>>46416912I've been thinking about this recently, I've always thought the level cap was G/S/C's fatal flaw that HG/SS should have corrected, but is it actually a flaw in hindsight?
You have no way of levelling up because of weak wild pokemon & trainers, so the gym leaders remain a constant challenge.
You clear the league, which is admittedly 15 level lower than it was in R/B/Y, but again you're weaker as well. You move onto find that all the gyms in Kanto are about the same strength as Giovannis gym was in Gen 1 three years ago, and by this point you should have no issues with the difficulty. You get granted access to Mt Silver and ascend, likely expecting another easy challenge, only to find Red, the incarnation of your last adventure standing atop the mountain with a team likely 20-30 level's higher than your current squad.
But this is effectively a past incarnation of you right? You didn't put the game down as soon as you beat the Elite Four, you kept exploring, trying to complete the Pokedex, getting stronger and stronger, and this version of 'you' has had three years to improve and await a challenger. He should be way stronger than the rest of the NPC's, he's this fabled kid that was able to singlehandedly overthrow Team Rocket, and after three years he should be a way overlevelled monster compared to the fresh new kid, Gold.
Gameplay wise it sucks though; in G/S/C you had no way to train to his level outside of the trainer house but at least HG/SS brought in Gym leader/E4 rematches and postgame content to help you gain strength so the gap could be mitigated much quicker.
Platinum is Perfect, HG/SS is amazing, so is BW2. The DS era of Pokemon will likely never be reached again, but I will admit Arceus at least has me a little hopeful that the franchise might have one or two sparks of life in it.
