It's a fun game that I won't finish. I definitely recommend folks check it out. However, it's worth knowing that there's a fair amount of grinding and the game is centered around building synergistic teams to counter specific fights/areas. This is not a game where you can pick a party full of mons you like aesthetically and then coast on that team until the end of the game. Ultimately, I'm held back by my lack of patience and general unwillingness to rebuild my team repeatedly over the course of the game. If there were no barrier to swapping the party around (leveling, shifting, skill resets, etc.) I'd be more interested in just trying out a bunch of different strategies.

It's also worth noting that the story is pretty dull and exploration abilities are tied to collecting mons which will be inhibited if your strategy/synergy is subpar and you cannot get eggs as rewards from 4-5 starring fights.

pokemon if it was good

Fantastic metroid-vania / monster capturing game. Perfect blend of the two genre's.