my wife has been stuck deep in the postgame of pokemon heartgold for the last week or two, after a short 5-year break from all video games. for the longest time pokemon's enduring popularity among adults hasn't made sense to me. i was thinking of it like a linear adventure game, and its a very poor one. it has an uncompelling narrative and really terrible pacing. watching her set goals and make both long and short term plans while navigating the extremely complex interactions of the overworld and battle system made it click. it's more like a high fidelity simulation with an extreme level of agency, especially in the postgame. the gratification comes from setting and achieving goals. you kind of have to make your own fun, but oh what fun it is. i get it now.