Rant about trade evolutions (mainly because of ZA)
I got Blue version waaaaay back in '98 when I was 4 at Christmas. Even then, I hated trade evolutions. Then Gold came out and got that plus a strategy guide (which in a way helped me learn to read at 6) and when it showed more trade evolutions I was even more befuddled.
Took a long break during my teens from Pokemon and didnt come back into it until a few years ago when I decided to try Arceus and I had a great time. The Switch vouchers were still a thing and I even decided to use some to get Sword and Brilliant Diamond, Arceus got me back into the franchise after roughly 15 years. Arceus gave me a good belly laugh when I found the link cable item and was able to evolve the original 4 Pokemon that needed trading (Golem, Gengar, Machamp, Alakazam) and it made me appreciate the game even more. I was able to effectively play at my own pace.
ZA comes along, I see in a store in the game Gengarite and thought "oh I could get a link cable item again and get Mega Gengar!" only to find that no such item existed in ZA. Can't just give Onix a metal coat anymore either, gotta trade. No longer can I play at my own pace: I have to stop my progress, try and find a person online, trade with them, and pray they trade it back. Worse if I want to evolve and Alpha or Shiny Pokemon.
Today I find myself in an annoying spot: I decided to restart my ZA and go through the game again (I also did that with Arceus) and I find myself in a dumb spot thanks to the necessity of trade evolutions and how trade evolution items are given in game. I cant get a metal coat until much much later in the game, even though I can buy a Steelixite as soon as I get to the Stone Emporium. So the most efficient way is to trade with a stranger my Onix, they give it a metal coat, then send it back. Why allow me to get an item for a Pokemon I'm effectively not allowed to have until the last quarter of the game?
Even worse with the need to trade away Pokemon for evolutions, any Alpha or Shiny Pokemon you get are stuck that way until you find a trustworthy trade partner. I have a Shiny Phantump, wasn't hunting for it it just happened. Cool. Can't do anything with it... in Arceus I got Shiny Abra and Geodude just from wandering around and thanks to the link cable item I was able to evolve them myself. No hassle, no Discord, no Reddit, nothing extra outside the game itself.
I really don't understand why there's an insistence on trade evolutions. It's basically like saying I can't play with this one toy in a box unless I have my friend over and he wants to play with it too. I was a very introverted kid so I mostly just kept to myself so I never got any trade evolutions in the generations I grew up with EXCEPT Gen 3 thanks to the wireless adapter that came with Fire Red/Leaf Green. Even the other kids I knew also used Action Replays and Game Sharks for their games just to bypass any trade evolutions (and version exclusives too) so from the kids I knew growing up any intent on "community" was a failure. Even if I use the Austin John codes here on Reddit there's no guarantee someone wouldn't snipe my Shiny from me. No way to report to anything in game, it'll just be gone. Arceus proved that this gimmick is entirely unnecessary and really adds nothing to the gameplay of the one game I did buy. When the servers go down, what do I do? (I know its barely a year old but the point still stands)
I imagine I'm preaching to the choir but tonight really annoyed the crap outta me and replaying this game, while enjoyable in moments, sucks the fun when a Pokemon I want is locked away by a multiplayer function that has zero moderation in-game. Its bothered me since I was 4. The Gen 4 trade evolutions were one reason I stopped. Some time ago a buddy helped me in getting a Poliwhirl in Crystal version on the 3DS and it felt weird, a Pokemon that I always could've had took this long to finally get because it required another person with another copy to help me get it.
There's nothing wrong with me wanting to put my feet up and play any Pokemon game (or any single-player game for that matter) at my own pace, but effectively I can't because of a backwards and unnecessary mechanic. I hope things change after Winds and Waves, they took out HMs eventually so why not trade evolutions?
Rant over, had to vent that out.