Will things ever go back to the way they used to? Or at the very least something close to it? It's become blatantly obvious with what has occurred within the last few generations that Game Freak really wants to distance their adult fanbase. Obviously the games have always been targeted to kids but even with those earlier generation games there was always a nice amount of content that adults could enjoy. I haven't bought Sword and Shield and I'll be honest it's because of the dex cut. The Pokémon were the only thing keeping me invested. I've been watching let's play videos however and man I'm glad I didn't buy them. All the heart and soul that the past games had just is not there. The games have become so damn easy that even a toddler could beat them by just button mashing. I've noticed the drop in quality ever since the releases became yearly. The last good games imo were Black 2 and White 2 which were 2D games. Perhaps the jump to 3D is what offset everything? I don't know man. For the time being I'm done with buying any more of these new games. Congrats Game Freak you got what you wanted. Hopefully in the future yout get your shit together or some other company takes over.