Was gen 4 really that bad?

[Champloo]

As an old school player I always welcome improvements to the main Pokemon franchise and the 4th Gen was the biggest revamp in the best way possible. It pretty much made the template for how the games work now.

Numbers would prove otherwise about this whole 'hatred' of the 4th Gen.

 

[Dr. Buni]

Generation IV is still my favorite, it wasn't in any way bad. Sinnoh is a beautiful region, most of the Pokémon introduced are good-looking and I also like the fact that they are more alike the Pokémon of the first two generations in terms of art style. The mons of Gen III/V are more, well, eccentric The music in DPPt was amazing [better than the soundtracks of RBY/GSC/FRLG/HGSS, but lets face it, RSE still owns every other Pokémon game in terms of music], the characters were VERY interesting, including the leaders, the best Champion in the series and the awesome villain team. Talking about villains, Cyrus was awesome. N is nice, Ghetsis is the evilest and creepy as fuck, Giovanni is the classic mafia boss, but Cyrus still is the most deep and interesting villainous team leader in the franchise. THAT GUY WANTED TO DESTROY THE UNIVERSE.

Meh... How I love Generation IV. <3 It always hurt me when I see people talking bad things about this generation. Anyways, if there is (there isn't) a bad generation, it is the second one, which is nothing but an 'expansion' of Generation I. Still, like I said, there isn't a bad generation, I personally love all of them and I think every true fan of the series love all generations as I do.

 

[Phijkchu]

I loved Gen IV. I don't understand why it isn't loved. I guess people just like Gen I cause it was first. Gen IV had the Underground, the Distortion World, and a region only second(in my opinion) to Hoenn in terms of beauty.

 

[EmpoleonProd]

It's like how Hoenn was bashed on (and still is by older people). Now the kids who grew up with Hoenn are saying Sinnoh sucks and isn't the same and all that crap. I'm one of the few who will just blatantly and without reason accept any Pokemon game, because I like the franchise for what it is, not what I want it to be. I loved Platinum, one of my favorite games due to the extremely long story and so many places to go and explore.

 

[.vulpixie]

Gen IV is my favourite. I'd taken a 4-5 year break from the franchise before picking up Diamond. I enjoyed the story and I liked the map after the mess that was Hoenn. It took me a while to warm up to the new Pokémon, but I ended up loving the starters and also two of my now favourite Pokémon were introduced this gen (Togekiss and Glaceon). Platinum is my favourite of DPPt. I don't play games very much, but I somehow managed to put 70hrs into Platinum in one month when I first got it. ^^;\
And, of course, HGSS were remade this Gen - and SoulSilver is my favourite game in the franchise. I'm actually playing it while writing this post.

 

[Hidden Power]

Gen II wasn't that bad, it was one of the most revolutionary Generations as it splitted the moves into physical or special.

I think that some people dislike of Diamond and Pearl because:

* Sinnoh had a lack of fire types, then they added some in Platinum;

* you couldn't travel through gates in D/P, so you needed to put your bike out of the bag all the time. They also fixed this in Platinum;

* you had no longer any way to deposit items on PC, so you were forced to carry all the them and if you want to pick an item you need to scroll the section up or down;

* two huge snow routes that doesn't allow you to ride on bicycle and some swamp areas as well;

* a giant cave in the center of the map that is pain to get across, also one of the most complicated caverns that were ever designed.

 

[MidnightEclipse]

I really like Diamond and Pearl but they did have a lot of flaws. They improved most of them in Platinum though, except for the fog, I HATED the fog. I really liked all the regions I've been too, but Sinnoh is probably my favourite. I loved all the snow, the storyline and Team Galactic, the Pokémon and especially the music. I think Platinum is my favourite Pokémon game of all.

 

[Diamonds]

Gen 4 just slays. Here's why.

- The Sinnoh region is an amazing region with tons of places to explore. Plus I love the fact that history surrounds you in practically all parts of the region.
- Team Galactic is the best team story wise so far in my opinion.
- All the extra evolutions and pre-evolutions added to past pokemon were amazing. (Electivire, Magmortar, Leafeon, Glaceon, Yanmega, and my personal fave Togekiss.)
- While Diamond and Pearl were not my favorite games, Platinum built upon the weaknesses of DP and made an amazing game. Everything about Platinum is amazing.


Gen 4 is my second fave Gen, with Gen 3 being my fave ^_^

 

[Hidden Mew]

I really liked the fourth generation. It's one of my favorites, along with the fifth generation. It introduced some really great Pokemon, including my favorite one Lucario, had some awesome evolutions for older Pokemon, the Sinnoh region was so fun to explore, Team Galactic was a pretty good evil team and I really enjoyed the features added into Platinum, especially the Distortion World. It wasn't perfect, but I really didn't think ti was bad at all.

 

[Necrozma]

Personally, I don't find 4th gen to be bad at all.

I loved the fourth generation anime and Sinnoh is probably my favorite region because traveling through it in the games felt so exciting, like I was experiencing a true adventure. The amazing locations such as Canalave City or Floaroma Town and things like the heavy mythology surrounding Sinnoh and its gods really drew me into the game - I don't know - there's just something about those games that gives me that great feeling of excitement and adventure - that feeling further improved with the introduction of Distortion World in Pokémon Platinum. I mean, it was just a great game all around as well as great generation. ^^

 

[Combusken]

Going by MOST of the posts in this thread, no, it's not that bad or hated.

It IS my least favorite region/generation along with Johto (uh oh, fan blasphemy?). As much as I like DP anime, I don't like the actual games that much. Trying to replay them is always a pain in the ass because I don't like most of the Pokemon available during most of the game enough to train. :S

 

[Ryujin]

For Pokémon games, D/P weren't that great but Platinum sorted that out. Plus, Gen IV brought along so many advances and changes that are used in all Pokémon games now.
To list a few:
The GTS and Global Terminal.
Spin Trades
Wi-Fi games
not to mention Infernape is still one of the best fire types. (wipes out half my team usually).

 

[Winterdaze]

When people talk about Gen IV being bad, usually they are referring to the vanilla Diamond and Pearl, which had a lot of gameplay problems that shouldn't have existed in the finished product.

The Generation as a whole is much more favourably received, as the games following D/P had all the positive changes that came with Gen IV without the glaring flaws of the original pair.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

Depends. If we're talking about the anime? I'd have to say it was a noticeable step down for me from previous Generations, so I didn't like it, and it IS my least favorite generation in general. That being said, it wasn't BAD, but I definitely didn't like it.

The games were really dull to me, and the only real creativity I saw was Mt. Coronet. The clunky contrast between 2D and 3D did not work well, the Pokémon seemed lazily designed and rushed, and...needless to say, it really disappointed me in so many ways. Overall, it is my least favorite generation, but it still has its own good aspects, like any other generation.

 

[Dakhem Uaid]

The region is terrible and the pokemon are sub-par, but at least there were HeartGold and SoulSilver.

 

[Kelleo]

I loved gen 4! It's still my favorite along with gen 5. Second is gen 2, then gen 1, then gen 3 (the only generation I pretty much hated). Sinnoh is my favorite region and it has most of my favorite Pokemon as well as my favorite E4 member (Flint!) and one of my favorite gym leaders ever (Roark!). Although, it also has my least favorite Pokemon (Lickilicky). xP

The only thing I didn't like was the lack of Fire types and that one is my favorite type! DX Platinum did add more, but they weren't new ones.

 

[Miar]

DP!Sinnoh wasn't bad, just limited in choices (150 'Mons, two Fire families). Johto had plenty of Pokémon (256), but was bland by comparison of setting and story.

Those four were okay games, but Platinum was amazing for its time. It had more variety in Pokémon and looked even better. Plus, we got Origin!Giratina.

 

[MagicSauce]

Well, Gen IV certainly started to look a lot better after finishing V as far as new pokemon go... Although Gen IV redefined pokemon battles with the special / physical split and the plethora of new moves, its design concepts were weaker IMO, I'm probably a bit biased though (so strange to be under twenty and be able to say "back in my day") as I do prefer early gen pokemon as a general rule. Sinnoh itself as a region has its merits I think, the underground was fun and if we can count SS and HG in this evaluation of gen IV I personally thought the pokeathlon was brilliant - the exploration level was certainly heightened. My issue with gen IV is purely based on design quality, a lot of great ideas and typing a but just a lot of pokemon that look like they were drawn by someone running out of ideas. I wish they'd stop crapping out new pokemon non-stop and just make a deeper game, I'm not a hug fan of the anime but main series games with various tournaments and other components from in the show would be amazing! There's my $0.02

 

[bengrieve]

I actually don't understand all the love for Generation III... For me, it was a huge leap from II. Then Generation IV comes along and gets tons of hate. (I understand it is mostly directed toward D/P but still.) If anything, like others have said, Gen IV brought a lot of welcomed updates. It also gave us arguably the best games in the series, HG/SS. I couldn't possibly hate on this generation even if D/P/P aren't the best in the series.

As for the Pokédex, I have mixed feelings. I'll admit that I used to blindly hate on it before I actually played the games. Some of my favourite Pokémon come from Gen IV! Sure, there are some stupid designs but that can be said for all generations! For instance, a lot of people hate on Generation V's Pokémon when there are probably more stupid designs/sprites in the original games!

As far as I'm concerned, people will just blindly hate whatever is new. Even X/Y receives unwarranted hate and the games aren't even released.

As a side note: I don't at all get the hate for B2/W2. It improves upon the originals in so many ways. Sure, the fact that they had to make a direct sequel at all is lame but at least the games don't suck as much as B1/W1 did. (For the record, I liked the originals.)

 

[CynthiaLover]

Gen IV was far from the worst. Gen II was the worst, in my opinion, since all it did was smash two regions together for almost no real reason. Gen IV introduced a lot of improvements that have since been built up on, such as the physical/special split, which has pretty much changed the games forever. A lot of good Pokemon were introduced in Sinnoh as well. DP was the problem, though, as it had a fair few flaws that needed addressing. Luckily, Platinum fixed those problems and even built up the story even more. It could be a tad slow at times, but Platinum is one of my favorite games (bested only by White), and, despite flaws, it held it's own very well. There were a bit too many evo/pre-evo forms of many Pokemon in Sinnoh, but that's a minor gripe. It gave us great Pokemon like Torterra, Staraptor, Lucario, Garchomp, Infernape, Gliscor, and more. While Hoenn is still my favorite region, due to its sheer beauty and variety of terrains, Sinnoh did a very good job as a close second with the various terrains it provided (though the Fog bit was a sheer annoyance).

So, overall, Gen IV wasn't that bad. It had some quirks and flaws, yes, but it wasn't horrible. I can't see how it could be that bad. It wasn't perfect, but nothing is perfect, so I call it a success. If they didn't bother with HGSS then I'd be much happier, as they were a waste of space, revisiting a worthless region with another old and annoying one stuck to it. But Gen IV wasn't a disaster, it certainly had less faults than the first three gens did. So I'd call it a good gen.