Since Pokémon Day is around the corner, I've been thinking a lot about Pokémon lately. I've always liked Pokémon but kept my distance from it. However, I finally decided to get deeper into the franchise and fandom last summer, and I've really been enjoying myself. There has been one thing that's troubled me since I officially joined, though: the biggest criticism I've been hearing about Pokémon core series games, especially in the last 5 years, is that they aren't very good in terms of just running or working properly. In terms of content, the core series games always deliver; in fact, the stories, characters, and music from BW onward are widely considered to be the best in the entire franchise. However, in terms of graphics and technological advancements, sometimes it is lacking. For example, I've seen SV be praised for having a great story, interesting characters, and amazing battles, but the lagginess and bugginess is an understandable turnoff for some. Hell, even RBY is mostly remembered for being a glitchy, broken and outdated mess these days, despite initially launching the franchise into stardom outside of Japan.

Idek why I'm stressing myself out about this since I haven't played any of the core series games (I just stick to the TCG and spinoffs, I have a lot more fun with them, and I suck at traditional Pokémon battles xd), but it's still pretty frustrating since I know Pokémon is a high quality franchise that is capable of making high quality things. They've proven that time and time again. The devs of the games clearly put a lot of effort and love into them, but I feel their higher ups and the deadlines they're given are holding them back. It would be a great shame if The Pokémon Company got lazy and decided that maintaining that high quality wasn't worth it because they think that people will just gobble up anything with the Pokémon name on it, no matter how bad it actually is. I have faith in Legends Z-A though. It's been the works for a couple of years now, which is pretty long in comparison to the usual amount of time spent making a Pokémon core series game, and after the criticism they got for their recent games being "unplayable" due to them not working properly, I have reason to believe that this time, they're making sure that it's of the quality you would expect from the richest franchise in the world. I definitely think that it would be in TPC's best interest if they just slowed down and took their time making the games instead of rushing them out. People will wait for good quality games.