I'm unsure whether I'm going to actually buy these games or not, or any Pok?mon games in general moving into the future. I've been fond of the series since it first came stateside with Red & Blue and it was a huge cultural phenomenon and, though I sat out Generations III and IV up until HeartGold/SoulSilver initially (peer pressure + getting older) before coming back to R/S/E and Platinum later, I've been playing the games for a significant amount of time.
The way I've looked at it has always been that even if I don't really enjoy certain aspects of a generation, I was always going to get the games so I wouldn't miss out on event legendaries and could always have the potential to keep filling the Pok?dex. I didn't really like Moon but I got Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon and ended up liking that experience more, for what that's worth.
When I look at Sword and Shield, I don't see much to latch onto. I really like some designs like Corviknight and the games look somewhat fun, but we've hit a roadblock in terms of the way I engage with Pok?mon games. For a long while now, aside from my first playthrough of a generation where I can experience things in a fresh manner, I prefer to come up with themes to base teams around for subsequent playthroughs. I look across the whole Pok?dex for Pok?mon that might fit the theme I've decided to go with and have yet to really repeat myself in terms of species as of yet. By not including every available Pok?mon (and, honestly, I'd be fine with not including stuff like Alolan forms, Megas, etc.) you can see how that immediately causes potential issues.
Expanding on the above point, and significantly more important on a large scale, is the potential of someone's favorite Pok?mon not being included. I can already see a few of my favorites like Cacturne and Gourgeist being on the chopping block because they might not be considered as good or popular as others, and I reckon that I'm not the only person in such a situation. There are people out there who have taken certain Pok?mon across generations and used them in every game since Generation III (since transfer from Generations I and II weren't possible for Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald); a friend of mine is one of those people and they've decided outright that they're not going to be supporting the franchise any longer between this and the increasing level of casualization the series has experienced in the most recent generations (including the
reasons Junichi Masuda gave for not including the Battle Frontier in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire).
I can't say that I'm definitively at that point yet, but I'm definitely wavering between whether to try the new games or to just quit outright as well. I've expressed before that I find Dynamaxing to be the most immersion breaking and perhaps the laziest battle mechanic they've ever implemented, and it's kind of hard not to feel like its implementation, alongside Game Freak's self-imposed quick release cycles and stubbornness, are to blame for this situation.
I'm so tired of seeing everyone do nothing but hate on the new Gen. Half of them are still going to buy it anyway. It makes sense why they're not bringing back every single pokemon, and that's going to continue being a trend because soon we're going to be over a thousand pokemon. Did everyone really expect a national dex to be in every single game?
I couldn't care less about the National Pok?dex and honestly feel that the usage of the phrase in the complaints levied toward this game, while seemingly a nice catch-all term for the issue here, doesn't really get to the heart of the problem. Like I touched on earlier in the post, I feel the more pertinent issue is the inability to use certain Pok?mon at all depending on each installment moving forward.
I don't care about the National Pok?dex being a functioning thing, its exclusion from Generation 7 was sort of a relief because it made the Shiny Charm faster and easier to acquire, which I like as a Masuda Method shiny hunter. I've completed the National Pok?dex in Generation 6, it was a nice accomplishment but it's not something I've ever really strived for for any reason other than to get the Shiny Charm in my games.
I also don't care about the ability to catch every, or even any significant amount of older Pok?mon, in any given game. That's what transferring is and always has been for up until now.
What I care about is the ability to use every Pok?mon that I decide I want to use on a team whenever I want. If that ability is impeded, that's an enormous issue.
I look at this issue as akin to the omission of the Virtual Console on the Nintendo Switch, when it was available on the 3DS, Wii, and Wii U, in favor of a bunch of NES games handpicked by Nintendo to be available to subscribers to their Online service. I'm not interested in any of the games Nintendo chose to give to us, I would far prefer the ability to purchase whichever game was previously available on the Virtual Console eShop for other consoles like the SNES, Sega Genesis, etc. I mention this because Game Freak, like Nintendo, is catering an experience for the consumer that is a change from their previous operating procedure. I don't want catered experiences, I far prefer the freedom to which I had become accustomed and which they have decided to cease.
It's like being put in a box when you're used to wide open space. Other people might not have issue with these sorts of things, and that's fine, but it's definitely bothersome to me. Any catered experience they can try to offer to me would, I feel, pale in comparison to the experiences I've been able to give to myself within the freedom formerly given to us. This is such a major issue for me because the games on their own have been growing steadily easier and more casual with each generation for a series that was never particularly difficult to begin with. The ability to choose from this wide array of Pok?mon and engage in the series in my own way made the games more appealing than I could ever find them on their own at this point.
It's okay to be disappointed. But you're the only one hurting and missing out from boycotting.
Saving $60-$120 by not buying the games can be pretty nice. Really up to the individual and their own standards whether they would really be "missing out" on much of anything.
