>>462514831 is archaic but fucking great and still captures the feeling perfectly.
2 is a great improvement over 1 but to feel the best part you need to play 1
3 is huge as fuck and fun, but lacks time and frlg has a gimped giovanni, too many version exclusives and a incredibly annoying timeframe of „oh it‘s gonna evolve“
4 has brought some lore, has much better sprites, a interesting region, but drawbacks are a shitty engine, shitty looking neon green overworld, shitty regional dex and kinda more linear region. Remakes have the same issue as gen2
5 great pair of characters, a really good story, a new set of whole new pokemon, good route design and secrets/sidestuff, plus offers true sequels but world map is linear, new pokemon only is too small and has weak distribution of types plus shitty evo req
6 3d, nice legendaries, dressing up great qol, but unfinished, worst remakes, nothing to do, exp share makes it too easy without it too brutal, overpopulated region as fuck, no megas for starters
7 good story, great characters, good difficulty, comfy as fuck, but handholding extreme to the point you can‘t explore a city without approval of the game, 3rd versions ruin the story but add some kino moments, started rival gets weaker starter, unplayable with move animations
8 many really good qol changes, raids are fun as fuck, online has finally ranks, tournament e4, can catch trade evos, dlc saves the game but not the maingame, not all mons, weak as fuck postgame, underused characters, underused theme mechanics, dlc costs 30 bucks
I would say every odd gen is a good starting point. If you start with 1 play 2, if with 3 frlg play 4 (hgss), or 5.
7 is good but better when played 1
