Quoted By:
>play with forced EXP share
>my team levels up like mad without me doing anything
>beat some NPC and they say "wow! You raised your Pokemon with care!"
>tfw when I didn't raise them at all, they just sat in the back of my party and soaked up EXP without doing anything
Call it autism, but EXP share totally removes the "training" aspect of actually being a Pokemon trainer. While I'm playing BDSP, I keep thinking, 'hmm, I should send in my weak Pokemon against this strong Pokemon and see if I can get a lucky kill for some EXP," or "oh, this Pokemon is close to evolving, I'll have it lead to get the EXP it needs to level", and both times I realize its pointless to do anything since they'll get EXP no matter what.
I don't actually have any reason to use anything but my strongest Pokemon, since weaker Pokemon are gonna level regardless, which in turn leads to me not using them unless they have a type advantage.
In the past games I had to make sure everyone was around the same level and getting proper EXP, which sometimes meant keeping a Pokemon in when it was weak and risking it going down and getting nothing. EXP management was enjoyable because I had to keep track of all my Pokemon all the time. Yeah I could blitz this gym with my starter, but this Axew I just caught needs to catch up, so I'll have to make some risky plays so it gets some levels. Stuff like that really made me feel like the team's boss and like I was caring for all of them, yeah I get Pokemon is already easy but I still got to set the pace for my own adventure, and that's worth a lot.
But with EXP share, all that interaction is just completely thrown away. I don't need to do anything, really, the Pokemon raise up on their own. The game plays itself. Is that what EXP share defenders want? To just steamroll the game till they get the credits? Am I out of touch for wanting to train my team?