I'm not talking Smogon serious. I'm talking trying to beat Red with his 80+ level team when most wild Pokemon are in their 40s.
Grante HGSS did add the repeat Elite Four with their much higher leveled team to help with that gap, but its still an issue that shouldn't have survived the remake. They removed the "pick your path" options with remakes of Gen1 which makes it even more baffling to keep in Gen2.
The grind happens because of a legitimate design choice, the ability to choose your direction after a certain town and the requirement that all paths must have equal levels to accommodate that. A problem no other Pokemon game has because they have a defined level curve as you progress through the linear path the Gyms provide (until S/V which has the opposite issue).
Its a problem that only Gen 2 has and its not something you can just handwave off because its a dominating issue for the second half of the game until it culminates in Red basically having 20 levels on you if you play the game normally, or spend dozens of hours to catch up to him.
HG and SS also allowed you to refight the gym leaders with improved teams. iirc. There was more endgame content in that one than in the majority of other titles of the series.
It does, I'm not arguing its not a phenomenal game and a definite height of the series that makes many of the future games look like garbage in comparison.
Only that people seem to have placed it in this pedestal of nostalgia and forgotten that its equally flawed as any of them too, and its main flaw is bigger than most.
The games were never been to be taken this seriously. Smogon-seriously.
I'm not talking Smogon serious. I'm talking trying to beat Red with his 80+ level team when most wild Pokemon are in their 40s.
Grante HGSS did add the repeat Elite Four with their much higher leveled team to help with that gap, but its still an issue that shouldn't have survived the remake. They removed the "pick your path" options with remakes of Gen1 which makes it even more baffling to keep in Gen2.
JRPGs have grinding. You can minimize it, like in Chrono Trigger, but eliminating it just can't happen.
Chrono Cross tried to get rid of it, but it was undercut by its infuriating plot.
The grind happens because of a legitimate design choice, the ability to choose your direction after a certain town and the requirement that all paths must have equal levels to accommodate that. A problem no other Pokemon game has because they have a defined level curve as you progress through the linear path the Gyms provide (until S/V which has the opposite issue).
Its a problem that only Gen 2 has and its not something you can just handwave off because its a dominating issue for the second half of the game until it culminates in Red basically having 20 levels on you if you play the game normally, or spend dozens of hours to catch up to him.
Yes, I saw SmithPlays Pokémon's videos too.
That's why I said HGSS is better.
HG and SS also allowed you to refight the gym leaders with improved teams. iirc. There was more endgame content in that one than in the majority of other titles of the series.
It does, I'm not arguing its not a phenomenal game and a definite height of the series that makes many of the future games look like garbage in comparison.
Only that people seem to have placed it in this pedestal of nostalgia and forgotten that its equally flawed as any of them too, and its main flaw is bigger than most.