I kinda think the Pokemon games are badly designed. I haven't played the last few generations, but my experience was that it was constant grinding, exploring was tiresome because you were constantly dealing with wild pokemon and trainers, the combat isn't interesting enough to carry the game, and there is no real progression. The trainers go from being total pushovers the entire game, to suddenly being quite difficult.
When I think of Pokemon I think of feeling powerful because my starter Pokemon could defeat any team in the game on it's own - to getting to the end and suddenly needing a well rounded team. It felt like a bait and switch. "You thought you were good at this game? No! You suck! Go grind forever to level the rest of your team!"
It feels like a game of rock paper scissors grafted onto a grinding simulator. It feels like they add more Pokemon and more ways to grind, but what I would want from it is keeping the same Pokemon I grew up with and am emotionally invested in, with less grind and more ways to feel like I am Ash Ketchum.
But I'm an RPG fan, so maybe these games just aren't for me, and there's a different personality which enjoys minmaxing and novel Pokemon who are the right audience. (I really liked Pokemon Stadium.)
When I think of Pokemon I think of feeling powerful because my starter Pokemon could defeat any team in the game on it's own - to getting to the end and suddenly needing a well rounded team. It felt like a bait and switch. "You thought you were good at this game? No! You suck! Go grind forever to level the rest of your team!"
It feels like a game of rock paper scissors grafted onto a grinding simulator. It feels like they add more Pokemon and more ways to grind, but what I would want from it is keeping the same Pokemon I grew up with and am emotionally invested in, with less grind and more ways to feel like I am Ash Ketchum.
But I'm an RPG fan, so maybe these games just aren't for me, and there's a different personality which enjoys minmaxing and novel Pokemon who are the right audience. (I really liked Pokemon Stadium.)