>>57730406Old Pokemon games had an air of mystery to them. That's what the new games lack. Think about Gen 1's Cinnabar Island Lab, the Seafoam Islands, infiltrating Silph Co. and Lavender Tower. Plus the completely optional power plant section. Think about Gen 2's Ruins of Alph and dealing with the remnants of Team Rocket. They even threw in Celebi's shrine for shits and giggles. Being told nothing and finding an entire second region by yourself was peak, too. Think about Gen 3 with the Regis, Deoxys, etc. Nothing is explained and you're left to come up with your own headcanon ideas for everything.
All these things surprised the player into discovering something way beyond the scope of just being a 10 year old catching bugs. You were suddenly thrust into something genuinely eerie and mystical.
The later gens after that kind of lost all that magic. They started frontloading the evil teams to make them obvious, and put the legendaries on pedestals in plain view. There's no discovery anymore. There's no eerie feeling of finding something mystical beyond what you thought was possible. They're lame now.
Case in point for Sun/Moon, there is zero mystery to legendaries. They're basically thrown at you and fully explained by the NPCs. You're given too much information, so there is no surprise or sense of discovery. Even the Ultra Beasts, which could have lended more to this concept, fall flat since again they're normalized and all sense of finding it on your own is removed.
Sword and Shield literally had nothing, they fumbled the ball hard. The legendaries just being the same wolf twice pretty much ruins it. There's no exploration or mystery. Even eternatus feels like a weak plot device.
The games need the magic of mystery and self-discovery. Without that feeling they're just not as adventurous as they used to be.
