>>56402233I really wish evolution... worked differently, idk. I think it marks a cool and sometimes unexpected point in your adventure when you see one of your dudes grows a second head or whatever but there are way too many midstage pokemon that either might as well not exist or that are just straight cooler than the final evo.
I feel like the standard evolution types should be
1) baby -> level to full grown -> sidegrade evolution via item/trade
(like how Poliwrath actually has lower speed than Poliwhirl... but also give Poliwhirl more reason to be used beyond that)
2) baby -> two+ methods for different full grown forms
(like Eevee, etc.)
I think linear evolutions have their place, like bugs going through metamorphosis, but they really shouldn't be the standard.