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>Lukewarm Takes
Playing Touhou Puppet Dance Performance made me realize that there is actually a ton you /could/ do with the Pokemon formula easily to expand it, but Game Freak will never do it.
>Slightly Spicier Takes
Growing up I used to be adamant about all Pokemon designs being good, but at Gen 7 I realized the genwunners were right. Specifically, the art style of Gen 1+2. I judge Pokemon designs by how well they could fit in that vision of the game.
Romhacks are really going to be the only way to get any enjoyment out of Pokemon these days.
Game Freak has failed in thematically fleshing out several of the types, specifically Psychic, Fairy, Fighting and Electric.They're either one-note, or absurdly broad with no real thematic consistency.
Pokemon should've leaned more into the virtual pet aspect and it's astounding XY was the only push to it, and that being just with the Nintendogs petting game.
>Spicy Takes
Gen 5, while not bad in itself, started many of the bad practices that plague this series, and was a harbinger of what was to come.
The Dexcut was a travesty, but Game Freak was retarded for not realizing the "make hundred+ new Pokemon each gen" was not a sustainable business model and should've focused on quality over quantity. They should've found a way to make captivating new Gens with only 50 new mons. That said, the dex cut removed the one unique feature Pokemon had going for it all these years and killed the series.
Pokemon could benefit from a darker tone if done right. It's just that Game Freak has never had good writers and the romhack autists that try to do it are 15 year olds. An SMT-esque Pokemon done in the Gen 1 world would be fitting and allow them to touch on many of the sci-fi tropes they want to, like animal experimentation, animal abuse, gangs and corruption, and the consequences of living in a world with extremely powerful monsters.
All Pokemon being very friendly and personable characters instead of monsters is gay as shit.
