Stop me if you've heard this one before

We're gonna make an rpg. It's gonna be made in rpg maker. It's gonna be needlessly quirky and random, there's gonna be a jarring about face turn with attempts at drama that fall flat, Non characters will populate the story, and its climax will rip off a much better game that you'd rather be playing

Sound familiar? Welcome to indie rpgs of the last decade

What can I say, this game changed my life. Before this, I was a little boy without a karate championship behind my name. Now I have been crowned hill valley 1984. Using the signature Crane kick taught to me by my asian stereotype sensei, a kick that was honed to perfection by "Hong Kong 97." I cannot stress the effect this game has had on our culture. It is said that right before husband, lover and cousin of Queen Elizebeth II, (The late Prince Phillip) passed on a lonely april morning, his browser history showed the roms of this game, and his journal read the following chilling passage,
"Dearest cousin,
If you are reading this, I have passed on. I have realised that my efforts are nay- for I shant ever live up to Chin at defeating those fucking ugly reds. Consider this goodbye, My dear dear cousin, how I long for your touch."

So yeah, in short, this game changed my life, and its prophecy will soon come to fruition. Our herd is getting bigger, and you may call us "Fucken Ugly," but soon we will come for you. You're next Joe Biden

What if like, Pokémon was... actually good?

What if they made use of species' traits directly within the storytelling, and what if they make it so that each Pokémon really is a clearly emoted character with its own characteristics based on its species - something that the main games just don't seem to have the capacity to do?

What if they actually made strategy, moveset management and team optimization an important aspect of single-player gameplay while getting rid of the awful aspects to raising Pokémon in the main games, like EVs/IVs?

What if they actually used the idea of endurance and attrition within dungeons as a legitimately well-thought out gameplay mechanic instead of being something you could just grind around by going in and out of the Pokémon Centers?

What if they actually got you to care about all the NPCs you met by making sure you know what they have to say at all times, instead of just the main cast being shoved into your face the whole time?

This is my preferred way to engage with the Pokémon franchise these days. It may not be perfect - I don't like not being able to evolve my starter, or not really being able to pick it, for that matter; the story is ultimately a little contrived to make up for the fact that gameplay gets a little stale unless there's plot development shoved into your face at every moment to give you a reason to keep playing; there are a few quirks about the gameplay in general that I think could be ironed out...

But this has so much going for it that it's actually willing to explore within the main, single player campaign - both in terms of how it handles the actual Pokémon, and in how complex it takes its gameplay by the end of it (and I haven't even started the postgame yet in this run!)

The music's good, the story's enjoyable if you don't think too much about it, it's fun to put more thought into battles (especially when you bring in an Escape Orb and get the option to bail and try again), the music's good...

I'm looking forward to completing the postgame and one day moving onto Explorers, probably Sky. It's a shame this series hasn't quite taken off after the first two.

(I think the main Pokémon games aren't bad; I really like Gen 4 and 5 as games, but I think the general Pokémon formula just isn't for me, and I feel like they've stayed a little too stagnant in their game design in all the wrong ways.)

The Jump Ultimate Stars game is the way you successfully pull of something like this. Why can't the newer titles have a power/progression system, for example abilities tied to manga panels that game had, or worlds that are actually in the titles (instead of the real world). Objectives in fights to unlock stuff instead of the same braindead fighting mission over and over. Why can't they have a bigger selection of titles to choose characters instead of the 6th or 7th dbz or naruto character? Minor characters in assist moves, smash like battles etc. The potential is endless.
A big budget game in this fashion i'm sure would do much better than what jump force is now. I already was disappointed by J stars for similar reasons, but this game does it even worse. This game has a casual western audience in mind (see character choices), and underestimates the popularity of manga and anime also for the lesser known series in the west. This should be a love letter to shounen jump like smash ultimate is to gaming. That's why you should let a creative team with passion for jump make it, not this soulless shit.