Why is Pokemon fun?

[Lt. Gunther Welkin]

Now, this is no insult to Pokemon. Great series. Different pokes, different pokes-- blah blah blah.


I've done this type of thread a few times in the past, so this will be about Pokemon in general. I like doing them cause it gives me- A. Something to talk about, B. Perspective, and C. Something to satiate my ever-present boredom.
I started Omega Ruby recently at a friend's request, and I'm having a hard time enjoying myself. I'm not having a BAD time, per se. It's just that the combat is way too easy and the story isn't particularly engaging. Now perhaps those are the main selling points, as this is an RPG. But I'm open to, and hoping to be, wrong.
Tell me- what am I supposed to be looking out for in terms of fun?

 

[moonbits]

You gotta catch 'em all and build a team of your favorites.

The concept is attractive but the execution is boring, it's for kids.

 

[skramz]

i've been asking this question for 14 years now

 

[Scotty Scotty]

Very few people play Pokemon games for the story; as, aside from maybe Generation 5, the story isn't much to write home about.

 

[dropsmegamega]

you capture wild animals and force then to fight against their will for the sake of your own entertainment!!! what's not to like??

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

The story is actually entirely pointless and can be removed without losing anything at all, as demonstrated by the Crystal Clear ROM hack.

The games are fun due to their extreme "rock, paper, scissors" nature, but anyone wanting to play them for the plot would walk away sorely disappointed.

 

[Heinzu]

Pokémon is, and I believe always will be, a part of our lives. Whether young or old, there's something for everyone. To answer your question: There is no answer to that. Pokémon is simply iconic.

 

[Heidegger22]

I grew up in the 90's and was strangely immune to Pokemon (never played it, didn't watch the show, didn't collect the cards). But I went to Movie World one time (a theme park) and there was a collection game, you had to find all the pokemon tokens around the park. These, in turn, clicked together to form a pokeball. It was very fun, and a good memory.
When I returned to school my pokeball was the object of envy. Kids I didn't usually talk to were suddenly very eager to converse. I suspect popular franchises have a social appeal, the childhood equivalent of "watercooler talk". I noticed a similar phenomenon around Game of Thrones when that was popular, half the appeal was being able to talk about it.

 

[Bakuma1997]

A relaxing adventure about taming incredible creatures, nowadays they become complacent but that haven0t deleted the originals i grew with

 

[Yousef Yousef]

It’s not fun but with romhacks it’s fun. Rebirth reborn made me love gen 3.

 

[GamingWarthog]

Building a team of your favorite Pokémon to go on an adventure with is the core appeal, it's about the Pokémon themselves and getting attached to your team, you have to be into the creature design. Like since you're playing Omega Ruby part of the appeal is the mode where you can pet your Pokémon and feed it.

Which is why the Switch era made me turn my back on mainline because it ripped out the freedom of team building and having your favorites by your side to focus on animations and the animations were still shit, and nobody was playing Pokémon for the animations in the first place. Like yeah I'm not buying a game where the devs outright say they removed features to focus on graphics, especially when it doesn't even result in passable graphics.

Black/White, Sun/Moon, and Legends Arceus (only Switch game I acknowledge and can comment on the story of) have actual plots with real effort put into them unlike much of the early games where it was paper thin with maybe some good elements or scenes mixed in.

 

[ComradeZach]

I feel a lot of the enjoyment that can be had from pokémon nostalgia aside is inserting yourself. I love the games and I replay them often (albeit most of the time following self imposed challenges), but I think it's 100% reasonable to call them bland. Now what you do after though is what makes the difference, I feel their blandness benefits them more than it harms them, I believe the best experience to have with pokémon is to fully insert yourself into it, as silly or possibly demeaning as it can be, grow attached to your pokémon, create your own tension and drama so on. (all doable within the bounds of a normal playthrough, though obviously easier to do as an adult when you're doing a challenge run or playing a difficulty hack)

 

[Graw]

I liked pokemon silver a lot when I was a kid but I didn't really keep up with the series after that. I never played the GBA games or any of the later ones and any time I tried I'd get bored pretty quickly and drop it. A couple years ago I discovered pokemon showdown though and I enjoy playing random battles on there from time to time. I did play through the Pokemon Unbound romhack a little while ago and actually finished it. I enjoyed that it was more focused around battling and the trainer ai's were beefed up to the point where it almost felt like playing against actual people.

I find the battling system is fun despite how simple it actually is. 6 pokemon with 4 abilities and however many potential types with their rock, paper, scissor style weaknesses, plus abilities and held items, gives you a huge amount of variety in tactics and strategies and the battles can be tense and suspenseful and a lot of fun. I find the rest of everything, collecting pokemon, training them, breeding, all the EV/IV stuff to be super tedious and just way too much. That's why I like Showdown. You can just go onto the website, click battle and in a few seconds you're battling with some random person.

 

[reila]

I mean the answer depends on the person, but it was my biggest hyperfixation as a kid and for whatever reason I never really let it go until I felt the series was too "different" for me (that was around the time gen 7 came out but like I said the answer is different for everyone). Even when I was 12 I refused to let go of it, and I guess it really does have to do with wanting to be in that fantasy world where you can catch monsters. I feel like reading PokeSpe and interacting with the fandom is what made the game more fun than it probably was (it's not like pokemon is known for its unique rpg mechanics or anything). I never got into the competitive side of pokemon, but that would be my answer.

 

[MasterEn]

Now, this is no insult to Pokemon. Great series. Different pokes, different pokes-- blah blah blah.


I've done this type of thread a few times in the past, so this will be about Pokemon in general. I like doing them cause it gives me- A. Something to talk about, B. Perspective, and C. Something to satiate my ever-present boredom.
I started Omega Ruby recently at a friend's request, and I'm having a hard time enjoying myself. I'm not having a BAD time, per se. It's just that the combat is way too easy and the story isn't particularly engaging. Now perhaps those are the main selling points, as this is an RPG. But I'm open to, and hoping to be, wrong.
Tell me- what am I supposed to be looking out for in terms of fun?

you are meant to play with friends, family and random people at the bus stop or over the internet.
that's the appeal. that's where the fun is.
the stories are mainly mediocre and bare bones. the new games are easier so you can get to the part where all pokemon are accessible so you can build whatever team that you want to battle others.
that is the main focus of pokemon nowadays.
if that doesn't appeal to you, you can always try a nuzlock or a solo challenge run. otherwise, you collect the monsters that are powerful or the ones that you like, and engage in dog fights with other players. that's about it.

 

[Lt. Gunther Welkin]

I typically don't respond much to these threads after I post them- I'm more in favor of letting the people's words speak for themselves, but since I find interest in this one particularly, I will respond to posts I personally deem notable.

i've been asking this question for 14 years now

This one validates the opinion I had coming in, thus this one is the best answer inherently.

Pokémon is, and I believe always will be, a part of our lives. Whether young or old, there's something for everyone. To answer your question: There is no answer to that. Pokémon is simply iconic.

The real issue is that it wasn't for me. My brother liked Pokemon. I didn't. I've never liked animals, real or fake one, thus I avoided it like the plague. I did play Pokemon X, admittedly. But that was more-so about my brother than it was the game. He could have begged me to play any other game and nothing much would have changed.

A relaxing adventure about taming incredible creatures, nowadays they become complacent but that haven0t deleted the originals i grew with

This falls in line with the last answer.
I have friends who love animals and get all baby-ish with them. I do not like them. That's a strong part of why I dislike the series. Granted, this answer is correct all things considered. That is probably one of the main appeals, come to think of it.

I feel a lot of the enjoyment that can be had from pokémon nostalgia aside is inserting yourself. I love the games and I replay them often (albeit most of the time following self imposed challenges), but I think it's 100% reasonable to call them bland. Now what you do after though is what makes the difference, I feel their blandness benefits them more than it harms them, I believe the best experience to have with pokémon is to fully insert yourself into it, as silly or possibly demeaning as it can be, grow attached to your pokémon, create your own tension and drama so on. (all doable within the bounds of a normal playthrough, though obviously easier to do as an adult when you're doing a challenge run or playing a difficulty hack)

Inserting yourself into the world. That one I.. did not try! Weird as that sounds. Some sort of pseudo roleplay as I play the game. I'll have to go back to my childhood hobby of whispering to myself like a madman while I play my game...
That sounds sarcastic- it isn't. I will give that a try.

you are meant to play with friends, family and random people at the bus stop or over the internet.
that's the appeal. that's where the fun is.
the stories are mainly mediocre and bare bones. the new games are easier so you can get to the part where all pokemon are accessible so you can build whatever team that you want to battle others.
that is the main focus of pokemon nowadays.
if that doesn't appeal to you, you can always try a nuzlock or a solo challenge run. otherwise, you collect the monsters that are powerful or the ones that you like, and engage in dog fights with other players. that's about it.

This one is another one I deem very "right," but the servers are down now so this doesn't apply anymore. I wish it did.

 

[Heinzu]

The real issue is that it wasn't for me. My brother liked Pokemon. I didn't. I've never liked animals, real or fake one, thus I avoided it like the plague. I did play Pokemon X, admittedly. But that was more-so about my brother than it was the game. He could have begged me to play any other game and nothing much would have changed.

Okay, yes, it's also a matter of taste. Some like it, some don't.

 

[MasterEn]

This one is another one I deem very "right," but the servers are down now so this doesn't apply anymore. I wish it did.

there is always local wireless play and i'm pretty sure that there is a homebrew app for the 3ds that acts like nintendo online. i have netpass on my 3ds and i get other people's miis on there when i check in.