>>42718131Honestly this, RS was the beginning of the end for the series, but it wasn't really noticeable because
- FRLG and Emerald very quickly salvaged the mainline games
- the anime did a soft reboot and that gave it a desperately needed second wind
- the side games were phenomenal at this time. colosseum is probably my favorite game in the series, and while gale of darkness was (IMO) shaky, other games like those mystery dungeon things sold really well
- the TCG took advantage of the 'soft reboot' vibe as well and the entire EX block of the cards probably had the best meta, some great mechanics, and elements that the TCG continues to call back to / fall back on to this day
but yeah, people don't seem to remember how poorly received these games were at the start. swapping from the sugimori watercolor to more 'standardized' artwork invited a backlash, the OST was horrible, until colosseum was announced you had the exact same sort of BringBackNationalDex backlash going on, and the entire IV/EV/Nature/etc was just shit
most everything Gen 3 introduced to the mainline games sucked, and we've been dealing with it ever since
DP was a valiant effort but middlish because of the lousy game engine, and HGSS was a success in spite of GF's ineptitude
BW was essentially RS 2.0, with the same dex-limiting style bullshit and even more appeasement to RNG bullshit, hidden abilities, and overwhelming power creep
