>>35722939I've been telling this to people for over a decade, yet hardly anyone seems to agree:
The Pokemon series deserves something much better than what GameFreak is doing
Gamefreak are for the most part excellent in terms of Character & Monster Design, but that's about the only area they excel in. In terms of overall Visual Presentation, Writing, Gameplay and Balancing, they have always been a mile behind. If you honestly think Pokemon is even now one of the best RPG's, then truth is, you simply haven't played many RPG's to begin with. The SMT series; Most of the Xeno series; the Persona series; the Mario & Luigi series; hell, even Westernshit like D:OS 1 & 2 or even XCOM alongside some older ones like KotOR showcase what the genre is capable of in a much better way and at the very least TRY to push the envelope a bit more than your typical fare. And nearly are of them show more care and polish put into them than any Pokemon game, whether you like it or not.
I love Pokemon, i really do. But loving something doesn't mean you endorse stagnation or even worse, a devastating downward spiral simply because you're attached to the series.
Gamefreak and Pokemon seem to be like stunted teenagers, trapped in their room smoking dope, jacking off, staying jobless and doing only the bare minimum to stay alive. While their fanbase is kind of like an irresponsible parent so blindly convinced his child can do no wrong that he even ENCOURAGES that behavior. And that is something that is depressing to see.
Arguably the biggest franchise in the world should have an equally huge amount of care and love into it. Instead we have smaller teams and budgets producing better games because they care enough for the end product to actually learn how to improve upon it. If Gamefreak remain as lead Character Designers, but concede the actual Game Development to people who actually care about the games and have the vision and knowledge to do so, Pokemon might become the Best RPG, flat.
