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Games too outdated by now to enjoy

elveonora

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Have you ever encountered this feeling of wanting to start a new or continue your playthrough of some of the older Pokemon games, but then realized that some "x, y and z" elements aren't up to par anymore, being too outdated compared to the newer games and found that to be a problem, preventing you from touching the older games again?

Like this may sound crazy, but the last time I played Heartgold was just 3 months ago. I love everything about it and not simply because of nostalgia, but after playing Gen V lately, I've gotten used to moving sprites so much that seeing the static ones pre-gen V. is simply... uneasy.
Same for Platinum, I want to remind myself of what the Sinnoh fuss was all about, but I simply wish it had some of the newer features and improvements.

Which gens do you find hard to play now?
 
Gen 1 games, they are too archaic, outdated, poorly balanced for me to enjoy. I can still enjoy Gen 2 and up though.
 
I'll always enjoy RBY because of nostalgia (god I'm old...) but damn... lately it's hard to remember all of the balance changes that have taken place since gen I (rebalancing of certain moves, bug fixes, different type chart and most importantly the physical / special split...)
 
I was replaying Emerald for a while and I found it really hard to play because of how the levelling system is(Im now too used to the way it changed in Gen 5 and being able to switch the Exp Share on and off) and find myself desperately wishing for the Exp Share to level my team for the Elite 4. I am just so used to the way the games are now, that it's hard to play the older ones in general really and Im so used to the new graphics and all the changes that have been in the new games that the older ones are less enjoyable.
 
With Heartgold and Platinum, it's mostly the graphics that irk me. Even though Gen V wasn't that big of an improvement compared to Gen IV (considering they were on the same system) things such as animated sprites, dynamic camera angles and cutscenes do a lot to the overall impression, it's much more alive.
Also the older games have more limited movepool and I'd love me some Gen V moves and abilities in Heartgold ._.
 
Kinda off topic, but Heartgold is the newest pokemon game I got and I'm still playing it :p
 
I definitely wouldn't want to play RBY again, and probably not GSC either, but it doesn't matter too much because they have remakes. Game Freak updates their old games at just the right time IMO. Although I think in the future that may get more difficult because now we're reaching a point where multiple games and regions are slowly becoming outdated and it's going to be harder to keep up. For example, now that the GBA is obsolete, RS is out of date and is getting a remake, but what about FRLG? We do have Kanto playable on the DS, but not in the same way as FRLG. And then god help us when we move onto the next handheld and DS games become obsolete, then we have 4 regions going out of date all at once (Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and Unova), and they're certainly not going to keep up with that.
 
It's so flipping hard to play Gen 1-3 without the physical/special split. It's also really annoying to play before permanent TMs but I can handle Gen 4 games.
 
That's why I personally think that they should have waited with remakes this time around until after the 6th Gen. If I were them, then I would have made new Kanto, Johto, ORAS and Sinnoh of course, remakes all in the 7th Gen, with Unova remake coming out during 8th Gen on new hardware, successor to 3DS.

Also once and if another FR/LG, HG/SS remakes come out, then I would wish them to be a big single game titled Pokemon Indigo.
 
My only problem with Gen 4 (Haven't played any Pokémon games older than Platinum) compared to newer games is that the old exp system sort of forces you to use a minimalistic number of Pokémon or else you'll have to grind quite a bit to avoid being under-leveled.
 
I struggle to play the older games these days. I really want to play Platinum again, as it's been years since I actually played it, but I try to play it and I just end up bored and just thinking "it's missing x" or "it needs y". An example of this is reusable TMs. I find it really hard to play without reusable TMs as some Pokemon have really shoddy movepools in the older games and using the TMs would help.
 
Gen I, II, and III games are a little harder to enjoy, but not for a lot of the same reasons that people give. When Red and Blue first came out, almost everyone had those games and at least one person had a link cable available. Ahh, the times I spent playing Red with my friends in middle school... such fun. My original Red version's internal battery stopped working but I was able to get it fixed, but the problem is not having anyone to enjoy these games with. Every one of my friends either had their copies of the early games die on them and they don't want to risk fixing the internal battery problem, they no longer have the games period, or they had the problem fixed but lack a link cable. These games were a lot more fun when I had someone to enjoy them with, and I doubt I'll be able to relive that moment again. I can't say I really blame anyone who doesn't want to go back to using link cables again. I wouldn't want to go back, either. They were expensive, sometimes they would flake out on you at a bad moment which caused you to cancel a trade or battle, and the cables themselves weren't very long so you had to be super close to who you are playing with. Not good for a person who hates to be too close to other people.

In terms of wanting to complete the games, that would be impossible. If I want to complete a Pokedex, I can't do it without another person having an opposite version of what I'm playing and that damned link cable. No, the Missingno. glitch doesn't count! I want to do things the legitimate way. The only thing I can do is complete the main storyline and that's pretty much it. Kind of bleh, but now I just go back to Red and Gold for nostalgic purposes. Still, I will never miss the link cable. It was nice at the time, but I guess I got too spoiled with the DS line having the wireless communication feature.
 
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While the later Gens (well, mainly Gens 4-6) have some gorgeous graphics, and I've always loved the idea of the Physical/Special split, the first two Generations still have their benefits:

1. No abilities and natures. More competitive players may like them, but for people like me, they're more of a hassle than they're worth. For every fun ability like Pickup or useful one like Huge Power, there are multiple annoying ones like Static, Poison Point, and Effect Spore that don't do anything but suck up healing items and make grinding annoying. Or, Illuminate, which suck up Repels. Or, Levitate, which is handy if your side has it, but is beyond annoying when the enemy does (*cough*Koffing And Weezing*cough*). And, do I even need to get started on Arena Trap/Shadow Tag?

Natures are even worse. No longer can you just catch a Pokémon out of the wild and have it be good, no you have to either catch a million of the same species or start breeding (neither of which are my idea of fun), because who wants an Adamant Alakazam? The EV limit is just as bad. EV training is tedious, and you usually never know which EVs your Pokémon's getting until its too late. I understand that XY made this stuff a little easier, but I will probably never be a fan.

Plus, all of this is just more stuff I have to constantly look up and am never able to memorize, and honestly, I'm getting too old to be continuously doing that.

One thing I always liked about RBY and GSC was that with the right movesets and levels, your in-game team could also be used in Stadium, something that could never be true with the newer games. For people who don't like to box their hard-trained partners, that is a blessing.


2. Pokédex is way easier to complete. While Wi-Fi is a definite upgrade over link cables, on the other hand, there were only 251 Pokémon max by the end of the 8-bit era. And, only two of those were event Legendaries, both of which could be obtained by exploiting glitches. Suffice to say, there's a reason why "Gotta catch 'em all!" was dropped after Generation 2.


3. Glitches are fun. What's not to love about all of those Rare Candies, Master Balls, and TM26s in your Bag, courtesy of Missingno? Or, all of those cloned Pokémon in the PC? Or, just having your own Mew or Celebi? Sometimes, it's just fun to exploit the game's coding as much as possible without breaking it, and while Gens 3 and later have their glitches, none of them compare to the ones from the classics.


4. The type balance was different. Tired of Dragon, Steel, and Fighting Types running rampant? Want to see Psychic and Ice have more use? The earlier Generations might be worth checking out. Many types, such as Psychic, Ice, and Normal, were much better back in the old days, while others, such as Dragon and Fighting, were near-useless in RBY/GSC.


Obviously, I can't convince everyone to like the earlier Gens, and nobody has to play them if they don't want to, but they still have their advantages.
 
I had been telling myself that I should finish the main story line in Pokemon Pearl so I can transfer my Pokemon through Pokemon Black 2 and then to Pokemon X, but other things get in the way and I kept on just not finishing it. Half my team is under leveled and getting them to the right level range feels like grinding compared to Pokemon X where you can train the whole team. In Pearl, you can train up to two Pokemon at a time. Something is holding me back from finishing it, I had played with it a lot at the end of December, and now I'm getting ready to take on victory road. In Pokemon Black 2, I'm still eager to continue playing it so I can get the legendary Pokemon in game that I can get without the help of events. I got the game used a few months ago.


The pre gen IV games I find it hard to play since they feel like they're out of date compared to the current gen games. If I can ever locate my Pokemon Ruby, I could just turn on the game and see if I ever did catch Groundon. If I did, I would transfer it over to Pokemon Pearl in a heart beat.
 
Gen III-V graphics are fine for me, but I just can't play Gen 1 and 2, it really messes with my eyes. The other games are pretty fun, the only thing that gets on my nerves is the lack of X and Y's Exp. Share, without it the games feel way too grindy.
 
I won't play anything before Gen 4 now. Especially since everything has been remade from that time frame.
 
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