Honestly anons, I've been absolutely pissed at Gamefreak at their idiotic decision-making over the past few games, especially wth the recent Pokedex news.

...However, their recent trailer did give me a slight appreciation of them, simply because it seems that they aren't the ignorant people I've always considered them as and DO listen to fans to some extent. I'm honestly happy that they aren't giving regional variants the Mega treatment and are actually still making more. It's also been gratifying to see them breaking out of the KANTOOO shell and making stuff like the Galarian Zigzagoon line, even if they're edgy as hell. They also seem to have acknowledged all the complaints about rivals, and thus compromised by giving us a Hau-esque friend (Hop), a Gladion-esque aloof edgelord (Marnie) and a Silver-esque jerk (Bede). All the characters and worldbuilding they've revealed seem pretty interesting too.

Of course, this doesn't absolve them of the mistake of cutting out Pokemon, which looms like a shadow over all these positive aspects. But all this stuff they're adding makes me honestly interested in what they're doing with the game. Which is why I'm planning to buy the game secondhand, which will allow me to play the game without putting any money in GF's pockets.