>>56419414i was coming here to mention a similar thing.
Ruby and Sapphire are just okay. i got them soon after launch, but i already had the first two generations by then. i played a lot more of them, despite owning the newer games. i didn't really click with them, and it took until i was nearly a teenager and had *literally nothing else* except Sapphire to play for me to actually make it to the e4.
i will say that i enjoyed my time in Hoenn, it's very comfy and i like the pokemon here. the music is great(even if it's not as fun as gen 2 or 4, it's very close, top 3 OSTs easily). i have a LOT of nostalgia, and Sapphire was one of the only good things in my life when i played it all those years ago.
i do like these games, but they're ultimately a downgrade from Crystal in terms of features. the graphics are higher fidelity and the music has more depth, due to the hardware, but that's it. everything else could have been done in gen 2, except maybe contests.
once again, i do like these games, but they're not my favourites.
all of that said, emerald is massively overrated. i have the same nostalgia for it because i borrowed my cousin's copy for a while as a kid when i didn't have access to my copy of sapphire, but it isn't as fun. contests are all stuck in one place, and while the world has more STUFF in it, none of it matters. wallace and juan replacing wallace and steven is idiotic. the balance is horrific, and hoenn's level scaling is already horrid.
emerald? more like midrald.
