Unpopular opinions

Not if they decided to shoehorn Dynamax (alongside Eternatus) in Sinnoh, a region with an already heavily established lore. If they do, this will greatly hurt what uniqueness both Galar and Sinnoh tried to have.

But we can be confident that the next generation will invent a new super mechanic, hopefully nowhere as absurd as Dynamax. I feel like that mechanic already overstayed its welcome quickly, even faster than Mega Evolution or Z-Moves ever did.

That it did. People definitely seem a lot more negative about it than the other two, and I definitely share that sentiment. I loved Mega Evolution the moment I learned Charizard got a Dragon-type Mega that looked absolutely badass that finally propelled him into OU after ages below the tier. I loved it still more when relatively random guys like Beedrill, Sharpedo, Camerupt, and Pidgeot got it in ORAS as well as the Hoenn starters. It gave a lot of Pokemon cool niches or new viability they never likely had before, sometimes even to an absurd extreme (looking at you, Mega Kangaskhan with Parental Bond lol and Mega Lucario with Adaptability) but at least a much more manageable extreme than Dynamax/Gigantamax. I'm not as big a fan of Z-Moves but I also really like how you can be creative with them through stuff like Z-Splash and getting boosts from other Z-Moves.
 
But we can be confident that the next generation will invent a new super mechanic, hopefully nowhere as absurd as Dynamax. I feel like that mechanic already overstayed its welcome quickly, even faster than Mega Evolution or Z-Moves ever did.


That it did. People definitely seem a lot more negative about it than the other two, and I definitely share that sentiment.

You guys have never played VGC where Dynamax is nearly universally loved and it shows. But this is to be expected on a site where single 6v6 battles are the norm. Its balance in VGC comes from, at least from what I can tell, is that most things tend to run some bulk on them and in a mode where moves that hit both opposing Pokemon as king, D-max moves being single target while the secondary effect affects both Pokemon, depending on what the effect is, is fairly balanced there. And even though those moves damage through protect, a very common move, it only does a quarter of the damage and while it still activates the secondary effects, most of the time those are secondary and those effects have had the effect of making switching a little more prevalent.
 
Saying it undermines demand for Pokemon is like saying fast food establishments hurt fine dining or the NFL somehow undermines soccer from being more popular in America or to dumb it down even a little more...the existence of candy undermines the demand for chicken.. I don't buy that honestly and while I might be wrong, it doesn't really make sense from an economic perspective.
To be blunt, yes. You are wrong. This is material covered in intro to macroeconomics courses. Demand for one good reduces the demand for possible substitute goods, even if the substitute good does not completely fill every need of the original good. There are only so many sports fans, and if they're caring about and spending money on the NFL, they aren't caring about soccer (and require extra effort to change existing/entrenched preference). There's only so much time and money each household spends on food, and if they're spending that time at a fast food restaurant, they're not spending it at a fine dining establishment. Yes, some substitute goods are stronger than others and have stronger effects, and (the NFL) isn't a perfect substitute for (the MLS), but their demands are still inversely correlated.

As a whole, Pokemon lacks many strong/viable substitutes, which is a huge reason why it's so popular. But for specific aspects, like PVP and especially single-player difficulty, the substitutes are less weak. This partially explains why GameFreak puts less time and effort into these features than some would like, especially single-player difficulty, where it is competed against more strongly. Note that SWSH's most obvious focus of effort is where Pokemon lacks as many substitutes: the individual Pokemon themselves.

The Internet is literally the REASON why shiny hunting and stuff like that has become a fad
Shiny hunting is not a kid's fad, it's consistently disproportionately made up of older and more experienced fans. What I and others are looking at is kids.

as well as why people care to do stuff like Nuzlockes
Yes, Nuzlockes are an exception where a Pokemon difficulty challenge is still popular among kids. However, it wasn't made by Nintendo itself, which makes things more complicated if Nintendo would try to capture such a community with an in-game feature. This complication is another point against the viability of putting effort into the Frontier. Also, Nuzlockes and other exceptions aren't strong enough to fully compensate for the single-player accomplishment that Pokemon lost in the Internet transition (especially discovery, bragging ability to friends, and perception of difficulty, all of which are harmed by online walkthroughs).

I mean, just looking at one of the tier lists already present on this website or a YouTube video is all a kid needs to do to get through Pokemon if they've never played it before, and these happen to be pretty fun as well as informative. Pokemon isn't even difficult unless you Nuzlocke it or something (and even then it's easy to win if you take the time to heal Pokemon instead of risking them like I have a bad tendency to do and/or use X-Item spam to ensure you can power through major matchups as I did against even Red), it's not Sekiro or Dark Souls by any means.
Again, as far as single-player accomplishment specifically, Pokemon's problem isn't difficulty, but a difficulty-to-burned-time ratio that is too low. Other games tend to have higher difficulty accomplishment, less time needed to burn in gameplay to reach the same level of accomplishment, or both, giving them better accomplishment-to-time ratios. The Internet has made more kids aware of these other games with better ratios, giving Pokemon more competition in this area.
 
You guys have never played VGC where Dynamax is nearly universally loved and it shows. But this is to be expected on a site where single 6v6 battles are the norm. Its balance in VGC comes from, at least from what I can tell, is that most things tend to run some bulk on them and in a mode where moves that hit both opposing Pokemon as king, D-max moves being single target while the secondary effect affects both Pokemon, depending on what the effect is, is fairly balanced there. And even though those moves damage through protect, a very common move, it only does a quarter of the damage and while it still activates the secondary effects, most of the time those are secondary and those effects have had the effect of making switching a little more prevalent.
Except not everyone play the VGC format. While Dynamax may be more balanced there, it wasn't the case in every other scenarios, particularly in all 1v1 formats. Dynamax only succeeded in appealing one group in that case, and GF would come off as massively pandering the VGC group if they ever tried to bring back Dynamax in Sinnoh where it wouldn't be belong to, especially for sake of full game compatibility between SwSh and the DP remakes. Plus not every single players who played SwSh are automatically interested in VGC, especially since most of the SwSh battles are Singles, not Doubles.

I do say, however, that a metagame where extra bulk and moves that hit two Pokémon at once make sense for Dynamax to be - or at least feels - more balanced, since you don't see any Cinderace that won a World but a Rillaboom (through actual bulk) jut did iirc.

Still, you should not pander to one competitive group if it means to hinder the quality of the game as a whole. While VGC fans can enjoy Dynamax all they want, everyone else will be epically disappointed having to deal with a mechanic that is not well built for anything beyond VGC. Just because it is balanced on one format doesn't means it is in every other formats, after all.

You can still make a VGC-oriented super mechanic without making the individual Pokémon too powerful in other formats by granting strong Doubles-viable effects, after all. Striking a happy middle is difficult, but not impossible. You cannot please everyone, but trying to please just one small group the most in comparison to the casual audience is not something that will always ends well.
 
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Let's say you kind of struck one of the reasons for which Fortnite, Hearthstone and Mobas, and hell, even Pokemon Go are so popular nowadays, while other genres like RTS are slowly fading out of popularity: it's games you can pick up, play a match or two, and quit istantly when bored (as well as altf4 with very little penalty most of the time), with no preparation or commitment required.

As I said a few times, I don't think GameFreak's opinion on "modern kids liking games they can pick and drop on the fly" is wrong. Might not be due to low attention span or lazyness or dumbness, but they are spot on on the read.

And then you look at the pacing of the later games, *especially* Gen 7...
 
To be blunt, yes. You are wrong. This is material covered in intro to macroeconomics courses. Demand for one good reduces the demand for possible substitute goods, even if the substitute good does not completely fill every need of the original good. There are only so many sports fans, and if they're caring about and spending money on the NFL, they aren't caring about soccer (and require extra effort to change existing/entrenched preference). There's only so much time and money each household spends on food, and if they're spending that time at a fast food restaurant, they're not spending it at a fine dining establishment. Yes, some substitute goods are stronger than others and have stronger effects, and (the NFL) isn't a perfect substitute for (the MLS), but their demands are still inversely correlated.

As a whole, Pokemon lacks many strong/viable substitutes, which is a huge reason why it's so popular. But for specific aspects, like PVP and especially single-player difficulty, the substitutes are less weak. This partially explains why GameFreak puts less time and effort into these features than some would like, especially single-player difficulty, where it is competed against more strongly. Note that SWSH's most obvious focus of effort is where Pokemon lacks as many substitutes: the individual Pokemon themselves.


Shiny hunting is not a kid's fad, it's consistently disproportionately made up of older and more experienced fans. What I and others are looking at is kids.


Yes, Nuzlockes are an exception where a Pokemon difficulty challenge is still popular among kids. However, it wasn't made by Nintendo itself, which makes things more complicated if Nintendo would try to capture such a community with an in-game feature. This complication is another point against the viability of putting effort into the Frontier. Also, Nuzlockes and other exceptions aren't strong enough to fully compensate for the single-player accomplishment that Pokemon lost in the Internet transition (especially discovery, bragging ability to friends, and perception of difficulty, all of which are harmed by online walkthroughs).


Again, as far as single-player accomplishment specifically, Pokemon's problem isn't difficulty, but difficulty ratio that is too low. Other games tend to have higher difficulty accomplishment, less time needed to burn in gameplay to reach the same level of accomplishment, or both, giving them better time-to-accomplishment ratios. The Internet has made more kids aware of these other games with better ratios, giving Pokemon more competition in this field.

1. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not sold with your examples. Yes, demand for one good may reduce the demand for possible substitutes, but that would not realistically apply to a chicken vs candy example, it might apply to a chicken vs vegetable example (comparing Pokemon to not another RPG but instead another ''traditional'' video game like Tekken instead). Let's just say you'd have a very very hard time convincing anyone that candy is a realistic substitute for chicken. You're probably more accurate with the NFL vs soccer comparison, although that belies the fact that Americans as we currently speak are far more favorable towards the NFL even though both currently exist at the same time. I honestly doubt NFL would be much more popular (or soccer much less popular) if the other sport disappeared from history and the world itself.

2. I'm...not remotely convinced. Some of the most popular Pokemon games universally (and not just among adults, a lot of who played these games as kids anyway) come from generations known for notorious bosses - Gen 2 (Whitney, Red, and Clair) and Gen 4 (really just Cynthia), looking at you. Gen 5, arguably one of the hardest generations itself, is also becoming more well-loved and if kids are really such a significant part of the player base as y'all and Game Freak assume, I honestly doubt that's separate from the kids' own interests. I even wonder if kids and adults are all that divergent in their attitudes towards the game - Gen 7 ironically pisses adults off EXACTLY because they're slow and handholding, yet we're assuming the kids and even the more impatient ones among them would be fine with such a slow game either.

3. Shiny hunting isn't a fad belonging to any specific age group actually? Ever thought that the reason it looks like mostly ''adults'' do it is because...*gasp*...adults happen to have louder voices about Pokemon shit in general? My college professor's kid literally collected square and sparkle shinies in Sw/Sh and showed them to me. I just came across a YouTube video chronicling the shinies the YouTuber found as a kid. As a kid myself, I freaked out when I found two separate shinies and made sure to catch them - yes, that's not really shiny hunting, but it's not as if my kid self didn't appreciate shinies nonetheless and I see zero evidence to assume at least some kids wouldn't partake, especially when I know some did.

4. People really come off as apologists for Game Freak at best and going full on ''kids bad'' at worst, neither of which is particularly cool. Like it's pretty clear a massive and arguably the more influential portion of the player base is relatively grownup, it makes no sense to NOT cater to them ESPECIALLY when doing so doesn't even have to come at the expense of more ''casual'' players. In fact, given that the massive hysteria and even boycott threats regarding Sw/Sh came from so-called veteran players comparing them to earlier Pokemon games, BOTW, etc - who would naturally trend much older than the ''kids'' - it definitely seems as if it's the grownups and not the kids who have the loudest (and by proxy the most influential) voices. If kids dump Pokemon, you probably wouldn't even know it. If adults do, you sure will. It should be clear who has more influence.

Game Freak has an opportunity to maintain brand loyalty - possibly even draw in new fans - by allowing the possibility to maximize challenges (among other things like undoing the Pokemon removal, which I really doubt anyone liked). A difficulty setting available from the beginning literally solves that problem, quick as spit, most ''casuals'' will play casually and anyone wanting a challenge would know what to do.

Just create the option. It's not hard. Y'all did it with B2W2, don't pretend you can't do it now. And make the Exp. Share its SM equivalent.
 
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Except not everyone play the VGC format. While Dynamax may be more balanced there, it wasn't the case in every other scenarios, particularly in all 1v1 formats. Dynamax only succeeded in appealing one group in that case, and GF would come off as massively pandering the VGC group if they ever tried to bring back Dynamax in Sinnoh where it wouldn't be belong to, especially for sake of full game compatibility between SwSh and the DP remakes. Plus not every single players who played SwSh are automatically interested in VGC, especially since most of the SwSh battles are Singles, not Doubles.

You should not pander to one competitive group if it means to hinder the quality of the game as a whole. While VGC fans can enjoy Dynamax all they want, everyone else will be epically disappointed having to deal with a mechanic that is not well built for anything beyond VGC. Just because it is balanced on one format doesn't means it is in every other formats, after all.

You can still make a VGC-oriented super mechanic without making the individual Pokémon too powerful in other formats by granting strong Doubles-viable effects, after all. Striking a happy middle is difficult, but not impossible. You cannot please everyone, but trying to please just one small group the most in comparison to the casual audience is not something that will always ends well.
What other formats? As far as GameFreak go, the only other format there is is 3v3 singles. And when it comes to in-game, you could only use D-max in certain locations, unlike Z-moves or Mega Evolution, so you could not abuse the mechanic throughout the game.
 
What other formats? As far as GameFreak go, the only other format there is is 3v3 singles. And when it comes to in-game, you could only use D-max in certain locations, unlike Z-moves or Mega Evolution, so you could not abuse the mechanic throughout the game.
That is true but 3v3 singles is simply became unfun as long as Dynamax is around as it is either massive stall or massive offense, and while in-game it is restricted to certain locations, the AI made awful use of it by making only the last Pokémon (i.e. their Ace) to use it, making it all too easy for the player to exploit against the last Pokémon by Dynamaxing when the Gym Leader / Oleana / Rose / Leon / Mustard / Rival / Peony is down to just three Pokémon and the player's Dynamaxed Pokémon already getting boosts against the Ace, ensuring a OHKO or at least putting it to the red. And again, in-game is mostly Singles, which means not all players knows what Dynamax can really do, either, beyond of course the Max Raid, but that one have its own shares of problems unfortunately.

Sure, newcomers don't know instantly in advance on who would be the bosses' Ace, but simple knowledge and how the AI goes will make newcomers to discover a pattern very quickly. Not every children, sure, but older players will quickly notice a pattern about it and try to take advantage of that in-game opponent Dynamax pattern. I could be wrong on that, but I still stand about 3v3 singles and general uses.
 
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Anyway, I didn't come to dislike Dynamax through competitive battling, but you know... the actual in-game raids... which until the release of the DLCs were literally the only postgame content available... I hate the hideously buggy online wild area, I hate the useless NPCs, I hate how convoluted it is to play with friends, I hate the hackers and griefers, I hate the fucking catch rates. I don't understand how they managed to make this mechanic, which during your playthrough is IMO the most fun part of the base game, into such a frustrating mess once you beat Leon.
 
Aegon, I think you're being a bit hasty to respond and could benefit from thinking through your points the extra second. Multiple times you've been pretty off-base with what I'm saying or just incorrect.

generations known for notorious bosses - Gen 2 (Whitney, Red, and Clair)
Yes... the game with three notorious bosses to boost single player accomplishment was the one released before the modern internet, when such accomplishment was more valuable for the franchise economically. That exactly plays into with what I'm saying. My point is about how single player accomplishment isn't as incentivized for the franchise now post-modern-Internet.

Gen 5, arguably one of the hardest generations itself, is also becoming more well-loved
Gen 5 is becoming more well-loved now, when the kids who played it are older and looking back. Gen 5 being popular now isn't the answer to the preferences of people who are kids now, which is what we're analyzing.

Shiny hunting isn't a fad belonging to any specific age group actually?
I simply did not say this. I said that shiny hunting had a much higher percentage of older and more experienced fans (be they upper teens or literally adults) than the franchise overall. This is a true statement, and a statement that makes shiny hunting less relevant (even if not zero relevant) to determining the preferences of kids.

Like it's pretty clear a massive and arguably the more influential portion of the player base is relatively grownup, it makes no sense to NOT cater to them ESPECIALLY when doing so doesn't even have to come at the expense of more ''casual'' players.
There's two reasons this doesn't work this way:
Grownup fans tend to be more established, which means they're more likely to buy games even if you don't directly cater to them, which means there is less economic incentive to cater to them.
Any effort into a feature that doesn't benefit everyone equally means less effort spent somewhere else, so someone is inevitably losing hours spent towards them.

1. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm not sold with your examples. Yes, demand for one good may reduce the demand for possible substitutes, but that would not realistically apply to a chicken vs candy example, it might apply to a chicken vs vegetable example (comparing Pokemon to not another RPG but instead another ''traditional'' video game like Tekken instead). Let's just say you'd have a very very hard time convincing anyone that candy is a realistic substitute for chicken. You're probably more accurate with the NFL vs soccer comparison, although that belies the fact that Americans as we currently speak are far more favorable towards the NFL even though both currently exist at the same time. I honestly doubt NFL would be much more popular (or soccer much less popular) if the other sport disappeared from history and the world itself.
I'm honestly not sure what you're trying to say here or how it is relevant to kid gaming preferences. The existence of other games with equal or better single-player accomplishment provides competition to Pokemon's single-player accomplishment experience, so difficulty in Pokemon doesn't help the franchise sell as much as it used to.
 
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I don't think I'm too hasty at all, actually. Apologies if I misconstrued your arguments.

1. Um, single player accomplishment is still a thing. It has and always will be a thing, a lot of people play the game for the challenge and then some, not just the challenge. People still by and large consider Gen 2 one of the best ever, this thread notwithstanding. Gen 4 is even newer and was popular both when it came out and today. I see no reason to think, thus far, that kids are any exception to these general trends. My kid cousins sure enjoyed Gen 4, they were maybe 13 at most and were crazy Pokemon fans (even playing and liking Gen 2 as well as Gen 3) even before that age. That's anecdotal evidence admittedly but it's still more than anyone else has provided, and I've provided more anecdotal evidence in my last post alone.

2. You might be right on this note, but you're also assuming they still aren't kids. Do you really think all those videos memeing Gen V music are from our generations? I'm not sold - Gen Z, if it differs from our generations in any way, would be MORE likely to pull off memes like this.

3. It's not a true statement if there's no proof for it, and even if there was, you have to prove that the age proportions for those who shiny hunt and the age proportions for those who play Pokemon are significantly different. I have seen no evidence of that, anecdotal or otherwise.

4. I disagree, given that grownup fans are also more DISCERNING (for better or worse) and seek out games. Being more established doesn't mean you'll throw your money at something if you don't know or think it's good, why would older fans throw their limited money at Pokemon XY when they can buy a much better game for the same or even slightly higher price? They've likely played more games too.

The kids meanwhile have to directly depend on their parents, who may or may not actually get them the games lol. Also, the ''less effort spent somewhere else'' is headcanon (never mind the fact that that ''somewhere else'' might not even be a big deal at all for the players), Game Freak can wait longer to release a new game instead of doing it like every year, and if necessary work with more people. Have you not seen pages of people complaining that GF is rushing games out like every year instead of taking the time to actually perfect them instead? That's another complaint I'd support, by the way. Let's stop apologizing for GF's poor marketing.

5. Funny you say this now when you were willing to bust out principles of basic microeconomics in your last reply lol. My point is that according to basic economic concepts, your arguments really don't make sense. I do not buy Fortnite being significant competition for Pokemon. You're putting too much weight into ''single player accomplishment'' when people play games for far more than ''accomplishment'', they do it for fun and recreation too, and the accomplishment can be attained in yet more ways like shiny hunting, Nuzlockes, etc. as we have discussed.

Pokemon is about the journey, not just the battles, though the battles are undeniably a major part of what makes it work. It may be popular on Smogon to get it the other way around I guess, not saying you are, but you may be thinking others are.

Tbh we should do more research rather than simply making excuses for Game Freak and stereotyping an entire age group without evidence. I'm not saying I'm right, I could very well be wrong, I just genuinely doubt it based on my experiences as a kid and knowing other kids and my logic.
 
Yes, please feel free to (dis)agree.

Unpopular opinion: Super Smash Bros for the Wii U is trash for not having a story mode. It's also weird that people want to play Brawl or Melee when the much better designed Wii U version exists (for multi-player battles anyway, it's still trash otherwise). Like story modes are cool and all, but if you wanna play multiplayer, the latest version quite honestly would be the best in my view, it's sooo much better aesthetically and in character choices.
  1. Smash Wii U is no longer the most recent version. Ultimate is.
  2. There's more to a game than aesthetics and number of characters. Mechanics are also a thing.
  3. Most multiplayer game franchises do this, regardless of whether or not people think it's mechanically better than its predecessors, because a multiplayer game is nothing without a community and the most recent version is often the most popular. A game like Melee that remains popular and relevant two decades after release is incredibly rare.
  4. This is a Pokemon forum.
 
  1. Smash Wii U is no longer the most recent version. Ultimate is.
  2. There's more to a game than aesthetics and number of characters. Mechanics are also a thing.
  3. Most multiplayer game franchises do this, regardless of whether or not people think it's mechanically better than its predecessors, because a multiplayer game is nothing without a community and the most recent version is often the most popular. A game like Melee that remains popular and relevant two decades after release is incredibly rare.
  4. This is a Pokemon forum.

1. I meant at the time (2016) it was the most latest version - should have made it clearer.

2. Don't disagree.

3. Fair.

4. Didn't stop others from bringing up Smash in earlier posts. But fine, I guess...

5. Not sure what you're angry at?
 
Not if they decided to shoehorn Dynamax (alongside Eternatus) in Sinnoh, a region with an already heavily established lore. If they do, this will greatly hurt what uniqueness both Galar and Sinnoh tried to have.

But we can be confident that the next generation will invent a new super mechanic, hopefully nowhere as absurd as Dynamax. I feel like that mechanic already overstayed its welcome quickly, even faster than Mega Evolution or Z-Moves ever did.

That's what I'm saying. Either wait more for the next generation and give the inevitable remake more time to polish, or have it now and let 'Haha beeeg Pokemon go whoosh' overtake another metagame.

On another note
For what I've seen, this is so true for many people. Not for me, you are still a mess, X and Y.
 
I actually think FRLG are good remakes.

1) RBY is a lovable mess, which FRLG cleaned up mechanics wise.
2) Character redesigns are really good.
3) Much cleaner looking Pokemon sprites than anything before it, and Emerald after it.
4) We've been spoiled by Gen 2's postgame, but I enjoyed the Sevii Islands postgame a lot. Granted the plot was very simple, I felt that's where the beauty was: just exploring new places and finding new Pokemon.
5) Great music. While this is a given for any Pokemon game, I think the FRLG champion theme is the greatest battle theme we've ever had. I also think the remixed GSC themes for the Sevii Isles are even better than the HGSS versions.
6) Elite 4 and Champion rematches with improved teams, which was the first time it was included and wasn't included again until Platinum. I wish we could rematch gym leaders though. That felt like it was dying to happen but didn't.
7) Added an extra place to grind between Blaine and Giovanni battles with a side plot.
 
I actually think FRLG are good remakes.

1) RBY is a lovable mess, which FRLG cleaned up mechanics wise.
2) Character redesigns are really good.
3) Much cleaner looking Pokemon sprites than anything before it, and Emerald after it.
4) We've been spoiled by Gen 2's postgame, but I enjoyed the Sevii Islands postgame a lot. Granted the plot was very simple, I felt that's where the beauty was: just exploring new places and finding new Pokemon.
5) Great music. While this is a given for any Pokemon game, I think the FRLG champion theme is the greatest battle theme we've ever had. I also think the remixed GSC themes for the Sevii Isles are even better than the HGSS versions.
6) Elite 4 and Champion rematches with improved teams, which was the first time it was included and wasn't included again until Platinum. I wish we could rematch gym leaders though. That felt like it was dying to happen but didn't.
7) Added an extra place to grind between Blaine and Giovanni battles with a side plot.

Yo. FR/LG are amazing.
 
I actually think FRLG are good remakes.

1) RBY is a lovable mess, which FRLG cleaned up mechanics wise.
2) Character redesigns are really good.
3) Much cleaner looking Pokemon sprites than anything before it, and Emerald after it.
4) We've been spoiled by Gen 2's postgame, but I enjoyed the Sevii Islands postgame a lot. Granted the plot was very simple, I felt that's where the beauty was: just exploring new places and finding new Pokemon.
5) Great music. While this is a given for any Pokemon game, I think the FRLG champion theme is the greatest battle theme we've ever had. I also think the remixed GSC themes for the Sevii Isles are even better than the HGSS versions.
6) Elite 4 and Champion rematches with improved teams, which was the first time it was included and wasn't included again until Platinum. I wish we could rematch gym leaders though. That felt like it was dying to happen but didn't.
7) Added an extra place to grind between Blaine and Giovanni battles with a side plot.

5. Music of FRLG is pretty good. I remember being quite shocked when I faced Articuno and it showed a variation of the wild theme. That said, I wish they had went more on that route, have more battle themes geez. The rival still uses the regular trainer battle theme until the champion battle, all of Team Rocket uses the same trainer theme, the Elite Four just use the Gym Leader theme (and in the og game, all but Lance use THE REGULAR TRAINER THEME). What's worse is that for the second Kanto remake 14 years later, it still lacks battle ost -_-

6. Really great addition, although the next game, Emerald didn't have them (ORAS does, and people still say it's lacking :mehowth: ) and grinding levels in that game is very slow. Neither did DP, but starting with Platinum it does! Then XY drops it...but it comes back for later titles. Still, FRLG invented it!

I want to add another great addition that only lived until the Sinnoh games and better PRAY the inevitable remakes include it: the Vs Seeker. It's a fun addition to battle any trainer whenever you want and a good training tool, only complaint is that it doesn't work in caves, indoors, etc. for some reason...
 
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I have no hope for Diamond and Pearl remakes. I recall looking forward during the Gen 7 era what they could do to improve the games.
Generation 4 is one of my least favorite generations. DP have insane amount of issues. Let's go over refreshing some of our memories:
- lack of Fire types because "cold region", and still adding an elite 4 member specializing in fire types... I criticized Gen 3 for the lack of good fire types and fire types in general, but even then you will have a hard time in a region with "too much water". But in Sinnoh, you basicly require a Fire Type, otherwise you will be walled by Bronzel and Bronzong. But your only option are less than half the amount of Hoenn's evolutionary lines. The starter and Ponyta. And there is no way around it, Ponyta is awful in DP because no Flamewheel, horrible movepool and evolves at lv40.
But hey, you can teach it Fire Blast and 80 SpA is respectable. It rivals Monferno too.
- it's a cold region, but no early game ice types and there is a lack of ice types too. Why does Candice even have 4 Pokemon if she can't have a full team of ice types. Also by the time you have an ice type, you have a water type with ice attacks which is better to begin with. Ice Types usually suck in game too because of the horrible way you can obtain them. I recall Articuno being the only classic ice type worth adding to your team. Maybe there are more.
- You have to see all the Pokemon in the Pokedex to get access to the post-game and palpark
- too many legendaries making them less valuable and the enjoyment (for me at least) to find them and catch gets repetitive and boring
- too many myphical Pokemon. I still can't get it believe the reasons given for the lack of an Azure Flute distribution. Gosh, where could be the most important place be where I could encounter a deity Pokemon? If only there were some hint where to use the damn flute. We will never solve it like we never solved the Regi-riddles.
- still having version exclusive legendary Pokemon.
- too many HMs
- honey trees

What I want is fixing some of these issue, because while I dislike Gen 4, I feel it has actual potential. But seeing what GF is doing time and time again, I have no hope honestly. Giratina will likely be stationary, you catch it and somewhere an old lady will give you the Platinum Orb. And Flint will likely have no fire types until the post game, if that even exists. Maybe he will have Charizard because at least he is in SwSh.
 
I criticized Gen 3 for the lack of good fire types and fire types in general
To be fair: camerupt and torkoal are both pretty decent choices. Not the best pokémon out there but it could be worse. I do agree that fire types really aren't useful in Hoenn though. The only good matchup is steven's steel type, and in Emerald, they're basically worthless, unless you're really struggling with Wattson (can you even get a fire type before his gym though?), or you really need something for the post-game Steven fight.
I agree with the rest of your post, just wanted to point this out.
 
I have no hope for Diamond and Pearl remakes. I recall looking forward during the Gen 7 era what they could do to improve the games.
Generation 4 is one of my least favorite generations. DP have insane amount of issues. Let's go over refreshing some of our memories:
- lack of Fire types because "cold region", and still adding an elite 4 member specializing in fire types... I criticized Gen 3 for the lack of good fire types and fire types in general, but even then you will have a hard time in a region with "too much water". But in Sinnoh, you basicly require a Fire Type, otherwise you will be walled by Bronzel and Bronzong. But your only option are less than half the amount of Hoenn's evolutionary lines. The starter and Ponyta. And there is no way around it, Ponyta is awful in DP because no Flamewheel, horrible movepool and evolves at lv40.
But hey, you can teach it Fire Blast and 80 SpA is respectable. It rivals Monferno too.
- it's a cold region, but no early game ice types and there is a lack of ice types too. Why does Candice even have 4 Pokemon if she can't have a full team of ice types. Also by the time you have an ice type, you have a water type with ice attacks which is better to begin with. Ice Types usually suck in game too because of the horrible way you can obtain them. I recall Articuno being the only classic ice type worth adding to your team. Maybe there are more.
- You have to see all the Pokemon in the Pokedex to get access to the post-game and palpark
- too many legendaries making them less valuable and the enjoyment (for me at least) to find them and catch gets repetitive and boring
- too many myphical Pokemon. I still can't get it believe the reasons given for the lack of an Azure Flute distribution. Gosh, where could be the most important place be where I could encounter a deity Pokemon? If only there were some hint where to use the damn flute. We will never solve it like we never solved the Regi-riddles.
- still having version exclusive legendary Pokemon.
- too many HMs
- honey trees

What I want is fixing some of these issue, because while I dislike Gen 4, I feel it has actual potential. But seeing what GF is doing time and time again, I have no hope honestly. Giratina will likely be stationary, you catch it and somewhere an old lady will give you the Platinum Orb. And Flint will likely have no fire types until the post game, if that even exists. Maybe he will have Charizard because at least he is in SwSh.
To be fair: camerupt and torkoal are both pretty decent choices. Not the best pokémon out there but it could be worse. I do agree that fire types really aren't useful in Hoenn though. The only good matchup is steven's steel type, and in Emerald, they're basically worthless, unless you're really struggling with Wattson (can you even get a fire type before his gym though?), or you really need something for the post-game Steven fight.
I agree with the rest of your post, just wanted to point this out.
Wait until people starting to call the DP remakes as the absolute worst Pokémon remake of all time, and that's only likely if they try to make it as SwSh compatible as possible instead of making DP remakes their own game. Dynamax in Sinnoh can also run a huge risk of immersion breaking than Mega Evolution or Z-Moves does, because it was supposed to be so heavily Galar-only that somehow bringing it in any other region with an already highly established lore will break the point of willing supsension of disbelief, especially if it ended up being the reason why some features, such as Underground, ends up being removed.

I was expecting the worst but hope for the best, although I should not say anything wishful things because that would reach the forbidden wish listing level of listing, but most I can say is that the game speed, unless GF somehow completely screw it up, will be an improvement from the original DP games.
 
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