I like HGSS, but I agree it's not really my first choice. It added content and fleshed out the bare-bones Johto of GSC, but it also didn't really fix the problems with GSC, either. Namely, the level problem and the Pokemon distribution problem.
it did fix the boring kanto problem though
It didn't. Kanto was still boring. It was just a boss rush to get to Red quickly.
i think it's rather unfair to say ORAS didn't go the extra mile. they made several story changes, added a postgame and gave us soaring. it didn't improve as much as HGSS did, and you might argue that some of the changes hurt the experience more than they elevate it, but you can still tell that these games were made with love. BDSP, on the other hand, is a loveless cashgrab.
Well, what I mean by HG/SS going all out is that it was clearly intended to be the definitive version of those games and included pretty much everything from Crystal, and I don't think it can be seriously argued OR/AS tried to do the same since almost everything from Emerald was left out.
they couldn't exactly adopt Emerald's plot, as they couldn't have us catch both groudon and kyogre. honestly, other than the battle frontier and the tougher gym battles, i don't really miss Emerald's stuff. Emerald bloated the plot anyway to make both of the evil teams relevant throughout.
The plot could be an issue but they absolutely could have let us capture both Groudon and Kyogre. Both cover legendaries were available in the Johto games and they were both available in the "third edition" releases. Make the "cover one" appear in it's ordinary spot, the other appears somewhere in the postgame.
My original statement stands; HG/SS included all the Johto content, OR/AS didn't do the same for Hoenn. OR/AS didn't try to be as good as possible like HG/SS did; they left lots of stuff out for whatever reasons (we know the BF was officially cut because it was hard).
maybe i'm a bit biased because i don't like most of the changes in Emerald, but i feel like ORAS did more than enough to justify its existence. the postgame, type matchup changes and the minor stuff like giving the evil teams more personality all contribute to an experience that is clearly superior to the gen 3 games, and while the story is a downgrade from RS (though still better than emerald imo), it's not from a lack of effort and love on the devs' part. BDSP on the other hand is a lazy port that doesn't strive to differentiate itself from the source material except when it can make the experience worse cough Exp share cough.
To expand on my comment about drawing a line between them, yeah, OR/AS wasn't just a prettied up re-release with minimal additions but I find it's additions were all pretty cheap compared to porting over the stuff from Emerald (Delta Episode mostly reused existing areas). There were complaints but they still sold well and plenty defended the decisions, and so the next set of remakes added almost nothing.
I actually find FRLG the most fun to play of them, but I can't deny HG/SS had way more stuff added to it than FR/LG did.
Probably because LGPE were great and they get dunked on unnecessarily. The art and style was amazing, the music was great, there were following and riding Pokemon, and there was less boring grind overall. All the magic of Kanto was there, in my opinion!
In my opinion, while Fire Red and Leaf Green were fun, they were just the gen one games with a fresh generation 3 Graphics coat. Sure there is the Sevi Islands, but still.
Making the game easier would also help with accessibility.
