>>46434610As someone that replays older games to this day, that's still wrong. I wasn't a kid when I played DP, mind, but arguing that is a moot point, because I couldn't actually tell you how hard it was or wasn't.
Instead, I can only talk about m newer experiences with the franchise, which include self-imposed challenges. No items, no grinding etc.
And one thing that popped up more than anything in SwSh is that even if you only do trainer battles (Most of which are now mandatory), you won't actually be underleveled.
XY similarly makes you think the games are balanced around the use of the Exp. Share, leading you to be massively overleveled (Granted, I've never replayed these, so you might not be that overleveled if you don't fight any wild Pokemon)
Funnily enough, SM/USUM don't have this issue, and they were actually considerably hard in comparison for it. They also had shit like the Totem fights which can be kinda tricky.
In contrast to Crystal (Which is the latest game I replayed, even if it's not a very good comparison because the level curve is absolute dogshit) I actually did grind. Not out of any real need, but I did anyways. And the experience is as miserable as it always was.
The point I'm making is that grinding can trivialize anything, but in the older games you either had to learn to deal with being underleveled, or you had to grind. There was a way for bad players, like kids to get through it, but the alternative existed that rewarded good play. That's not around anymore.
The last time I replayed Gen 4, while this was before the rules I had set myself nowadays, and was instead a very different challenge, Cynthia walled me hard. Because what I had was simply not able to get over the Milotic of all things. I want that kind of experience again. I accept that Pokemon games were never truly difficult, but there's a difference between that and completely trivial. SwSh actively denied any attempts to introduce difficulty into the mix.
