I have tried on and off over the last few months to make progress in this game. 25 hours I spent catching Pokémon and earning all 8 gym badges. I could of done this quicker but I was enjoying running around the Grand Underground. Gen 4 was never the gen for me. I never played this generation as a kid. I don’t like the Pokédex available. I find the region boring to explore. The story moves ahead at a snails pace. The big bad Team Galactic are awful, with the majority of the grunts using non evolved Pokémon even up until the late game, therefore providing no challenge in an already super easy game.

I sat down and tried to think what my problem is with this game. And it was the same problem with Pokémon Shield. I have not enjoyed either of the latest switch entries and that’s because, to me they feel soulless. Now back in the day, little school kid trainer me would love seeing all the Pokémon rendered in 3D. But now, man I really miss the days of pixel sprite Pokémon. The poses, the attitude. Most of all the character those little 2D images conveyed. Now a lot of Pokémon just look extremely sad in 3D. Nidoking looks pathetic. Hippowdon, my big chonk hippo lad used to be covered in sand. He looked epic roaring out of the sand pool. Now he’s just a little hippo with holes in his side. And don’t get me started on Typhlosion. He just looks depressed where as before he was a towering badass raging inferno. It’s like this for most Pokémon. You sling the ball, out they come and they just feel lifeless.

Other issues plagued my playthrough. The art style, the Chibi look really doesn’t work for me at all. Navigation of the world is awful because of the collision. Your player character is constantly getting caught on trees and the side of walls. Battles also play out super slowly. You throw the pokéball, both Pokémon enter the fight. If they have Abilities like “Intimidate” you get a little animation and text box to skip. The opponent may have an ability that activates so that’s another text box and animation. Then if your Pokémon loves you it will hop up and down and another text box pops up. If there’s weather effects in play you have watch that animation and skip that text box. It becomes very tedious especially when it’s a wild battle and you plan on running but first have to sit through the motions.

Also, the friendship mechanic. Pokémon is already a super easy game and this just takes it to another level of easy. Pokémon will avoid dying to please you. Get extras critical hits. Heck during my run through of the Pokémon league myPokémon shook off poison and burn status effects just because they had high friendship, which completely destroyed the “Difficulty”.

But you know, that’s just me. People can play these games to their hearts content and love them. And that’s fine. I ain’t here to ruin it for others. But for me, Pokémon seems to be losing its magic. But I will always have the older games so if I ever need my Pokémon fix, it’s back to the past instead of playing the latest release. And that suits me fine, Pokémon’s greatest strength lies in nostalgia.