>>36155743I got soulsilver and leafgreen in late 2010 after having been away from pokemon since about 2000. I had never played gold/silver, so it was my first time going through gen 2 (so to speak).
I thought it was fun. Derivative (and worse) of gen 1, as they all are, but still plenty worth playing through. I especially wanted to fight red on the mountain. I liked all the different caves and how different they were from each other, and the day/night cycle. I first played the game at night, and wondered into the first town to see it's spinning pokemart sign and it was just super atmospheric. Goldenrod was kinda cool. Cell phone rematches that get higher level each time was a good idea, I think. Also I had been looking forward to using some of the gen 2 pokemon for about a decade, so that was fun. Wooper, sentret, espeon, crobat. I don't remember for sure what team I used the first time though.
I didn't like how slow and baby-fied it was compared to leafgreen, and I hate forced conversations and "teaming up with the cool guys". The rival was garbage, and so was team rocket this time. The kimono girls thing was dumb. Kanto was gutted, almost pointless.
My current playthrough (that I started 4 years ago and still haven't finished), I did with a team of lvl 1 pokemon hatched from eggs and traded in, is the only time Ive ever used traded pokemon, and holy shit do they level super fast. You don't need to grind AT ALL. I have a full team with each member being more than high enough level for any challenge. I just wish I hadn't fucked up and forgot my mammoswine, so I'm reusing a nidoking AGAIN.
