>>54228434I've enjoyed every single Pokémon game, and I still think they're pretty good. I agree with the criticism of Gen 9 due to the performance of the games, and I think something like that shouldn't be excused, but the rest of the game was fun.
I think Hardcore Nuzlockes and difficulty-obsessed people have ruined the games for themselves because most of the criticism about level scaling of gyms are only relevant when you try to min-max your team. Crystal, for example, has been widely mocked for its levels, but without grinding you're always underleveled but you still have enough tools to beat the gyms while being 5 levels below.
SV is the only game where I think there really is an issue with levels because the focus on exploration will have you overleveling often. Even then, I have a lot of fun with SV because the time I spent exploring around building my team unrestricted by the story was some of the most fun I've ever had, I found the world building interesting thanks to the Academy, and Area Zero was the most magical moment of nu-Pokémon imo.
I'm not going to say they're the best games ever, but I think Pokémon games are at least a 7/10 and if they had more time for testing (maybe another year of development) they could be truly 9/10 games.
As much as we shit on Pokémon, it has incredible replay value, completing everything gives you like 100 hours of content normally — and I can't really think of many other games that offer 100 hours of single-player entertainment nowadays, those kinds of games now always come with lootboxes, battle passes and other ways to scam you out of your money immediately after buying the game.
