We've played a little bit of Pokemon, but never really got into it. Probably because of the peer pressure from other furries to like or at least know all the different critters.
In NMS everyone's procedurally generated, so there's none of that! And it turns out the battle system is really fun. I like all the buffs/debuffs/shields/"hit after 3 turns"/etc. moves.
Oh, and it's all holographic, so no one gets hurt.
I do wish you got the opportunity to start swapping moves before getting to max level, though. Can't even start tinkering before maxing out.
-- Frost
Ha! I agree, the extra level of extraction helps. I don't know why, it feels bad to be mean to animals and NPCs in a game, but it's okay if it's a game within that game? Feelings aren't rational I guess.
Besides the only animal companions I have are my treasured walking towers/bastions!