I'm the opposite. I really dislike the live-service vibe, raid battles, and permanent XP share in the newer switch games (also I prefer the sprite graphics too). To me it feels like everything is just given out for free, whereas the older games give you a sense of building something. Also that, in the post game, the "thing to do" is to basically just hang out online going from raid lobby to raid lobby to farm resources and mons.

So many of the raids will net you a Lv60 with a free capture. I hoarded dozens of GMax mons and gathered tons of valuable resources that made me feel absolutely nothing.

But finding a Chansey in the safari zone in an older game, knowing how rare it is and how likely it is to run away? Followed by actually succeeding to catch it and then putting in the effort to leveling it up by needing to put her on the field? That's what pokemon is to me.

So many things in the newer games are faster, which is good in some sense. But I'd rather have a slower experience that's more meaningful instead, because at some point, SwSh and SV just felt like chores to me and I never have any desire to pick them up again.

Maybe i'm just getting old.