>>42381396>>42381487I may be wrong, but the fire was probably started with that E3 gameplay and interview. People started to realize that the graphics and animations were underwhelming, but not only this, Masuda talks about the removal of the national dex. Instantly the internet is sent into a frenzy.
After that there was a constant internet war between those who wanted the national dex / those who criticized GameFreak and those who didn't want the national dex / defended GameFreak. It lead to the entire hype season of the game being filled with toxicity and arguing. There were a lot of fans who were upset by the games and GameFreak's decisions. A lot of the internet arguing were just the vocal minorities of both 'sides' and genuinely made everyone hate each other for no good reason. The vocal minority represented you if you had any kind of opinion on the matter.
Sure, there's always some bad things every now and then for other game hype seasons, but nowhere close to as bad as this. Sword and Shield hype season will always be infamously remembered not for the news, trailers, etc. but for the internet and Pokemon communities and how people reacted to this news.
