>>42755776As the anon in
>>42755806 said pokemon has always lacked the ever present JRPG challenge and lore.
It was successful because at it's core pokemon is a very simple monster collector game. Remember that EVs weren't exactly limited (besides the limit for every stat) so your starter mon would probably have maxed stats all around by the end. This was also a good way to get people to love their bros, even those that weren't starters.
I'll say the franchise aged terribly. Too many monsters to collect and the newer designs don't appeal to old fans(normies) at all.
The simple formula of the game had too many changes. Which isn't bad mind you. But also make it much harder for devs to make a challenging game without pulling a ultra-necrozma fight with bloated stat boosts.
Sadly pokemon never had a game with depth. Closer that we have to a decent lore is BW+B2W2. It effectly took 2 pokemon games to build a third of the lore in a single final fantasy game. I won't count S/M because it was more of a fanfic than a game.
If depth in lore was lacking then depth in gameplay only started to exist around gen 3 with abilities and limited EVs.
That's when people started leaving pokemon behind.
But remember, this franchise isn't supposed to age like wine. It's supposed to hook children up, so for every one adult that outgrows pokemon another 2 or 3 children pick it up.
And at that Pokemon is unbeatable.
