>>51839543I'll say I never played Gen 5 or Gen 8, and never played the 3rd/sequel versions after gen 4.
With that being said, I can't objectively state Hoenn has the best story, but it does the "evil team is trying to use legendary Pokemon to take over/destroy the world" story with tact and reasonability. The game conditions you to care about Hoenn through the soothing, almost magical color palette for the overworld, and the way the region gets presented to you as a central focus, almost as much as the Pokemon. Because of this, I felt way more obligated to protect Hoenn than any other region, personally.
Plus, the Pokedex lore for the Pokemon (especially the new ones) makes the world feel rich, like you're really in a world of wonderful, dangerous, and legendary beings.
Jirachi, Deoxys and Rayquaza are basically never mentioned in the main story, except the latter very briefly. IMO it makes them feel so much more legendary than the trope nowadays where the "legendary" is your friend or something through half the game.
