A slight high jacking of this post as want to ask a question that I feel will determine your response to current pokemon:
What do you hold as the pinnacle of pokemon games?
For me, no hesitation, Silver and Gold are the apex of pokemon, the perfect sequel and feature additions like night and day cycles and making the previous region available to roam after beating the elite four.
So when you compare that to current day, you see the creative loss in quality even if they hide behind 3D.
HeartGold/SoulSilver to Black and White 2 were peak Pokemon to me. Gen 4.5 to 5.5, basically. You had GameFreak recreating Gold and Silver with incredible amounts of love and faithfulness while building on their foundations to make something genuinely impressive. So many features and functions added on top of an already rock-solid foundation. Then, Gen 5 had them innovating in so many ways. The stories were peak, with genuinely interesting and challenging ideas. The changing seasons added to the exploration of the region, and there was just so much creativity and passion in everything.
Of course, this was also the gen where sales dropped off, which probably taught Gamefreak all the wrong lessons about what people wanted in their Pokemon games....
Heartgold and Soulsilver allowed fighting the gym leaders again, with much stronger teams. It did a good job at presenting some challenges, keeping things fresh, even without taking the PvP aspect. It also had the fight against Red, that normally requires a team in the high 60 / low 70 range, at least.
A slight high jacking of this post as want to ask a question that I feel will determine your response to current pokemon:
What do you hold as the pinnacle of pokemon games?
For me, no hesitation, Silver and Gold are the apex of pokemon, the perfect sequel and feature additions like night and day cycles and making the previous region available to roam after beating the elite four.
So when you compare that to current day, you see the creative loss in quality even if they hide behind 3D.
HeartGold/SoulSilver to Black and White 2 were peak Pokemon to me. Gen 4.5 to 5.5, basically. You had GameFreak recreating Gold and Silver with incredible amounts of love and faithfulness while building on their foundations to make something genuinely impressive. So many features and functions added on top of an already rock-solid foundation. Then, Gen 5 had them innovating in so many ways. The stories were peak, with genuinely interesting and challenging ideas. The changing seasons added to the exploration of the region, and there was just so much creativity and passion in everything.
Of course, this was also the gen where sales dropped off, which probably taught Gamefreak all the wrong lessons about what people wanted in their Pokemon games....
Heartgold and Soulsilver allowed fighting the gym leaders again, with much stronger teams. It did a good job at presenting some challenges, keeping things fresh, even without taking the PvP aspect. It also had the fight against Red, that normally requires a team in the high 60 / low 70 range, at least.