>>45221046>>45221073>>45221076Best game in the series. And yes, the dex cut was a good thing. SwSh objectively is better designed and better balanced than USUM and every other game for that matter. Just see on Pikalytics.
VGC2018 has Lando-T at 63.84% usage, Incineroar, Tapu Fini, and Kartana all over 40%, and a pretty steep drop-off from there (by the time you get to Pokemon #23, Slowbro, you're under 5% usage).
SwSh Series 5 stats (the most comparable format we've had so far) have Incineroar and Togekiss as the only two over 40% and a more gradual decline downward after that (to drop below 5% you have to hit Pokemon #37, Toxtricity).
SwSh is just mathematically the best balanced and honestly by a lot, and I think the dex cut and Dynamax being such a well designed competitive mechanic has a lot to do with it (they also did a really good job with the competitive design of a lot of the new gen 8 Pokemon). You can try to say there are fewer options because there are literally fewer Pokemon, but let's be real, most of the Pokemon we're never getting are stuff like Furret that were useless options in the first place; SwSh have more options than previous generations if you only consider good options. You could also be pessimistic about how the Crown Tundra balance will play out, but honestly, they've been doing so well that it makes sense to me to put some trust here.
The fact that this is the first generation in which it's actually not completely horrible to train your in-game team is kinda a big plus too; it makes the online actually playable in a dynamic way without spending thousands of hours riding your bike, cheating, or not even actually playing the game and playing the simulator. Like if I'm being real I find most of the anti-SwSh whining kinda indicative of someone being a dumb casual; if we're pretending this game didn't put a big focus on making gameplay a lot better and then completely nail it, we're exiting reality.
