• Hi all. We have had reports of member's signatures being edited to include malicious content. You can rest assured this wasn't done by staff and we can find no indication that the forums themselves have been compromised.

    However, remember to keep your passwords secure. If you use similar logins on multiple sites, people and even bots may be able to access your account.

    We always recommend using unique passwords and enable two-factor authentication if possible. Make sure you are secure.
  • Be sure to join the discussion on our discord at: Discord.gg/serebii
  • If you're still waiting for the e-mail, be sure to check your junk/spam e-mail folders

Retired from pokemon games

nel3

Crimson Dragon
ive had a pretty long history with the series in general games and anime. started with yellow and silver, a 6yr hiatus to jump into 3DS HG and X, folowed by OR, sun and UM. i was really into the games until the first month of Sun. i got a near complete foreign data dex in X (minus most of the foreign legendary info).

i loved gen6 but Sun fell flat in a few months compared to the longevity of gen6. ive ranted on enough of the faults of gen 7 in my post history sufficiently so im not gonna further elaborate. gen7 has some big advantages vs their gen6 equivalents but the big changes for the worst tipped the balance to the negative scale. UM improved it a bit but not enough.

i dont have any plans to buy a switch and i still play it on and off to max out items but ive gone back to the usual things i do to pass time that dont require a DS to pass the time. other RL stuff has taken up my free time at the same time. has the game series also fallen out of favor with anyone else as time passed?
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
I don't plan on purchasing the Switch either, at least not at the moment. I might change my mind when the cheaper version of it gets released, but right now I guess you could say that I've "retired" from the Pokemon games as well, although I still purchase the manga and watch the anime.
 

Bolt the Cat

Bringing the Thunder
I wouldn't quite call myself "retired" yet, but I have one foot out the door at this point. The recent games have all been extremely disappointing and unless Sword and Shield impresses (which it looks like it won't) I'm probably done. I might return briefly if they don't screw up DP remakes (but knowing them, they'll probably find a way), but beyond that, I'm done with Pokemon until Game Freak makes a game that remotely feels like a console game.
 
I'm not retired per se either, but I have been pretty disillusioned by Gamefreak these past six years. It's not that the games have been bad necessarily, it's more like I expect better from Gamefreak and Gen 6 & 7 just didn't meet Gamefreak's usual standards. I'll probably buy Shield or Sword later this year, but I have a feeling that I'll once again be let down by the content of the games.
 

WishIhadaManafi5

To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
Staff member
Moderator
I kind of feel similarly at this point. Some of what we've gotten has been a bit half baked. Not terrible, but lacking. Mainly in post game, apart from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
I kind of feel similarly at this point. Some of what we've gotten has been a bit half baked. Not terrible, but lacking. Mainly in post game, apart from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
Even OR/AS would have been much better had they put in a full Battle Frontier instead of just copy+pasting the Battle Maison from XY.
 

shoz999

Back when Tigers used to smoke.
I can never see myself retire from the series, although that's probably because I also like looking things from a lore and cinematic world-building perspective too. I don't know about you but I can't wait to see a Haunted House, Pokemon-style, in HD!
 

WishIhadaManafi5

To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before.
Staff member
Moderator
Even OR/AS would have been much better had they put in a full Battle Frontier instead of just copy+pasting the Battle Maison from XY.
Good point on that. I really liked the Battle Frontier and I miss the challenge of the different kinds of trainers.
 

nel3

Crimson Dragon
i did purchase 2 gen5 (B2+W2) games after getting UM but i havent really taken the time to get into them. it might be just BC its 2nd hand game and not my save file, most were past elite 4 stage but the boxes were a bit barren. i likely will fall back to these games after a while but im in no rush to do that ATM. looking to play a game on "hard" setting but given i'll have a team of pkmn prepared as soon as i restart the file is something that i like to do when possible. im getting close to finishing UM berry 999x so im not sure when i'l drop to gen5 yet.

im semi retired from the SM ultra anime series unless they feature pokemon i like. the gen7 anime series is also a letdown in a sense. there are more than a few eps that i skip the time frames and finish it in 3 minutes looking for an interesting scene. i did find gen7 (Sun) the be half-baked from the start despite that most people would disagree on that point. so many building in the town that you cant even enter, think of the posibilities they had to fill them. UM only filled a tiny fraction there.

the only annoying thing i need to deal with now is keeping a 3ds and 2DS PKbank app updated. though i have some plans where i back up/store the pokemon on a game where i have plenty of ingame boxes free.
 
Last edited:

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
The split timeline I felt wasn't thought out very well and they only did it because everyone's doing a multiverse/alternate timeline these days. I think after Sword & Shield, I'm probably just going to stick to spin-off games, but I'm just really not a fan of the multiverse concept for Pokemon because they couldn't make up their minds where on the timeline games belonged.
 

Requiem Aeternam

Dance like an eggplant!
I’m the same honestly. I enjoyed Gen6 a lot (X is the first and only game I hit max playtime on) but Gen7 was a massive disappointment and I only ever play it once in a blue moon now. Usually I’m excited for new Pokémon games but after how disappointing Gen7 was I’m not going into Gen8 with high expectations. I’ll still buy the games but whether or not they’re my last ones remains to be seen.
 

Leonhart

Imagineer
FullmetalJackie said:
I'm not retired per se either, but I have been pretty disillusioned by Gamefreak these past six years. It's not that the games have been bad necessarily, it's more like I expect better from Gamefreak and Gen 6 & 7 just didn't meet Gamefreak's usual standards. I'll probably buy Shield or Sword later this year, but I have a feeling that I'll once again be let down by the content of the games.

I also felt that the Gen VI and VII games weren't up to par compared to the other core games, although my cynicism towards Shield and Sword isn't that bad; I actually expect good things from the new games now that Gyms are back.
 

M.P.

Retired
I'm not sure would I call myself retired yet. However, I didn't find USUM too great and I currenly do not have any plans to buy the Switch (there really isn't that much games that interest me on it, and I don't really have a lot of time for gaming anymore anyway), so I guess "retirement" from Pokemon may be on the cards for me.
 

Sceptrigon

Armored Legend
Regarding the main series, I am seriously considering retiring from buying them after Sword and Shield. The decline in overall quality is one reason for my growing lack of interest. I’ve also become more indifferent to new Pokémon and new mechanics. Outside of that, growing life obligations are definitely another thing, and I personally don’t see myself playing video games forever.

Overall, I’ve certainly slowed down in doing Pokémon-related things. This involves not buying merch, not watching the anime, and not playing the games nearly as much as I used to. I’ve also thought of so many personal stories about living in the Pokémon world in the past, but I’ve pretty much moved on from them. Guess you could say I’m growing out of the series.

Despite all this, I don’t think I would ever retire completely, as I’m sure I would still be curious about news on future Pokémon games and what other things come out. Sort of just keeping up with how the series is doing from time to time.
 

Storm the Lycanroc

Oshawott Squad
Will admit I wasn't thrilled at the announcement of USUM. But after giving it a chance I realized it's superior than SM was. It fixed most slow paced issues I had with SM.

It wasn't until 2018 when I started questioning the direction of the series. I was appalled by the announcement of LGPE because it wasn't the game I was expecting. Additionally looking back on the Generation 6 games they haven't aged to well compared to older games. XY felt incomplete

For the first time in 20+ years I started questioning my interest in the series. Mostly because of the gameplay that was shown for LGPE, the direction of the SM anime was becoming stale, and the oversaturation of Generation 1 pandering.

At this point I'm just replaying older games while waiting for SWSH to be released. Overall SWSH could be the breaking point for me, if it's another disappointing game then I'll retire from the series. In the end Pokemon is a lifestyle to some people... to others just a hobby.
 

Satoshi & Touko

Peanuts aren't just a nut.
This is a rather interesting thread to read because I'm the exact opposite. Gen 6 got me back into the Pokemon games (in big part thanks to customization) and Gen 7 has made me a "hardcore" fan in the sense where the games, (and occasionally other things related to Pokemon, like the anime,) are my primary source of entertainment.
 

Orphalesion

Well-Known Member
I had my phase when I didn't like Pokemon around Gen 4. I agree that some parts of the games are a bit simplified now and I have this feeling that the regions are smaller these days, and I'm not a fan of the smaller generations these days. But on the other hand the introduction of Fairy Type in Gen 6 has very much renewed my interest in Pokemon.
That being said it's been a long time since I was *really* into the fandom. I don't watch the Anime, I don't care about the movies. And the only physical Pokemon merchendize I have these days is a Rowlet soft toy. I pretty much just show up here whenever there's a new Gen on the horizon, play that and then kinda put aside Pokemon again until a new Gen comes out. And yeah when Pokemon comes up in a causal conversation with friends I'll talk about it. But that's it.
 

DR.gonzo

Well-Known Member
Yeah I’m semi retired so to speak . Sun and Moon/Ultra SnM killed off nearly 20years of playing the main game series for me, Pokémon used to be my 1 guilty pleasure. Ploughed 1000s of hours into the games throughout the years . Sadly Sun and Ultra Moon stand unfinished in my draw around bout 20hours in on each .

Mega Evo was the first time I felt the series slipping,
Z moves and Trails killed it off for me .
And Ultra Beasts is just a plain insult.

Gamefreak need to go back to basics, strip Pokémon right back to its basic form, we don’t need ground braking new mechanics shoehorned into every new Generation, we don’t need Ultra-mega-alpha-fusion-form Pokémon .
8gym badges and an elite four added in some mythical law with an evil team out for world domination
With a rival who wants to smash you at every turn, and then a decent post game to keep you going back is all I ask for the basics of the game setup .
 

LadyTriox

I have a boyfriend now; I am his princess❤️
I don't plan on retiring anytime soon, pokemon battles are fun lol

Also i guess i don't care too much about seriously writen stories in general in games xD unless its something that REALLY appeals to me (like korrina's arc in the anime), deeper/darker stories actually can turn me off. I like whimsical, happy, kid friendly type stuff.
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
I've "retired" from Pokemon half a dozen times, and yet I always seem to end up back. I've been predominantly a competitive player for almost 10 years now. I'm still peripherally interested in the games and the storyline but if it wasn't for competitive play I probably would have left the series years ago. The nice thing about competitive play is you never really burn out, at least not permanently. Sure, it might get stale every now and then, but you take a break for a few months, come back, and everything you knew about the old metagame has probably been turned on its head. Then there's new generations every so often that completely shake things up. The period immediately after a new generation gets released is the most fun in my opinion because it's sort of a period of discovery. You see all sorts of weird things, and if you're innovative, you use all sorts of weird things. My first SM team featured a defensive Defog Flygon, and it actually worked quite well.

The other factor is that I can set goals for myself. First it was hitting certain benchmarks in the ladder (1600s, 1800s, 1900s, top 10), now I've tentatively set my sights on breaking into the Smogon tournament community (or I had before some drama broke out in said community anyways). Setting goals is key to fighting burnout in any game, as it gives you the feeling of making progress. You're not just aimlessly playing with no purpose other than short term entertainment, you're trying to improve yourself as a player so you can meet whatever goal you've set for yourself. I'm not sure how well this translates into non-competitive aspects of Pokemon, but I do know that I spent close to 800 total hours doing a completionist challenge for Omega Ruby without burning out, and that's impressive for a series that I usually don't get such a long lifespan out of. I think anyone can set goals for themselves, competitive or otherwise, and enjoy the process of achieving them.

I think the TL;DR version of what I'm trying to say is that I don't ever really retire, even when I mean to, and part of this is because Pokemon is an ever-changing beast that never really stagnates the way some other games and franchises do. The other part is that I set goals for myself and work towards those goals to fight burnout.
 
Top