What Made Me Put Down the Pokémon Franchise For Good

I don’t know if this nostalgia loop I fall into every few years is a me thing, a human thing, or a ’90s kids thing, but I hate it. One of the franchises that most has a grip on my heart is Pokémon because it’s nigh impossible to avoid noticing some of my favourite ones since they’re pretty mainstream (Gengar being one of them). Seeing them gets me poking around what’s been up with the franchise lately and wondering if maybe Game Freak has done a better job now that I’ve been gone for a few years.

Since my family knows only a handful of games, most of which are Nintendo, I usually get gifted the same franchises. So, I decided to pick up Pokémon Violet when the nostalgia bug began again since I hadn’t played for more than an hour when I first got it.

Admittedly, it’s taken me longer than I like to get better about being a stubborn hardass with high expectations, so I wasn’t surprised when I remembered nitpicking at everything about the then-latest entry. This time around, I was pleasantly surprised with my experience; I was particularly happy about the new quality-of-life improvements, such as being able to pull out Pokémon from the boxes without needing a PC. The list of features I was thoroughly appreciating kept growing the more I played, and what used to bother me before (namely, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Miraidon’s bike-like use) wasn’t a problem at all.

Another big reason I enjoyed it this time around is that playing videogames as a journalist has taught me a lot about them, and the most important lesson was simple: not every title is made to be binged. Most of the time, it’s best to put the game down after however long it takes you to begin feeling a bit bored or ready to move on; sticking to it just for the sake of it is terrible. Pokémon is definitely in the non-bingeable category — at least, for me. So, I’ve been taking it a lot slower.

Aside from being one of the easiest entries, which allowed me to use some of my favourite Pokémon that happen to be more niche (like Hoppip), it also gave way to a smoother Pokédex experience. I was comfortable that I’d get enough currency to afford all the Poké Balls I’d need, and the pace that I had adopted wasn’t burning me out. I really believed this might be when I was finally adult enough to see those ending credits again after nearly a decade!... and then, I spoke to my wife.

I don’t know if my lack of memory is due to fibromyalgia, my insufficient attention, or because I was just made different, but I had forgotten (not for the first time, either) that you can’t finish the Pokédex... unless you fork over money for the second edition or — even more unrealistically — have friends. So, when my wife told me that she’d like Pokémon a lot more if Game Freak wasn’t so greedy, elaborating that you don’t get to 100% it, my brain melted out of my skull.

Things only went downhill as she reminded me of a lot more horrible decisions the company has made, such as abolishing the National Pokédex and dropping Mega Evolutions, and it didn’t stop there. We ended up talking about how easy Pokémon is and how ungratifying it is to fight the Gym Leaders — heck, how easy and dead-brained the Elite Four are! And there’s no New Game+?!

Don’t get me wrong: there’s much to love about Violet, and I don’t mean to come across as a hater — I adore collecting new Pokémon, finding their evolutions; customising my character. Before Violet, my favourite entry used to bePokémon Omega Ruby, and I held Pokémon X in my heart, too. That same love is what makes me so angry about the way Game Freak approaches this beloved franchise because it’s with greed and a lack of passion.

It feels like every time they take a step forward, they take three back. There have been many features that I’ve loved from previous entries that don’t make it to the newest ones for no apparent good reason, yet the FOMO practice of forcing us to buy two copies or find someone to trade with is present in every single one. The cherry on top is their passionless decisions in recent entries, such as abolishing the National Dex.

It makes me angry that so many of the features I was praising from Pokémon Violet should’ve been added years, if not decades, ago. How do we not have difficulty settings? Why is NG+ not an option? Why can’t we have our Pokémon follow us (or have a good speed when they do), or have the ability to rename them? And how sad is it that they don’t even include a built-in Nuzlocke? It just makes no sense.

I don’t know how many hours I’ve spent playing Pokémon Violet because I’ve been so immersed in catching everything that crosses my path and using new teams I’ve never been brave enough to have before. I can tell you this, though: I won’t be picking it up anymore, and if I can avoid forgetting again that I can’t finish the Pokédex because of Game Freak’s greed, I will never pick any of them up ever.

Thankfully, this isn’t the end. My time with Pokémon Violet felt different because I revisited it as an adult, which offered a new perspective that perhaps the games aren’t for me, and maybe it’s time to move on. Now, I can leave them behind and explore the genre in other titles, ones that might offer the passion I’m looking for. I needn’t look further than the three I already own: Coromon, Temtem, and Monster Sanctuary.