I have decided to re-log this game after a while and my praises of the game have definitely diminished over time. I still think it’s the best in the series since B2W2, but I don’t think it’s “great” or anything. It’s certainly a step in the right direction but nearly every other game in this series for the past 10 years has been “a step in the right direction” only for the next game to not follow up on that at all. I’m so tired of only having “a step in the right direction” instead of a straight up great new game. I don’t care if this is an unfair complaint or whatever because I think it’s entirely fair to expect more from this series given that the best JRPGs on the switch at the same price are made by smaller teams teams with funds several times smaller than TPC.

The gameplay is certainly fun and innovative for the series. Battles and catching Pokémon feel fast and engaging. But throughout the game there’s so many annoyances and issues. The controls feel weird and there’s no way to remap them. The characters are shallow and forgettable, the visuals and optimisation are very sub-par, the new boss fights are incredibly boring and repetitive. QOL has been downgraded from SwSh (I don’t even know how). I cannot in good faith call this game anything other than “slightly above average for the series” even if it’s the first in a long time to do a lot of things right.