I partially agree. Though I don't think lack of production value is the only thing that plagues modern Pokémon games. I think the best game to crystallize this point is HGSS. HGSS is a game rife with execution issues but it ranks high on my list for the simple fact that I can tell that game was made with a ton of love and care. Small things like the
location previews, following Pokémon, and the top tier sprite work seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of things but go a long way in showcasing the quality of a game. They all kind of tie into the "production value" that this person is referencing; a game doesn't have to be cinematic for it to show high production value in my book. But it has to create an immersive atmosphere and environment which I found the golden age Pokémon games did a much better job of as compared to the modern era ones.
This.
It's true that SwSh has faltered when it comes to polish, but that's really not the only issue here, mainly because HGSS is nothing but polish. The problem is that there are unaddressed issues on the gameplay foundation.
Now I wanna address the whole "Muh animations!" issue.
Let's take a look at the gold standard for Pokémon when it comes to battle animations, PBR.
PBR has the same "Generic animation for contact moves, generic animation for ranged moves." as the 3D games. I'd even go as far as saying that most of the attack animations from the 3D games are good.
What's the difference then? The run animation (Yes, I know detractors will say it was slow, but that's honestly an easy fix.) and a dynamic camera.
While watching a mon actually run up and whack another is good and makes perfect sense in the context of a battle, the biggest thing here is the camera.
The GB-style camera just doesn't cut it anymore and severely holds back the franchise visually. (Scaling mons is a good example of this, you can't really have a scaled Wailord on your side of the field without making everything else impossible to see.)
You wanna know how much of a difference it makes? Look at the Gamecube games and even Stadium.
The only animations that I feel are objectively bad across the board in the 3D era when it comes to battles are the idle animations. A lot of mons are but a step away from T-Posing.
Pokémon, presentation-wise, does not need a lot to be great again. As for the overworld...
I think the issue ... well, one issue, is that the fidelity of models and animations don't quite match the style of the environment. It's the uncanny valley problem, in a way. When the game is just based on static sprites, a man on the street can stand stiffly in one pose and look straight ahead, and it doesn't register as weird. If he needs to turn around, the sprite can just be flipped over in an instant, and it still looks appropriate to the setting. The sprite is just a representation of the character, after all. Kind of abstract.
But in a full 3D environment, with semi-realistic graphics, if a man on the street needs to turn around, he better have a good turning animation or it will immediately register as very janky in the eyes of players. And if he's otherwise just standing around, his pose needs to be made in such a way that he looks natural. Preferably, his body should be moving as he's breathing, or maybe adjusting his pose to stand more comfortably. And if the interaction with him is done without sound, it will also feel weird and unnatural.
Taking the leap to 3D requires a lot more attention than just doing 2D stuff with models instead of sprites. You don't just need animations, you need transitions between animations to make realistic movements. And you need realistic movements if the environment is realistic, otherwise there will be a jarring clash between what happens on screen and what people "expect" to happen.
I think it's fair to say that the 3D games are lacking a bit here. The overworld is so detailed and realistic that characters look out of place without the same level of realism. That's the issue of presentation - it's not coherent, and that is really noticeable, because humans are innately good at spotting things that look a little off among their environment. We all cringed at the guy in Hulbury Stadium who walked towards you while adhering painfully obviously to a grid. In a cutscene.
And unfortunately, this extends into the battle screen as well. Previously, you could get away with displaying the battle in the form of a static sprite facing another static sprite. That was coherent with the general presentation of the game. But now that the environments are so detailed, you notice how stiff and unnatural the scene is when two monsters stand opposite each other repeating the same animations over and over again, and trainers stand behind them in an idle pose too. Again, this is appropriate when the background is static and you consider the sprites to be abstract representations of the characters, but that way of doing things clashes with a more lively and realistic environment.
Thankfully, Legends Arceus seems to advance Pokémon by leaps and bounds in this regard. BDSP takes the opposite approach and makes its environment less realistic so the detractions from realism aren't as immediately obvious anymore. I think both approaches are valid. Either make a proper effort on realism, or don't pretend to have realism in the first place. The result can be great in either case, but a poor effort at realism just looks awful most of the time.
This.
You can't half-ass 3D. You either make things look good, especially when it comes to animations, or you do what BDSP did and go back to representations.
Several games have made the jump to 3D and learned this one way or another, and the main lesson is that you don't really need a powerful console for that, but you need to be precise with what you do.
The Switch is not a console that stands out for its graphical power, but BotW looks pretty good. Why? They made sure the artstyle was good and the presentation was on point.
SwSh's artstyle is just a boring mess. And not just SwSh tbh. Gen 7 wasn't great on that either. It's bland. I can't even describe it properly, nothing really stands out. If Gen 7 didn't have the tropical/Hawaiian thing going on, you'd have nothing to point out when it comes to style.
The core gameplay is still good, SwSh did manage to give the Gyms the shine they deserve and has an impressively robust post-game with DLC, but honestly?
These games feel like they never truly evolve. Now we're in a weird situation.
SwSh's DLC and Wild Area seem to have been designed to pave the way for Legends. We currently know very little about that game.
BDSP is a much safer bet, to the point I call it a safety net, but we know some of the issues I mentioned here aren't going to be addressed at all.
So all the pressure is on Legends since it's the game sold as the evolution of the franchise and the game that finally is going to break the mold.
I'm really not sure what exactly Game Freak wants for the future, because they've been shuffling steps and rotating gimmicks, and honestly, I don't think even they know how to improve this franchise.
Especially with the horrible feedback a fandom of this size provides. Wayyyy too much noise, bad ideas, and dissonance.