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I was playing Emerald and Blue recently and noticed that most of the complaints about Johto's level curve apply to these games too.
For example, Emerald's trainers leading up to Flannery (4th Gym) are about the same levels as the trainers leading up to Morty (also 4th Gym). My team in Emerald also ended up at level 38-39 when I got to the League, whereas in GSC/HGSS, my team is usually around 37-38, but the League in Emerald is late 40s-mid 50s, whereas in GSC/HGSS it's early 40s-50, which is much more bareable, yet people say grinding for the League in GSC/HGSS is harder. I always go out of my way to battle every optional trainer, and never grind on wild Pokémon. The wild Pokémon in Victory Road are also the same levels in both games.
And people complain about the Rocket HQ in GSC/HGSS being too underlevelled for where it's at in the game (after the 4th Gym), but in Blue the Rocket Hideout is even lower levelled and at around the same stage in the game (before the 4th Gym).
It really does feel like the Johto level curve complaint is just a forced meme. Same with the Pokémon distribution complaint, because it's objectively better than RBY, RSE and BW, and about on par with Pt. Is it just because Johto has no real flaws so people have to push something to make it look worse than it actually is?
