4th Gen Difficulty

[.Occam]

So far (two gyms into Kanto) I thought Platinum was harder than HG. The gym leaders and elite four appeared to have a greater variety in their pokemons' movepools to toss a wrench into the obvious counters. There were very few fights that required me to use more than one or two pokemon to wipe their teams, and in the case of Will if I used any of the other four they would've gotten owned (my team has 3 part poison and a fighting)

 

[Air Pichu]

I think HG/SS was pretty hard. I had a lot of trouble with the E4 and in Plat, I swept the E4. I also like the fact that Red's Pkmn are higher level now (and I came in with Lv. 60s - 70s) which makes him pretty tough. I started with Cyndaquil and I guess it was a bit easy until I beat Claire.

As for the E4, I had the toughest time with Karen. Her OHKO'd my PKMN when it used Nasty Plot. Lance was a bit easy.... Feraligatr's Ice Beam destroyed them.

 

[carter756978]

totodile is by far the easiest starter to use... and anyway i thought the game was much easier than before.

 

[Blue Nocturne]

This game was harder than the original G/S because of the much better moves and AI to throw a twig in the rotating bike wheels of experience. I agree that Totodile is probably the best choice, as he has access to ice moves and good old crunch making him a good all-rounder. I chose Cyndaquil and regretted doing so, to me he was just a fire type pokemon, and had a very limited movepool.

Falkner was a lot harder than expected, but was still quite easy, since i had a Geodude with Rock Throw. His roost annoyed me though.

Bugsy was quite difficult, and quite surprising to the 1HKO he was in GS. His Scyther was just painful. He wasn't too difficult though because of my strengths against bugs.

Whitney was surprisingly easy since i got the machop, Miltank lived up to its namesake as always, no matter what way you look at it.

Morty was quite a challenge once his Gengar came into play, as it immediately KO'ed the Haunter i had used against his previous pokemon. The addition of Sucker Punch was interesting, and made him much harder than before, although still open to Hypnosis.

Chuck was painful, He immediately took down my Pidgeotto with Poliwrath (after having his primape tossed aside), then it took the combined effort of all the others to take poliwrath down, although Haunter did a lot of the work.

Jasmine was no harder than in GS, but was still an obstacle because of that monstrous Steelix. Despite my elemental strengths against Steel, its defense made it a nightmare.

Pryce was easier than in GS, which i didn't know was possible.

Clair was surprisingly easy, but thats probably because i prepared more against dragons than in GS, but her Kingdra was still quite a pain.

The E4 were dissapointing, apart from Bruno who was surprisingly difficult than before. Will was much easier compared to GS, but that might be once again due to me being more prepared against him.

Kanto had a great 'not too tough, not too easy' feeling to it, which suited it being a further challenge as well a suitable drop after you become the pokemon champion. Blue was a decent challenge though, mostly because Bulbapedia lied about what his first pokemon was.

 

[linkinpark187]

This game was harder than the original G/S because of the much better moves and AI to throw a twig in the rotating bike wheels of experience.

How much experience are you talking about? I personally found this game to be pretty easy. I've also had well over 10 years experience with the games. With all the incremental additions that have been going into the series over the past few years, it may have even made the game a bit easier than it's classic counterparts. Maybe that's just me, though.

Think about it, though. Back in the original Gold & Silver series, there were no natures, the IV/EV system was pretty crude, Fly never did 90 damage (only 70)... I'm sure I could make quite the list of changes from then to now. As for the comment about Chikorita from bruteroot, I agree. My first play through in Heart Gold, I got a Chikorita with a Modest nature which opened my options wide open for Grass Type attacks. But this is going to be so with any Pokémon. Any Pokémon with the right nature is going to be hard to beat (especially an Alakazam with a Modest nature).

As for Morty, you've got to be smart when you're in the Goldenrod area. If you look outside the city on Routes 34 & 35, look hard. You'll be bound to find an Abra. If raised properly to a Kadabra, it alone could easily handle Morty's Gym. Abra is one of those Pokémon that many seem to think of as a throw away Pokémon, but it's better than one would think (which is why it's lineage is one of my favorites). I'm not sure if there's a Pokémon that I play that I don't use one in to at least get through the game...hmm... It's also a good candidate against Pryce, because if you can find someone with the Energy Ball TM, you can teach it to Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam, thus eliminating the need for a Grass Type Pokémon...

Ok, I'm going to stop, I just got off topic a bit.

So...no, I didn't find the game that difficult. If anything it was easier.

End of line.

 

[Tanaie]

Personally I never found it that hard. (That might be because I transfered a bunch of Pokemon from my Platimum version. xD) BUT, even though I did transfer my Pokemon I couldn't use any of them because they were too high level. So pretty much my totodile did most, if not all of the work. And since I was only using him he got to a higher level a lot faster.
I noticed that this game is definalty a step up in diffcuilty from the rest, but thats what keeps it interesting and fun!
Especially the battle tower plaza place. I don't know if I just never noticed before, but it's definatly a little harder then before.

 

[Andrew McKenzie]

The increased difficulty may be due to all of the complaints about how the originals were WAY to easy.

So yeah, I'm definitely enjoying the increased difficulty, it's awesome! =3

 

[Blue Nocturne]

How much experience are you talking about? I personally found this game to be pretty easy. I've also had well over 10 years experience with the games. With all the incremental additions that have been going into the series over the past few years, it may have even made the game a bit easier than it's classic counterparts. Maybe that's just me, though.

Think about it, though. Back in the original Gold & Silver series, there were no natures, the IV/EV system was pretty crude, Fly never did 90 damage (only 70)... I'm sure I could make quite the list of changes from then to now.

By experience, I meant knowing the game well enough to know how each Gym Leader attacks and more importantly, their damage dealing potential. If you play the game by analyzing situations (or letting Bulbapedia analyze it) which is what i do, then the changes can make things a little more difficult (unless you have the foresight to go on bulbapedia, which i didn't). Although, I didn't mean to imply that i though the game was hard, i still found it quite easy.

Not talking that much experience though, you lost me when you said IV.

Wow, if you can make sense of that, you deserve a Rosette.

 

[Takoto]

To me, HeartGold didn't feel any more difficult that Platinum did...

 

[chillxd]

Wasn't too hard, wasn't easy either. Balanced, I guess.

 

[Ezio Auditore da Firenze]

I found it hard. Especially as after playing a ROM of Gold, I suddenly had a clue what pokemon I was fighting, but didn't know what pokemon was going to come next.
Not being able to get steps on the Pokewalker, etc. didn't help my team-building.

But, I've found that the best strategy is to start with Chikorita, so by the time I've beaten Falkner, I have a high enough levelled pokemon that raising another isn't a problem.

To tell the truth, the only person I found easy was Silver, but only the 1st battle, as his totally different balance to other rivals was challenging, and I always find Will simple, as he actually sticks true to his type, unlike, persay, Karen, who has a Gengar.

However, it was an enjoyable level of difficulty, rather than how Emerald drags on...and on....and on, and how Platinum and Diamond are too easy, particularly Diamond.

 

[mirrorcleworld]

I find the game challenging, but not terribly so. For some reason though, I had a lot of trouble with Whitney. I really don't like using Fighting Pokémon, so I just used the ones I had been training, but Miltank had too much HP and my team wasn't a high enough level. After I trained that Machop that you can trade for, it made the battle slightly easier, still had trouble with that cow though...I think everyone will have different difficulty depending on whom they chose in the beginning and who they like using in terms of specific Pokémon/types.

 

[MegaKuriboh]

WHAT!?
This game is EASY!
My team of HG (see sig) PWNED the game!
I sweeped the first 3 gyms!
Oh well at least it was more fun and harder than GSC
Imma download a SS rom and play it!

 

[TechnoSparkX]

im having trouble at certain parts but my team isnt complete and isnt balanced enough and i havent been grinding

 

[linkinpark187]

By experience, I meant knowing the game well enough to know how each Gym Leader attacks and more importantly, their damage dealing potential. If you play the game by analyzing situations (or letting Bulbapedia analyze it) which is what i do, then the changes can make things a little more difficult (unless you have the foresight to go on bulbapedia, which i didn't). Although, I didn't mean to imply that i though the game was hard, i still found it quite easy.

Not talking that much experience though, you lost me when you said IV.

Wow, if you can make sense of that, you deserve a Rosette.

If I offended, then I'd like to extend my most sincere apologies. I meant to disrespect. I have had quite extensive experience with Gold & Silver, so I at least knew what Pokémon to expect. I wasn't surprised with Whitney, they didn't change her a whole lot. As for the rest of the gym leaders, they didn't have much of a chance against me, so I didn't see any of their new move sets. :laugh:

Oh well...I enjoyed the game, so that's all that matters. :D

 

[Clefairies]

I have to admit, I'm not really finding the difficulty that hard atm.
Maybe, because I have much more experience with Pokemon now, I know roughly how to make a decent balanced team against the gyms.
I am only on 7 badges though, so Clair & E4 might give me some problems. But so far, I think the difficulty is at an enjoyable pace.
Roll on Red. :P

 

[MickX]

It depends. In a way I managed to have a 5-member team from Ecruteak onwards on Levels that just narrowly surpass even the Gym Leader's levels. I only relied on battling trainers except before the first 2 Gyms, to allow the new recruits to equal the level of my Bayleef, and only 1 Pokémon had EXP boost from trade, which was an Eevee, whose Egg Moves made it attack-less, only could attack later on via the Headbutt tutor.

However, while it was easy to keep a 5-man team ahead of the Gym Leaders during a good amount of the Johto journey, Kanto starts hard with my team being at Lv46 average. Eventually my team got stronger and the problems vanished though. Once I was done, I did the E4 rematch and the battle with Red at Lv58-60, so suddenly I noticed how underlevelled I was. Besides all of the Pokémon were horribly slow bar a decent Pidgeot. This made me use healing items aplenty, not to keep the party alive but generally to keep the EXP coming in equally for everyone.

Generally saying, my experience with HG was more-or-less similar with my Gold one. There has been changes in levels and movesets, but overall the game remains very easy like most Pokémon game's do. Once you get a good equally levelled team you should have little trouble facing anything but Red and the E4 rematch (on which I noticed my 5 Pokémon overall weren't helping each other out very much).


I actually feel tempted to transfer my Pokémon to my storage card (AKA Diamond) and do a non-evolved run for a 2nd playthrough someday. I had a taste of that experience throwing a Kirlia with Will-O-Wisp + Charm combos and surviving pretty decently on her own against Bruno on the first E4 round (until Hitmonlee Critical smashed me twice in a row when I was about to deal the final Psychic blow....). Should be fun to try it out. :P

 

[Brendonwii]

No not hard for me (cause i set up my team and bred some pokes)
Also i have learned to battle manly ever trainer, so i don't get my ass kick when it comes to the E4