I'm crying...
I picked this up without reading the description, so when it opens with "are you a boy or a girl" I honestly just thought I was going to have to choose, and I clicked "boy"... and then it was like "NO" and I was like "oh... oh my god, yes..."
I've loved pokemon as long as I can remember, but that question vexes me. It's almost a relief to play gen 1 and not have to choose at all, though being masc-leaning is probably part of that too...
This really captures the feeling of loving and caring for these creatures in a way that I felt was portrayed in the pokemon anime, but less so in the games and even less in other monster taming games out there. The protagonist's empathy for all the familizards was something really relatable to me, and I was really touched by the part when just imagining the familizards helped them feel better.
Thank you for this experience. It warmed my heart.