[Dark Hunter]

Perhaps I'm a little old fashioned but when the protagonist forces some enslaved critter, servant what have you to fight for him, it doesn't seem particullarly heroic or decent.  More to the point I might be missing something but I don't see much difference between concept of this and dogfighting, cockfighting or whatever blood sport involving forced opponents.

The explanation that the franchise offers is that Pokemon in fact enjoy the combat, as a sport, and that battling alongside their trainers strengthens a bond of friendship. Notably, any character in the story that abuses his Pokemon, and treats them as tools rather than partners, is shown to be inferior, incompetent, and generally a jerk. Catching them in the wild is said to be that Pokemon's testing of the trainer... remember, they challenge you, not the other way around (save some of the Legendaries).

Yes, I know that it's a shaky and silly justification, but nonetheless, that is the official word.

I suppose this isn't the best place to write scathing critiques of a subject matter but I was generally curious if someone could explain the draw of this franchise and its derivates.  From an outsider's perspective it doesn't appear to be rife with redeeming qualities.

Like jdjtcagle said: it's the strategy that's the major draw. Whatever else you can say about Pokemon, it has a reasonably simple but very involved battle system, easy to learn but hard to master. Setting up a team that can truly take on anything is a hell of a challenge, so diverse are your competitors. But so diverse are your options, that there are endless combinations to try. I for one have owned every single Pokemon game they've come out with (except the spinoffs like Mystery Dungeon and Ranger), and my team has never, not once, been the same. Radically different, in fact.

More than anything else though: it's a fun experience. Can get tedious at times, particularly level grinding, but overall I always feel a great satisfaction whenever I become Champion. It's hard, but it's fun. Two things that, together, make a game good, IMHO.

[Galemp]

The Japanese have this thing about collecting things and then battling them (see Digimon, Bakugan, et al.) The game was originally inspired by insect collections. I don't care much for the in-universe explanations, I just think it's fun.

Remember that it's an RPG. You fight things to get stuff and grow stronger, to get better stuff and fight bigger stuff. The fun part of it is the whole rock-paper-scissors strategy that's been hugely expanded; for example, Water beats Fire, Fire beats Grass, and Grass beats Water, but there's 14 other types too.

Pokemon can have one or two types (so Bulbasaur is Grass/Poison.) Attacks that have the same type as the Pokemon are stronger, but they can learn all types of attacks, and they only can know four moves at a time. So, if your opponent sends out a Fire-type, you might send out a Water-type to counter, only for him to use an Electric-type attack and hit you first.

Add in your standard status effects like Sleep and Poisoning, infinite randomly generated encounters, a multilayered Pokemon and move set management system, and an entire metagame based on breeding, and you have an incredibly deep and strategic game for both single-player advancement and multi-player competition.

[eliex]

That's the thing I don't get with Pokemon Gyms where they specialize in only one type relying on higher levels and hi-critical hit moves to defeat you. This is the case with Gen1 and Gen2, but I hear that in later generations Gyms have become harder to beat.

The amusing part is your rival takes the pokemon good against yours, but if you take a Water-type it can learn all but the most specialized ice moves later on. 

[voidSkipper]

Gardevoir really got help in generation IV it's an excellent wish support especially with trace.  You could switch into many overused pokemon that use electric motor, water absorb, or even intimidate.  

That's something that Alakazam can't claim.

Yeah, except I don't use mine as a wisher. Psychic/thunderbolt/calm mind/hypnosis iirc.

[jdjtcagle]

Ah well I'm sure it could still hold it's ground on many occasions.  There are better choices but that is why certain tiers exist.  You would probably love to play in an underused or neverused tier

http://www.smogon.com/dp/tiers/

[voidSkipper]

I know the tier system, and yes, my teams generally fit inside NN tier.

I don't understand the appeal of the Ubers and the like.

[jdjtcagle]

I have more fun on UU myself ;-)