I've been fan of Pokémon since dang near when it began, and I'm not too happy about some of the things I've learned about the Gen 8 games.

I recently found out that rather than the 890 Pokémon I expected to be able to be able to train once I get Pokémon Sword Version (which I don't own yet), I will only be able to use 600 of them in the new games: The 400 present in the Galar Region Pokédex, plus 200 more added in an "Expansion Pass".

Now, if you're like me, and loved ANY of the 290 Pokémon that they removed, you're probably pretty ticked right now.

Just to be clear, though, I'm sure I'll love the new games (I've loved every prior Pokémon game), but this still REALLY ticks me off, and I'll explain why I think it's so wrong.

First of all, when I got my first Gen 2 Pokémon Game (Silver for the Game Boy Color), I was able to Trade all of my old Pokémon from Blue and Yellow into the new games.

Then, when Gen 3 came around, suddenly, all of my beloved Pokémon were trapped in the GB and GBC games, and I wasn't able to bring them with me.
(It kinda broke my heart to leave them all behind, TBH.)

Still, I loved the new games, and the Gen 3 games were actually among my favorites.
(They still are.)

When Gen 4 came out, I could move all of my Pokémon (and even some Items) up from Gen 3, and every Gen since has at least allowed for the transferring up of any normal Pokémon.

Now, when they made it so you had to use an online service to move Pokémon up (Poké Transporter), I became a bit worried that they may one day cancel it, and leave us old timers' Pokémon out in the cold.

Still, I was glad they allowed not only for Pokémon from the DS and GBA games to be moved forward, but also the ones from the VC games in the Nintendo eShop.
(Which was nice, considering what happened to all my old GB and GBC era Pokémon.)

Now, in Gen 7, there is no National Pokédex.

Despite this, however, you can move any of the 404 Pokémon that are not in the Alola Pokédex into Alola, and you can even catch many of them in the Gen 7 games, anyway.

While I found the removal of the National Pokédex mildly annoying (I thought the RotomDex was a nice idea, though), as long as I could bring my favorite Pokémon from Gens 3 & 4 with me, I couldn't care less, TBH.

Now they do this, and some of the Pokémon I've been using for OVER 15 YEARS can't be moved into the newest Pokémon games, because someone at GAME FREAK, or the Pokémon Company didn't want to include them in Gen 8 for some reason.

Of course, they have their reasons for removing these Pokémon, despite the inevitable fact that everyone who loves any of those 290 Pokémon (which is more than there were in Gens 1 & 2 combined) is going to be VERY disappointed.

Supposedly, they didn't include these Pokémon for 2 reasons: The difficulty in programming the graphics for them, and "balancing".

Now, I can't comment on the first reason, as I know nothing about programming, but as a Veteran Pokémon Player, I'm more than qualified to speak about their "balancing".

To put it bluntly: I couldn't care less about "balance".

The real world is full of "imbalances", and there's nobody there to fix them all.

IMO, complaints about "imbalances" in older games are merely people who aren't skiled enough to handle a game with all 807 Pokémon in it whining.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with any of the Pokémon they removed, and it seems clear to me the fact they are bringing 200 of them back with the Expansion Pass proves that they are aware that REMOVING OVER HALF OF ALL POKÉMON WAS A HUGE MISTAKE!

The whole "imbalance" argument revolves around this false notion that true balance can be achieved, and personally, I think it's pointless to even try, because it can't.

And anyone who says that "nobody uses these Pokémon", or that "nobody cares", needs to realize SOME OF US ACTUALLY LOVE OUR POKÉMON!

I think this whole line of thinking is completely wrong, and if this "balance" is so important, then where was it for the past 7 Generations of games?
(Like when they added my favorite Pokémon: Mega Rayquaza?)

Removing almost 300 Pokémon in the name of a misguided concept such as "balance" is completely ridiculous IMO, and anyone who claims that there isn't something VERY wrong with it doesn't understand how much some people (like myself) care about those Pokémon that "nobody uses".
(I certainly care about all of my Pokémon more than vague concepts like "balance".)

I suppose I should just be glad they brought back those 200 Pokémon in the Expansion…
(Though they still haven't brough back Mega Evolution or Z-Crystals…

To me, Pokémon aren't to be discarded based upon their irrelevance to some intangible "metagame", or to maintain the illusion of "balance", but that they're our friends and companions, who accompany us Pokémon Trainers, wherever we go.
(Except Galar, apparently.)