Just because a lot of people don't like playing with others doesn't mean that any one MMO should make a single-player mode.
It's great that fans have come up with ways to enjoy and challenge themselves with the Pokémon games. But Pokémon really is meant to be played once, with one save file. That's you in that game--you can't really have multiples of yourself in reality, right? It's a design choice made to make the game more immersive. In games with multiple save files, I don't worry nearly as much about my choices, because I know I can simply play again on another save file and do things differently there.
Which doesn't describe a game where you are forced to click "Yes" all the time or otherwise, you can't play the game. Immersive my foot. A game like GTA or Fable is far more immersive than Pokemon could ever be because Pokemon is based too much on a rigid story than on one's experience. The prime example is in HGSS where this guy blocks my path to the route of Blackthorn City. Why should I as an individual, if its based around experiences , be constrained by some peddler who should by all reasons be in prison for aiding a terrorist organization? Even if not, why can't I run around him, push him out of the way and just continue on my journey like in real life, if this is a supposed one life experience?
Since Pokemon is not based on your experience so much as forced choices and lack of freedom to moving realistically through terrain [Why can't I just get a motorcycle, boat and personal airplane instead of relying on animals for it in a modern world?] and to choose your own path, why not have extra saves since much of this reasoning is moot?
Let's be clear on one thing. If life was like a Pokemon game in the fact I couldn't make a real choice outside of saying yes all of the time , I'd become a part of an evil group like Team Rocket because I wouldn't have to play lip service to every punk I meet in order to go on with my life and become successful rather than being able to freely make choices in a free fashion like in real life, and have consequences for them. Life would be disastrous if people agreed to everything people asked them to do.
But this is a game, so why should it matter how many saves are in it right? It doesn't take away any sort of identity away if you get another save since the game itself does not adhere to the mechanics of real life or of open field RPGs like GTA or Fable that allow you to make real decisions.
I hope that if they make the game truly immersive, then one save will be justifiable, but if its downloadable as others say, I can deal with that. ;)