Pokémon Go ‘A Paldean Adventure’ choose a path quest steps: Who should you go on an adventure with?

Pokémon GoS “A Paldean adventure” is the season-long special investigation for Season 12: Adventure’s Abound.

Focus on Gen 9 starters Fuecoco, Sprigatito and Quaxlyit starts with a ‘pick a path’ choice between the three Pokémon before several timed steps.

The special investigation ‘A Paldean Adventure’ runs until the end of the season you have until December 1 to file a claim. Once you log in and start, it will remain in the Special Quests tab forever, so there is no urgency to complete each step.

The quest debuted as part of the “A Paldean Adventure” event of the same name, which ended on Sunday, September 10, before transitioning into the “Ultra Unlock: Paldea” event. It also saw fellow Gen 9 debutant Lechonk launch his own quest, “Lechonk’s Adventure.”

‘A Paldean Adventure’ Special Investigation Mission Steps

The event headline is Special Research ‘A Paldean Adventure’, which you can claim until December 1st.

“A Paldean Adventure” step 1 of 5

• Catch 8 Pokémon (20 Poké Balls)

Rewards: 900 XP, 900 Stardust

At this point you choose a path between the starter – Fuecoco, Sprigatito or Quaxly – you want to adventure with.

You can read our thoughts on which choice to make in the next section. Otherwise, the following steps are:

“A Paldean Adventure” step 2 of 5

• Catch 3 Pokémon (3 Poké Balls)
• Take a Snapshot of a Wild Pokémon (300 Stardust)

Rewards: Fuecoco, Sprigatito or Quaxly encounter, 900 XP

“A Paldean Adventure” step 3 of 5

• Spin 50 PokéStops or Gyms (20 Razz Berries)
• Catch 200 Pokémon (15 Pinap Berries)
• Send 60 gifts to friends (25 Poké Balls)
• Evolve Fuecoco, Sprigatito or Quaxly (1,000 XP)
• Earn a heart with your buddy on 7 different days (3,000 XP)

Rewards: Lechonk encounter, 900 XP

“A Paldean Adventure” step 4 of 5

• Explore 30 km (5 mysterious components)
• Catch 400 Pokémon (25 awesome balls)
• Earn 40 candies while walking with your buddy (9 Golden Razz Berry)
• Evolve Floragato, Crocalor or Quaxwell (2,000 XP)
• Visit PokéStops on 14 different days (6,000 Stardust)

Rewards: ??? encounter, 900 XP

Image: Niantic via Polygon

Due to the time-sensitive nature of the third step, we will discover the full rewards of step 5 on Sunday, September 24.

Choose the outcomes of a path: which starter from Fuecoco, Sprigatito and Quaxly should you go on an adventure with?

unlike Pokémon Scarlet and Violet — where starters are much harder to find, and your choice ideally takes into account which type gives you the biggest advantage over early level gyms – choosing Fuecoco, Sprigatito or Quaxly in Pokémon Go is, based on the initial quest steps, mostly a case of whatever you prefer.

While it’s possible that later steps will take more account of this “choose a path” choice (such as giving extra candy), the differences so far are which Pokémon you encounter at the end of step 2, that you need to evolve in steps 3 and 4.

Image: The Pokémon Company via pokemon.com

The other consideration beyond the above is whatever you choose in this research step will have a higher than average set of stats, with an “IV floor” of 10/10/10 (out of a possible maximum of 15/15/15). This means you’re guaranteed to get a fairly powerful version of that Pokémon, so if you plan on having one as part of your battle party, go for that.

That said, you can easily catch more starters via field research and eggs with similar IV floors as part of the event, not to mention the opportunity to get good stats through wild catches and a dose of luck. In other words, this is far from your only chance to get a Gen 9 starter with good IVs.

In summary, the ‘choose a path’ mission doesn’t offer anything exclusive, so pick your favorite out of the three. (For us, this is the grass starter. Always the grass starter.)

‘A Paldean Adventure’ Event Collection Challenges

In addition to the quest above, there are also four collection challenges to complete until the end of the Ultra Unlock: Paldea event on Friday, September 15:

Spigatito collection challenge

Rewards: 1,000 Stardust, Lechonk encounter

Fuecoco Collecting Challenge

Rewards: 1,000 Stardust, Lechonk encounter

Quaxly collection challenge

Rewards: 1,000 Stardust, Lechonk encounter

Lechonk collection challenge

Rewards: 1,000 Stardust, Lechonk encounter

Update (September 11): Adjusted the guide to focus on the quest now that the event has ended, as well as on step 4 of the special investigation.