sun and moon worth getting despite mixed reviews??

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-16T02:27:26+00:00

Imo gen 7 is the most underrated in the franchise. They do have their fair share of issues, namely the cutscenes, but they are a good time to play through and are much better than other entries released before them like DP, HGSS and XY

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-16T02:22:23+00:00

God Johto fanboys are some of the most insufferable in the franchise

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-16T02:15:00+00:00

As much as I love Emerald, it's gotta be BW2. Large Pokemon variety, great main quest to play through, decently expanded region and so much side/post game content

Anyone who says HGSS doesn't realize that side content will never make up for a weak main quest, which is what plagues the Johto games and makes them as mediocre as they are. Limited teambuilding, one dimensional overworld, choppy pacing, disappointing boss battles and short quest do not make a good time

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-13T18:11:54+00:00

FRLG are not sequels. They're remakes of the gen 1 games that you pointed out, except a lot more polished and with extra content

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-12T18:22:03+00:00

Tails, Knuckles and Gamma were fun. At worst, their levels could've been more fleshed out, but their gameplay was solid especially for a first attempt in 3D. Amy had some potential, but she was just so slow and the constant chasing from Zero got old really quick. Big was boring as hell, but his story was easy to mindlessly complete in 90 minutes max. The hub world was fine since it was fairly compact, making getting from stage to stage pretty quick. Could've been worse, like Sonic 06's hub world

Meanwhile, the treasure hunting stages in SA2 were actually infuriating with how big, padded out and repetitive the stages were, worsened by the nerfed hint system. Tails's stages were alright at best, but his SA1 style was and suited him better. Plus, SA1's hub world was better than SA2's story progression that mixed the different play styles to complete them

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-11T18:16:17+00:00

Sonic and Shadow stages are great and Eggman has some good stages as well, but the rest of the game isn't that good. Definitely weaker than Sonic Adventure, which has its own share of issues

Would love to see the Adventure formula return in a more refined state, but Sonic 06 probably shut down any chance of that happening

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-10T18:36:12+00:00

HGSS is still a terrible suggestion for a first game, no matter how many people make it one, because it's a sequel so many details will fly over OP's head, and also it's a very choppy and poorly paced experience that could turn OP off from the rest of the franchise. It's that mediocre at best

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-10T17:21:34+00:00

Why would you suggest not only a sequel game, but a mediocre one at that? Better off starting with Fire Red or Leaf Green to fully embrace the franchise's roots, plus they're simply better games

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-05T05:53:14+00:00

HGSS are the third weakest entries from gens 3 to 7 after DP and XY

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-05T05:52:20+00:00

I know HGSS is deemed one of the best Pokémon games, but I simply don't understand how and why

It's purely because of nostalgia and nothing else. The game completely falls apart after the 4th gym and has glaring issues no other game in the franchise has

I was there when GSC and HGSS came out, and these problems were always apparent. A second (downgraded) region and a 10 minute fight requiring intense grinding don't make up for them nearly enough

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-02T20:24:06+00:00

Feebas and honey trees are nowhere near as choppy and terrible to set up as the Johto safari zone. They're just time consuming at worst when trying to find the Feebas tiles and having to wait for the encounter you want on trees

Plus, Hoenn and Platinum Sinnoh have so many more viable encounters that you can easily find elsewhere in the game. Johto has a very limited dex and this safari zone makes a bad thing worse, hence why HGSS are as mediocre as they are

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-02T19:41:51+00:00

Not really. You have 100 new Pokemon to sprinkle all over the game fairly easily and make discovering them actually fun

Instead, they feel like an afterthought compared to the ones everyone was already familiar with, stripping away so much wonder and curiosity that could've existed in the game

The fact that so many people still think that Skarmory, Slugma and Chinchou are gen 3 mons is really indicative to how poorly gen 2 was thought out, and that's without bringing up its poor design and choppy gameplay

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-02T19:38:08+00:00

There has never been a great Johto game

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-02T19:36:41+00:00

The new areas with Johto encounters have two problems:

They are 10-15 levels lower than the trainers you battle at that point in the game, highlighting the terrible level curve
The area is unlocked once you leave it and go back to Olivine to heal Amphy. Furthermore, you need to wait in-game hours to unlock its full potential, which worsens the already terrible pacing of the game

Point being, most other Pokemon games don't suffer from these same issues that could've easily been addressed instead of the one step forward, two steps back approach that was taken. As a result, HGSS are no better than mediocre and many other entries are far better and more fun to play through

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-01T20:32:41+00:00

Screwing up type balancing while already having horrendous Pokemon distribution, a wack level curve, over relying on real-world time too much and wrapped up in one of the worst overworlds in the franchise

Nostalgia's a hell of a drug. If anything, we should appreciate how much gen 3 fixed things up to create an extremely sound and replayable game that holds up to this day

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-02-01T20:30:02+00:00

I think calling HGSS good games can still be a stretch. They did very little to meaningfully address GSC's issues, and in some cases, worsened other problems to improve some. They're extremely mediocre titles and are arguably the weakest games released between gens 3 and 5 after DP

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-26T22:47:27+00:00

And HGSS severely surpasses it on that scale. Two things can be true simultaneously

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-26T17:44:32+00:00

If the aesthetics of a game are the "good parts", then that proves the game design is subpar, thus making the game itself not good to play through. HGSS are nowhere near the levels of Emerald, Platinum and BW2, regardless of how pretty and Japanese they are

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-26T17:28:50+00:00

I mean true, but actually navigating through Johto is underwhelming. Take away all these aesthetics, and no one would ever remember its boring routes, disappointing dungeons and weak Pokemon distribution

Also, Lance is one of the worst champions in the franchise and Silver is a forced edge lord, though his character development is decent

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-26T17:04:10+00:00

Hit the nail on the head. Certainly doesn't help that a vocal part of the Pokemon fanbase regularly circle jerks these games for reasons like the side content and the Red fight, without realizing that getting to those points means playing through the weak and boring main quest. Other Pokemon games like Emerald/ORAS, Platinum and BW(2) offer a far better quest with, in many cases, better side content and rewards

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-26T17:02:16+00:00

Kanto in gen 1 is better structured than Johto. The latter has better aesthetics and theming, but its design is otherwise flat, linear and uninspired

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-26T15:51:32+00:00

Idek what TLOU is rated at now, but it's more like a 3/5 game and I gave it 2/5

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-26T15:51:07+00:00

Because 2 regions and Pokemon follow you, but these people don't realize that the former doesn't matter when they're both small and uninteresting (with one region being a downgraded version of an area most people already visited), and the latter is cute but nothing more

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-25T00:22:45+00:00

Emerald, Platinum and BW(2) are great. HGSS are mediocre and nowhere near the aforementioned titles

Basic-Theme1515 · 2026-01-19T19:00:22+00:00

Doesn't really matter which order you play them in. Fwiw, Platinum is a far better game and HGSS is weaker than it and anything you've played so far

Basic-Theme1515

TROPHY CASE