I fucking love the prompt to play with your Pokemon immediately out of a battle, it feels good to give my buggies scritches and beans when they do well.

But fuck, the affection bonuses make me feel like a casual. It just feels like easy mode to have a permanent, non-HP dependent Sturdy happening all the time. I only have four hearts on one of my bugs, but he survived four attacks in a row that would have killed him.

Is there any way to love my Pokemans but not trivialize the shit out of every single hard battle? D-do I h-have to start beating them?

Also this cute lil sumbitch just evolved into a battery. I haven't played since I was a kid and not knowing what evolutions to expect is awesome.