>>51132014Yes, competitive QOL improvements do not make the games good. Pokemon has spent so much time streamlining and making "QOL improvements" that there's basically nothing left to them anymore.
Pokemon games are RPGs. Good RPGs have interesting stories, places to explore, and challenges to overcome.
Older Pokemon games had "weak stories" because it was (your) story that you make with (your) mons. It didn't need a bunch of characters or events, because the story (you) create by catching and raising mons to explore cool places and overcome challenges is so inherently compelling.
The newer games (starting with Gen 6) have basically removed cool places to explore by giving up on level design. Routes are mostly straight lines with no thought required to traverse them. There are no dungeons, and few points of interest.
Do you remember trying to find your way through the sandstorm in Hoenn? What about all of the victory roads? The relief you would feel when exiting a cave so you could relax? Do you remember finding and exploring cool points of interest like the Eterna Chateau?
The games were never *hard* but they did used to require more thought than they do now. They would use the routes and dungeons to drain your resources and then throw your dickhead rivals at you to make you fight harder.
They would use strong trainers at key moments had more than 3 pokemon and sometimes even put up level gaps so you would have to lose.
Whitney's Miltank, Cynthia's Garchomp... these were memorable because they were hard. Do you remember who you used to first overcome those battles?
Do you remember who used to beat the Gen 6 champion? Or even who her signature Pokemon was? Or her name?
