>>32520227They don't, but online wasn't an option back on the GBA era, so it's like tough shit, you either get friends
l-lol and battle with them, or you settle for the dedicated "competitive" areas of the game, specially on Emerald since it was one if its biggest draws to begin with.
Getting RNG'd does NOT equate to difficulty, so you can't even pull the meme "le git gud Xd" card because RNG is beyond that.
Good fucking luck avoiding OHKOs that don't miss, good fucking luck hitting your moves when the foe has a flawless Brightpowder, good fucking luck never hitting through confusion or paralysis, good fucking luck getting set to sleep for five turns, good fucking luck getting critted in the worst moments.
Getting the gold symbols in Emerald has to be the most grueling objective you could possibly set yourself. You literally have to arm yourself with pseudolegends with damn good IVs, EV trained and with egg moves, or otherwise you're basically fucked. And even then, the higher your streak, the higher the chance of RNG fucks you over.
Gamefreak can't make good offline battle facilities without resorting to literal artificial difficulty. The Frontier usually gets a pass because it was the start of them being more inviting to competitive gameplay in-universe, but that doesn't change the fact the place is rigged to hell and back and is mechanically fucked to put you at a disadvantage.
