I think that if you are capable of understanding how to play Pokemon, one of the best ways you can play newer games in the series is by constantly swapping between Pokemon in your PC. All of the changes from Gen 6 onwards have made this the ideal way to play Pokemon if you're an adult / have a brain. It's easier than ever to swap Pokemon from PC, change movesets, and gain party-wide EXP. Elements of the earlier parts of the series that encouraged grinding kind of incentivized this playstyle, but it's easier than ever to pull this off and get the best-feeling power curve the new games can provide to experienced players.
I played SV mostly blind, but playing it like I was trying to casually catch em' all before the Elite 4 made the experience fulfilling, slightly challenging, and, most importantly, extremely dynamic. I could tailor my party to be six members that were effective for any challenge, but I'd always have some variety in there to ensure I was filling out the dex and trying all of the new gen 9 Pokemon. NPCs weren't exactly challenging, but they became more engaging than they'd otherwise be because my whole party would generally match them in levels that fit the area, rather than overleveling or the exp curve making the game boring or on-rails, I got to strategize and try to overcome NPCs with a couple hundred different Pokemon. Spending time in an area felt less wasteful, as I could always use the time to level up more Pokemon and try to find if there were rare Pokemon I missed. Even though the late-game challenges became pretty easy, it was super satisfying to go through blind and realize that the Baxcalibur I'd spent so much time babying from Casseroya Lake onward could wipe 3 of the Elite 4.
I'll be doing this again for Legends ZA. I still plan to make certain Pokemon front and center, just like how I used Skeledirge a ton in Violet. I plan to run a core trio of Feraligatr, Chesnaught, and Charizard, three of my faves and also two of my team members from my first playthrough of X. I do want to make sure I get a good sample of everything the game offers, so I will be running the elemental monkeys, Bunnelby sans Huge Power, and god's weakest warrior, no Return Watchog. I'm excited to see how the power curve of the game goes with the whole Z-A Royale system and the gradient between early-game forgettable fodder and the Mega-capable 600 club of Tyranitar, Garchomp, Dragonite, etc.
Somewhere in the middle, I really want to use Hawlucha and Clefable. Hawlucha's Mega Evolution animation was peak, and I think it has a ton of potential as a good offensive Mega that fits my priority of wanting to use new things and Gen 6 Pokemon. Fighting / Flying is obviously going to make it really useful for a lot of challenges, and its status as a single stage Pokemon makes it really good independent of needing any kind of attention for evolving it. On the other end, Clefairy has been one of my favorite Pokemon for a long time, so I was thrilled to see it randomly shown off in some IGN pre-release material a few weeks ago. Clefable definitely gets gutted a bit by the removal of abilities, but I think it's still going to be pretty good just on the grounds that it's a stone evolution, Fairy-type, and well-rounded.
Unlocking Mega stones by defeating rogue Mega Evolutions seems like the perfect excuse to raise up a huge reserve of counterteam options. I think one of the cooler parts of going in blind is seeing what teams I'll be able to make on the fly for whenever I can snag a new Mega stone. If we can bring 6 of any Pokemon we want to these boss battles, there's no reason not to go in with a squad of 6 counterpicks. Scrappy-less Mega Lopunny isn't ready for my team of Aegislash, Slowbro, Clefable, Gengar, Starmie, and Talonflame. Carbink hasn't appeared in any pre-release stuff that I've seen, but trust that da binky is going to be my ultimate weapon against Mega Houndoom.
