Unpopular opinions

While I can sympathize with people that dislike forced Exp Share, I really don't think it's a problem any more. I didn't like it in Gen 6 (and still don't) because it completely broke the experience curve. Since Pokemon is a game that mostly has the two sides play by the same rules, it stands to reason that the ideal curve keeps your levels in line with your opponents. The Exp Share in Gen 6 absolutely does not do this and has you significantly higher-leveled than your opponents, which besides the obvious impact on difficulty is immersion-breaking since you have a very clear advantage in this ostensibly synchronous game. Alola is a bit of a weird case, since the Exp Share has a similar but lessened effect (due to scaling) for most of the game, but once you get to Poni Island the game starts to feel like it's actually designed around using the Exp Share (and as early as Ula'Ula for USM). So even by then the issue was getting better.

And now with Sword and Shield? I mean, they're easy games, but I almost never thought that was because I was overleveled. Outside of a weird brief bit at the start of the endgame, my levels were consistenly on par with my opponents. So at this point, Exp Share doesn't feel like some aberration that doesn't belong in the game, but a natural part of how experience works. Sword and Shield's difficulty issues lie far more in that the encounters themselves just don't have much bite to them outside of like, Kabu, Bea, and Leon. Which is definitely disappointing after Alola's excellent encounter design.

The last thing I want to respond to is Exp Share as a difficulty modifier. Frankly, I think experience is one of the least interesting things to mess with when curating difficulty, and Pokemon is absolutely not hurting for other ways to do this. Withholding items, evolutions, moves, party members - so many aspects of Pokemon are completely scalable. While I can appreciate that the Exp Share toggle is much simpler for the player than carefully curating the other parts of the game, I think it's insufficient by itself which means you end up having to further curate your experience anyways. So I can't say I miss it on this front, either.
 
Yung Dramps said:
Speaking as someone who gets an aneurysm if any of my party members has more than a few levels of difference, EXP Share was fine. Certainly more preferable than tedious grinding like Platinum has made me do thus far a few times.
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Why mention Platinum as a game with tedious grinding. If anything, Diamond and Pearl are much worse, especially for the Pokémon League.
 
Siggu said:
Why mention Platinum as a game with tedious grinding. If anything, Diamond and Pearl are much worse, especially for the Pokémon League.
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Why mention D/P as games with tedious grinding when you have HG/SS which feature extremely tedious grinding all the way from the beginning to the end, during both the main game and the post-game? Say what you want about D/P, they did at least have a functional level curve and a way to rebattle trainers efficiently, two things HG/SS desperately wish they had.

On the current topic of the new Exp. Share and difficulty in Pokémon games, I have some things to say. I did not read through every previous post on the subject, so apologies if I'm repeating things others have already said.

First of all, I dislike how the entire party is forced to get Exp. in Gen 8. I generally try to keep my team members at an even level when playing through the games and this made it very difficult since all of them always got Exp. after every battle or capture. This was especially notable when I added a new member to the team. And due to the way I play, I started getting overleveled after the third gym, with no way to turn back. The only solution I saw to this was to train more than six Pokémon. My team in Sword ended up consisting of 15 Pokémon in the end, which made my playthrough more balanced. I only got underleveled in the end of the game, against Eternatus and Leon. During the rest of the game, my team members were at the same level as the opponents' Pokémon or slightly above. While this was admittedly fun and functional, I still think that Exp. for the entire party should have stayed optional like it was in Gen 6/7.

Which brings me to my next point. I like the way the Exp. Share works in Gen 6 and 7. I thought it was well done, and best of all: it was optional, you didn't have to use it if you didn't want to. I had it on when I played through X since I wanted to give it a try, but this led to my team getting ridiculously overleveled. It was at above level 80 when I beat the game. In comparison, Diantha's Gardevoir is at level 68. I turned the Exp. Share off during my playthroughs of Y and OR/AS which led to much more balanced experiences, I only turned it on to make grinding easier at some points during the games, most notably before the E4. I kept it off for S/M and US/UM too but had a vastly different experience with them, more about that further below. Also, I disagree with those who think that the Gen 6/7 Exp. Share should only have been available after beating the E4. If you don't want to use it before the E4, just turn it off. It isn't that hard. In fact, it is very easy and only takes a few seconds to do. On the whole, I'd say the Exp. Share in Gen 6/7 is an example of good game design because it is optional, the same can't be said for Gen 8 though since it is not optional there.

As for the difficulty in Pokémon games on the whole, I don't think the series has ever been that difficult. If you are looking for a difficult RPG, you should play something else than Pokémon. Or play Pokémon, but with a self-imposed challenge. While one might argue that the games in the newer generations have gotten easier, they were never really that hard to start with. If someone finds any older Generation to be harder than the current one, I don't think it is because the games have gotten easier (at least it is not the only reason), but because we were younger and less experienced when we started compared to now when we have a lot more experience with the games and have played several games/generations. But there is one exception.

I found Gen 7 to be surprisingly hard (at least with Exp. Share turned off). Both S/M and US/UM, they had an unbalanced level/difficulty curve as they featured several sudden level "jumps" during the main game, with pretty bad grinding spots right before these jumps. And my unpopular opinion is that I did not like this. I never asked for a harder Pokémon game and I wasn't happy about it. The Gen 7 games also had another thing I disliked in terms of difficulty: they introduced several "unfair" battles where the opponents have advantages over you. The most notable are the Totems, the SOS mechanics and Ultra Necrozma. Those kinds of battles are common in many other RPGs but Pokémon had done just fine without them IMO, there was no need to introduce them. This continued in Gen 8 with the Max Raid battles and Gigantamax to an extent. And I don't like that. I remember that when I got to Ultra Necrozma in Ultra Moon, I got angry because this was not what I wanted to see. As said in a previous post, I partly struggled to get through US/UM and this did not make things easier. Fortunately, I was able to beat it even if it came at the cost of a Focus Sash and required a bit of luck. I also disagree with anyone who claims that Gen 7 is easy even if you play with Exp. Share off, that is very different from my own experiences and I am very curious about the teams and playstyles of those who make such claims.

Lastly, since Challenge Mode in B2/W2 was mentioned earlier in this discussion, I might as well share my own experiences with it. I played through White 2 on Challenge Mode and I did not really find it more difficult than usual (at least not much). However, I did not find that it required more grinding either, I was on the same level as the opponents during the majority of the game. Due to B2/W2 having a great level curve, the new Exp. system and a free Lucky Egg, my team members always got a lot of Exp which made them grow quicker, requiring less grinding. I think White 2 on Challenge Mode was one of the most balanced playthroughs I have ever had of a Pokémon game, it is a prime example of good game design if you ask me.
 
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My problem with BW2 Challenge Mode is that a lot of the changes made feel less like making it legit harder than average and more just reverting back to the mean. The biggest example of this is gym leader Pokemon counts: In Challenge Mode they all get an extra mon, getting the late game leaders to 4 mons. That's fine and all, but that was already and continued to be the standard in RSE, DPP, SWSH and more, no difficulty settings required. Aside from that there was also the really lazy "same shit we just gave them extra levels" fights like Ghetsis.

Challenge Mode is one of those concepts I'd love to see explored again, but they gotta do better than BW2.
 
Exp Share:
I don't really have anything else to say that hasn't been said already. All I would be doing is throwing my hat on the side I agree with. Which side is that, eh, I honestly think it's probably in the middle of the line (though that "middle line" is more like a wide lane). To make things easier and not give everyone another essay to read, I'll just list my ideal Exp. Share:

  1. Can be turned off. (WHY: While GF's ideology on difficulty in Pokemon is for players to do it themselves, kind of hard to do that when you force an OP mechanic they have to use)
  2. Can choose how much experience a non-battling Pokemon gains (probably 10%, 20%, 25%, 33% & 50%). Individual Pokemon can have different percentages. (WHY: Because some players may want the passive experience but they either don't want as high it currently is or they want a Pokemon that's behind levels to catch up faster to all the others)
  3. Can choose which Pokemon are (and are not) affected. (WHY: As said above, some Pokemon are at the levels you want them so would rather them not to gain any additional experience thus making it take longer for other Pokemon to catch-up)
  4. Have an alternative mode which has the Pokemon that's currently the lowest level in the party gets the experience. Can increase it to the lowest two or three Pokemon. (WHY: A lot of players like the Exp. Share to help catch-up their lower level Pokemon, so why not give it an mode which does just that? It'll do the switching automatically)
  5. Can filter out EVs for individual Pokemon (WHY: I know that's a major complaint about the Exp. Share, so why not make it a feature? Make the Exp. Share more robust)

Difficulty Level/Challenge Mode:
Honestly a single Challenge Mode, going by GF's design philosophy, isn't really going to change much or in the ways people looking for a tougher challenge want. We'd probably need like 3 to get to where we want them:

  1. Starter: Easy Mode. Trainer Pokemon Levels are lower, some trainers may have less Pokemon, moves are strictly from level-up & no coverage (maybe not even give a Pokemon four moves), if Pokemon has two normal Abilities will pick the less useful, AI simple and may pick moves at random.
  2. Trainer: Normal Mode, this is the basis where the other modes are based on. Any notable details would be moves can come from TM & has coverage (and have all four moves), still two normal Abilities but selects the best one, and AI follows some strategy.
  3. Gym Leader: For the new players looking for a step-up in challenge. Notable differences would be with the notable trainers like Rivals, Pokemon League, Villain Team, etc.. Higher levels, getting an additional Pokemon, their ace holding an item, their Pokemon's moves could include Tutor & Egg Moves, their Pokemon has the option of using a Hidden Ability if its a better Ability then what they normally have, and their AI is on high. Some may even use some competitive strategies and "themed" teams (weather, terrain, rooms), especially at the Pokemon League.
  4. Elite Four: For the veteran player looking for a "casual challenge". The above changes for the notable trainers mentioned above? They now apply to all normal trainers. Notable trainers remain mostly the same as in the Gym Leader difficulty except now all their Pokemon are holding an item (and they may have different moves & Ability to work with the held item).
  5. Champion: Here we go! The normal trainers for the most part will be unchanged (except now all their Pokemon are holding items), but it's the notable trainers that's get the biggest change: each has a full team of 6 (and levels may be raised higher once again).

Of course, if it was me I would just chop it down to 4 (Starter, Gym Leader, Elite Four, & Champion; obviously renamed to something like Starter, Trainer, Champion, & Master) because, as Suspicious Derivative said, BW2's Challenge Mode felt like how the games difficulty should be. But gotta think like GF here so to get what we want we'd have to hop through an additional hoop.

Bringing Back An Unpopular Opinion: Level Caps:
While I only skimmed through the Exp. Share discussion, form what I read makes me think the old "level cap" idea I suggested long ago (which was really unpopular and caused several pages of argument) isn't a bad alternative idea. Since then I had formulated a more thoughout level cap mechanic that shouldn't be intrusive:

  • Up to a certain level your Pokemon's stats stop being increased until the level cap can be increased. Checking the stat screen will show its actual stats and, if they're above the cap, what the current capped level and stats are at.
  • A Pokemon stats will still be affected by EVs gained & can still learn new moves upon getting to the required level.
    A Pokemon that evolves by leveling can't evolve if the required evolution level is above the cap (though if something is done to lower the level requirement below the cap it'll be able to evolve).
  • If a Pokemon is traded over they are also affected by the level caps. However if the Pokemon is an evolved Pokemon which evolves at a level above the level cap it'll disobey you.
  • Level cap increases as you get more Badges, adjusted to match the level progression curve of the game. Becoming Champion removes caps.
  • Difficulty settings can set notable trainers (Rival/Pokemon League/Villain Team/etc.) levels based on caps: On easy they're below cap (so those having a hard time can grind to a higher level), on normal their strongest Pokemon matches cap, and on hard their weakest Pokemon matches cap while strongest goes above it.
  • TMs can only be taught to Pokemon of a certain Level. More stronger/useful the Move the higher the Level needed.

The main goal of the Level Caps is threefold: help plan out the level curve especially with "boss" trainers, give players a "goal" level if they feel they need to be as prepared as possible to face the "boss" trainers, and to encourage training more than a core team of 6 Pokemon as you'll likely hit the cap for a few Pokemon before raising it so why not train up some other Pokemon to get them stronger?
 
My thoughts on the topic of the Experience Share as we discuss it. I agree with Worldie that the Experience share alone does not make the game more easier alone. DragonQuest 11 has an Experience Share and the game is still challenging. Its because the bosses are given inherent advantages: Bosses can take 2 to 3 actions in a turn, have strong immunity to status effects, and can do massive damage with spread attacks which is especially brutal when in conjunction of two actions per turns. And before I go into any further, what I like to define difficult for me: It requires me to reset twice at least, and I have to rethink my strategy. That's honestly it. In DragonQuest 11, even without any difficulty settings, I lost against the Tentacular several times. After doing some backtracking, I discovered that a woman gave you a cannon that can give you a head start on that fight by immobilizing it for a couple of turns.

But Pokemon does not have any of that. I've already mentioned how Allister not only doesn't have 4 move slots, but lacks EVs and IVs on his Pokemon. Heck, his Mimikyu doesn't know a single damaging Fairy-type move, which would have been useful to combat the Dark types that threaten his Ghost types. Its that kind of easiness that makes an experience share really unnecessary. I've never had to reset once in SwSh and rethink my strategy for the main campaign.

I also agree with Suspicious Derivative that the best compromise would have been just to toggle between on and off so it wouldn't be an issue for players who did not want it.

As for Totem fights, I did enjoy the challenge they provided. Some were a joke, like Raticate, whiles others like Salazzle and Lurantis really gave me a hard time. Could they have been better? Yes, but by Pokemon Standards they were a great change of pace. That being said, one thing bothers me is how you can cheese these fights. In USM, you could just wait for a Misdreavus to show up in PokePelago, and 6-9 levels it will learn Perish Song. With that Focus Sash, you can just cheese Ultra Necrozma and Totem Ribombee with Perish Song. I feel like the bosses should have given some immunity to those attacks.

As for this
Hematite said:
"Are there other features to make the game more difficult for experienced players?
Ohmori: There are no direct difficulty levels in Sword and Shield, but we always think about different options to experience the game. If players really want to make it difficult for themselves, they can bring fewer Pokémon into their party, or a team with only one type."
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Ok that is just outright bad game design.

#1: Here's the thing Ohmori. I play Pokemon for the fact that I get to experience the Pokemon- The wonderful creatures that are each unique in there own regard. If anything, I want to own more Pokemon. Why would I ever want to limit myself to catching Pokemon? I want difficulty and to raise 6 Pokemon. I shouldn't have to limit myself to either having less Pokemon or higher difficulty.

#2: Same thing applies. Each Pokemon has a unique type that makes them very each to play. I should not have to limit myself to restricting to one type for a challenging experience.

If this does not prove that Gamefreak is incomptent, then I don't know what is. This is how Pokemon games are being designed, I can see why SwSh fail in comparison to other RPGs. This is so bad reasoning because creating difficulty forces you to give critical features. Any other company would never compromise difficulty for the sake of key features. GameFreak did just that based on Ohmori's testimony.
 
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An often ignored issue with the permanent EXP share is the varying growth rates of Pokémon. I've noticed this in both Gen 7 and Gen 8; despite my best efforts to have my team members receive equal battle time, those with the slowest growth rates necessarily see the most, while those with faster growth rates almost never see combat unless I need them for a specific battle.
 
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To add to the exp share scandal, the real reason why despite exp share being on, ss had equal leveling curves was cuz of the short routes after motostoke. This is why till kabu's gym your team seems overleveled but suddenly at bea, the levels seem to get equal again.

Despite the 7 levels difference between centiskorch (lvl 27) and machamp (lvl 34), there r actually only about 9 trainer battles including hop. For comparison, in dp during candice's abomasnow (lvl 42) and volkners luxray (lvl 49) , you have the entire galatic climax on top of another route before sunnyshore. Heck forgot about the galatics, the route alone has 12 trainers to fight! And if we're being real, the route after sunnyshore is acessible too. Even in xy, the reason why you overlevel is because there're still so many trainers. Between the fairy fyms sylveon and the psychics gym meowstic, you have a mandatory route,frost cavern and two optional areas. Of course , with that much trainers, you get overleveled if the exp share is on.

Meanwhile in ss....after the fking first gym, the game has only one route between each city....of course, the exp share doesn't matter. After all, they had to make the exp share permanently on to hide the fact theres not enough content in their games lmao.
 
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1. Brick bronze (the roblox ripoff) is my favorite pokemon game.

2. I don't think starter pokemon should be powerful, at least without mega evolutions. They're the first one you get for no investment at all rather than ones you went through the effort to seek out in the wild and catch. They shouldn't be shitmons, because most kids can't beat the game without rolling it with their starter, but they shouldn't be top cut mons like blaziken or gren either, at least without mega evolution. People are already too attached to starters in this game to really nerf them now, but if I could run it back from the beginning I would reduce them to a universal 520 BST and maybe even cut down slightly on their movepools.

3. There needs to be a simple way to adjust every aspect of a pokemon you have from the ground up in a single menu, just like the showdown teambuilder. I get the whole build a connection with your pokemon and work hard to train them in your own original way thing, but at the same time not effectively being able to use your bros that you rolled the game with because you didn't raise them optimally is kinda lame. Just make it only available in the postgame, cost a lot of in game currency, and only available to level 100 pokemon.

4. Most shinies look worse

5. Pokemon needs to remove all of the artificial difficulty and implement more QOL before making games harder
 
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galarian darmanitan said:
2. I don't think starter pokemon should be powerful, at least without mega evolutions. They're the first one you get for no investment at all rather than ones you went through the effort to seek out in the wild and catch. They shouldn't be shitmons, because most kids can't beat the game without rolling it with their starter, but they shouldn't be top cut mons like blaziken or gren either, at least without mega evolution. People are already too attached to starters in this game to really nerf them now, but if I could run it back from the beginning I would reduce them to a universal 520 BST and maybe even cut down slightly on their movepools.
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Well, on positive note, in last 2 gens the only pokemon that reached the "op" status was Incineroar (and that's with its HA, so tecnically a way rarer version not obtainable normally)
 
galarian darmanitan said:
Well the sword and shield starters dont have their HAs in OU yet. Cinderace gets protean lmao
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That's fine, but you were talking about in-game pokemon, and ingame you aren't able to obtain HA starters in any gen in any way other than getting them traded to you / via event :P
 
Worldie said:
Well, on positive note, in last 2 gens the only pokemon that reached the "op" status was Incineroar (and that's with its HA, so tecnically a way rarer version not obtainable normally)
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So has Greninja and Blaziken, both got banned to Uber. Wonder if Cinderace will be the same?
 
A few more:
1. Blue (the character) is cooler than red.
2. Pokemon should never have put legends on the boxes and should have stuck with the starters. Its too much of a spoiler imo.
3. I think nuzlocke and its derivatives is stupid. People are free to enjoy what they want, of course, and if they find it fun that's 100% cool, but I personally don't see the point. If players want a challenge, I feel like they would have a much more rewarding experience playing pvp or just another game in general.
 
galarian darmanitan said:
A few more:
1. Blue (the character) is cooler than red.
2. Pokemon should never have put legends on the boxes and should have stuck with the starters. Its too much of a spoiler imo.
3. I think nuzlocke and its derivatives is stupid. People are free to enjoy what they want, of course, and if they find it fun that's 100% cool, but I personally don't see the point. If players want a challenge, I feel like they would have a much more rewarding experience playing pvp or just another game in general.
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1. No comment
2. Eh, I think it's important to have the legends as cover so that the players can choose which version to get based on their favourite legends.
3. I think those challenges are pointless too. If it's me, I will just use the most broken strategy that the game provides.
 
galarian darmanitan said:
A few more:
1. Blue (the character) is cooler than red.
2. Pokemon should never have put legends on the boxes and should have stuck with the starters. Its too much of a spoiler imo.
3. I think nuzlocke and its derivatives is stupid. People are free to enjoy what they want, of course, and if they find it fun that's 100% cool, but I personally don't see the point. If players want a challenge, I feel like they would have a much more rewarding experience playing pvp or just another game in general.
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Agree somewhat with point 2 in the sense that box art legends are huge spoilers, though the issue is complicated somewhat by the Gen 1 legends not really doing much of anything in the story, as well as being unaffiliated with any one game in particular. Also, putting a starter on the front doesn't really make much sense, as they aren't really affiliated with one particular game either. I think it would be better to either have a silhouette of the main legendary, or no Pokemon at all, though I recognize that those are significantly less marketable. The ideal would probably be something like what they do with Mystery Dungeon, where interesting scenarios are shown without any spoilers (note: there may actually be spoilers that I'm unaware of, as I haven't played these games).

As for Nuzlockes, the appeal, for me at least, are the stories you get out of them. While I never did end up getting them to work, I was inspired to find a GBA emulator and an Emerald ROM specifically to give Nuzlocking a shot, inspired by the comics and animations of runs by Notepaddle and Jaiden Animations.
 
Emerald is the best game, and no in-game challenge is harder than the Gen 3 Battle Frontier.

Anyone who says otherwise hasn't played the Pyramid, or the Palace where you literally just press A and PRAY you win.
 
Chef_ said:
Emerald is the best game, and no in-game challenge is harder than the Gen 3 Battle Frontier.

Anyone who says otherwise hasn't played the Pyramid, or the Palace where you literally just press A and PRAY you win.
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As someone who's done both imo gen 4 Frontier is harder (assuming we're talking all gold symbols/prints) just because of the factory, gen 4 factory has an extra round compared to gen 3 and there's more stuff that can go wrong since there's a lot more sets.
 
Chef_ said:
Emerald is the best game, and no in-game challenge is harder than the Gen 3 Battle Frontier.

Anyone who says otherwise hasn't played the Pyramid, or the Palace where you literally just press A and PRAY you win.
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I have played through both the Pyramid and the Palace in Emerald, and I disagree with you.

Not sure what you find difficult about the Pyramid. From what I remember, I found it fairly easy for the most part. You just had to adapt your team depending on the theme for the wild Pokémon in every round, while also having a well-built team that could handle trainers. I also found Blissey incredibly useful in the Pyramid since it can heal your team outside of battle and cure status during battle. I did find Gold Brandon to be really challenging though, I remember that I had serious problems in my battle against him. Probably the hardest Gold Battle against a Frontier Brain out of those that I have won. But the rest of the Pyramid wasn't super hard from what I can remember.

As for the Palace, it has a huge luck factor for sure, but it isn't only about luck. There are ways to raise your chance of winning. Since Natures are determining what attacks your Pokémon will use, picking a good Nature is one of the keys to victory. One strategy I have seen is using a team of Pokémon with Hasty Natures and 3 offensive attacks + Protect. Another strategy which have I thought about but never actually tried in practice was to make sure every Pokémon has at least one move from every category, making sure no turns are "wasted". And some Natures that are usually useful can still be good here, one example being Adamant which gets a huge chance of attacking when the Pokémon is below 50% HP. That said, I might just have been really lucky while battling at the Palace, but I recall that my team of Salamence/Starmie/Regice worked very well there.

If anything, my experiences with the Emerald Frontier are that the Pyramid and Palace are two of the easier facilities since I only lost once in each of them on my way to the Gold Symbol battle. The only one I had an easier time at was the Pike where I made it to Gold Lucy on my first try. I found the Arena, Dome and Tower considerably harder as I had to make a lot more tries at each of them. I haven't gotten the Gold Symbol from the Factory (yet), but I'd still say it is the hardest facility.

I do also not really agree that the Emerald Frontier is the hardest in-game challenge. As far as Battle Facilites go, I have always found the Subway in Gen 5 and the Tree in Gen 7 to be very tough and hard to beat. The Battle Agency wasn't all easy either but I think it was easier than the Factory since I managed to beat it in US/UM while I have yet to beat the Factory in either Emerald or Platinum. I also found the Battle Tower in Crystal extremely hard and unforgiving, but that might be because I was very young and had less experience when I battled at it. Regarding the Gen 4 Frontier, I found it easier than the Emerald Frontier on the whole. But I think this might have been because I used better Pokémon/teams and had more experience when I played the Platinum Frontier compared to the Emerald Frontier, which was basically my starting point for serious semi-competitive battling. Platinum only had 5 facilities and only required 49 wins for each facility (170 wins for the Hall), while Emerald required more variying amounts. Some were lower, others were higher. The most notable is that the Tower required 70 wins in Emerald but only 49 in Platinum. The Factory required less wins in Emerald though. And winning 100 battles in a row at the Platinum Tower to get the TC upgrade was another thing I found rather difficult and challenging from the Frontier there. On the whole, I'm not sure what I'd say the hardest in-game challenge in Pokémon is. The Emerald Frontier is a candidate for sure, but it faces competition from other facilities such as the Tree, Subway, Agency, Crystal Tower and Gen 4 Frontier (especially the Factory).

I also disagree about Emerald being the best game. While it was definitely the best for its time, it is no longer the best if you ask me. I find it to be mostly obsolete nowadays because of OR/AS. One possibly unpopular opinion of mine is that I think both Emerald and its Battle Frontier are overrated, which feels a bit sad to say since I really like them, but that's how it is. People often prefer Emerald over OR/AS and complain about OR/AS not having the Battle Frontier, but I do personally not care. I find OR/AS to be superior on the whole, even without the Frontier or anything else from Emerald. Playing through the Maison twice more after X/Y was fun enough for me, I liked trying new teams and strategies there. I also get the impression that many of those who complain aren't into Battle Facilities overall, they have never tried the Emerald Frontier and wouldn't have tried the Frontier if it had returned in OR/AS. I could be wrong, but this is the impression I get from many of those who complain.
 
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Suspicious Derivative said:
I have played through both the Pyramid and the Palace in Emerald, and I disagree with you.

Not sure what you find difficult about the Pyramid. From what I remember, I found it fairly easy for the most part. You just had to adapt your team depending on the theme for the wild Pokémon in every round, while also having a well-built team that could handle trainers. I also found Blissey incredibly useful in the Pyramid since it can heal your team outside of battle and cure status during battle. I did find Gold Brandon to be really challenging though, I remember that I had serious problems in my battle against him. Probably the hardest Gold Battle against a Frontier Brain out of those that I have won. But the rest of the Pyramid wasn't super hard from what I can remember.

As for the Palace, it has a huge luck factor for sure, but it isn't only about luck. There are ways to raise your chance of winning. Since Natures are determining what attacks your Pokémon will use, picking a good Nature is one of the keys to victory. One strategy I have seen is using a team of Pokémon with Hasty Natures and 3 offensive attacks + Protect. Another strategy which have I thought about but never actually tried in practice was to make sure every Pokémon has at least one move from every category, making sure no turns are "wasted". And some Natures that are usually useful can still be good here, one example being Adamant which gets a huge chance of attacking when the Pokémon is below 50% HP. That said, I might just have been really lucky while battling at the Palace, but I recall that my team of Salamence/Starmie/Regice worked very well there.

If anything, my experiences with the Emerald Frontier are that the Pyramid and Palace are two of the easier facilities since I only lost once in each of them on my way to the Gold Symbol battle. The only one I had an easier time at was the Pike where I made it to Gold Lucy on my first try. I found the Arena, Dome and Tower considerably harder as I had to make a lot more tries at each of them. I haven't gotten the Gold Symbol from the Factory (yet), but I'd still say it is the hardest facility.

I do also not really agree that the Emerald Frontier is the hardest in-game challenge. As far as Battle Facilites go, I have always found the Subway in Gen 5 and the Tree in Gen 7 to be very tough and hard to beat. The Battle Institute wasn't all easy either but I think it was easier than the Factory since I managed to beat it in US/UM, but I have yet to beat the Factory in either Emerald or Platinum. I also found the Battle Tower in Crystal extremely hard and unforgiving, but that might be because I was very young and had less experience when I battled at it. Regarding the Gen 4 Frontier, I found it easier than the Emerald Frontier on the whole. But I think this might have been because I used better Pokémon/teams and had more experience when I played the Platinum Frontier compared to the Emerald Frontier, which was basically my starting point for serious semi-competitive battling. Platinum only had 5 facilities and only required 49 wins for each facility (170 wins for the Hall), while Emerald required more variying amounts. Some were lower, others were higher. The most notable is that the Tower required 70 wins in Emerald but only 49 in Platinum. The Factory required less wins in Emerald though. And winning 100 battles in a row at the Platinum Tower to get the TC upgrade was another thing I found rather difficult and challenging from the Frontier there. On the whole, I'm not sure what I'd say the hardest in-game challenge in Pokémon is. The Emerald Frontier is a candidate for sure, but it faces competition from other facilities such as the Tree, Subway, Institute, Crystal Tower and Gen 4 Frontier (especially the Factory).

I also disagree about Emerald being the best game. While it was definitely the best for its time, it is no longer the best if you ask me. I find it to be mostly obsolete nowadays because of OR/AS. One possibly unpopular opinion of mine is that I think both Emerald and its Battle Frontier are overrated, which feels a bit sad to say since I really like them, but that's how it is. People often prefer Emerald over OR/AS and complain about OR/AS not having the Battle Frontier, but I do personally not care. I find OR/AS to be superior on the whole, even without the Frontier or anything else from Emerald. Playing through the Maison twice more after X/Y was fun enough for me, I liked trying new teams and strategies there. I also get the impression that many of those who complain aren't into Battle Facilities overall, they have never tried the Emerald Frontier and wouldn't have tried the Frontier if it had returned in OR/AS. I could be wrong, but this is the impression I get from many of those who complain.
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ORAS are definitely better than RS, but what does it for me with Emerald is the way that the Aqua and Magma stories are tweaked so that you fight against both. Part of it may be that I played Emerald before any of the other Hoenn games, but trying to go back and play the others just feels weird when the secondary team (Magma in Sapphire, Aqua in Ruby) is just kinda hangin' out.

I agree with you when you said Gen 4 Frontier is easier, mainly just because there's less hax that get pulled (in my experience). The guy who has the longest streak in the Gen 3 Tower lost to literally the perfect combo of an opposing team and unluckiness
 
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