idk how hot of a take that is, but seeing discussion about modern pokemon, I just have to say, pokemon has never really been that good?
The way I see it, pokemon is an inherently social game, this is a game that has very weak storytelling and gameplay across all entries, (no, the story of black and white isn't peak just for the sake of it being slightlier edgier for the standards of a pokemon game). The point of pokemon, right from the start was trading and talking about your friends about pokemon
the most fun i've had with pokemon was situations outside the game. It was trading pokemon cards at school, it was talking about ways we found to capture legendary pokemon, it was battling my friends, it was booting up my old copy of pokemon omega ruby and seeing in my secret base I somehow I still remembered the location the trainer of a friend I haven't talked with for 10 years
pokemon is a VERY unique game in that regard, no other game has a social component that strong IMO, the ones that do are highly competitive. The only other game that maybe comes to mind would be tomodachi life
While I do agree that recent games are glitchier, and while I do prefeer the old 2D sprites, I don't think the essence of pokemon has gone anywhere, the culture of pokemon is still very much alive, it's just, we're not in the right social circles.
When I see people talking about how to improve pokemon, a lot of arguments repeat, which are often stuff like "the game should be harder" or "the story should be better", but I think this is missing the point. These are the standards we uphold to all RPG's, but pokemon isn't your normal RPG, it isn't trying to be xenogears or whatever, what pokemon is trying to do, is, entirerily and completely different, and when talking about how to improve pokemon or what makes a certain pokemon game good and another bad, we should take that into consideration
