Diogenes

thinking about pokemon, i'm kind of disappointed that the capturing mechanics never got more focus, or some kind of overhaul before let's go. obviously there was only so much that could be done on the game boy, but the battle system kept getting expanded upon with each game, yet it seems like capturing never became much more than "wander around until you find a thing, beat it up, throw balls". and even let's go seems like more of a sideways movement with its changes rather than making it more interesting.

i mean, they managed to make just photographing pokemon into a fondly remembered (if not terribly deep) game by putting pokemon into interesting situations and adding some puzzle-like elements for you to poke at. they could do similar things for catching 'mons; having some overworld "puzzles" to attract or track down less common pokemon, and reframe capturing around appealing to that pokemon's nature/personality. like a tough pokemon might respect your strength for beating it up, a friendly one might join you if you give it the right food or otherwise be nice to it, a skittish one might run unless you lock it down with a status effect or something...i guess it'd be something like undertale's sparing system, except your options wouldn't be determined by what you're fighting but by your current pokemon, your inventory, etc.