I love crystal's art design and graphics. It is one of the most gorgeous gameboy color games period. The music is great, the towns are stellar, and its jsut overall comfy as hell. The problems are primarily in the mechanics. An easy one to bring up is how most of the gen 2 pokemon suck ass, with many of the best gen 2 mon being worse then mid tier kanto pokemon. The babymons too are kind of a mistake, as they take ages to propperly evolve and they suck massive ass in their baby states. Another problem is the game wants you to take your time with it, and treat the game like a daily activity kinda thing. Which is fine, I mean, not all pokemon games have to play the same, but this playstyle isnt very flexible and it can get tiring. Ive been chipping away at crystal for the past month, give or take, and though ive enjoyed my time so far, Im starting to get tired of gen 2. The constant running all the way back to goldenrod is also not super fun. I started using the daycare alot, thinking it could help keep some of my mon leveled propperly when I know I'll need em, but ive learned the hardway that it doesnt evolve pokemon and doesnt teach em anything. I then realized daycare is only good for breeding and is not good for being a, well, daycare.
Gen 2 can still be enjoyable, but you really have to take your time with the game, maybe a gym a week? Be maticulous and have patience. There are some old quirks that need to be navigated but I'd say its still worth checking out if you lvoe the gameboy era pokemon games and have a good bit of patience.
tl;dr gen 2 is complicated. dont play it like normal poekmon games, and appreciate it for waht it is.
Im not sure if i'd say gen 2 is better or worse then gen 1, but i'll find out soon enough, as pokemon yellow is shipping in the mail.
