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I'm not even mad or dissappointed at this point, just resigned. Such a shame for a series I held so close to my heart has reached such a point but no use denying the writing on the wall. Ever since Ultra Sun and Moon we've just been hit by bogus marketing and damage control that at this point nothing feels natural anymore. Pokemon just feels completely soulless while devoid of passion and polish. I don't even blame Masuda and Ohmori alone, it's obvious that they're being pushed to rush the game out in time for the holiday season and to kickstart merch and the anime. But that just compounds my previous issues, Pokemon is no longer just a merchandise but rather it's become a machine. Release product, abandon future updates barring basic QoL, advertise new product, release new product, repeat ad infinitum. When we compare that to other Nintendo series whose most recent games are in the running for the best game in their series (Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Three Houses, Smash Utimate, etc), Pokemon lacks any form of genuinity. Aforementioned games feel like a celebration of the series, Pokemon debuts on its grand stage of its first generation on home console by going in the opposite direction by tearing down norms we had previously thought to be untouchable and schizophrenically going from one new mechanic to another without bothering to refine them and, as of this generation, abandoning them in unprecedented number. We've been on this downward spiral honestly since XY being almost unequivocally a downgrade compared to it's predecessor and honestly I don't know why its taken me this long but I'm at my breaking point. Pokemon isn't dead to me but at this point all I see is a living corpse devoid of heart and soul.
