>>56861449I just finished Fire Red and Emerald, and am about 80% of the way through Platinum. I played Sapphire and Diamond a long ass time ago but don't really remember the differences.
Emerald Pros:
-Gen 3 is stacked. One of the best rosters in the entire series, arguably as good if not better than 1. 90% of mons in it are S-Tier designs, many of them are also just straight up strong and well designed from a fighting standpoint.
-Villain team is one of the best in the series next to Rocket. Memorable design and name, coherent plan, cool admins.
-Introducing Legendaries as a force of nature instead of just really strong mons is contentious. But the rainstorm, heatwave, and battle in Sootopolis is unforgettable.
-Environment is very fresh and unique. Like
>>56863383 said, Hoenn feels like a huge step up in terms of map design. It's actually fun and interesting to explore. Even towns with fuck all in them like Verdanturf are great.
-Incredibly memorable towns. Fortree, Lavaridge, Slateport, Sootopolis...
-NPC interaction is very good. Noticeably, almost all of the dialogue serves a purpose to be provide a service, to talk about current events/lore, or to be funny. Other games really suffer from this.
Emerald Cons:
-Water lmao. It's kind of a meme, but it does get tedious as hell and annoying to navigate. By the time you get Dive and realize there's a whole 2nd underwater section, you kind of don't even want to be assed to explore it.
-Game is really easy, with the exception of a few fights. Like easy enough to roll with 1-2 Mons.
-Elite 4 is all over the place. Champion is a downgrade from R/S
-Music isn't that great. It's good and has a couple of memorable tracks, but nothing amazing.
(1/2)
