Soapbox: How The Evolution Of Pokémon Can Unexpectedly Influence Play-Through Experiences

I've never played a Pokemon game and never will. Well I played a bit of Pokken Tournament but that hardly counts.

I actually kinda agree here. Pokémon very quickly became less about the game and more about the meta-game. Nothing shows this more than XY. "Mega-Evolutions are to give unused Pokémon new life". What GameFreak didn't say was Selectively. It became a popularity contest.

The game seemed to lack in the solo experience, and I don't mean that from the PSS blocking access to the menu with notifications and never shutting up. At least the C-Gear stayed quiet. The mechanics added, new features, all that, existed to satiate the competitive scene. And while I have passing interest in it, but no desire to get involved due to past experiences with horrible people within the scene (This extends to comp. gaming as a whole sadly), it was disheartening to see the stuff I want in the game, seemingly vanish.

@BLPs I'm not very competitive, but I agree that X and Y felt lacking. As soon as you beat the Elite Four, the game was just over. I never really got that feeling in any other Pokemon game, and it was kinda disappointing.

Not something I've ever had an issue with. I play the games for the fun of discovering new Pokémon, the meta-game is impressive but it's not for me and so I leave it and competitive play alone. I like that it's there for those who enjoy it though, I've nothing against it.

But for me, I'll catch the first Pokémon of it's kind I come across (or at least try too!) and if I think it looks cool I'll raise it to hit as hard as I can so me and my friends can battle. That's as far as my strategy goes and I've enjoyed all 6 generations (X&Y less so for other reasons but Black & White were probably my favourites)

If you're focussing on playing in a way that you don't enjoy you're doing it wrong. If meta game gives you joy go for it, if it doesn't then forget it, it's not important!

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Cool man. I've never eaten foie gras or played chess with a badger. Probably never will. I've played chess with a physics student, but that probably doesn't count*.

I can relate to the article. I got into the competitive scene in a big way a few years ago, and I actually really enjoyed it, but the mentality it instilled in me was completely counter to the one that had allowed me to find so much joy in the main games previously.

The fascination I felt with the earlier games was due to the thrill of exploration and adventure; of not knowing what lay around the next bend, and moving forward each random encounter based on instinct and whim. But when you know everything about every Pokemon, including ideal movesets, natures, and abilities, it rubs off a lot of the charm of that serendipity.

Your choices somehow feel more meaningful if they were made in the moment. You can take delight in every new encounter, and relish the new opportunities that come with each. If you already know the game back-to-front, then you'll likely have already conceived an 'ideal' path through it, and anything that doesn't conform to that ideal is just a disappointment or a nuisance. And given the incredibly slim chances of getting 'the perfect 'Mon' with 'the perfect IVs' and 'the perfect nature' right off the bat, that sets you up for a lot of disappointment (or at least compromise).

I think you were right to write the article mainly in terms of your own approach. There've been many articles bemoaning the complexity the series has reached as a whole, and pining for the good old days when things were simpler. As much as I understand what they're getting at, Pokemon isn't going to suddenly axe a large part of what it's grown into, so such articles often come across as a bit aimless and mopey. This is more pragmatic.

Here's hoping Sun and Moon get to be rich, fascinating adventures again.

*She wasn't a badger

I feel the same way, I've never been one for the meta game (although I may try it in SM), I've always been more focused on the adventure and the in game content. And those aspects of the series have been declining lately. I'm fine with more emphasis on the competitive aspects, but I think the game should have good single player AND good multiplayer.

Its not just pokemon I hit a few local beat em up tournaments in my area over a 3 year period and I stopped because I noticed it drastically altered my experience with the genre outside of tourney play. I stopped paying attention to character designs, personality, story or the fun. instead focusing on frame data, start times, and so on. IT WASNT FUN anymore.

I experienced this to a lesser degree on Pokémon but I had to force myself to react to mons with out thinking about the meta game.

@MitchVogel I know expecting the first game of a new generation to be full of post-game content is a bit unreal, but when XY lacked just about everything that didn't lend itself to being competitive, it struck me as odd. But when ORAS lacked the Battle Frontier for the Maison, because people wouldn't appreciate the Frontier and its variety, I've begun to question if GameFreak wants to focus on the metagame more than the game.

I don't get people who allow this metagame nonsense tarnish their enjoyment of the game. I might selectively breed an egg move or two early on in the game, but I choose the Pokémon AND moves that I like, and that's what makes the game most fun. I was never into the competitive scene, nor will I ever be. Most of my favourite Pokémon are competitively useless anyway. The game is over once my "main" Pokémon (there are usually six, sometimes seven of them) reach Level 100 and my Pokédex is complete.

I've never been into the competitive scene, I try to catch all the pokemon but focus on the ones I think look cool. I think I still play the new games with the same mindset that I had as a kid.
I dont really do breeding, I tried a bit for shinies but it was a time suck so I abandoned it fairly quickly.
My only issue is the trainers are too easy, the gyms and elite four don't offer much challenge. I like having the experience share since I don't think having to grind equals more challenging, but maybe it's too effective at raising your pokemon quickly.
But I've enjoyed all the pokemon games, I like that it lends itself to different play styles. There are different aspects to focus on for whatever you're interested in. I just kind of do my thing, my competitive friends make fun of me, but whatever I'll just keep catching the ones I like.

@MitchVogel you've never done the looker quest? RBY and RSE were much more barren after the league

I couldn't get past the graph in this article. I guess I'm more of a casual gamer, and I mainly play games to experience the visuals and to have the freedom to run around in a fantasy world. I like the Pokemon art style, and I like a lot of the designs. It LOOKS like fun, but every bit of experience I've had with the games (and the card game) make it seem like a needlessly stressful experience. I did enjoy the first Pokemon Rumble game for the Wii, and I'm well aware it's just a mindless button masher, but it was satisfying and fun. Whenever a new set of core Pokemon games is about to be released, I feel them pulling me to make the purchase, but I don't want to get sucked into an experience that ends up being more like work than play. From what I've read here, it sounds like that's exactly what Pokemon has become.

I've never personally found that the meta-game has taken away from my campaign experience. Whilst playing through the story, I just try and find one cool new poke per route, and from there I try and built a balanced team. I always use as many pokes as I can that I haven't ever used before and I set myself a challenge of using things most people see as weak or useless. For example, I used both cryogonal and emolga in my playthrough of White, simply because a friend of mine had said they were rubbish and I was determined to prove that every poke can be useful if you want it to be.

@sillygostly I don't know, I think competetive play adds several hundreds of hours to the game. And I don't know who your favorites are, but trust me, there isn't really stuff like useless Pokémon. The reason we have tiers is so you can have battles where you only have the weaker Pokémon, and everybody can have a chance.

Plus, I'm really into competetive play, but I still bred and trained every single bug Pokémon in gen 6, just because I like them. It even surprised me how some of the ones I thought were pretty much useless turned out to be useful, like Masquerain.

If I didn't enjoy the story of a Pokemon game, I find the story itself at fault, not the metagame for existing (and most of the Pokemon stories are not very good). That said, the whole system of IVs and locking things behind far too much luck based grinding is ridiculous and needs to be changed, and beyond that, most of the Pokemon in the game rebalanced so they are not plain useless competitively.

For me, I've had a Gardevoir in my party since Gen 3, and it has been my main Pokemon in the story (when available, I'll try to get a friend to trade me a Ralts if it isn't available in game) and in multiplayer since then, removing Gardevoir from my party is a compromise I will never make, because it's my favorite Pokemon. Thankfully, and finally, with the addition of Fairy Type, Gardevoir isn't terrible competitively anymore.

I do think the story in Pokemon games is something they need to considerably improve upon, it's an issue when most Pokemon game stories are cookie cutter productions. I know there are some people who don't care about the story, and just want to not have to care about it and get to the multiplayer, buy recognize that many people want a great and immersive adventure in the Pokemon world.

I am not one for the meta game. I found X/Y quite barren after the E4 and Alpha Sapphire was dropped halfway through because I still remembered all gen 3 when I first went through it.

Here is to hoping for more single player content in Gen 7. 😞

sheesh. guys can be so competitive with their games. If it's not IV leveling, it's trophy/achievement hunting, or getting prestige or whatever. It's just too much testosterone fueled chest-beating and it's not fun playing with people like that.

I only catch cute or cool pokemon, regardless of their moves or stats (I do care about personaltiy and gender though) and have a lot of fun on wonder trade and battling and trading with friends.

@MitchVogel

I couldn't really get over that basically all there was left to do in the game was the bland battle maison and an annoying mega stone scavenger hunt with an arbitrary daily time limit. Postgame (outside of multiplayer) felt like a complete afterthought, which was a first since Emerald. I'm really hoping this is not repeated with Sun/Moon.

For me I dabble in a little online battles from time to time. Back in Gen IV is where I got real involved into the competitive aspect of the game. Never could go to any tournaments so I never really bothered with metagame until Wi-Fi was introduced.

I've always enjoyed playing through the games story, building my teams, catching those I liked more, etc. I would never base my in-game team on competitive play. Only after completing the game is when I would start working on breeding and training a couple teams for use online. I do participate in some of the VGC tournaments that appear online, and just play around in Doubles but beyond that I don't battle as much as I use to in Gen IV and V. Now I focus more on finishing the Pokedex and breeding Pokes(not for competitive play).

gen 5's map threw me off, the story was cool, but the map... we've just been going in a circle? that's kinda boring.

x and y was a blur for me i don't remember it at all, i got super competitive in it though

The meta game is optional. If you don't like it, steer clear. For some players (including me) the competitive part is the most fun.

@BLPs #9

Would speculate that GameFreak took a peek at player save data using the Global Link and saw only a small percentage of players completing their extra content, leading to the stripped down Masion being created.

Needless to say, was really disappointed to see the Battle Frontier left out in ORAS. Did enjoy playing through the Battle Pyramid back in Emerald, and had been looking forward to the possibility of revisiting it.

I can relate. Try doing a nuzlocke, it forces you away from thinking in terms of getting the perfect pokémon. Plus it adds some extra difficulty

I never got into the metagame of Pokemon but I also never stuck with any one game long enough to 'finish' it, except getting to the Elite 4 once in FireRed. It's for these reasons I tend to shy away from competitive gaming, at least in terms of online with strangers. I tend to stick with small pockets of players who I know will have my back in a firefight, preferring a good co-op experience over spending 15 minutes in an arena and hating myself for it.

Granted this is all because I am no good at Multiplayer games unless we are talking about Mario Kart, but I know too well the sting of playing something and finding no joy in it because you aren't in it for the fun. At that stage, what is even the point anymore.

@Utena-mobile I'm not sure if it's quite fair to write off the entire competitive scene as "testosterone fueled chest-beating". In fact, as far as competitive communities go, I think the competitive Pokemon community is about as far from that image as you're likely to get without verging into professional tickle-fighting. I also suspect that the competitive Pokemon scene has a higher than average ratio of female players compared to most competitive games (though only because I know a few - I've not got any concrete figures on demographics).

There are a variety of reasons why people may be drawn to the competitive scene. Some may indeed simply want to prove they're 'the very best' (like no-one ever was), and beat their chests accordingly. Others may just find it an effective way of extending the games they've come to know and love, and an opportunity to bring their knowledge of battling into the wider world. Others may simply be interested in the surprisingly deep and involving tactical challenge it provides, just as people are drawn to chess, go, other board games, card games, and really any other challenge that taxes your noggin rather than your body.

And it makes sense, really. Taking the battles outside of your game has always been a big part of Pokemon, and with the arrival of the internet, that became a whole lot easier. But as things grew, they also got more sophisticated, and now there's an awful lot of 'small print' you have to read before you can comfortably 'step in the ring' and not be immediately bowled over.

I thought this article was a rather thoughtful write-up about balancing that small print with the simple, wide-eyed pleasures of exploration and adventure that the series was founded on. I wouldn't say it's 'testosterone' that separates the core game from the competitive scene so much as 'naivety'. And I think the 'moral' of this story is that a little naivety can go a long way.

Starting with Gen 1 I lost interest in the meta-game really quickly (I hope you like psychic pokemon guys!) and never really got back into it. The kerfuffle with Mega Rayquaza was honestly the first I had paid it any mind in 15 years. I'd pick mons I liked (and some water mon I didn't care about to use all the stupid water HMs that were required, ugh) and that was that.

I actually just picked up HGSS for the first time finally finding a copy under $50 and I gotta say, it's pretty much the definitive 'mon experience for me only five hours in (the original Gen II games being my favorites going in)

I usually just separate the competitive and casual sides of Pokemon. I only do competitive stuff on Pokemon Showdown, since it lets me have all the fun of a comp match with none of the horrible grinding required for an actual competitive team. It also enforces the Smogon tier list, which is leagues fairer than playing on console, since you have to basically bring a team of 6 legendaries/ubers to stand a chance there. When I play Pokemon on console, I just play with whatever I feel like, even if I'm playing with friends.

Nice read. I haven't had this issue. When I'm playing through the main game, I just use whatever pokemon I like the look of and don't pay attention to the stats (I don't even check their natures).

Once the main story is over, then I'll start obsessing over the stats, but it's not something I feel the need to do before then.

I'm a genwunner so I have no idea what anybody is saying in this article. Charizard for life!

@Utena-mobile That's a lot of casual sexism there. Not sure if you're trying to be inflammatory or not really.

But this has nothing to do with gender/sex. Not all guys are competitive, not all women aren't. Sure there are people that meet that old stereotype you described, but there are more who don't. I've been to the Pokémon Championships but I, a guy, didn't take part. I wasn't fussed about that I just wanted to watch and dork out with fellow Pokémon fans as did most who were there. But competing there was a mix of male and female, it was nothing like your antiquated assumption of genders.

So less of that archaic nonsense please.

Now back to Pokémon fun times!

Nice write up, I enjoyed reading your perspective and can relate in some ways.

I never touched Pokémon once until I was an adult. I had recently finished college, got a full time job, gotten married, became a homeowner but no longer needed to work two part-time jobs and take classes anymore so I suddenly had time on my hands. I started catching up on Nintendo games I had missed when I was in college. Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, several Zelda and Metroid games, and a friend suggested I give Pokémon a try. At first I thought, no, that's a kids game. But after reading some favorable reviews I figured I'd give it a go. I got Diamond and loved it right away.

That first play-through for me, a grown man, was probably as fun and exciting as it was for many children during their first Pokémon experience. Catching, battling and raising all these little digital creatures that soon began to feel like pets.

After I finished the game I wanted to learn more. What influences stat growth, what is the deal with natures, why is one staraptor stronger than another of the same level? So I took to the internet, found serebii and the world opened up. Wow this game was deep! I became entranced with EV training and egg moves, and much later IV breeding. But once I discovered all the behind the scenes data, it became a little harder to enjoy just catching a random shinx and training it. This detracted from my enjoyment of Platinum and HG/SS.

So with gen V and beyond, I just decided to enjoy the main game playthrough without worrying about competitive stats at all. You don't need a team of flawless monsters to beat the Elite Four. After finishing the main game in Y though, that's when I really got into competitive. I breed for perfect 5 IVs, egg moves, natures, hidden powers, etc. I'll raise them up and then take them on-line. The strategies players come up with in on-line play are insane. I'm always quickly humbled by on-line players and the creative strategies I encounter.

The thing that I love about Pokémon now is, you can have an entertaining and fun playthrough of the main game, and that might be all you want out of a game. But you can really take the game as far as you want to go with it. There's almost no limit to what you can come up with as far as team strategies, composition and creativity.

For me, it's become a fun hobby that I can enjoy in my downtime and one that I can even begin to share with my kids whom are now becoming interested in gaming and Pokémon. So I say, enjoy what you like about the games and don't stress about the aspects of it that seem too complicated. There's something there for everyone.

I didn't grow up with Pokemon. I was about 28 or so when it finally reached UK shores, so older than you are now. But I loved it, and I still do. Never knew irl anyone else who did so never got into the competitive scene, and I'm not sad about that. I even dragged my husband and small daughter to the UK champs a few years back, just to hang out with Pokenerds like me and experience the fun (and lots of Streetpasses). It didn't make me want to play competitively, but it was a lot of fun watching others battle, I learned a few things too. Nowadays I breed for IVs and shinies and trade with my kids, and I still love it. Play it how you want to play it, it's such a versatile game. I'd second the nuzlocke suggestion as well, a great way to get more mileage out of the game.

For me the competitive scene is like the post-post-game. I play through the main game with only the pokemon whose designs I like the best even if they are weak (they usually are ). The pokemon used during the main game don't need to be competitively viable in any way. After doing all the stuff after E4 the competitive battling starts off refreshingly as there has been quite the break by then.

I can relate, before the generation 5 games came out I remember scouring the Internet for information about each new Pokemon and basing my choices for a party on their stats/meta game viability instead of if I liked the design etc. This started to ruin the surprise of a new generation's Pokémon as well as restricting my choices to a matter of numbers instead of a cool design or interesting name. I missed just discovering it all as I went along my adventure so I did just that for generation 6 and I intend to do the same for 7. The meta game is always something I can get involved AS post game content and I should just enjoy the story whilst playing through the game for the first time.

I get where you're coming from, but all those competitive options are, well, optional.

I'm not into competitive play anymore but even when I was, when playing through the main game of any pokemon game I always just pick whoever I want. Though I do like to make sure the nature isn't something that directly conflicts with the pokemon.

The games are easy enough so that you can pick basically whatever pokemon you want and take finish the fame with them if you wanted to, no matter how bad they are competitively, so there really is not reason whatsoever to get into that stuff when starting a new pokemon game.

I hadn't realized playing through the main adventure without the meta-game in mind wasn't an option. I have and always will play the games for the fun of the adventure, as well as collecting and crafting teams I love/favor during my travels. Following that - is when I'll create a new team from scratch to pit against other people online. That's how I figured everyone had been doing it. Well... most, anyway.

Also, I don't think I need to mention that the post game is actually far more interesting than people give it credit for. There are contests, team building, shiny hunting, catching all pokemon etc. If anything, there's always something to do in the pokemon world and I usually find myself leaning towards the Shiny-hunting, team building aspect. Which keeps me busy and enthralled for months on end. Heck, I repurchased pokemon X (after I lost my old Pokemon X and Alpha Sapphire early last year) and havent put it down since.

I'm didn't exactly fell like when playing the latest games, you see, I almost never had an nintendo portable system, and pokémon was one of my favorite franchises as a kid and even to this day, I had a snes, 64, gc, wii and now a 3ds(yeah the wii u will be the first nintendo home console that I will skip), and I always the pokémon home consoles games, stadium 1 and 2, colosseum and XD, even Battle Revolution(I actually managed to play that game for 200 hours), somewhere around the gamecube era I got an GBA SP with Yellow, and it was so different, and I had no idea of what that was, but it was awesome, then in the end of 2012, I got the best console ever, the 3DS with White 2, and then as I grown person, I played the game for real, and I put 220 hours on it, more than 100 were competitive, breeding, trading, ev training(that was a nightmare, I still remember grinding in the pond besides the main house speed evs), one year later I got Y at launch, and was still amazed by the core game itself, just like a kid would, those new graphics, mega evolutions and everything else, the only thing bugging was the ev training, something that I couldn't forgot, but I still did to some point, but then omega ruby ruined it all, for some reason I got bored of it, I was always worried about super training, I wasn't exactly waiting for the meta but I just couldn't the awesome feelling of playing a brand new pokémon game, inside of me I wanted to enjoy the game by what it is, but another competitive part just couldn't look at the game in the same way, years later I played the Red version for the 3ds VC, and for some I could feel that pokemon hype and emotion again, maybe it was the time, but now I have taken a decision, I won't play competitively until sun and moon, I still believe that I will be as happy playing a pokémon game, to revive that inner kid happiness again, lets get the hype train going! I don't know why the heck I wrote all this stuff, this article just made me want to do so, to let this go out, thanks for anyone who for some reason read all this, let's all thanks nintendo for making boring adults feel like kids again.

My new gen 'mon will maybe be bred for competitive mons, so they live on through their progeny. Then it's off to the bank for em.

I just play the main adventures the same way as I always do: catch everything I possibly can and do everything I possibly can before I move onto a new area, while constantly rotating which Pokémon I'm using, never bothering with the more complicated aspects like EVs, IVs, and Natures and not sticking to a set team aside from my starter until Victory Road (although I still go for the best Abilities and movesets as I prefer them).

Once the credits have rolled after over 100 hours played, then I'll check out the online features and do some breeding (for baby Pokémon, Abilities, and the occasional Egg Move only) while enjoying the postgame features with a focus on completing the Pokédex.

I think the pokemon games offer enough options to let you play them the way you want them. If the competitive aspect was forced on the main campaign it would be wrong in my opinion, but since it's just an optional aspect I think it's amazing to have it. As many have mentioned here, I also catch and train whatever pokemon I like and let the competitive scene as post game content wich gives me a lot of replay value.

Also, many didn't like Pokemon X and Y that much, but for me they were incredible games. Maybe it was because I didn't play any Pokemon game since Emerald so I wasn't feeling the burnout that many pople do , but that's why I think that unless you are a really hardcore pokemon fan, most players should skip some entries if they feel there aren't enough reasons to justify the purchase. Discovering a lot of new pokemon and new features is way more entertaining than just enjoying a few more by buying each entry.

The only aspects I didn't like about X and Y were those forced friendships that they gave you. Those guys were annoying. The story wasn't anything special but to be fair that applies to most entries. That being said, I loved the region, the new designs of the pokemon (hawlucha, greninja charizard Y ad noivern are some of the best pokemon designs in my opinion) and the graphics, wich made battles more enjoyable for me.

I've never really enjoyed the Pokemon series for the battles. In fact, if anything I find the battling aspect somewhat tedious. Instead I tend to focus my attention on catching 'em all!
I've completed the Pokedex in every game since Generation 4 and that's the only time I've really used breeding and all those mechanics. I've attempted the Masuda Method various times to get shinies, but aside from that I'm in it for the adventure and catching all the 'mon, not for battling at all really!

Likely why I'm so happy to have VC Red version. No online, no natures, no breeding for better hidden stats, no mucking up IVs and no highly competitive people around. I actually can't stand the online for Pokemon, odds of cheaters, overly talented people and beginners mean I likely never am matched against someone on level with me looking for the same battle. Aside from Black 2 I still play through, enjoying the single player and whatever follows to the fullest. It would have been mid to late gen IV that my brother stopped cheating Gen IV and slowly became competitive with it. By gen V I had to at least try it to stand ground and gen VI it became too much. The signs of this to me start not in Gen IV, that's just where we got the ability to battle other trainers but Gen III, in particular Emerald version were a competitive area was the post game, starting the driving move pools, pokemon picks and main game run not towards enjoying the run and playing with friends but to a hard competition and has brought the post game, to collect missing legendaries, collect mega stones, do small post story and fight the battle facilities. The Frontier is likely why I didn't like Emerald version. I'm looking forward more to a SIlver, Gold, Crystal VC announcement then Sun and Moon because I'd rather play those with friends again then have all the tiers of different battlers that the newer games have brought.

Glad to see some people also didn't enjoy GenVI, I thought I was going crazy for my love of GenV! X was the worst game I played for a lot of reasons, and even though I got Sapphire (and accidentally Ruby) I have only played them for the dlc pokemon pickups. Does Sun and Moon look GenVI to anyone else? I'm dubious about these games already.

I did enjoy every gen, my favorites are 3,4 and 5. XY was meh but shiny hunting in ORAS is really relaxing for me, soo i got mixed feelings with 6gen, hoping Sun and Moon beat my expectation and give me a Mega empoleon or Politoed

@Maxz and @Ogbert
ok. fair enough. I take back what I said. I was commenting more from personal experience and my experience has been that, overwhelmingly, guy gamers have been far more competitive, sometimes to the detriment of others. And it hasn't been just IV leveling, it's been speedruns, trophies, kills etc.

But I've never been to a tournament so my experience is limited. I've since looked up some more info on Pokemon competitive play. While I still don't think it's for me, it seems more balanced and friendly than a lot of other competitive gaming. So I apologize.

@Utena-mobile Oh that's quite alright.

Like, I completely get where you're come from. I find the prideful, pigheaded, win-at-all costs mentality that pervades a lot of competitive scenes really ugly and off-putting - especially if it's related to something I'm personally very fond off for different reasons.

And I'm not saying it doesn't exist at all in Pokemon - it no doubt does to an extent. But it seems a shame to write off one of the competitive scenes that actually manages to attract a wider variety of people and approaches than most. I've found there's slightly more 'room to breathe' in competitive Pokemon than I associate with most communities, and I've always valued that.

Maybe that's because I went off and concocted my own weird teams (which occasionally were very effective), and often remained on the fringes, but I appreciated having some sort of gaming challenge that didn't involve me signing up to an ego-centric rutting contest, especially as Pokemon was a series I'd grown up loving. I could just turn up with a team I was proud of assembling, enjoy each match as it came, and then step away afterwards. It felt like a really rewarding way to keep the games alive and relevant, perhaps especially so after no longer having a playground to battle and trade in.

Anyway, despite all that, I'm definitely staying away from it for a while and hitting the new games with my naivety intact. I appreciate what it gave me, but it's a huge drain on time, energy, and even mental space.

Even though I've never experienced this, I definitely see where you're coming from, and honestly the games would be better in my opinion if there was more focus on single player adventure and story rather than the competitive scene. But that's partially because I think the competitive scene is a joke in Pokemon and not worth dedicating time to.

Honestly if you're a Pokemon fan and want a good story and feeling of adventure you'll probably always have better luck with the Mystery Dungeon games. The sad part is that I don't think that will ever change because Game Freak plays it too safe with mainline entries.

I fully understand this point of view. For me, I've had to accept that I'm not going to be that guy who wins tournaments or has a winning record online. from time to time i just go on-line, and see if my strategy will trump the stats (Ash ketchum style). But I'm mainly a collector now, and recently more interested in getting ribbons, along with winning Contests in Ruby and sapphire.

I've started to enjoy the series more since I tried Nuzlocke. If you have a friend, a cage-locke (nuzlocke, but where you and a friend pick one pokemon after each gym match to enter a duel to the death. Mix things up with rewards if you want, like held item/TM access). Losing the ability to pick your pokemon actually made it more meaningful for me, and permadeath kept me close to my critters.