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If someone doesn't like gen 5 I don't care. But I find it extremely hypocritical and bizarre if they dislike gen 5 while also continuing to like 6,7 and 8.
Why?
There's three main complaints for gen 5 and that is the weird designs, plot-heavy story, and linear region. Let me explain my thoughts.
To date, the Pokemon designs keep getting weirder and more unorthodox with each passing gen. This is not up for debate and is observable fact. I'm not saying any are bad, but the design philosophy we had in earlier gens was utterly lost starting in gen 5, but they've continued to stray farther away since. Just look at the weird stuff in gen 8 like the fossils or Eiscue or Stonejourner and tell me that gen 5 is any more weird.
In addition to designs getting odder, the plots of Pokemon games are more cutscene heavy than ever and that started with gen 5 once again. I think gen 6 actually had less than 5, but 7 and 8 sure as hell didn't. 7 and 8 have so many cutscenes that it often feels like I'm watching a movie and the first hour of those games are nearly unplayable. Suddenly the cutscenes in gen 5 don't seem so bad especially when you consider the fact it doesn't have a camera needlessly zooming and panning around. So why is gen 5 singled out on the cutscenes and story?
And lastly a big criticism of Unova is the linear map, a fair one to be sure. But again, the following gens all doubled down on linearity. Again, not up for debate. Galar is practically a hallway simulator save for the Wild Area which is essentially a glorified Safari Zone.
My point is this. Gen 5 started three questionable trends which they deserve criticism for. But each following gen had only doubled down on them. Yet somehow only gen 5 is criticized for those things while newer gens get a free pass despite being even more guilty.
