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Just some background here. I started on Pokemon Sapphire & Emerald. Then moved up until Pokemon White.
Me personally? I gave up after Pokemon Black & White.
Truth be told the series has gotten repetitive for me. Really damn repetitive. I suppose that is inherent in the design of the franchise, but by the time I was a teen the games left much to be desired. Sure, the games are technically sound. But the games had stagnated. There are no meaningful forms of innovation coming from the latest games except the mega evolutions. Even then, those seem to be a rip from Digimon.
Though I can understand the reason why the games haven't changed much since Pokemon is a near sure thing that prints money whenever a new set of games are released to an audience who only wants more of the same, it has as a result meant that it hasn't caught up to the more complex RPGs on offer out there that can hold my attention.
In a sense, the series hasn't grown up along with us. Considering that the franchise isn't targeted at anyone above the age of 12, (With certain exceptions when the pander to their older audience in a minimal way.) this isn't much of a surprise. Much like Call of Duty, you don't want to screw up your cash cow. Any tweaks they do make are superficial onces. In essence, a person from 1999 can pick up Sun & Moon today and be able to pick it up no problem. Which is both the strength and weakness of Pokemon. In return for being a stagnant franchise, they can rely on having a stable pool of gamers ready and willing to pick up the latest games.
That said, I am somewhat hopeful that the Switch version will force them to develop in a meaningful way, considering it is a console-handled hybrid, and we as an audience will expect something to that level. At least, that is the hope.
But then again, this IS Game Freak we're talking about here.