>>44049643>However, taken on their own merits, the single-player campaign in Gen 1 has a very unique design philosophy that I don't think the later games can match. The interconnected routes and layout of the towns really makes Kanto feel more grounded, like it could actually exist aside from the superpowered monsters. And while the towns themselves feel a bit samey, what I think is really cool about Gen 1 is that each dungeon feels totally unique and brings something new to the table in terms of gameplay. Pokemon Tower features Pokemon that can't be hit by Normal moves in a game where that accounts for like half of your attacks, while the Power Plant uses Voltorbs as Mimics, just to give a couple examples.>Regarding Gen 1 feeling more grounded, the towns themselves have a lot more stuff that make them feel real. You've got museums, laboratories, shady casinos, alleyways, etc. Even the villains are basically just the mafia/Yakuza, with their big plan amounting to a takeover of a corporation.Perfectly said, anon. Gen 1 and, to an extent, Gen 2 felt like immersive real-world analogs where a kid could use his or her imagination to fill in the gaps. I think the later games started to become more and more like generic fantasy stories/worlds that killed the suspension of disbelief for Pokemon. The Pokemon world is basically the same as our world (aside from Pokemon existing), it's easier for a kid to imagine that maybe Pokemon might exist somewhere in our world too. Gen 1 even had references to real world places and events. Pokemon being fantasy creatures in a fantasy world like they are presented today just isn't the same dynamic. I feel like that's one big reason Pokemon's popularity waned a bit until Pokemon Go brought back the "Pokemon in the real world" feeling to the general public.
