Was Sword/Shield the worst mainline Pokemon games?

[Doctor_MG]

I haven't actually played all of them to completion, unfortunately. I played every Pokemon game up until Black and White. Then I returned with Sun and Moon. I did go back and buy Pokemon Y, but haven't finished it. I wish I could find Black/White 1 and 2 for a good price online, but I really don't want to spend over $60 on each copy. It's a little ridiculous.

Anyway, to answer the question, 100%. It's the worst mainline game I've ever played. They removed a bunch of content from past games, it was really short, and it was just overall extremely derivative. I did enjoy the wild area and having Pokemon in the overworld, which is honestly the best thing it did. Anyway, it reeks of a rushed product. I still think it's a good game on it's own, but when you compare what it took out from past games it's pretty bad.

That said, going forward I wouldn't mind if they do continue to limit the dex. I know there are still some dexit die-hards on here (no offense intended), and the way Sword and Shield did it I agree is ridiculous (keeping most of the same models and animations). But I couldn't imagine the time it would take for all the animations in a game like Arceus, for example. I think it would be overwhelming and the game would suffer for it. In addition, if they update the models for the Switch 2 I wouldn't want them to spend years creating the models and animating each one. I wouldn't be opposed to "Pokemon Paks" though. Get rid of the two Pokemon per release idea (it's outdated), and give us DLC and add new Pokemon like they had with Sword and Shield. I think that's the way to go in the future.