Why do so many people hate gen III?

[Mijzelffan]

Or at least consider it "the worst of the series"? I personally really like Gen III and it's my favourite generation. Just look at the good things it brought us: abilities, natures, contests, diffrent berries you can plant yourself, an easy to use box interface, way better looking graphics then before, more stuff to do with multiple players like record mixing, contests and berry blending, secret bases, and the battle frontier in emerald. The only negative thing I can think of is that it doesn't have any evolutions of pokemon from previous generations. So then why do so many people still dislike it?

 

[Rоulette Goddess]

I saw a few people labeling R/S as too short... too easy. Apparently, a few Pokémon didn't look like Pokémon at all. Also, the games started afresh (no Pidgey, no Rattata, no Kanto, etc.)... and that's about it. I personally LOVED these games. Hoenn is my favorite region, so yeah.

 

[$aturn¥oshi]

I didn't have a problem with it, but there was complaints about the water routes being too big.

 

[Ino-Chan]

It was for me mainly because fof the water routes being everywhere.

 

[Candy Christina]

I didn't particularly hate the 3rd gen, it's just my least favorite of them all. It didn't really have as much appeal to me as the 1st, 2nd, and 4th (sort of) did to me. The 3rd gen did have its perks, like abilities and what not, but it's got to the one that I enjoyed the least of the gens.

 

[Shinx3000]

I did not hate it, my favourite gen so far, maybe it was to do with R/S "starting fresh" with the Gen III, trying to redo everything from the start, with a blak canvis as it were, Gen III had only two preevolutions or post evolutions to existing pokemon, basically all new ones except wynaut and azurill, but IMO Gen III introduced very good pokemon.

Lack of things to do. After E4 all you had is Battle tower and contests and even with battle tower you had to have your pokemon at either lv50 or 100, for lv50, no higher which I am glad was sorted in D/P

No Day/Night system

Only one swarm of pokemon, after E4 surskit swarmed and that was it

I know people complained about water routes, but what do you expect from an island, sand everywhere?

Here is an interview about RS that might explain a few things: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=91965

Here are some good points:

For an advanced game, Ruby and Sapphire doesn't have spectacular graphics, it's a little basic. Could you explain why you have chosen these kind of simple graphics?

Mr Sugimori: Yes actually we had a reason for making these graphics simple this time. The basic graphics may simultaneously limit and enhance gameplay, for example if a map is very realistic, it might become more complicated, and then it would be hard for players to understand where to go next. However, an unrealistic map may not work as a good guide, so some of the realistic graphics may cause some limitations to the games. That's why we have kept these graphics more simple this time, and also in the battle scenes, if we had made the back of the battle scenes more realistic, it might point out where the battle was and so when you draw, you have to be more precise. That's why we didn't make it complicated.

I would like you to explain to our readers how did you use the Pokemon be featured in Ruby and Sapphire? With a complete new set of Pokemon, why did you include some and not all of the previous Pokemon?

Mr Sugimori: We try to balance on that account. Numbers is the most important aspect in this game and it would be hard for players to collect all Pokemon, but if the players can't really collect lower numbers of Pokemon, that makes the game more simple and not so interesting. So the number is very important. And in this new Pokemon game we wanted to add more new Pokemon, but there are many players who like all Pokemon from the previous games. So we try to balance on that also.

Which main features would you have liked to include in the new games, and for reasons of time, memory or any other reasons you cannot include finally?

Mr Masuda: Because the memory programmes are limited we couldn't add one aspect to this new game that we would have liked. We could not make one Pokemon make three sounds, for example we would have liked Pikachu to make two different kinds of sounds. When he is happy he may say "Pika", but when he is feeling sad he makes a little sound "Pikachu". We wanted to make more different sounds. We wanted a Pokemon to create many different kinds of sounds depending on the feelings that Pokemon is having.

 

[Sleet]

It introduced the worst Pokémon compared to the other three batches, had too much water, and didn't even have all the Pokémon until FireRed and LeafGreen came out. I liked generation 3, but just less than 1, 2 and 4.

 

[Shinx3000]

It introduced the worst Pokémon compared to the other three batches, had too much water, and didn't even have all the Pokémon until FireRed and LeafGreen came out. I liked generation 3, but just less than 1, 2 and 4.

Well many liked the Gen III pokemon, but not everyone did and I think thats why people thought FR/LG was created, so you could have Gen I and II pokemon in R/S by trading them over as their data was in RS filling the national dex.

 

[Psyburn]

If not for Sceptile, Armaldo and Kecleon, it would've been crap to me.

 

[AndyPKMN]

I loved Generation III. Hoenn was a refreshing change from your typical region, I loved the new Pokemon, and the fact that many old Pokemon got the boot was fixed with games like Colosseum, XD, FireRed, and LeafGreen. I loved many of the innovations, like abilities and secret bases. And graphicwise, I really couldn't imagine anything better at the time of their release (at least for a handheld Pokemon game)

Really, I think many of the people who didn't like Generation III didn't give it much of a chance.

 

[Mijzelffan]

If not for Sceptile, Armaldo and Kecleon, it would've been crap to me.

yeah, if you think so please say WHY you hate it. That's the reason why I made this topic in the first place. To see WHY some people hate it.

 

[zaichikarky]

I actually never played R/S... I played and beat FIre Red, though. It was nice.

I guess the game didn't appeal to me because it just seemed so foreign. A lot of the pokemon looked like robots or just really weird/ugly. Also surfing around on water so much of the time is kind of annoying. I might someday go pick up a copy of Ruby, but I'm not sure. I don't really mind missing out on that game.

 

[Maze]

All the water was kinda annoying indeed, I just don't like surfing that much. Didn't like the diving either.

I liked the pokemon though, nothing wrong with those.

 

[Phoenicks]

I liked Hoenn, but I didn't like Gen III. There were a couple reasons for this, but most of them come from the fact that it wasn't compatable with previous generations. How many people who played Gen II were sad when they found out that you couldn't transfer Red Gyrados or some of your other cool pokemon? Also, because they tried to limit the number of pokemon, some of the ideas behind the pokemon got re-used partially. Feebas was a rarer Magikarp. Ralts was Abra without teleport. They re-used the concepts behind these pokemon and how you interact with them. What's the point of new pokemon if not all of them are unique in concept? Finally, Gen III just expanded on previous ideas instead of bringing in new ones. Secret bases from the room in GSC, 2 v 2 battles were just an expansion, etc. It was just more of everything instead of new things.

 

[Starlight the ampharos]

Ralts was Abra without teleport.

I haven't played Gen III yet (planning to get Emerald and FireRed soon, and get the others for dongle mode), but their not very similar. I mean, there can be more than one humanoid psychic type.

 

[Orion-Sama]

More often than not, it's the "start from zero" bit. People were pissed off they couldn't get their precious Pokémon from GSC into this. Basically, they wanted another cakewalk of a game with the same old Pokémon every damn time. Having an all-new place with next to no links to all the old things was a no-go. I wanna see them deal better with a data issue as big as this one. I bet they'd rather not go through the hassle of making a pheriphery that'd allow the trade between Gen 2 and Gen 3 and make new games, which not only nets them way more money. It's ultimately better for the series as a whole.

Personally, I prefer the 3rd Generation even above the 4th. I don't know, I like it when the new Pokémon are, you know, actually new. 1st Gen did this for obvious reasons, and gladly, 3rd Gen also went this route, with only 2 Pokémon related to old ones. All the rest are 100% new, interesting and refresh the gameplay in a way GSC failed terribly to do. Training and getting to know new critters is where the true core of Pokémon lies at, and 3rd Gen did this really well thanks to the so-hated fresh start. In short, I'm glad it happened. I didn't want another damn Johto.

Hoenn was a much richer Region than Kanto and Johto, which felt samey. While this can be blamed on the system capabilities of the time, and even though Johto had amazing cities like Goldenrod and Ecruteak, as well as much more inspired locations than Kanto, Hoenn is the one Region that has an actual variety of environments all over it, and truly creative Cities and Towns. They're not all the same or generic, as they were in previous Generations, with a few exceptions. We've got a desert, a volcano, a vast sea, underwater areas, jungle, mountains, and a lot of lush and wonderful sceneries, which really stand out. Then we have Fortree, Sootopolis, Pacifidlog, Lavaridge, Fallarbor... even the more "generic" Towns and Cities have a charm of their own. Going through RSE was truly an experience thanks to the scenery alone.

The characters were all cool. I prefer the Johto Gym Leaders, but the Hoenn lot were also pretty cool, especially as far as looks are concerned. Also, RSE gave us a decent amount of supporting characters. Faces that stand out alonside the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four, which were few and counted in previous Generations. As for the evil Teams... the rivalry concept was really well done, at least in Emerald, where both stood as antagonists and their Leaders got differentiation. No matter how retarded or short-sighted their plans were, they had quite the spin on the tired Team Rocket stuff of the time, which was much-welcome. And personally, I like it when they stared to focus this one plot on the Legendary Pokémon. It's just a realistic take, whatever people say. Why should humans limit themselves to their own capabilities or methods, when they have an array of creatures to take advantage of in order to reach their objectives? Team Rocket did the same, but only Magma, Aqua, Cipher, Galactic, Go-Rock Squad and Dim Sun have actually taken this to the next level. And I like when such important Pokémon are actually involved in the plot, even if it forces one to catch them when it happens. It just adds more of a climax to the Evil Teams part.

The new features have enriched the gameplay and the core as much, if not more, than the Physical/Special spit, or the Special Stat split. Natures and IVs make each Pokémon truly unique, and Ablities are also interesting twists in the battle scene. The EV cap also adds to the strategy and the uniqueness, not to mention that it empowers a Trainer's style, which was merely limited to Pokémon and Movesets before it. Likewise, Pokémon feel more alive. No one can say that giving them Natures was detrimental. Even if some suck depending on the Pokémon, now they at least feel like true characters, and less like numbers, which was much more apparent in previous Generations, with only the Friendship to go by regarding a more "personal" attachment.

Pokémon Contests also added a new side-quest of sorts to focus on, not to mention a new Role in the Pokéworld and a way to make otherwise "useless" Pokémon in battles to have more of a sense of accomplishment. I dislike how they've been treated since Emerald, but it's a nice add-on nonetheless. Not to mention it adds more of a dynamic compared to the straightforward and non-interactive gameplay of the battles. And regarding the battle scene, we have the Battle Frontier, introduced in Emerald. Having more than one way to battle, and all those twists and turns... it was much refreshing, whether you like it or not. It's not as mindless as the generic battling, definitely.

Really, the only thing 3rd Gen lacked was a proper use of Real Time. However, if it was going to be like GSC, or even worse, like DPP, where it really doesn't makes much of a difference... I'm glad it's not in. Thanks to that, they polished the game where it's actually important.

Regarding other games... FRLG was a nice remake overall, but they left out several needed bits which make it not too good. Not to mention useless "Help" features, especially the flashback crap. That aside, they were a huge improvement in every way over the original games. Colosseum and XD, no matter how many people hate them, gave a new dimension to Pokémon, expanded the plot, and also allowed you to actually focus on training Pokémon you otherwise would ignore. All of these games were great jewels in their own way.

I've been into Pokémon since 1st Gen, but I can say without remorse that 3rd Gen has been the most enjoyable for me. I'll never understand why people hate it. Having Pokémon you dislike doesn't makes it any worse than other Generations. There's nothing wrong with preferences either, but it gets ridiculous when random people call 3rd Gen "skippable". Funnily enough, I still play my 3rd Gen games more than the 4th Gen ones. That might change once I get HeartGold, but 3rd Gen will still remain as an outstanding Generation that wasn't scared of moving away from tradition and gave those capable of appreciating its greatness a much-needed fresh start in this series. Hell, hadn't it been for Gen 3, I'd have abandoned Pokémon by now.

 

[Psyburn]

yeah, if you think so please say WHY you hate it. That's the reason why I made this topic in the first place. To see WHY some people hate it.

Why do I get the feeling that it'll be contested and challenged anyway?

 

[Hyasynth]

Ralts was Abra without teleport.

Until level 16, that is.

Hoenn was my favorite region what with starting anew, a colorful new batch of pokemon (I loved them, so colorful and creative. Isn't creativity a common theme to whine about with Gen4? Hypocrites~.) and the most memorable cities. Diving was pretty fun IMO, and what with Sapphire being my second ever pokemon game and the first where I actually was able to memorize all the pokemon, it has a special place in my heart. ♥

Ironic how Gen III is so hated when some of the Gen III pokemon have somewhat of a cult following (Blaziken? Gardevoir?) and introduced many features that some consider to be so important these days (like natures and the current EV/IV system).

FR/LG was less amazing for me, which is weird because Leaf Green was my first game. I liked it, but it was hard for me to appreciate it while I was still new to the gaming scene. It was nice though.
So yeah.

 

[Cybersai]

If they condensed the water routes which ticked people off, I don't think there'd be any reason to complain about it.

The water routes were my only problem, the actual Pokemon, design of the region, and Gym leaders were all fine.

 

[Psyburn]

Ironic how Gen III is so hated when some of the Gen III pokemon have somewhat of a cult following (Blaziken? Gardevoir?) and introduced many features that some consider to be so important these days (like natures and the current EV/IV system).

Because "platinum did it soooooo much better" >_>