I started with Gen 3, and even I can tell you that Hoenn and Remake Kanto have flaws. However, that doesn't make them shit.
I moved to Gen 4. One of the biggest mistakes of my childhood was getting the inferior Diamond and and THEN moving on to Platinum, because now my feelings for DP and Platinum are clashing with the fact that I went through the same game a second time with minor improvements. HGSS comes along. I'm introduced to Remake Johto. It's pretty bland, and Kanto feels like a crutch to GS, while still ALSO being pretty scaled down.
I can say that Gen 4 as a whole feels very murky looking back, but they're not necessarily bad games. They did their jobs. I still had fun.
Black and White come along. A reboot. A fresh start. It's wonderful. That said, the story is deeper than the previous games, but not really that immersing. Same with the sequels. But they're still not bad games.
X and Y come along, and there's less Pokemon and new mechanics. I don't care. I still have fun. Surprisingly enough, I like the story, but I will admit it's clichéd and needs to be improved on in the next games before I can make a judgement.
ORAS takes me back to Hoenn in a brand new experience. Surfing is faster than the original, and you can get from Lilycove to Mossdeep in a matter of seconds, barring battles. Sure, there's no Rayquaza like I experienced in Emerald, but so what? The story is still good, better than the originals. All of the characters have personality, and while some are hit or miss, it's much better than pixelated cardboard. Delta Episode, gigantic fetch quest. Ick. Still, nearly makes up for it at the end. Mega Ray. Space. Deoxys. Kickass themes. The Sea Mauville stuff adds to the "lore" and makes you question the story BEHIND the story. It still has flaws, sure, but it's still a great game. No amount of crying about the Battle Frontier will change my opinion.
Here's your soapbox back, by the way.
