemon at the gyms. Pokestops are also very plenty in my area especially around People's Park (one of the most popular parks in Davao city). So if you are near here and you haven't visited People's Park yet, you should especially at night where a lot of trainers are dropping lures there.

I think at level 10, you will start getting Lucky Eggs either from Pokestops or by leveling up and this is used to double your XP points for 30 minutes. It's one of the not so common items you will acquire for free, so make sure you use it wisely. From one of the Pokemon Youtubers I watch, he uses Lucky Eggs when he is doing a mass evolving of Pokemon. He would capture as many Pokemon as possible, and then he would do the transferring, leveling up and evolving in one session and with this he gets massive number of XP points for his character and when he uses a lucky eggs, that becomes double in numbers. There might be other tips for gaining XP points fast, but so far this I what I have tried so far.

Pokemon Go Lure Party!

The very first Pokemon Go Lure Party nationwide took place yesterday, August 12 at all SM Malls in the Philippines from 5PM to 9PM. Davao Bloggers Society, a local community of bloggers I am a member of, took part in this event in partnership with SM Lanang Premier, PressKo, and Smart Communications. 

Lure Parties are simply Businesses or brands like SM Malls and Smart Telco dropping free Lure Modules at Poketops usually within the vicinity of their buildings or malls to attract more wild Pokemon for Pokemon trainers like you and me to catch. One thing I learned from this Lure Party? Bring a ton of Pokeballs or else you will end up with no more Pokeballs while wild Pokemon keep on show up in front of you. But Pokestops refreshes every five minutes from the last time you use it, until then you are zero of Pokeballs. In case you don't know yet, there are three ways to get Pokeballs, from Pokestops, when you level up, and from the in-app store. Price? Look below. : )

 
More and more Lure Parties are to come so be ready, always check my blog to see updates on this.

Today, August 13, Davao Bloggers and Smart Communications Inc partnered together to throw our very first Lure Party to happen at the People's Park this evening beginning at 6PM. Please drop by if you have time and want to catch more Pokemon.

Happy Catching and Catch "em All!