>>34532899Gen 4 had a great ambition.
It was a step up from the barely incremental Gen 3 titles, but it did it at the cost of a good engine.
The games were noticeably slower and that impacted my fun when I have to turn off the battle scenes to get any enjoyment out of it.
The presentation, the energy that Barry has, how characters actual do stuff out of their gym, how each gym leader has a personality really makes the game shine.
Seeing Cynthia wander around aiding you was a treat too.
And while people like to meme that Cyrus is a joke and just as bad as Lysandre, Gen 4 tried to do storytelling in a more straightforward way by integrating him into the game more than Gen 2 and Gen 3 did. Cyrus is everywhere, Galactic grunts are everywhere.
In many ways, Gen 4 started the trend towards pushing a narrative. Plus all the cool shit you could do with the lower screen were neat too.
Platinum refines the game, but the engine is still pretty much bad.
But everything else is great and it's no wonder that it really is the basis for later Gens.
