Adultism said:
Goodness that's a lot of Pokemon, and you know what? I'm sick of it. I guess I have just gotten over the nostalgia of it all but any pokemon game now feels like I've been there done that.
But...but...but you've
GOTTA catch'em all!!!!
On a more serious note, I never understood how Pokemon has survived this long. I played Red and Gold and borrowed Sapphire from a friend but never completed it. Really each game is the same.
On that note, believe it or not, I'd actually compare it to Call of Duty. All you do for a CoD game is slap on some new, contrived story and throw in a bunch of new multiplayer features. Poof. New CoD in November. It's essentially the same formula for making a new Pokemon game. Come up with some new, contrived story that's just going to end with the player going to the Pokemon League and becoming the new champion. Reskin and rename the pokemon you've already got, shuffle about the powers and types, and poof: new Pokemon game. It all boils down to the fact that you're essentially just buying the same game with a few new features added. In CoD it could be new guns/killstreaks/maps while in Pokemon it's new types/abilities/monsters. The format doesn't change, it's just the world around that format that does.
By comparison look at Final Fantasy. Despite the fact that I stopped liking that franchise a
LONG time ago, I will give them credit in that they at least try to mix things up with each new game. They tinker with magic systems, leveling systems, combat systems, all sorts of things so that each game is actually different than the last. Granted, everything I've heard about the franchise would imply that every change they've made from game to game is absolutely horrible, but at least they're keeping things mixed up and different.
So the answer to the question of "why do people keep buying Pokemon" is really the same answer to "why do people keep buying CoD". And when I figure out that answer, I'll be sure to get back with you. Most likely it's simply the games' format has struck gold and there's no need to fix what ain't broke. As long as people will keep paying for essentially the same game with just some added new stuff, you might as well just keep things steady as she goes.