>>44708667>The player's storyThe player doesn't have a story. They're just a blank avatar.
It is hard to write around a silent protagonist who you're supposed to project your own personality on. Some complained about how BW, SM, and SwSh shifted focus away from you and onto N, Lillie, and Hop but they're ignoring the fact that N, Lillie, and Hop are infinitely more interesting than your blank slate.
There are ways to make silent protagonists interesting (like how Undertale lets you characterize yourself with choices like "Do I kill or spare this person" "Do I encourage or insult this person" "How much candy do i take from this bowl") and Pokemon could very much implement these choices, but overall the NPCs will always be more interesting than the player. Yes, stories can make their protagonists have unique personality and character growth, but Pokemon aims to appeal to literally everyone, and therefore tries to make sure their protagonist does too.
Since the player character is such a non-entity, the games instead opt to have another character essentially be the real protagonist of the story and make you into a supporting character for them.
