We can shitpost all we want about "high quality animations" or "m-muh battle frontier" but there's a bigger issue plaguing the series that has been persistent since its inception. Lack of content.

And I'm not talking about post game either. There is a genuine lack of content within the series as there's no clear 100% goal besides completing the dex. Even then, the process is so long and uninspiring as you're just grinding catches and have to fuck around with trading too which makes the grind process even less enjoyable.

Let's take Zelda for example. It feels good discovering that small cave and finding a heart piece or adding a new bug to your encyclopedia and watching as your encyclopedia slowly fills up while you progress. Each reward is a small dopamine hit that encourages you to try and find the next secret. It encourages you to go off the beaten path and uncover more about the game.

Pokemon doesn't have anything like this. There's no real side quests and anything that might fit the description mostly involve "go speak to this NPC and get a leftovers.". There's no sub menu with collection box for you to fill or a quest that will reap an otherwise impossible to get vital item. The games have never felt truly concrete in this respect but rather feel very loose. The best thing Pokemon has ever done in this direction was the medal box in B2W2 but even then there wasn't really a reward for completing it. This is probably why people who aren't avid Pokemon fans get really bored with the games fast.