>>44782114The Friend Safari made for an interesting social experience at the cost of solid single-player design, and I would say Pokémon's biggest flaws right now are in its single-player. Pokémon is a JRPG, and there's a sizable number of people that play JRPGs and who don't think "Gee, this sure would be better as a multiplayer community experience". Like I just want to play a good game, I don't care about trading or battling. Version exclusive Pokémon have always bugged me because I didn't catch the Pokémon I traded for. There is no experience of catching a Glameow in Diamond, only receiving one from someone that did have that experience. I don't just want Palkia from a trade, I want to experience the single-player element of battling and catching it.
As the years have gone on, the single-player aspects have taken a nosedive, and they can get away with it because everyone who defends it only cares about feeling included in a community. Pokémon is a community lifestyle, not a piece of creative content that can be critiqued.
The problems with the single-player arose out of a "No child left behind" mentality, incompetence, easier troubleshooting in extremely limited scenarios, and rushed development to meet triannual marketing extravaganzas.
