>>51329831the PSS was the best part about it lol. I was mostly into ORAS because even back then I vastly preferred Hoenn as a region (and loved soaring, to the point where i'd take at least a day out of my week to just soar around Hoenn at night doing loop-de-loops for fun), but that didn't change too much.
I know I spent fucking ages running around finding super secret bases, participating in contests (way way less though since they put me to sleep, I just liked taking pictures of the special finales for the most part), getting scammed on the GTS and freaking out over hacked shinies, and WONDER TRADING TO NO END. That last bit is probably the reason i've got 1.2k hours in Alpha Sapphire; I think I had an addiction, it was ridiculous.
I miss those days, but I'm glad they're gone. It was kind of just a massive timesink that my 10 year old brain couldn't get enough of.
As of my opinion as a whole? Series has gone to shit, but used to be pretty decent. I can admit that the 3DS stuff really wasn't as great as I used to think it was (even though I never liked gen 7 all too much), but also that I treated gen 4 a bit too harshly (really enjoyed HGSS on revisit especially). It was never a spectacular series or anything, but playing the original gen 3 games for the first time on a proper SP about a year ago has really made me appreciate the sheer sense of adventure and progression the older regions give you.
Even with how jaded and cynical I am now, trekking through Hoenn for the first time on a 2D plane gave me a weird sense of awe that I have yet to find in the rest of this franchise lol. Maybe it's nostalgia, maybe I just like tropical settings, dunno.
Probably going to buy Violet later on this year because I finally have a chance to play with friends, though. Was always super duper lonely without any local friends, and now that I finally have a few I'm willing to play this since they are. Hopefully I'll be able to have fun with it, despite how sour i've become.
