Do you prefer newer or older games?

[Suspicious Derivative]

Overall, I prefer the newer generations over the older ones, and I end up finding the odd generations more thoroughly enjoyable compared to the even ones. So I guess this makes me a combination of a Newgenner and an Oddgenner. However, I have found most games to be enjoyable and entertaining to play at some point, there is only really one exception to this, more about that later. So some might categorize me as a Truegenner, but I wouldn't do so myself. My focus for the games is mostly about the general gameplay. Regarding the Pokemon introduced in each generation, there are very few I actually dislike, I like the vast majority of all Pokemon from all generations. But regarding that, I do still prefer the newer generations since they have all new Pokemon and all the old ones as well. If not from start, then they will get them eventually, at least.

Generation one was the first one I played. I think it was fine when it was new, but it is unplayable to me today. This is the only generation where I prefer the original pair over the third version, Red and Blue might have had worse sprites but they didn't force you to start with a Pikachu and they did not make a failed attempt at fusing the anime with the games, which I never liked how Yellow did. I did play these games a lot when they were new, and I played them still over the second generation for a long while. Today I can't find any reason to play them. I don't care much for nostalgia, if I wanted it I would have to put up with ancient graphics and physics as well as outdated mechanics, which I'm not a fan of. Then the remakes came around and fixed pretty much all the problems from the originals so that I would never have to play a game from this generation again.

The games from generation two were, like their precursors, good when they were new, but unplayable to me today. However, I think they are considerably more flawed than the first generation games, in addition to also having outdated physics, mechanics and graphics. They have really huge problems with training and level curve as well as Pokemon distribution and Johto never got the focus on itself and its own Pokemon as it was reliant on Kanto for several things like post-game and final bosses. I also think those games are extremely overrated, most people love them for the reasons I can't understand at all. Sure, they introduced several things that are standards in the series today, but they only really deserve credit for introducing them as most of these things weren't well done back then. I didn't play these as much when they were new compared to the first and third generation, I believe the lack of replayability and the horribly executed post-game were the causes of this. Either way, Crystal was my favorite from here since it had several things like the somewhat changed story and the Battle Tower. As horrible as it was back then, this is the very first incarnation of all of its successors like the Maison we have today.

With Ruby and Sapphire, things were starting to get interesting. Unlike G/S/C, they offered a completely new start for the series, which is something I have grown to appreciate more and more with time. They reworked the mechanics of the series, making the games more playable than the earlier ones. Unlike their precursors, I find these (and the other games from this generation) to be both playable and enjoyable by modern standards. Their age has started to show, but I still feel like they are far from being outdated.
The main problem with Ruby and Sapphire was that they didn't have access to all the Kanto and Johto Pokemon. How to fix that? Remake the games from first generation to make all Kanto and some Johto Pokemon available, also fixing all of their problems like adding the Sevii Islands for a good post-game as well as introducing the VS. Seeker to make training easy. I think FR/LG are really fantastic remakes, the best remakes in the series and the only ones which in my eyes had a valid reason to exist.
Despite FR/LG being a thing, some Johto Pokemon were still unavailable. They could be obtained from Colosseum, or from the final game of the generation, Emerald, which is my favorite game from this generation. And it featured the Battle Frontier which was my gateway into a more competitive way of playing. So it will always be special to me, even if it isn't my favorite anymore.

Diamond and Pearl were, unlike Ruby and Sapphire, more of a follow-up than a new start. Which is not something I find bad, but I don't like it as much as when the games focus on a new start. I did like D/P, they were the most enjoyable games for me at the time when 4th generation was the newest.
Though they did have a few shortcomings like the regional Pokedex and some other stuff like inconveniences with the Poketch and usefulness in general, but fortunately, Platinum came around to fix those things. It improved on much else like the story and the post-game as well, keeping everything D/P had done well and made it even better. Platinum is my favorite game from this generation and it is one of my favorite games in the whole series, I'd say it is my 4th favorite from all games we have gotten so far.
This generation could have ended here, and more importantly, ended on top, but it did not. We got HG/SS, the first remakes existing solely due to fan demand, but unfortunately not the last ones. They are the only games in the series that I have never liked, they didn't fix any of the problems from G/S/C and made several things worse. I played through the main storyline, but could never finish the post-game. How are you supposed to complete the Pokedex or train Pokemon when there is nowhere to train through the entire game? I gave up on both and have never gone back to attempting either again because it just wasn't fun. The other parts of the games did nothing to make up for this, I thought the following Pokemon was the most useless gimmick ever and I didn't care for most of the other stuff they had to offer. Removing features or making them worse was a terrible move. They had too much focus on the wrong things to make these games enjoyable for me. Many people seem to like them for nostalgic reasons, but in my honest opinion, screw nostalgia when I can actually play a good game instead and have fun with it instead of trying to recreate overrated parts of my childhood.
Overall, the fourth generation was mixed for me. I did like D/P/P, but unfortunately, I lost a lot of interest in Pokemon five months before Platinum was released. Platinum did unfortunately not give me back all of my interest from the past, and HG/SS did nothing, they only made it worse. Later on, I started appreciating Platinum much more. Sadly, one of the shortcomings of this generation is that it only really has one game worth playing.

Fifth generation is my favorite generation in practically every single aspect. I love everything about it, the new start feeling, the new Pokemon, the region, the story, the characters, the gameplay, the post-game, the mini-games and the new features. And sequels. Took them long enough to actually do good and successful sequels. Looking back, this was everything fourth generation could have been as they are on the same system. This generation also brought me back into Pokemon after my burnout from the latter part of fourth generation. Everything about this generation was just so much fun, collecting 649 Pokemon in four games or training several Pokemon to high levels was awesome, much more so than in any previous generation. You know a game is good if it is an RPG and the actual training and level grinding is enjoyable, which is the case for me reagarding these games. I like B/W2 a little better than B/W because of their larger amount of content, but all four are wonderful games and my favorite games out of everything I have ever played.

Generation six is, for the lack of a better expression, good, but it could have been so much better. I like the new features introduced, but I don't like how they removed several features from fifth generation that I liked. I know that features has been removed in all previous generations, but this was honestly the first time it bothered me. X/Y also had a lot of fan pandering to Kanto fans, which I don't like. If I wanted Kanto Pokemon and areas, I'd play a Kanto game. The post-game and story also felt like huge steps down compared to fifth and fourth generation (not counting HG/SS). Still good games though, but not my absolute favorites.
And then we have OR/AS. Yay, more fan pandering. Though I don't have an actual opinion on these games, simply because they are the only ones in the series I haven't played. They just don't interest me enough to warrant a purchase. While there are several things I like about them, it feels like they offer very little new compared to X/Y, and they don't improve on the original Hoenn games in some areas where it would have been an excellent idea to do so. On the whole, these games seem to be slightly worse than X/Y from my perspective, which isn't bad, but they could have been so much better.
I can't properly judge this generation yet as it is (hopefully) not over yet. Really hoping that the next Kalos game(s) will be what truly gives the best 6th gen experience. If we for whatever reasons don't get any more games from this generation, then I'll actually be okay if they cut this generation short and make generation seven much better from the start. If the pattern continues, the next generation will likely be my new favorite anyway. Though I still really want generation six to end in the best possible way.

That's what I have to say about this. My favorite games are B/W and B/W2, with X/Y, Platinum and Emerald as runner-ups. My least favorites are R/B/Y, G/S/C and HG/SS.

 

[noobcubed]

Variable.

I speedrun Gen 1 sometimes, so Gen 1 holds something to me, but outside of GOTTA GO FAST it's unbearable.

I always hated Gen 2. The level curve is just absurd and you have a half-baked region that is a joke in Jhoto and a half-baked Kanto too. This carries over into HGSS too. Jhoto is such a backwater they don't even get their own villain team or Pokemon Leauge. The Jhoto region is just BORING. Jhoto is the worst region, and G/S/C are the worst games. At least R/B/Y are good for speedruns.

Gen 3 is basically blown out of the water by ORAS. FR/LG are not great. I loved Ge 3 until ORAS, but playing Hoenn with the Physical/Special split, making a good amount of Hoenn's pokemon actually function? [Eg: Poocheyena, Absol]. Hell yeah. [Also I can just ignore Mega Evolution and don't have to use Lati@s]

Gen 4... D/P are almost unplayable compared to Platinum. Plat is easily the biggest step up of a 3rd installment. D/P were travesties. D/P are just ahead of G/S/C in terms of being good. Platinum is probobly only behind Gen 6.

I mean seriously. I hope Nintendo fired whoever came up with the National Dex of Diamond and Pearl. And whoever thought Flint was a good idea in a region with 2 Fire-types in it's national dex.

I never really liked Gen 5 too much. I'm actually yet to force myself through the midgame of B/W2 because IT'S THE SAME AS B/W. Seriosuly from Burgh to Skyla it's like *I've done this all before *zzzzzzz*

I mostly play Gen 6, ORAS >> X/Y. Kalos is again, a pretty dull region which shoves too much Kanto down your gullet. ORAS just has more. If it had the Battle Frontier it would be perfect [Well; IGN would still say too much water] but honestly with the number of hints and references to it it looks almost certain it will be Pokemon's first DLC.

Wow. May I ask you why you stuck with the series so long? It seems that you barely liked any of the games before the 3DS.

 

[LiamSweeney99]

My answer is going to seem pretty lame. But I think all the generations have tremendous merit.

This is a tricky question for me, because I feel that it has more than just the standard criteria of "good graphics + mechanics VS. nostalgia".

The first generation of pokemon gets both underrated and overrated at the same time. I think a large part of the problem is that the lens/criteria used to talk about the games are designed to justify opinions we already have... rather than objectively making a statement on the overall quality and enjoyability of the games. I'm going to attempt to make a more objective set of criteria that its less dependant on personal biases and then do a set of criteria based more on what games make me feel what.

Ok. I consider the old games to be gen 1 and 2. Gen 3 is sort of middle ground for me, but I truly feel that the "new" games era started with gen 4 (the introduction of the physical special split and numerous improvements and additions to gameplay + on the DS platform as opposed to the gameboy/GBA). I think a large portion of the early generations' charm stems not just from nostalgia; but simplicity. I firmly believe that the simpler/concise an idea can be expressed, the better (ironic considering the longwinded nature of my comment, but oh well). The early generations of the games featured a much simpler, narower, and basic implentation of the "pokemon-formula". Gym badges, starter pokemon, legendaries, HMs, Elite four, etc etc. Depending on how you view things, this could be good OR bad.

I personally believe that the simplicity of earlier generations was by/large positive. Sure, first gen was buggy as heck and incredibly unbalanced - but I feel as though the improvements made in gen 2 more than made up for this. I also think this has a lot to do with the developer's and technical limitations of the time. Additionally, when an idea is introduced, it probably won't reach a grand audience if it is extremely far in its line of advancement. Likewise, its unfair to compare the advanced and further down the line titles to the earlier ones (in terms of functionality, graphics, etc.). Its not really fair to compare "Love me do" to "Sgt. Peppers lonely heart club band". Why? The Beatles were a much more experienced, talented, and enlightened artists by that time and their ideas were far sronger/developed than previous ones. That doesn't necessarily mean old beatles suck though. That's the attitude I take towards the pokemon franchise.

So what is fair game to compare? I think there are some basic elements of game design that can be looked at, that bridge the gap of time. I'll go with the three I feel strongest about: level design, innovation and/or improvement on past installments (or other games within a genre), and difficulty + replayability.

LEVEL DESIGN: universal and ever stretching important part of gaming. Its a reason why you can fairly say: Castlevania, Super Mario Bros 1, and Ninja Gaiden on the NES are better games than the single player campaign of Medal of Honor Warfighter or Call of Duty MW3 (despite the enormous difference in the technical aspects of the game). Level design matters. Period. I believe that Generation 1 is at the the absolute pinnacle of the pokemon series in terms of level design. The puzzles in various caves/hideouts, the original shock of having snorlax get in your way, bike path, and so much more make this game incredibly memorable. The difficulty of puzzles and the creativity of random encounters has dramatically declined as the series of pokemon games have progressed. To call generation's 5 and 6 boulder pushing events: "puzzles" is laughable. Generation 1 and 2 simply had perfect world-maps, fair challenge (especially for the age demographic), fun hidden features (remember when magikarp becoming gyrados was a secret? LOL), and a slieu of awesome gyms that featured fun puzzles that integrated the mechanics pokemon so perfectly executes. Gen 5 and Gen 6 may be the most technically advanced and have many times the features, pokemon, and interactivity within the world... but the Kalos and Unova (and even Sinnoh) region are infamous for their uninteresting and sloppy design. NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT THERE IS BASICALLY NO NEW INTERESTING PUZZLES. C'MON GAME FREAK. Edge? Gen 1 + 2.

INNOVATION: Gen 1 and 2 all the way. No contest. When pokemon hit the scene, it forever changed video gaming. The RPG genre was revolutionized by so many of the awesome and new ideas that were so well executed in RYB. In addition, the second generation improved these ideas astronomically and added EVEN MORE innovation to both the franchise and to RPG + hand held gaming genres. HOWEVERRRR, I would have to say that in terms of what makes the pokemon games more "fun"... it would be the innovations and improvements made in later generations. Because of things such as the physical/special split, improved breeding, increased access to factors that are integral to competitive play, and new pokemon... Later gens take the cake.

DIFFICULTY AND REPLAYABILITY: I would say this is obvious: new generations have greater replay value and (arguably) greater difficulty because they simply have much more post game content. Though I would argue that the core game of gen 1 to gen 6 all have similar (very low) difficulty, post game features like battle towers and rematches demonstrate better difficulty/replayability.

To summarize: I think that basically... The newer games are more fun, because they're more modern. But the older games really do have their merit. They are some of the most influential games of the 90s and that extended to pop culture, fashion, and numerous other aspects of our lives. Generations 1 and 2 are certainly not as technically strong or diverse as newer installments. BUT.. they had some incredible level design and important introductions that would eventually evolve into the series that so many people get so much joy out of.

Pokemon is pokemon. Its always fun and it'll always be a strong part of my life. :)

 

[BaffleBlend]

I'm in a bit of an odd situation. I'm a genwunner when it comes to the pokémon themselves, but a newgenner when it comes to everything else.

tl;dr: Preference for new games but Kanto species.

 

[phoenix0wright]

As someone who grew up with Gen 1 games, I still have to give it to the newer ones. Once I experienced the Physical/Special split, there was no going back. In my opinion, that change brought the games to an entirely new level. However, I do tend to prefer the older pokemon, but I fully admit that's rose-colored glasses. The big exception is Gen V; both B/W and B2/W2 are my least favorite games overall, and Gen V was also the weakest in terms of pokemon design for me. I really felt they got back on track in Gen VI.

 

[Adamant Zoroark]

I started out in Gen 1; hell, I still remember playing Pokemon Blue when I was 4. And, you know what? The more I look back on it, the more I realize...

GENERATION 1 SUCKED.

Seriously. They were buggy messes, the sprite design was awful, and it was completely bereft of any postgame. You could, uhh... Catch Mewtwo. Big whoop. Oh, and let's not forget that you had to GO OUT OF YOUR WAY TO GET FLASH. Like, it wasn't straightforward, there wasn't anything giving you hints as to where to get Flash. Yeah, as a kid, you probably didn't get Flash. Had fun in those caves, didn't you?

And let's not forget that there was absolutely nothing resembling type balance. Psychic? Fucking unstoppable. Hell, they got the type charts wrong; according to some trainer text in Red and Blue, Psychic-types were supposed to be weak to Bug and Ghost, but they were actually IMMUNE to Ghost. How did they fuck THAT one up? Oh yeah, Focus Energy doesn't work how it should, Lance has Pokemon that know moves they shouldn't know, and uuuuugh Gen 1 is just full of so many problems it's ridiculous. Oh, and something else worth mentioning? Completing the Pokedex is... Actually harder than you'd think. Before Yellow came out, you had to worry about getting all the starters, and, you know, who was going to trade their first starter evolution to someone? The only reason people look positively on these games is because they're protected by a layer of nostalgia. Take the fucking nostalgia goggles off; they're blinding you from the piles of fecal matter that are Pokemon Red and Blue. And, you know? It's because these games were rushed. Ultimately, when you rush a video game, it ends up being shit. They should have delayed Red and Blue; hell, they should have held it back until the Game Boy Color if that would have been necessary to make sure these games weren't the steaming piles of shit they were. It amazes me how the franchise had even managed to succeed with how shitty Red and Blue were. On my list of "Shitty games that got good reviews," Pokemon Red and Blue top my list.

Generation 2 is when it really started to get good. IT HAD A POSTGAME!

I didn't play Generation 3 until I was 16. Genwunners love to bash on this one, but it actually fixed a lot of shit, especially EVs because those weren't functional at all before. Oh, and you could run. Yeah, I know, that seems trivial, but it made the game much faster in the moments before you got your bike.

Generation 4 got me back in the series after skipping Generation 3, back when Platinum came out in 2009. I'm most fond of Generation 4, especially HGSS. GSC were already so good, and they just managed to blow those games out of the water.

Okay, I just wanna say that the only thing I really hated about Generation 5 was: THEY FUCKING RUINED PMD!!!

Generation 6 is the best generation so far, hands down. Competitive breeding is actually fucking possible, as opposed to the complete and utter tedium it was before. It's actually POSSIBLE to do shit in this game and easy to get into competitive without having to resort to cheating. However, one disappointing trend I've noticed is that THE GAMES KEEP ON GETTING EASIER. Like, too easy. Way too easy. I'm talking "You can turn off EXP share and it's still easy" easy. They need to add difficulty settings to this game, unlocked from the start (unlike the mess with keys we had in BW2.) However, I'm going to say that I actually consider the Fairy-type a con, not a pro, because nerfing Dragons and buffing Poison (in general) and Steel (offensively) came at the price of nerfing a type that needed to be buffed (Dark.) (Steel no longer resisting Dark doesn't make up for it, most Dark-types never had trouble beating them anyway because they all had moves like Flamethrower and Superpower to cover Steels.)

But yeah, I prefer newer games just because they have more of a postgame (seriously, convince me that Gen 1 has a postgame) and it's actually possible to make a competitive team without hacking.

 

[noobcubed]

RBY may not be technically the soundest game, but it had a good concept with simple but strong mechanics in there that all future games built upon. As I have already explained in some other Orange Islands thread, Pokemon's explosive popularity came from its use of an entirely new mechanic - what TVTropes calls the Socialisation Bonus. This mechanic encouraged kids to interact with other players, to talk to other kids about it, which led to the game spreading like wildfire through word-of-mouth. That's chiefly what makes it a great series generally rather than a bunch of relatively simple RPGs.

Also, on the technical issues it had - it's 2015 and games are still being released in a buggy state (looking at you, Ubisoft - you managed to screw up porting Tetris to the PS4 for fuck's sake). Pokemon RBY was simply unlucky enough to be around before content patches.

 

[Rugi]

Best to worst IMO
V-II-IV-III-VI-I

 

[Neetz0r]

IMO:
IV > VI > V > II > III >>>>>>>> I

 

[Antihaxxer]

V>VI>III>IV>II>I

 

[Lady Vader]

I'm going to say that I actually consider the Fairy-type a con, not a pro, because nerfing Dragons and buffing Poison (in general) and Steel (offensively) came at the price of nerfing a type that needed to be buffed (Dark.) (Steel no longer resisting Dark doesn't make up for it, most Dark-types never had trouble beating them anyway because they all had moves like Flamethrower and Superpower to cover Steels.)

Dark did get buffed. Steel losing its resist did a lot of good for it and it got that wonderful buff to Knock Off. That means Dark has two brilliant STABs with that and Sucker Punch with only two types resisting it, Fairy and itself. Also, one type gaining a weakness that "needed to be buffed" vs fairly nerfing Dragons (without killing them), nerfing Fighting types (a powerful type last generation), and strengthening two types that rarely saw the light of day offensively (and by rarely, I mean Bullet Punch) is a pro to me.

Also, I wouldn't say that Generation I sucked. Did it have problems? Yes. But problems do not equal suck. The type balance (and other similar problems) is more of a problem in a competitive situation than playing through them. Also, while it does have a ton of glitches, it is possible to play through the game without encountering one. The only glitch I encountered playing through Yellow was the Mew Glitch, and that was done on purpose. Generation I was an ambitious game and Game Freak made mistakes, but they made a game that formed the basic groundwork for an amazing series. In short: Generation I is still fun to play, so we really can't say it sucked.

 

[Codraroll]

Indeed, while Generation I now is hopelessly outdated mechanics-wise, I don't think it's fair to call those games terribly bad. The concept of the games was really innovative for its time. The story was good enough that ALL subsequent Main Series Pokémon games since have outright copied it. The dungeons were very varied. The evil team the best of the bunch so far (being less on the goofy, unrealistic take-over-the-world side, plus they were at the peak of their power when you fought them). Most of the features we take for granted today stem from Gen. I, so the framework was clearly good on to expand on for decades without many radical innovations since (the largest of which I daresay were G/S' breeding system and Crystal's Battle Tower, giving the games a purpose after beating the main story and catching all the Pokémon)

Also, the Kanto games get bonus points in my book for not making Legendary encounters mandatory. Actually, they all fulfill the premise "legendary" to a T: Powerful beings hidden away at the far ends of optional caves, where nobody have heard about them. If you want to find them, you have to go explore on your own, see for yourself what lurks deep in the island caves, beyond the bend in the river, or down the other path at the end of Victory Road.

 

[Norne]

Gen V for me, no contest.

Though I enjoy 3D and all the mega evolution burst mode layer in competitive, 6th gen pales on the 5th as standalone games, B/W and B2/W2 where just perfection, I have lost count of all the challenges I did on those, man the diversity the routes everything was so freaking sweet, and the amount of stuff to do is just such a glorious time sink I can't get enough of.

I mean I agree platinum was well done, but honestly... DP would make anything look better so I can't call it the best.

Hoenn is not nice to me, if anything I spend my time on the resort breeding, sometimes buying shit and going e4... I don't feel like moving around that thing... I know I have my bias but for me it's screw hoenn and sinnoh I'm all about Unova.

With the current games on i prefer to play the 5th gen without I net, and ORAS non exploration mode for Wifi.

 

[Raikaria]

Wow. May I ask you why you stuck with the series so long? It seems that you barely liked any of the games before the 3DS.

Late reply but whatever.

I am speaking from the game's current value and meaning to me. Gen 1 is bad these days but Gen 1 is good for speedrunning. Gen 2 is not as good for that, and it's not aged well. The fact it has the most HM's [8!] isn't helping.

Of course when the games came out Gen 2 was awesome. But looking back NOW, I can't even bring myself to play through Gen 2 or HG/SS. Jhoto is awful.

And I liked R/S/E; loved Platinum; liked B/W and OR/AS is cool. R/S/E is just kinda phased out by OR/AS.

It's not like I'm a Genwunner saying 'everything after RBY is awful'. The question asked was if you prefer older or newer games, not preferred. So I answered based on their value to me now; in 2015.

But seriously. Jhoto is a freaking backwater. Jhoto could have been so much more but instead you get a horrible level-curved region with a half-baked Kanto stuck on. It's a bland, forgettable region who's main memory is getting owned as a 7 year old by a Militank.

 

[Gamma Vector]

I'm a weird case, because I got into pokemon as an adult. I'm a genwunner by age, but my mom thought pokemon was the devil. All my friends had it, though, and I played a bit on my best friend's copy sometimes. So, despite not playing those games when they were current, I have some nostalgia for Red and Blue. (It's also worth noting here that I really, really love oldschool games. Particularly from the 16 bit era. Love.)

I came in properly on a used copy of Platinum. To me, DPPT marks the "new gen" games. The physical/special split and the move from the single screen to the dual screen design plus a few other things makes the difference for me. So, I came in there. I vastly prefer the newer games. I played through Platinum, and then Soul Silver, and then I got a copy of Emerald and Fire Red and...Oh dear god. The physical/special thing screwed me up bad. Really cute sprites though, for the most part.

Then Gen V happened and I absolutely hated it. I really disliked the "no pokemon from previous gens" thing and the new battle mechanics and the dream world thing and just ugh. I hated it so much that I never finished Black, didn't even bother with Black2, and pretty much figured I was doomed to replay Soul Silver forever. But then Gen VI happend and I really loved X. They fixed everything that bugged me with Gen V and I ADORE the new graphical engine. I'd always liked the oldschool feel to pokemon battles, never saw a problem with it. But once I saw the new style, I fell in love.

It's also worth noting that Gen I is the only generation to have a decent villainous team. Team Rocket was basically the mob. They were super scary, and had a somewhat believable hold on Kanto. Even as an adult, it's pretty cool to slowly loosen their grip and drive them out of towns, and then finally convince Giovanni to stop all the crazy. In contrast, later teams with their world-ending shenanigans seem like a bunch of doofuses in stupid costumes. Like, there is no way these people should be an actual threat. Ugh.

Also, the level design in Gen I was very good. I've never played GSC, but I did play the remakes. If they were truthful to the original, then the level design in Johto took something of a nosedive. Gen III picked it back up a little, and it's been in a downward spiral ever since. As much as I love Sinnoh, it's not all that well designed.

So, for me, Gen VI is my favorite, followed by Gen IV, and then Gen I (because while it hasn't aged terribly well, it got a lot of things right and without it we wouldn't have Gen VI.)

 

[hypno28]

Yeah, the new "teams" are ridiculous. I think Kalos is a terrible region, but what makes those games hard to play through again is Team Flare. So incredibly stupid (and the gigantic king guy). As a couple of people said, Team Rocket was easily the best one. They were actually plausible and made sense. I think the teams in ORAS (I never played the originals) are the only other decent ones. It's extremely irritating that they always move the games away from realism as much as possible. The fate of the world should not supposedly (who can actually take it seriously?) on the line in every game.

Still, Gen V is my favorite, probably because I like the region so much (and the Pokemon are underrated).

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

To all the people who like Team Rocket and are saying they are objectively the best, I disagree with you. They are my least favorite villain team in the series. Their goal is what? To steal Pokemon in the Kanto games and to take over a Radio Tower in the Johto games? Lame. I didn't find them scary at all since they didn't threaten you, and their goal wasn't anything special at all. Even Galactic and Plasma had stealing Pokemon as a part of their goals without it being their main focus. Not to mention I think those two teams felt more threatening and serious about their goals compared to Rocket. As for Rocket being more realistic, I think that's another bad thing as I don't want the games to focus on realism, that's not fun to me. I like it better when the villain team has ideas about changing the world instead of just... stealing Pokemon. So that's why I like the other teams better, Plasma is my favorite (and would probably be so even without my Unova bias), Galactic is second and Flare/Aqua/Magma is after them. That is my personal subjective opinion, at least.

 

[Brytmonlee]

Yeah, the new "teams" are ridiculous. I think Kalos is a terrible region, but what makes those games hard to play through again is Team Flare. So incredibly stupid (and the gigantic king guy). As a couple of people said, Team Rocket was easily the best one. They were actually plausible and made sense. I think the teams in ORAS (I never played the originals) are the only other decent ones. It's extremely irritating that they always move the games away from realism as much as possible. The fate of the world should not supposedly (who can actually take it seriously?) on the line in every game.

Still, Gen V is my favorite, probably because I like the region so much (and the Pokemon are underrated).

Team Flare makes more sense than you give them credit for. Their goal of eliminating anyone who is not part of Team Flare is very reminiscent of the problem France faces with immigration and French identity. I can assume that Kalos is facing a similar problem, as well as the problems Lysandre gave as reasons for wanting to restrict those who live in Kalos. And the average Grunt of any Team isn't very bright, with none of them really knowing what the actual goal of their said organization is. Even Team Rocket isn't exempt, because in Kanto, there really wasn't any over-arching goals. Sure there were the crimes and it was easy to what the goal was for that particular crime, but their was no progress to an actual goal. Team Magma and Team Aqua could be seen as rival factions of Greenpeace, an organization that has been willing to engage in Eco-terrorism, and Team Plasma would equate to PETA in its first iteration and ISIS more closely in its second, both groups having engaged in acts of terrorism in their existence. Although, I will give you that Team Galactic is a little out there, but still enjoyable, though.

 

[Antihaxxer]

Team Plasma was the best with the greatest storyline

 

[hypno28]

To all the people who like Team Rocket and are saying they are objectively the best, I disagree with you. They are my least favorite villain team in the series. Their goal is what? To steal Pokemon in the Kanto games and to take over a Radio Tower in the Johto games? Lame. I didn't find them scary at all since they didn't threaten you, and their goal wasn't anything special at all. Even Galactic and Plasma had stealing Pokemon as a part of their goals without it being their main focus. Not to mention I think those two teams felt more threatening and serious about their goals compared to Rocket. As for Rocket being more realistic, I think that's another bad thing as I don't want the games to focus on realism, that's not fun to me. I like it better when the villain team has ideas about changing the world instead of just... stealing Pokemon. So that's why I like the other teams better, Plasma is my favorite (and would probably be so even without my Unova bias), Galactic is second and Flare/Aqua/Magma is after them. That is my personal subjective opinion, at least.

Team Rocket's goal was money. The grunts stole Pokemon because they were too incompetent to train their own. Realism may not be fun to you, but it's correct. If the games fail to build a plausible world in which to play -- ultimately the basis for players' desire to do so -- why even exist?

Team Flare makes more sense than you give them credit for. Their goal of eliminating anyone who is not part of Team Flare is very reminiscent of the problem France faces with immigration and French identity. I can assume that Kalos is facing a similar problem, as well as the problems Lysandre gave as reasons for wanting to restrict those who live in Kalos. And the average Grunt of any Team isn't very bright, with none of them really knowing what the actual goal of their said organization is. Even Team Rocket isn't exempt, because in Kanto, there really wasn't any over-arching goals. Sure there were the crimes and it was easy to what the goal was for that particular crime, but their was no progress to an actual goal. Team Magma and Team Aqua could be seen as rival factions of Greenpeace, an organization that has been willing to engage in Eco-terrorism, and Team Plasma would equate to PETA in its first iteration and ISIS more closely in its second, both groups having engaged in acts of terrorism in their existence. Although, I will give you that Team Galactic is a little out there, but still enjoyable, though.

I wasn't calling the members of it stupid. I'm saying the concept is stupid. The "ultimate weapon" (so creative) coming out of the ground and killing everything...seriously? Their obsession with fashion and "beauty"...the red suits and sunglasses...it's just retarded. Drawing the analogy to France doesn't justify it at all, because the game didn't build up any of that in the storyline. That's ultimately what the problem is: the games' "worldbuilding" is so unbelievably bad 90% of the time.

Again, Team Rocket's goal was money. They needed power in order to secure their ventures.

 

[iamfanboy]

Team Plasma actually had the most realistic, well-thought-out plan among any of the Teams (not that it's a high bar), though I didn't realize it until very recently.

Step 1: Convince people to abandon their Pokemon with a charismatic young 'leader'.
Step 2: Betray said charismatic figurehead once enough people have abandoned their Pokemon.
Step 3: Obtain super-powerful Pokemon that no one can stand up to thanks to aforementioned abandonment.
Step 4: Profit!

Note the complete and absolute absence of any "Step 4: ????" in there? Even Team Rocket had that step on their plan - how was taking over a radio tower, or anything else, going to help you take over a region?

And don't even get me started on Flare... THE WHOLE PLAN WAS ????.

Now, I'm not saying Plasma had a GOOD plan, but at least it was planned out and in the beginning stages even plausible.

I didn't really get started until Platinum, so I have no real nostalgia goggles for older games. That said, from a gameplay standpoint Gen6 is far and away my favorite. Storyline? ...Actually, I didn't care for the Gen5 story. Gen 3 and Gen 1 (well, really, FRLG) have my vote as to fave storyline, which is why I did enjoy ORAS quite a bit - there's just something about seeing facial expressions that really bring characters to life.

HAIYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

 

[noobcubed]

There's just something about seeing facial expressions that really bring characters to life.

The NPC animations in ORAS are really excellent. I think that graphically, Pokemon is now right in the sweet spot in that regard but maybe within another console lifecycle the character models will have begun to descend into the uncanny valley. I really hope that Pokemon sticks with cel shading to avoid this.

 

[Codraroll]

^^To be fair to Team Rocket, the Radio takeover was a last-ditch effort to renew their team after it had been officially disbanded and its leader had stepped down. Their original plan - which made them rise to greatness - involved stealing Pokémon, thuggery, blackmailing, burglary, possibly money laundering and outright hostage situations to achieve power. Their operation was decentralized, practically nothing hinged on their leader, unlike the rest of the teams which would just fall apart if the guy at the top changed his mind (and that's actually how you defeat them all). Giovanni didn't intervene, he laid out the broad plans and let grunts take care of the fieldwork. Ironically, that was what brought them down in the end. The grunts were too weak to stop Red, and were driven from town to town until their grip on Kanto was loosened completely. Only then did Giovanni battle you, and upon defeat he realises he has let Team Rocket fall completely apart, and decides to disband the organization. In a somewhat realistic twist, far from all the thugs agreed with this choice, they continued to operate in Johto and parts of Kanto until Gold or Kris brought them down again.

As for the "???" step before "Profit", there would be plenty to fill it in with. Black market activities, including Slowpoke Tail smuggling, burglary and a highly profitable casino that didn't close down (or change ownership!) even after Team Rocket was disbanded. If you want to get those sweet, sweet TMs or the elusive Porygon, you actually have to support Team Rocket financially - even after you've beat them. They had no plans to take over the world and force a disaster/new world order on anybody. They infiltrated the system, chased away the police, set up businesses of questional legal and moral validity, and stole from the common man to be rich enough to do whatever they wanted (including financing the entire Mewtwo project). How's that for a successful team?

 

[iamfanboy]

So, really, you're dealing with Team Rocket post-failure, after the Mewtwo project failed and their creation broke free and (probably) killed a bunch of scientists?

Good goddamn, a remake should have Mewtwo guiding and recruiting you to fight Team Rocket, or teaming up with you to destroy Team Rocket. It explains why Giovanni's moving around and trying to cement control with corporations he left alone before - he actually FAILED, lost a bunch of money in the Mewtwo project, and now knows that the very ultimate Pokemon he was trying to create has human intelligence and a thirst for vengeance, so he fears for his life...

But Mewtwo would rather see Giovanni's life work ruined than kill him; better to leave him living in humiliation than dying in a brief moment of glory.

 

[Norne]

So, really, you're dealing with Team Rocket post-failure, after the Mewtwo project failed and their creation broke free and (probably) killed a bunch of scientists?

Good goddamn, a remake should have Mewtwo guiding and recruiting you to fight Team Rocket, or teaming up with you to destroy Team Rocket. It explains why Giovanni's moving around and trying to cement control with corporations he left alone before - he actually FAILED, lost a bunch of money in the Mewtwo project, and now knows that the very ultimate Pokemon he was trying to create has human intelligence and a thirst for vengeance, so he fears for his life...

But Mewtwo would rather see Giovanni's life work ruined than kill him; better to leave him living in humiliation than dying in a brief moment of glory.

Assuming that's mewtwo MO, media's aside he is always motionless, saving energy for when it's needed, and as its only true purpose given its savage nature is to battle he just sits in a cave till a battle ensues.

It's also evidenced in pokemon village as he is the sole pokemon in its cave that it's guarded till someone proves worthy of facing it, instead of interacting with the other pokemon. Kinda like we let him stay there out of pity, he won't do anything unless someone enters.