My friends are getting fed up with you. While they represent a select few, their complaints, however, resemble a growing concern within the community for each new successor to the Pokémon series. The franchise has been around for as long as millennials have and thus pains me to think that this endearing relationship may sour one day, if it hasn’t started to already.

Since the game’s release in November, I’ve begun a gradual build up of frustration by constantly having to defend why the newest edition of Pokémon is a good. Despite the Internet criticisms of “Dexit” and at times muddy and low resolution textures, Pokémon as a franchise has evolved significantly in Sword and Shield. Not only do Pokémons now physically appear in front of my avatar (something I’ve dreamed about since Red/Blue), the inclusion of raid dens from Pokémon Go has also allowed for a level of cooperation between players that this franchise has never experienced.

And while some are complaining about Sword’s and Shield’s numerous “game-breaking” glitches, I am heralding these exact glitches for eradicating barriers to entry into online competitive Pokémon battles. As a beginner to the competitive scene, I am thankful that Sword and Shield allow me to forgo traditional method of EV training through access to Poké jobs and raid dens time glitch. I am grateful that I am able to force spawn GMAX raid dens, rather than miserably and endlessly hoping for one to appear.

There is one vital factor, however, that is holding Sword and Shield back from achieving that “Game of the Year” title in the hearts of Millennials going forward (or even at the annual Game Award show). No, it has nothing to do with its game mechanics. In fact, Pokémon’s simple to grasp, yet difficult to master, multi-dimensional rock-paper-scissors formula is timeless. The franchise’s downfall has entirely to do with its roots as a Japanese Role Playing Game, more specifically, it has to do with the storyline of Pokémon games.

I understand that Pokémon is rated “E” for everyone. I understand that the franchise’s main driver of sales may no longer be the games themselves, but are in fact their plushies, t-shirts and other merchandises. As much as it pains me to admit, the games, animes and mangas are simply tools to achieve this mean. But to use the excuse that Pokémon is a game for children, thus we shouldn’t expect a rich and engaging story is inexcusable. To better understanding this argument, one simply need to look at Disney’s and Pixar’s formula of producing animate films. These inherently are entertainment for children (those of the same demographic that Nintendo is targeting), however, with capacity to engage older audiences. Big Hero Six, Frozen, Toy Story are all marvelous example of narratives directed at children, but are enjoyable, engaging and heart warming to all age groups. In my experience with the Sword and Shield, the game’s narrative felt inconsequential, lackadaisical, while a few aspect of the story just straight up needed to be flush out better. For example, why did Chairman Rose want the Galar region to be engulfed in light again? What happened to him after our protagonist spoiled his plan? How can the people of Galar still consider him to be a good guy after all that? Who are those spoiled-looking, white men that appeared in the post-game and why weren’t they introduced earlier in the game?

Many of these questions should have been answered before the release of this game. In Nintendo’s defense, they have done an amazing job with one of my favorite video game franchise of all time. To me, they have just gotten that much closer to that GOTY product. What is lacking is a well thought out, and heart warming story. A story that is capable of going head to head with the likes of FFVII, Chrono Trigger, or Dragon Quest XI. I believe that this is how Nintendo can maintain us millennials’ engagement in the coming future.

PS: maybe adding a variety of difficulty settings will help as well.