>>44453030And games like NieR: Automata prove that a good story can make a mediocre game amazing. RPGs especially benefit over platforming games because the gameplay itself isn't as fun as other games that are more exploration/platforming based. It's not required, but if it's done well it can add a lot to the game.
I don't think having a story is bad for Pokemon, gens 4/5 did a pretty good job of having a competent story without ruining the rest of the game (minus maybe BW which can slog during some story parts). Having a very loose story like gens 1-3 is fine as well.
The issue is when the story makes replaying the game a chore. Slogging through cutscenes, mashing through text, if you already know what happens (or if you frankly just don't care), that's when the story gets in the way of the gamplay. This is apparent in gens 6-8, and is the reason gen 7 is so awful for replayability. If they made the story less intrusive/easier to skip and put some non-story related side content/exploration into the main game, I couldn't care less how shitty the writing is.
