It's strange, but I find the parts of Pokémon that show you being just another trainer amongst many instead of some kind of chosen hero my favorite. I know we gotta have a villain to defeat and some legendary-focused plot as part of the game checklist, but I rather enjoy feeling as my own part of the bigger world, instead of the world being reduced to the whim of my character.
Warning, Unovabortion gushing ahead:
Unova evoked a lot of that, and the sheer quantity of comf-level art tells me it did for a lot of others too, what with the cast of characters that changed between the two games (specially what was shown from outside of your characters' perspectives), post E4 areas and level adjustments, the opposite gender character actually existing WITHOUT being a satellite to yours, the PWT (both the canon tournaments and the ones with VGC champions), the completely optional Yancy/Curtis sidequest, etc. It all makes the world seem a lot bigger than what you're shown. Other games had things like these too, from Hoenn's massive Battle Frontier that gave off a feeling like you were a pro trainer in an island full of them, to the phone calls and side events in HGSS showing the Leaders interacting with the world, to even something like Battle Revolution with its still-uncontested trainer customization capacities, but Gen 5 seemed to have the largest time spent spreading the spotlight on the rest of the world than any other generation.>>37954941Lovely.
