Completely agree with everyone saying that it’s bizarre to remove the toggle switch. As others have mentioned, I’m an adult working full-time with lots of responsibilities, and I don’t want to have to spend days grinding levels. I like having the option of sharing experience, especially when I want to bring a weaker Pokemon up to speed.
However, I also get really attached to my core team, and in Pokemon Violet I’m finding that I’m having to constantly switch out my main team for second- and even third-string Pokemon or else all the challenges become meaningless. And I’m not attempting to grind—I’m just battling all the trainers I pass and catching new pokemon once each while I move between story beats. I shouldn’t be hopelessly overleveled! I would absolutely be turning off EXP share, at least for long periods of time, if I could. I enjoy trying to use all my team members equally anyway.
I’m actually a pretty big fan of Violet so far, but I miss being able to commit to one team of six and not feel like I was going to effortlessly steamroll every gym.
I really don’t think it makes much difference. The difficulty changes in the games come from other aspects/areas. Gen 6 still had it optional and sadly those are some of the easiest games in the series: I think they were trending that way anyway. Grinding multiple Pokémon was annoying on some of the old games and a fair progression on others. For example gen 5 has extremely annoying grinding due to the level jumps with the E4 in both pairs of games + less trainers around that point. Audino was compensation but not a fix lol.
If anything it’s more annoying for EV training in case you accidentally leave a pokemon you don’t want to give certain EVs in your team. But tbh in the end it’s also like having the set battle style where there’s no reason for them not to make it an option. While I don’t think the exp share is to blame for the games being easier on its own it is stupid they removed the switch. I think people give gamefreak too much crap but I won’t defend this one.
I absolutely hated it when it was added and turned it off asap. Even when going back to those games I turn it off still. I remember being really annoyed when it became a permanent feature though I don’t mind it as much now though I’d still rather not have it if I could.
That being said I also 100% understand why it was added as it makes the game much more accessible but they really should have left in a way to disable it if you want to. As a kid I definitely fell into over levelling my starter in my very first Pokemon game so various fights were brutal when I had a type disadvantage. I simply didn’t know any better so I definitely would have liked having the exp share back then even if today I don’t.
I hate the change to be honest. It feels like the main story in the games are progressively becoming more mindless. First they added the info that tells you what attacks you have that are super effective against the enemy, making learning the type chart much less important. Then they cut the option to disable the EXP share. Then in Scarlet and Violet NPCs no longer heal their Pokemon with items and set mode was removed from the game.
The games were never too difficult to begin with, but they still rewarded the player for learning game mechanics and had the option for a harder experience if you wanted in the form of set mode. Now the game wants the player to play the game in a very specific way and I hate it.
I actually like it because it helps raise newly hatched Pokémon level up quickly and also helps make sure you are ready for the E4. I also got my first legit Level 100 Pokémon without trading from the Exp Share lock back in X. Still have that Pokémon in my main Violet save.
I wish it was optional, mostly because for some reason it bothers me when the levels change when I wanted to level up only one Pokémon. I really don't know why but it bothers me when that disturbs my vision for where I want each team member's level to be at any given time
I think for an RPG it makes sense that the entire team gets experience from a fight. It definitely contributes to the games being "too easy", but getting rid of grinding is not a bad thing. I don't miss starting a battle with a weak Pokémon to immediately switch out to my actual fighter. At the end of the day this just saves time, it's not fun to repeatedly fight the same wild Pokémon over and over again.
What Pokémon really needs is difficulty settings. Give every story-relevant fighter a normal and advanced moveset. Or do a New Game+.
I like it as an option only. I usually have it turned off (if optional) if I am playing alone though.
I get why it is there though. Most people don't have a ton of time unless they are kids or something and even then, if you want to work with alot of pokemon it could be tedious training them all up one by one. I think they implemented this feature to help people experience more kinds of pokemon instead of just picking a few and staying with them the whole game since we have alot more pokemon than 15 years ago. The feature does allow you to train up a whole new team pretty quick in late game if you want a dramatic change.
So, to answer the initial question of the topic, I think it was a very poor decision on Game Freak's part to force party EXP gains on every player to make it a core mechanic of the series.
However, that's not to say that having it as an option is an issue; as a matter of fact I fully welcome it as a toggle-able option for accessibility's sake!
Pokémon as a franchise is meant to cast as wide of a net as possible, from the youngest kids to the most seasoned veterans. There are countless play styles with which to mess around with such as Monotypes, Nuzlockes, etc. that overall really strengthen what would otherwise be a relatively basic progression system through essentially the same story over and over throughout the generations. Honestly at the end of the day, if someone were to play with shared EXP or not, that should be their decision to do so and not Game Freak's.
They should've kept the Experience Share as a toggle you can turn On or Off as needed.
While I can appreciate the probable good intent of the decision to leave it permanently on as a means of convenience, and while they likely have their reasons (considering an interview during Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire about the lack of the Battle Frontier where it was mentioned that people are more busy and have more options for games to play in the age of smart phones, so the time mot people dedicate to one game is less than it used to be) for why it made business sense to them, it has the effect of making the games a bit less engaging for people who were used to the old way.
For my part, while I do benefit more from the Experience Share as I've gotten older, I think it should be a toggle rather than something you're opted into by default. As someone who likes to EV train my Pokémon to be competitively viable and tries to avoid having to bother with EV-reducing berries to correct mistakes, I have to go through a whole rigamaroll of looking up what Pokémon from which trainers give which EVs, swap in and out team members who don't want said EVs and use ones that do. I'd rather just have EVs going to the Pokémon directly engaged in the battle instead of every member of my team. While it's fairly easy to manage in Scarlet & Violet, the berries aren't necessarily as accessible in some of the other games.
Additionally, on some level it just feels more satisfying to raise up a Pokémon individually. As someone who plays games pretty slowly and savors the journey (I don't buy that many games), it also extends the time I'll invest in the game. As such, I'd like to be able to pick when I want the Experience Share on and when I want to turn it off, as it pertains to my interest level, life circumstances and general preference at any given time.
