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Hoenn was a major shift for the series in a new direction. A whole new region not connected to kanto, a major shift in pokemon designs and story layout, and features such as abilities and the battle frontier. Story changes such as making legendaries important and more branching exploration adds a feeling of grandeur to the games that simply wasnt present in earlier pokemon entries, setting the standard for generations to come. Gen 3 also sits in a very interesting position in terms of pokemon designs in the fact that they are more complicated then those from gens 1-2, but still feel simpler compared to gens 4-6, giving the hoenn pokedex a very distinct feeling compared to other generations that many fans appreciate. Combine this with the fact that ruby and sapphire were the first games for many (or the first they could really get into), and you can see that there are several reasons for people to be excited.
