>>36527728it's all nostalgia. nostalgia is the only thing that sustains most 20-30-somethings, because the concept of a future that's more comfortable or plenitudinous than their childhoods is entirely alien and increasingly unlikely, and it's easier to retreat into the past than to accept (or do something about) the crushing, dehumanizing political, economic, and cultural circumstances that will no doubt characterize the rest of their miserable lives.
no matter how shit a pokemon game is, they'll buy it and play it because it's a portal to a more materially comfortable time, and every game in this franchise is a(n increasingly abstract) throughline to that first blissful experience in the late 90s that lets you temporarily leave your disgusting and probably depressed body for a couple dozen hours.
also everyone who's bought any of the terrible games of the past two generations knows this feeling and is practically just as guilty of slavish brand loyalty as any Let's Go! shill dont @ me 
