>>36073427The break system is more restrictive than anything. Why would I ever invest in another mon if they can't be a reliable teammate? In the end, only the player and partner matter, something no other PMD does once the story's over.
In a series with ~720 (496 in Sky) mons to choose from, having that restriction is more limiting than ever. Planning out new team strategies and actually giving them a test run is no longer an option, since everyone that isn't the player or partner will be on break.
In Explorers and Gates, teambuilding is a much more viable option, since everyone is always available, you can use your ideal team without having to waste a day or poorly substitute a vital member because they were tired.
Having no more than one of most Pokemon is also limiting, because you'd have to manually swap around movesets all the time to experiment, rather than recruit a new one (Sky and Gates both have more team slots than Pokemon species, so you can have dupes while keeping your livedex). Certain Pokemon have wide movesets and abilities, so only having one makes experimentation much more tedious.
In theory, breaks try to get players to try something new, but in reality, it's simply much more convenient to invest in the player and partner only while having a naturally strong Pokemon as the third party member, rather than having a whole new team. There's a lot to praise Super for, like its AI partners having better routing (in Sky, your third and fourth party member would almost always trap themselves, especially in dungeons with water "walls") and making some logical IQ skills like Trap Avoider innate, but the way it handled teambuilding and the use of non-protagonist Pokemon is not one of them.
