Reminder

That Johto (and Kanto but I dont care about it as much) was made in a time when GF didn't pander to tier lovers and a time where fans didn't obsess over stat spreads. Sinnoh and beyond is where the tier pandering began and every nerd on r/pokemon has to argue and compare each one's competitive usefulness.

Are you alright? I've noticed an extreme surge in animosity in you lately.

Nah I'm fine, just mukposting. Just stating a dumb opinion as usual, doesn't mean I'm holding animosity towards anyone on a forum about children's games.

I feel they still do a good enough job of keeping the competitive aspects, but it's completely ignorable if you just want to play through the story.

Game Freak definitely has their own ideas, separate from those online, for what competitive looks like. It seems like they build it with double battles as the only format in mind. I don't think any official singles tournaments have ever been held.

I don't see why people are irked by competitive battling? It's not like anyone is forcing people to play competitively. There's a part of Pokemon that appeals to different people, be it shiny hunting, competitive battles, playing for the story, playing casually, the card games, the merchandise, etcetera.