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What do you miss most about the older games?

Well, it was the first game that didn't have Team Rocket, so...
I could have been more specific and mentioned Team Rocket, but I don't really miss them so much as the idea that a villain doesn't need to change the world. SM almost got this right, but honestly, I didn't like the UBs even if they didn't do much.
 
Playing the game without caring for EVs, IVs and Natures. Now that I know my Pokemon could be better, it's very unsatisfying to catch one without near-perfect characteristics.
That isn’t really the game’s fault, since the system has been the same for all entries, in fact, the recent games are actually better in this regard that you can train and make your story team better and even change natures now.
 
Playing the game without caring for EVs, IVs and Natures. Now that I know my Pokemon could be better, it's very unsatisfying to catch one without near-perfect characteristics.
Well, that's what I still do. At best, nature is just flavor text to me. IVs on the other hand, I only put attention to them, but that's because the Alola games were the first games that actually challenged me when I used only one Pokémon. Screw those Black Belts at Mt. Lanakila.

The sense of discovery and wonder from finding a species I'd never seen before. Now that I know all of the Pokemon, this feeling is forever lost to me - though I do find myself forgetting some of them exist, and getting surprised when I see them again...
I can kinda relate, since I do remember being amazed at finding things in Pokémon Sapphire (the Hoenn anime had not reached Latin America yet), so I didn't know what the hell was that black doggo I kept finding in the grass. I kinda miss not knowing how to use the internet.
 
That isn’t really the game’s fault, since the system has been the same for all entries, in fact, the recent games are actually better in this regard that you can train and make your story team better and even change natures now.
There was no EV cap in the first two generations, or natures. That's a big difference in itself.
 
*I preferred stat experience over EVs and feel like Natures weren't a great idea since there are so many "bad" natures for pretty much every Pokémon. It has gotten better over time, to be fair. (Edit: Worth noting that although natures are mostly relevant in pvp or competitive -speed can be pretty bad even in the main game--my Ninetales had one in Sw/Sh and lost battles because of it)
*Proper dungeons, with many routes and floors.
*Fewer cut scenes.
 
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*Proper dungeons, with many routes and floors.
This. I feel like the overworld should exist to give challenges too. Right now, it sort of feels like something pretty to look at while waiting for the next thing to happen.

I'd also like to note that I miss how light the plots were, how little seemed to be going on, the quaint sprites... But I don't want them to come BACK. I want big elaborate plots with stuff going on, I want DEEPLY fleshed out worlds, I want the best looking graphics possible. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have MASSIVE nostalgia for the simplicity of the originals.
 
Not exactly that I MISS it, but the difficulty; I can appreciate that in earlier games. The earlier games do feel more challenging if only because the leveling up is more tedious and thus you tend not to over level your Pokemon. For instance, in Soul Silver my team overall got to about the early 60s and that after pretty much beating the Kanto post game; while in Shield my team was already in the early to mid 60s BEFORE the last gym.

Plus, the fact that all TMs broke after one use (prior to Gen 5) made you really think about which Pokemon needed them more or made better use of them. And Lance in Soul Silver is by far the hardest Champion I've faced recently (I can't speak for Cynthia since I've yet to play the Sinnoh games). The vast majority of the newer Champions are pushovers.

Note: I'm referring back to Soul Silver because that's the oldest game I currently own, and I can't really remember all that much of the Game Boy games, which I did play back in the 90s.

Still, I say I not exactly miss it, because grinding in general is very tedious, and more so with weaker Pokemon. In such cases I'm glad the Exp. Share exists.
 
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I definitely miss the gym leader rematches more than anything. It was a really fun way to level grind.

And this. Gym leader and (I shall add) trainer rematches are fun because of the easier grinding, but also because you kind of see their Pokemon grow. I'm glad this feature at least was partially present in Galar with the possibility of rematching the Gym Leaders in the Finals.
 
And this. Gym leader and (I shall add) trainer rematches are fun because of the easier grinding, but also because you kind of see their Pokemon grow. I'm glad this feature at least was partially present in Galar with the possibility of rematching the Gym Leaders in the Finals.
Just don't make Leader rematch work the same way as Emerald. Whoever decided the rematches should be decided by RNG with no way to influence it like with normal trainers should have been fired.
 
I miss Secret Bases. I love decorating a secret little home for my character. Sometimes I like to rp that my character has a different backstory and lives in the wild or is on the run from something and the secret bases were their home/hide out.

I also miss the minigames from the game corner and the pokeathlon. They don't even need to make it a gambling thing they could turn it into an arcade/carnival thing.

A final thing I can think of would probably be maze-like areas to explore. I mean. As long as they're not caves. Unless we have no random encounters in caves. I can handle labyrinthine dungeons but don't make me get into a battle ever 2 seconds while going through one. I might lose what little sanity I have.
 
I also miss the minigames from the game corner and the pokeathlon. They don't even need to make it a gambling thing they could turn it into an arcade/carnival thing.
If I recall correctly, you could blame European laws on the Game Corner thing, considering Japan had a normal Game Corner in HGSS. Not sure why Pokéathlon is gone, though.
 
Trainer rematches are something I miss greatly, and I don't just mean rivals. The last we saw of that function was in ORAS due to the PokeNav+, but we haven't seen it since. That includes Gym Leader rematches like Platinum's Battleground. Sure, Sword/Shield do have that to a degree, in the form of the Champion Cup stuff, but it's nowhere as profitable and useful as places like the Battleground, where it was much easier to grind to your heart's content. But, overall, trainer rematches outside of rivals as a whole is something I sorely miss, as it was a good way to grind for EXP and cash as the game went on without needing to grind on wild Mons all the time.
 
* Exploration in general. I started to notice the lack of exploration in Alola but Galar turned it up to 11. I call it hallway land because everything in the region is nothing but a glorified hallway, pretty to look at but empty and linear. i miss places like Coronet Mountain, or those expansive routes in Hoenn, or dungeons like the Whirl Islands and Seafoam Islands.

* Rematches. Not just gym leaders but the normal trainers too. In Alola there was no good way to grind other than maybe the E4. And in Galar we have even EXP made so convenient there's no need for rebattling trainers. But I want to do it for fun GF. I don't care about competitive. I just want to have fun in the game.

* Side activities: like contests, pokeathlon, secret bases, underground, musicals, etc etc etc
 
The sprites. Legit, the sprites.

They gave Pokémon species so much personality and the colours were really nice. The models are really, really, really generic models and very washed out colours. It takes so much away from so many species.
 
Please note: The thread is from 4 years ago.
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