>>53496751I will collect Pokémon even if they're not in the Pokédex, but I'll stop at Pokémon that are both not in a Pokédex and can only be obtained through backwards compatibility. If you are collecting, there should be a purpose to your collecting, and the collecting should be interesting. Yes, Alola does do some interesting things, though I would still argue that it's too heavy with the number of Pokémon available at any given time. 250 is probably the highest a regional Pokédex should go, though around 200 is a nice sweet spot. I did catch Salamence early in Sun, I caught a Politoed by SOS chaining Poliwag and Poliwhirl in the rain, I caught a Kommo-o by SOS chaining Jangmo-o and Hakamo-o, and I caught a Gengar by SOS chaining Haunter. I also used Poké Pelago to get Pokémon like Trevenant. I wish more new Pokémon that weren't available through a prior evolution were available through it, Mareanie is the only one that comes to mind.
>>53496793I'm saying that the appeal of Pokémon to me is discovering these Pokémon by interacting with the world and its systems and collecting them, not just using them. Pokémon as a series is too easy for team composition to matter much in single-player barring Battle facilities, they're mostly interchangeable. Pokémon that aren't in the game and aren't even in the Pokédex are superfluous because I'm not getting anything out of them being there whether I trade them in or not. Maybe Solrock and Lunatone specifically since you can unlock a Sun Stone and Moon Stone around Haina Desert if you bring them, but what am I going to get out of bringing Spritzee. It's just there, it's not doing anything other Pokémon can't already do, it's not even checking off a list to completion, it feels aimless and pointless.
