>>54821485this is an interesting point. now that you mention it, i do recall feeling uniquely hyped for gen 4 (especially since they'd been teasing mons like munchlax and bonsly in the various spinoff games leading up to it), though for whatever reason that enthusiasm didn't really carry over when i actually got to play DP. i definitely don't remember feeling disappointed with DP in the moment, so you're right about that.
since it came out when i was in high school, i remember my initial playthrough of DP was pretty disjointed. since school/extracurriculars took up most of my waking hours, i only ever got to play DP right before i went to bed, and i remember frequently falling asleep in the middle of playing and getting confused/turned around in all of sinnoh's caves.
DP was also the last gen where i played truly blind/without preemptively spoiling the entire dex for myself. i wish i had the self control to go back to doing it that way.