[Coda]

Me, personally... I'd probably play a Pokemon-like game if it were built with some Nuzlocke-like rules built into the core mechanic, especially if it wasn't optional. That would encourage the game to be balanced and designed around that mechanic, making it a more cohesive game. It would improve on the flavor of it and it would help to ensure that the game remains meaningfully playable.

But as it stands, that's not why I play Pokemon. I want to collect them all. I want to build a good team. I want to be able to go up against other players fairly instead of based on who rolled better dice earlier in the game. I want the game's challenge to come from having harder opponents to overcome.

But give me a game where Poke Balls are so ridiculously expensive that you're mostly leaning on the ones you get for free (but crank up their effectiveness to balance it out) and Pokemon permanently die if they lose in battle, and balance the game around that, and I think you could actually have a pretty good game.