Am I getting too old to care at this point?

I'm probably not even the first person to recount an experience like this. I appreciate you taking a look, should you choose! I just find myself a little more hung up on it than I should be and I'd like to figure out what exactly I'm feeling...

Had a back and forth with a friend. For the most part, we expressed our differences without actively trying to set anyone off. Regarding subject matter, why would we? It's subjective and games aren't for everyone. I was just casually enjoying a pokemon game while chatting about other kinds of games I might consider playing, my friend's a big Xenoblade fan and to anyone that's aware: Yes, I got an earful about how this series is leagues in quality above the one I was playing. How this series has possibly the worst gameplay of all time or whatever. I just tried to admit his points felt a little too overly negative and if he managed to maybe change his approach regarding it. I don't want to sound like I'm defending this series, because I don't really care if he dislikes it. I suppose my problem lies with a bad apple "spoiling" the entire basket, so to speak...

I've been sitting on copies of these games (Xenoblade) for a while now, my hesitation is partially due to how much of a time sink it'll be. Which is a shame, I'd like to have an opinion on them by now. Stuff like this definitely isn't really putting me in the mood though. I'm not here to badmouth those games though, why would I? I just know that if I play them at any point within the coming week, this conversation will remain rent free in my brain for all I know. Miniscule as it might be, I fear I'll have a skewed perspective.

I just though it'd be interesting to hear what other people have to say on here. I personally haven't been happy with pokemon since 2016. I was devastated about stuff like dexit and didn't necessarily have the nicest things to say when it came to everything after. I'd like to clarify that I haven't bought a pokemon game brand new with my own money since USUM.

It got so bad for me that I let this negative feeling overtake me by 2022 and sorta acted exactly as my friend did here. I've only recently had a change of perspective on pokemon after so many interesting things to talk about my favorite eras (gens 3 - 5) came up. I regularly play other games (not pokemon) if I wanted something more difficult, so I've been treating pokemon a little less seriously as a result. These games are easy, they won't and likely shouldn't have to be difficult (even if I wouldn't mind if it was ever decided). I see subtle improvements for every game that comes out, and maybe some new issues too, but I do my best to celebrate a criticism being heard. Seeing things get remodeled/reanimated in these short dev cycles is nice. I'd like the time spent to work on these games last a bit longer, but until people stop purchasing, nothing will change for the better.

I play fangames, competitive and have recently been sucked into other forms of media because my other pals have said some good things about it. I'm having a lot of fun, though I suppose that's mostly due to the fact that pokemon has brought me together with so many people throughout the 13 years I've been into it. I gotta say, I'm content with what I see outside of the video games. Oddly enough, it's refreshing to say mostly positive things when I talk about pokemon with those who aren't so hung up on the negative parts.

Guess I've lost my edge then? I dunno. I wrote this while slightly sleep deprived, no doubt I'm going to wake up and get mostly answers of people telling me otherwise. That's the fun in posting here, I suppose.