The amount of "Pokemon Fans" who want this to fail is mindblowing. Don't play it - wait until Gen 8. If you don't like Gen 8? Don't play that either.
FWIW, I've been playing since 1998 when I was 13. Is this the most hardcore Pokemon game ever? No. Will I play it? Of course. Gen 1 isn't my favorite generation of Pokemon but this game isn't made 100% for "33 year old who has been with the franchise for the past 25 years." It's easy to overlook that Pokemon may not be incredibly complex from our viewpoints but for little 7 year old Johnny Boy it may be a lot to grasp.
in before "MAYBE 7 YEAR OLDS SHOULDN'T PLAY POKEMON THEN. CASUALS!!!!!!!!"
Hmm... The thing that gets me about this, is that Pokémon has always been for everyone, and primarily aimed at children. And while there are indeed many complex things about it, I won't deny the games complexity, that has never been this huge talking point until now. Kids can clearly handle it. Just like they can handle stuff like Minecraft, and do all kinds of insane stuff there. If this weren't the case, every main series game wouldn't have sold millions upon millions of copies. They don't do that on the back of just a 30+ year old audience. It's still the kids driving the bulk of those sales, each and every time. However complex they may or may not be, there's absolutely zero indication that's turned off any significant number of children, and children by and large keep showing up and keep playing them. Because Pokémon games are all made for everyone, and they do a good job for it.
And that's what gets me about these games, speaking personally here. Not that they're not designed exclusively for me. I don't really give a fuck about that, nor expect it in way whatsoever. I would never be that selfish. On the contrary, what gets me is that every game for the beginning has been for everyone, both casual and core... And they've all released to tremendous success. So, what's changed? Why do these two groups suddenly have to be split, or something? Why can't one game do it all, and be for everyone, just as it's always been?
Like, that's the whole thing for me with stuff like this: that the main game is always targeted at children and easing in young and new plays as easily as possible, and then it's the post-game and online and stuff, if anything, that's more focused at the core audience and everyone else, looking for more of a challenge. A balance in that kinda way.
But now, despite this never being a problem before, this whole idea just presupposes the mainline Pokémon games are too complex for children to get into, that they need something like this to ease them into it, despite that never being the case until now. The main games have done just fine having something for everyone (with, if anything, people complaining that the main games hold your hands too much as it is and have too many tutorials and stuff in the early sections, precisely to help out younger and less experienced players get accustomed to things). Have an easy main game to ease people in, introducing mechanics and the Pokémon themselves and everything bit by bit over the course of the game, and then letting people completely lose by the end and do whatever they want in terms of the online options, post-game content, etc.
So like I'm not opposed to it, whatsoever. I'm just confused by it, since this is exactly what Game Freak did with each and every game anyway. And now, with this whole idea that not only is Pokémon complex, but it's so complex that it needs a whole pair of games to act as a tutorial unto themselves... it's like, how to put it. That strikes me as a failure on Game Freak's part, more than anything. Because if that's indeed the case, if Pokémon is indeed that complex, how is making a whole pair of games to act as a tutorial the answer, instead of improving the tutorials in the games themselves or actually simplifying the main games or something? How's this actually fix anything, especially since, come Generation 8, all that complexity comes back which these 6 year-olds or whatever aren't prepared for in any way because it was removed in Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee and now is suddenly back again, and then what? How does stuff like this actually help address these problems (vs actually reducing the complexity or having better tutorials or the like), if making the games more accessible to a younger audience is indeed the intent, since those problems will all come right back anyway?
It's just a very, very bizarre answer especially since this hasn't been a thing until now because of reasons like that, they've done just fine and there's no sign there series is on decline or anything, that kids are dropping it off or actually finding it more complex, so why now? And that even if so, if that were the case, how does this actually help those problems going forward or actually do anything to improve the situation? The whole conceit doesn't make much sense to me, when you think of it like that. It just seems like a way of, as is happening right now, for both camps to just get really angry and upset at each other for no good reason, and then come Gen 8, everything's right back as it was and nothing's changed, making it all the more silly.
Of course to be perfectly clear about this I'm not "7 year-olds shouldn't play Pokémon, grr, grr!" because of course that's nonsensical and nobody should ever say something like that, no duh, since it's a great idea and something that absolutely should be encouraged and if it's indeed a problem that people, particularly very young players, are finding the series too complex, something should absolutely be done about that so they can more easily enjoy it. I'm all about that. But at the same time, I'm just confused because that group has always played Pokémon and by all indications by-and-large still are (and that even if they're not, as covered above, how does stuff like this actually fix anything and not just make us all wind up right back where we started anyway). So appealing to them in particular, like they suddenly need something like this for whatever reason, when nothing actually indicates that, nothing indicates that kids are actually dropping off because of the complexity or that kids are getting dumber or anything (if anything, the contrary and I'm always impressed what kids are doing these days with creative games like Minecraft and the like)... the question that comes to mind, is why? Why this sudden need for a split, when nothing actually indicated that it was necessary? Why can't we all just share the same games, and have something there for everyone, as it's always been?
And because of that, I just worry about the rhetoric around these games and Gen 8, because so many people, whether they intend to or otherwise, are basically saying "these games are for kids, and Gen 8 is for the core audience." And I'm just like, okay, but is that a healthy thing going forward? Or will that just exasperate the casual/core split in the franchise, literally going to the point of giving them their own games and sectioning them off in that type of way, and is this just a one-off thing, or will it continue to the future and both the Let's Go series and the "core" games end up turning into just that, their own separate things going forward, and is that really a good thing, or not?
Because how much those two groups are going at each other because of these games is already kinda ugly and toxic and definitely no good at all, despite them having their own things. That's exactly the thing, as you yourself bring up! That Gen 8 games do exist and are planned, but this is still happening anyway! And so, if this becomes some kind of new norm, with Let's Go and everything else, I can't help being a bit anxious and nervous about that, since it's already bad and if this just continues into the future, well, that's obviously not very good at all no matter which "side" you happen to come down on, since everyone's just annoyed at each other and going at each others' throats and stuff despite them each having what they want.
And like, to be clear, the Pokémon fanbase has definitely already had it's fair share of problems when it comes to toxicity and various different parts of the fandom going at each others throats and stuff, particularly in the context of stuff like "generation wars" and the like. But casual vs hardcore players really ain't too much of a thing (beyond core players wishing for stuff like difficulty options and stuff like the Battle Frontier returning, and being disappointed when they don't, but that's it). But Let's Go Eevee & Pikachu really made that stuff come out in force because that's precisely the thing, now the games themselves are segregating the fanbase in that kinda way, and that's never really happened before. Everything's just always been for everyone, with each and every game being it's own jumping-on point.
And now these games have shifted that, and everything that's happened happened as a result, and I just wonder what will happen going into the future. But all I know is, at least for the time being, things were certainly better when everyone just shared the same games and made do and there wasn't this split in the games themselves. And whether that split remains or fades away starting with Generation 8 remains to be seen, but all I can say is that I really hope it does, because I myself just hate all this toxicness and people going at each other's throats over these kind of things and being all aggressive towards each other and making all these assumptions and just assuming the absolute worst of each other, over and over and over again, and god, I just already want to go back to before LGE/LGP, when, while there were certainly problems in the fandom, at least this wasn't as much of one as it is now. So hopefully that indeed happens, and we can just go back to sharing and stuff, and going back to games where there's something for everyone and we all make do with that in our own ways, and everything is more or less fine, because otherwise, just ugh, because this is just not something I want to keep dealing with going forward, but time will tell I guess. Time will tell...