The problem with the culling for balance is its still going to just have the competitive landscape devolve into the same strong Pokemon vs the same strong Pokemon. You used Overwatch and Smash as example that avoid this but Melee at the very least is played with the same five or six characters in top 8. New Smash games also face similar issues as well. Pro Overwatch matches are teams using the same strong composition vs same strong composition for that balance patch. The only reason League semi gets away with this because they have a pick/ban phase that you can outright ban champions that are overpowered. Something that Pokemon games lack.
The community around Pokemon have done a pretty solid job on trying to balance the game themselves using Smogon's tiering system and rulesets. Which fairly give pokemon of weaker stats a place where they can actually shine. To think that removing the Pokemon from the pokedex with all the other RPG elements the game has like you mentioned in the article will somehow balance the game is just not true.
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Re: Soapbox: Why Sword And Shield's Pokémon Purge Will Benefit Everyone
The problem with the culling for balance is its still going to just have the competitive landscape devolve into the same strong Pokemon vs the same strong Pokemon. You used Overwatch and Smash as example that avoid this but Melee at the very least is played with the same five or six characters in top 8. New Smash games also face similar issues as well. Pro Overwatch matches are teams using the same strong composition vs same strong composition for that balance patch. The only reason League semi gets away with this because they have a pick/ban phase that you can outright ban champions that are overpowered. Something that Pokemon games lack.
The community around Pokemon have done a pretty solid job on trying to balance the game themselves using Smogon's tiering system and rulesets. Which fairly give pokemon of weaker stats a place where they can actually shine. To think that removing the Pokemon from the pokedex with all the other RPG elements the game has like you mentioned in the article will somehow balance the game is just not true.