Its background was that the scientists have recently discovered a world parallel to our own, inhabited by spirit-like creatures. EsperCorp is spearheading research to unlock the secrets of the spirit world. The player is a field agent for EsperCorp, and encounters Espers all over the world, as Geomon unlocks a portal into the Esper world right on your iPhone. Thus, you capture wild spirits to add to your collection through using a mobile device's GPS location tool and your location. The latter is important because Espers that appear change depending on where, and when, you are in the real world. A difference of 5 hours, 5 miles, 5 degrees, or 5 levels can drastically change the Espers you encounter. Even the weather attracts strange new creatures that no one has seen before! Battle and train your team to gain powerful new abilities. You can even trade with other agents to complete your collection.
Provides Examples Of:
- Augmented Reality: You use your GPS location to play; some creatures are only available in some areas.
- Barrier Warrior: Many Light-type Espers have access to the shield ability, which creates a barrier that nullifies a certain amount of incoming damage.
- Com Mons: A function of the genre. The most common of all is Rattox, which, in addition to appearing in all locations and at all levels, is available in the in-game store for an extremely low price. They were seen by the community as utterly worthless, used only to facilitate two-for-one trades of better Espers.
- Damage-Sponge Boss: Alpha Espers had about the same stats as their normal counterparts, except for an HP stat that was many times higher.
- Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Espers have one or two associated elements, each of which has one resistance and one weakness: Water > Fire > Toxic > Light > Shadow > Mind > Physical > Ice > Earth > Electric > Wind > Nature > Water.
- Forced Tutorial: From the moment you create your account and log in, your forced to do a tutorial up until all the 'buttons' for the menu appear on screen. Then you can go about doing whatever; training, fighting, missions, or oddity.
- Gotta Catch Them All: So far this is a big factor of game play.
- Holiday Mode: Since the Spring of 2011 release of the game, each major North American/Canadian holiday has triggered certain creatures to appear.
- In-Universe Game Clock: An odd inversion of this; based on time of day/night you play can significantly change your chances of getting certain Espers, as it uses Real Life time (based on your current local + phone clock) to determine this its actually a very nifty way to play at different times of day or night.
- Interface Screw: The static in the Alpha Ascalon story mission.
- Literal Bookworm: Lexter, a paper worm which feeds on the thoughts people think when they read.
- Marathon Boss: As mentioned above, Alpha Espers have much more health than any other opponent. Since the Shield, Heal, and Revive skills reduce or heal damage based on the user's maximum health, Alphas with access to the combo take ages to wear down, if it can even be done.
- Mayan Doomsday: Averting it was the object of a story event during 2012.
- Mechanically Unusual Class: Certain Espers, such as Geosaur, Chronite, or Pegasus, have special ability trees with moves of several different types, rather than the ones that normally correspond to their typing.
- Mon: Pretty much speaks for itself.
- Non-Elemental: The Mech type, added late in the game's lifetime, has no weaknesses or resistances. Similarly, other types are never weak or resistant to it.
- Olympus Mons: Of course, given the genre. The vanishingly rare Laurelix especially.
- Real Life Writes the Plot: Loki Studios was bought out in early 2013 and the servers were shut down. To provide an In-Universe explanation, the game had one final story event, which led to the revelation that the constant disasters (Mayan Doomsday above, among others) were the result of interference between worlds from people playing the game.
- Real-Place Background: Using topographical maps of your area along with USGS and GPS data you get some weird version of this trope as being near mountains give you access to spirits of the forest and air, being near water grants your water or ice based Espers, and being near dry spots gives you desert monsters. Also EsperCorp's in-world address is actually Loki Studios' Real Life address.
- Starter Mon: On a new account, you are given the choice of Ascalon, Korora, Sakunam? , or Varg.
- Video Game Time: Similar to the in game clock; except there are also a bit of Real Life weather and season attributes in the game. For example if your near a mountain and its sunny you could get a dragon-type Esper but if your near the same area in the rain you could get a cut fuzzy tanuki-type creature or a rain spirit, same goes for all seasons...if its spring and raining you could get a rain spirit always but in the summer you could get a fire-fox or in autumn you would get a plant creature, during winter you'd get a snow beast; The game is very dynamic in this.
