A huge reason for the backlash is that they haven't showed anything that makes up for the cut. The game is just like the games before, an iterative sequel that operates mostly the same as those before it. There is no giant graphical leap, no groudbreaking new addition in terms of how the player interacts with the Pokémon or anything (at least, nothing shown yet). Couple that with the reused animations from the 3DS games and there really is nothing that justifies the decimation. Then there is the whole "Let's Go is for the more casual players! you hardcore fans wait for the next title" which makes it sting even more.
If SwSh (or a future game, for that matter) were really a groudbreaking evolution for the series. I hate to use the term but a "BOTW-like moment", I believe people wouldn't be as upset as they are right now.
The decision to cut Pokémon is inevitable. We're near 1000 creatures. But this is definitely not the way nor timing to do it IMO.
I totally agree. I've also stated it before: besides everything else that's been discussed, I think if we all knew a cut was eventually happening in the series, most of us didn't really expect it to happen NOW. I literally thought it would only happen YEARS from now, when the Pokémon Company and the development of the games fell in the hands of newer people.
Not right after the 3DS was able to handle 800+ creatures plus alternative forms, and not when the 3DS games got so much lag and the models looked so pixelated but there was the promise that such models were made in HD so a future console (like the Switch) could handle them without trouble.
I insist, had they planned it since the beginning stages of SwSh to include every existing Pokémon, they could've done it perfectly (maybe cutting in other aspects or taking more development time). I'll be very surprised if with Gen VIII Pokémon we hit the 900 mark. I believe, they just wanted to do it now before the amount of Pokémon actually exceeded the 1000. I'm not buying any of the excuses about balance or animation.
And tbh, maybe I'm just too delusional or innocent (or ignorant), but I've never even seen the 1000 as a limitation. I always thought that as time went by, and technology improved, and new consoles became more and more powerfu, making Pokémon games and handling huge amount of Pokémon characters would become easier and easier for them. If any, I thought generations were just gonna last longer and introduce less and less new Pokémon as we've seen with the past two generations.
I always dismissed comments like that when I read them online, because I was like "as if GF is ever cutting Pokémon, the foundation of the games and franchise". I thought it was as absurd as when people used to say back in Gen IV that it was the end of Pokémon because Arceus was the creator of the universe and they couldn't create anything else beyond that. Especially when Pokémon Bank existed and more recently the announcement of Pokémon Home. To me Pokémon games have always been far from perfect, but I had the hope that inside their bubble they always had that ambition to push the boundaries and limitations and dare to do the unimaginable, make the impossible possible. They've made entertainment out of walking and now sleeping. But now I know they've actually hit their limit, that they're afraid of handling "too many Pokémon" and they have no intention to take that challenge, despite having all the resources in the world if they only wanted it.
And it has nothing to do with them being "lazy" or any of those insulting things some people say, they just don't wanna follow that path. They probably see things that I don't (most of us, actually) and there's sadly nothing we can do but to express our sadness and disappointment, but I seriously doubt they're changing their minds.
