or you're playing for the story, which as I said, I found boring.
I have yet to meet this person that plays Pokemon games for a narrative unless you're talking detective Pikachu or other spinoff games. Most Pokemon fans I know are interested in telling stories in the universe of Pokemon or Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, but whatever world building and story bits we get are but condiments to... yes, what amounts to a grind. Some people chose the put limits on this grind (the nuzlocke) and some chose to take it to the next level (Shiny Hunting, competitive), but it is a video gaming comfort food.
I agree with the abolishment of random encounters and instead having Pokemon visible on the map at all times, but I also believe that the whole point of traveling with Pokemon is effectively rendered moot by this change. It was established almost immediately that the only way to keep kids from getting mauled by rabid birds and rodents the moment they so much as think about walking out of town was keeping domesticated Pokemon by your side, and there was an element of 'breaking' Pokemon for their capture in Pokeballs.
Without Pokemon showing active aggression towards humans that wander into their turf, either via Pokemon actually trying to chase you down on the world map nor them actually taking any action to defend themselves when you approach them for capture, you have effectively disarmed any sense of danger, resource management, or really any REASON to acquire Pokemon. The only threat left is other humans now to keep this from being Kanto Walkabout. (which, by the way, is what Pokemon Go is. walking for the sake of walking. I say this as an individual who is disabled and has trouble walking.)
that being said, I'm not against the idea of Pokemon Let's Go! It gets rid of a lot of the built-up technicalities of the franchise (IGN interviewed Junichi Masuda, who pretty much answered a question about EVs and IVs and said he wanted to make the games simpler) and boil it down to it's core elements. this approach to game design can produce the likes of Mega Man 9 in an era where Mega Man games had more in common with Pokemon or Super Metroid then they did with Mega Man... or it can produce the likes of Final Fantasy 13, an anorexic skeleton of a video game covered up by very pretty and shiny wallpaper. I imagine Pokemon Let's Go! falls somewhere in the middle.
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Finally getting back to listening, Listen to Jon talk about fighting games is funny to me. Street Fighter 1 is an awful dumpster fire and makes me yearn for Yie-Ar Kung Fu with how busted the AI opponents are and how nigh impossible it is to get your basic attacks to come out when you want them to, let alone getting a single Hadoken to come out.
I find Street Fighter 2 to be constraining, like a pair of briefs that are two sizes too small. there's a lot of broken and dumb stuff in SF2 as well, like Kill combos and the meta of sitting in the corner with Sagat throwing Fireballs all damned day waiting for your opponent to jump in so you can uppercut or tiger knee them.
It's not like Frame Data just magically appeared out of the aether to make fighting games more complicated. it's in SF1 and SF2. Just because combos were a happy accident doesn't mean there isn't an insane execution barrier for the likes of Hyper Fighting or Super Turbo. I'd actually say that it's even more prohibitive than modern day fighters, where they make sure they're not putting 1 frame links into the game and putting in little things that let you flub inputs a bit or such.
Of the bunch of games that are in the 30th anniversary collection, I'm probably 'best' at Street Fighter 3: Third Strike... and even then, I'm garbage at what people would consider the 'gentleman's fighting game'. it sounds though that Jon might actually like Street fighter 3: The New Generation. 10 characters, each have a few special moves and they're easier to get to come out then some of SF2's, and you get 1 super attack that the game tells you how to do when you choose your character. No EX Specials. the only thing that's there that wasn't really in Super Turbo is the parry mechanic, where you hit the control stick in the direction you're going to be struck at the same time the opponent's hit lands on you. forward for parrying a standing attack or jump in, down to parry a low attack.