>>36984552Playing with other people gives you variety where you might otherwise feel like you are going through the motions, so ultimately yes. Obviously they are who you trade with, and they if are any good (sometimes even if they aren't!) they will let you see the nuances of the battle system at the end game in a dynamic way the AI won't. Even if just for the simple act of switching Pokemon at times.
That is also the reason some people love the extra battle facilities (beyond the usual random tower gauntlet) so much, even if they might feel like going through the motions some more since they are just more AI battles, since they give the player more ways to do that offline and give the older games legs even after their time has gone. The 3DS games will sadly have less of that.
And if you are literally going Alakazam + starter you are clearly going to torch everything. If the act of team building ("Why should I care about a Spinirak versus a Scyther?") is not to some degree enjoyable in itself, you've hit one of the legitimate, fundamental reasons a person might not like Pokemon. I am not putting words in your mouth there, I've just seen some "I REALLY don't get the appeal here" stories coming to that.
