Please show me where I said that Game Freak had used the metagame as an argument for reducing the number of Pokemon.  If you can't do this, then that means you are arguing against an point that I never made. That is the definition of a strawman argument.

If you can show that I've used a strawman argument, please do so, and I'll happily retract it. You made an assertion, so please back it up.

Also, you are again not arguing based on any actual facts or what was said, but ascribing motivations to me. That's an ad hominem fallacy.

For the record I believe I understand exactly what you meant.  However, what you meant (or rather what I think you meant) shows that you either misunderstood my points, or are deliberately misrepresenting them.  If it's the first, I can clarify.  If the latter, then you're being dishonest.

How do you decide whether or not to buy a game then?  Granted there will be more accurate information once the game is out, but at a certain point, unless you buy literally all the games, you have to make a decision on a game without having actually played it.

I'm surprised how much this has upset people, I clearly remember playing Ruby/Sapphire for the first time and realising a large number of the original Pokedex had been cut (but I don't remember people being angry about it). This was later changed by FireRed/LeafGreen and Pokemon Colosseum/XD, there's no reason this couldn't happen again.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've always felt the number of Pokemon was getting a bit out of hand anyway. The only thing that's bugging me about Sword and Shield is the inability to turn off experience share, everything else I'm quite happy with.

A few things play a role.  Genre, developer history (do I like their previous games), I'll read reviews, coop (couch) additions are selling points.  Either way, the point being I don't judge a game unless I have played it.  Like Death Standing, which I am not buying (not my genre), you won't see me running around the forum talking about how lazy it is.  I haven't played it, so I won't comment much on it much, outside it isn't my type of game based on reviews.  Ultimately a few folks (I'd rather use other words) have already judged Pokemon...  without reading a single review, without playing it.  That is moronic at best.  

Edit

More to the point, if there is a game that I don't plan on buying, I don't dedicate my day attempting to convince others they should join my "team."  I leave well enough alone and accept everybody has different tastes.

I didn't realize that about day and 3ds. I guess my prediction is unlikely to happen then.

To be gair, Game Freak and the Pokémon Company settled for mediocrity a long time ago. None of their efforts ever matched Red and Blue in sales, or the success of the early Pokémon anime and movies. Their demographics, although loyal consumers of all their mainline games, get older and older even though these games are targeted at middle-graders/tweens. Even when it seems like they're doing something right, their shy attempts prove to be mediocre or fads at best like Pokémon Go, Detective Pikachu, the PokéPark etc.

Or... perhaps we do live in the best of all worlds and that's just what would inevitably have happened to the franchise after it peaked. Although it's hard not to imagine what could have been otherwise when almost everything these two companies have done conspire against it.

Pokemon weren't cut out of Ruby/Sapphire. There just wasn't any way to get them because you couldn't trade from GB/GBC to GBA. They became available in Ruby/Sapphire when Fire Red and Leaf Green came out. Now-a-days with the internet you can pay a subscription to store all your pokemon, but they won't let you use them in Sword/Shield. They have a subscription service to store your pokemon and then they won't even let you use them in the new game, it's a bit much.

The actual number isn't a massive deal to me, the actual pokemon missing are. You'd think the starters would have at least been saved from the cut.

No bulbasaur? Squirtle? Cyndaquil? Totodile? Mudkip? Piplup? And some of my favorite pokemon: Shinx, Lickitung, Psyduck, Apalm, Poliwag... there are some substantial gaps here.

We've got this loser:                    But not this legend:

Note, I say this as a relative non-fan of Pokemon looking in from the outside, so please don't take offence because there's absolutely none intended.... That last bit with the two pictures... calling the purple chandelier thing a loser while calling the blue bathtub toy a legend made me erupt in laughter! =)

Calling Squirtle a blue bathtub toy made me erupt in tears. That's a bannable offense!

I was watching a video the other day, the wilderness/exploration aspect seems really cool. Changes based on weather could be a great element. I am hoping the game has a lot to discover/explore. I would rather see less Pokemon in favor of open world type elements.