Just because casual mouthbreathers in this shithole, like you, absolutely love to talk about games they never played and also make wide generalizations about genres they do not know, and then desperately pretend that people who actually know their shit and expose them are in the wrong, doesn't mean Game Freak hasn't always been shit. Pokemon could have been a good RPG if there were some real gameplay behind it, but there’s not. It’s just a generic fighting game with RPG features. You won’t find many RPG fans playing this game and those who do usually only play the free games at the beginning of the game. I can’t even tell you what the gameplay is actually about besides "fighting" trash mobs aka mashing the A button. There is not one moment in this game that was worth saving. I have no idea what it was like in the beta tests, but if there was a beta test, I’m sure it would have given a much better look at what the final product would be like. You’re stuck with whatever the game came out as and there’s not much they could have done to make it any better. It’s just one of those games where there’s not much effort put into it and everything is done in a rush to get the game out. If I had to compare it to any RPG on the market, it’s actually pretty close to Final Fantasy XIII, but even FFXIII wasn’t that bad.

It should've been more like:
SaGa games
Dept. Heaven games
Etrian Odyssey games
Uncharted Waters games
Genius of the Sappheiros
Elminage games
Gunparade March
Lunatic Dawn games
Bealphareth games
Lesser Mern
Brandish games
Zill O'll Infinite +
Linda Cube
Elona+
Ultima Ratio Regnum