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I really wanted to like it.
I've played every generation since saving up to buy my own gameboy and red as a kid.
I got to the wild area and I'm trying to find some wonder, but it's not happening. I can think back to every game including S/M and starting out every new game they gave me a sense of possibility and interest. I'm just not feeling that here. And it's not simply
>it's called growing up
because I know I could boot up any of those old games right now and feel it again. But I'm not quite sure what it is.
I think it has to do with the removal of random encounters. The great question mark of what would happen next is inherently valuable to me, and maybe it's cause I grew up on Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy and shit. For a Pokemon game to show me what I'll encounter in any given route's chunks of grass is a disservice, and it really takes away any intrigue and wonder. It couldn't be hard to make it optional.
I think it also has to do with the Exp Share thing. A great thing about the series is its replayability. It gives you enough freedom in its formulaic setup to challenge yourself if you want. Not allowing to toggle exp share just feels like another unnecessary disservice. I love doing nuzlockes on each new game that comes out, but at this point I don't know if the concept even translates in SwSh.
I'm still early in the game, so maybe it'll still charm me like the previous ones have. Or maybe this is the most soulless entry in a beloved game series.
There are plenty of other games to play and enjoy. But I wanted to enjoy this one. I look forward to each new mainline Pokemon (skipped Let's Go), and I was really hoping this would scratch that itch. So far, it feels like a manufactured, streamlined shadow of its legacy.
It feels like I got a bunch of DLC to make a game easier and faster or something, with no option to adjust how it affects the game, and all I want is to just play the core game.
