Has Pokemon been taken over by competitive players?

What happened to the HGSS days? My biggest fear for Pokemon might have already come true. I noticed many of the new features in Pokemon have been focused on competitive fighting like breeding, better ways to get perfect IVs, easier to EV breed, and then the result is less to do for casual players.

I'm not against the Battle Frontier. I happen to really miss the battle frontier. I also miss having two regions to explore. Even FireRed/LeafGreen had two regions (the sevii lslands). Black and White 2 even had this to an extent. HGSS had the pokeathlon. It also had some in game events like the spiky eared pichu event. It added the sinjoh ruins. It added gym leader rematches, while lacking the vs seeker. All of these features made a great game and single, casual player experience! Now Nintendo's give aways (the last 8 pokemon given away) were Pokemon with hidden abilities which really caters to the competitive crowd. There has been a lack of events released legendaries like Mew, surfing pikachu, flying pikachu, and fun Pokemon to have. Now they have tournaments like the Little Cup coming out. To me, competitive battling is boring. In ranked, you are pretty much limited to using the OP pokes to win. It's boring when every team has a M-Kangaskhan. No surprises there. Non ranked matches are more appealing, but they get boring.

I am worried that the next Pokemon game will only further this competitive agenda making me almost prefer fan-made games and spin-off games like Pokken Tournament.

I also don't like the crowd in the competitive scene. The smogon and nugget bridge fan base is really nasty. I played sports in high school and high school sports had enough drama, but pokemon competitive players takes the cake in being some of the most critical and exclusive players.

Ok my rant in done. Hopefully some people on this forum who still appreciate the casual and single player component like myself.

I thought XY was a bit too "simplified". It felt very linear compared to other Pokemon games. FYI, I'm a single player Pokemon type of person, not into the competitive scene.

Pokemon competitive scene, lol

How that is even a thing I don't know. There isn't even any real money in that, sounds like a waste of time.

@JigglyWiggly_: It doesn't have to have "real money" in it to be a lively competitive scene. People do it for fun, and if it's fun, it's not a waste of time.

I've read before that GameFreak is making the games easier for a few reasons:

There are over 700 Pokemon now. They want you to be able to catch and experience playing as most of them, and most people wouldn't have the time to if they took forever to gain levels and whatnot.

Pokemon is a Japanese game series. Look at what the gaming trends are like in Japan. Most people are busy there, with work and school and whatever. They are always on the go. They want a game they can play in bite-sized chunks.

Right now, that is what they have decided is the best direction to take the series in. The games are still fun, I still enjoyed Y the first time I owned it and would like to play it again. It's unfortunate the games aren't as challenging as they once were, and no longer emphasize single-player content. But maybe one day we'll see another Pokemon game that is more like the first several.

I think it's also worth noting that they focused a lot on bringing the series into three dimensions with gen 6, so maybe next time they'll want to focus on perfecting the gameplay. I know that the series' artist said in an interview one time that he wouldn't mind seeing a Pokemon that is more like the original Red and Blue, with a return to the older style of play with less moves and no held items, stuff like that. So maybe others at the company will share his thoughts that now is a good time for such a Pokemon game.

I think you summed it up dude. I didnt like the lack of Pokemon in XY, but I understand why after you explained your reasons they didnt include more. I rarely train and raise more than box full of Pokemon. To me, building a team of my favorites, and then using them in ranked battle is fun. I cant battle in ranked anymore when its same old Pokemon. I wish they was a reward system though like in LOL where you can spend pts from battles on cosmetics, maybe like trainer cards or icons or even outfits for pokemon. As cheesy as cosplay Pikachu was, I really liked the spin it added and its cool to use in battle.

Couldnt be more wrong