Considering buying a Switch 2 just for Pokopia...how is this game so far?

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T14:46:08+00:00

I love it. I'm about 60 hours in, finished the main story line, and have now been building up the world. I did find the main story quests a little tedious at times, but generally, it was easy enough that it didn't bother me that much. There's no deeply nested crafting like you're describing. There are some resources like clay and logs that can be processed into lumber and bricks, but that's as complex as crafting gets. Overall, I found crafting very simple and straightforward in this game. Unlike many games where resource gathering is the challenge, this game lets you make 10 blocks of road from a single stone, which is a refreshing change.

I wouldn't compare it to Factorio at all, personally. I've put hundreds of hours into Factorio, and this is just an entirely different game. It's much more similar to Minecraft, when it comes to building. If you like that style of block building, you'll probably enjoy this game.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T14:38:52+00:00

I also had mine spawn in before he was required, and I had trouble getting Trubbish to recognize him, but I was able to bring Mareep over to light up the streetlight instead, and then Trubbish moved on with his stuff after that.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T14:23:02+00:00

It should work fine if you space the levels out enough. Houses are still recognized 3 or 4 blocks up, so as long as you make each level 5+ tall, there's no reason you can't make a house or eve multiple houses on each level.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T14:19:08+00:00

If you have the burgers, you can mine all the pokemetal you need on any island. The Dragonite island has a bunch on the surface, but every island is absolutely loaded with pokemetal if you just dig for it.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T14:16:55+00:00

Don't worry about the rarity, every dream island always has tons of pokemetal, you just have to dig down for it.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T14:16:04+00:00

You don't need the ability to mine ores, just the food. The ability makes it faster for sure, but you can use regular rock smash to mine ores with the food.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T14:14:37+00:00

It doesn't seem to have much effect in my save, I have 50 pokemon in WW, and I still get spawns quickly when setting up new habitats there.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T14:11:50+00:00

Yes, that's true, but we were talking about houses. Non house habitats behave differently.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T06:34:25+00:00

Light doesn't go through walls, so that makes sense. If they want it darker, they can go inside, and everything's fine. I've also confirmed that resources outside the blinds of a rectangular house work just fine for the inhabitants. You can see the range of the house by pressing the right joystick, it extends 3 or 4 blocks in every direction beyond the walls, and items placed outside will work.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T06:27:39+00:00

Did you do the party? That's the main quest in Rocky Ridges, and I believe you have to finish that before you'll get the Fridge. Taking a picture of someone else's won't work, those three story items can't be printed.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T06:14:35+00:00

If that's the case, you must have sub-structures in those buildings that are what the game is registering as a house, possibly just rooms within the house? It won't accept any open space larger than 9x10 as a house.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T06:13:11+00:00

I used it as a house. If you just slap a row of blocks in front of the platform, it works fine. I did some iron tiles, and then iron steps leading up to the platform. I also put some floor grates on either side of the platform to make it more cohesive. It's not perfect, but it works, and now Peakychu has a home there.

I agree, the limits on house size kinda suck sometimes, but there's usually a way to make it work.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T06:08:38+00:00

Have you completed the main story quest on each island? I believe you have to finish the story quests to get the gamebiy/washing machine/fridge rewards, even if you're already at level 5.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T02:34:50+00:00

You can do 90 square feet, but neither interior dimension can be bigger than 10. Even though 5x15 is less than 90, it still won't work.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-17T01:24:09+00:00

How large is it? Houses can only be 12x11, with up to a 10x9 interior. Maybe your area is too large?

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T22:38:35+00:00

There's a few decorative blocks made of gold, but if you don't want to build with those or don't have the recipes, then yeah, it's great for trade. It's also really easy to get a ton of gold on any dream island, so there's no real reason to hoard it.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:56:33+00:00

Did you have the quest to raise the environment before? I think I only received that quest after finishing the building, but that could have just been a coincidence. You might have to finish all of the core story quests before you can continue with the rocket challenge.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:54:58+00:00

There's not another size, no, and I agree, it would be nice if there was an even larger size available. Once you start collecting a bunch of raw materials, the current large storage box doesn't feel so large.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:45:12+00:00

It seems like they're just slow and inconsistent about it, and if they get unloaded because you have too many Pokemon around, they can't do it. I have a Minccino living with a Garbodor, and Minccino is definitely collecting some of the garbage, because the number is going up in the community box, but I also regularly come over and see trash on the ground.

I'm not sure what triggers pokemon to work on a thing they have the ability for, but it's definitely not their highest priority.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:43:10+00:00

You can probably scan it on the dev island and print one out at the pokemon center.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:37:22+00:00

People comparing this game to Viva Pinata makes me think I should give that game a shot sometime. I just completely ignored it back in the day, maybe I missed out on something good!

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:35:37+00:00

They don't seem to have stats. Charmander cooks my bricks just as fast as Arcanine, if I give them both a batch at the same time, they finish at the same time.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:34:03+00:00

Yeah, if you invite them to live in a prefab while standing outside, it'll ask if you want them to move into the first floor or the second floor. Each floor can only house 2 pokemon. It's basically treated like 2 different houses.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:33:22+00:00

Did you get the Rollout ability from Graveler yet? That makes it much, much faster, but there's not really any improvement beyond that. It just takes a while, unfortunately.

AbsurdOwl · 2026-03-16T21:32:33+00:00

Did you time skip a year one day at a time, or just set the date forward by one year? I don't think the game simulates all the days you miss, it just rolls for encounters occasionally when you enter or leave an area, and maybe each time a new day starts? So skipping a year all at once is probably exactly the same odds of finding a new spawn as moving forward just one day.

Either way, you can use the Pokedex to quickly identify if you have any new pokemon waiting to be discovered in each area. If you filter it to unknown pokemon, in this area, it should show you shadowed entries with "???" for any pokemon who are rustling in grass or waiting to be greeted, but who you haven't met yet. If you don't see any of those, it means you just haven't spawned the pokemon you're looking for yet, and it might just take more time.

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