What is with all the hate for the 4th generation?

[Dialga's Song of Time]

What with some people bashing the 4th generation in general(pokemon designs, games)? The 4th generation added so much such as, Wi-Fi. online trading and battling, good plot for platinum and PMD Esplorers of Time/Darkness/Sky. For me-, it gave my most favorite legendaries: Uxie. Mesprit, Azelf, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and Arceus. Discuss. Now lets keep this clean and please explain your reason. Also, lets respect each other's opinion.

 

[Butterfree-Charizard]

Well I don't hate gen 4, but I think the pokemon are so much different from the original games we came to love. Making Arceus more powerful than mewtwo is bad too. I will still always take my Yellow over my Platinum.

 

[Timbjerr]

Sinnoh is the single worst region made and Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf are the most creativity-deprived legendary trio other than GenV's Torneros/Voltros/Landros. >_>

 

[Krizor]

People bash every Gen for various reasons, it's nothing new and will continue on until the games are no longer produced. I personally thought the 4th Gen was great.

What I usually see people complaining about is the over abundance of evolutions for old Pokemon such as LickiLicky, Electivire, Probopass, etc. While I do agree that the addition of all those evolutions was a bit excessive, I found most of them to be pretty well designed and strong. Outside of that, I don't usually see people complaining about much else. The 3rd Gen gets bashed more than any.

 

[ZenTheObscure]

Sinnoh is the single worst region made and Uxie/Mesprit/Azelf are the most creativity-deprived legendary trio other than GenV's Torneros/Voltros/Landros. >_>

care to elaborate on the lack of creativity in those two trios?

 

[Logiedan]

Generation 4 was very all new and everything, but people just hated the Pokémon and the new legendaries and evolutions. I think that's truly the only reason people dislike Generation 4. I don't see why they would hate it because of being 3D-like or having Wi-Fi capabilities.

 

[Kirbychu]

care to elaborate on the lack of creativity in those two trios?

They're the same Pokemon three times. In the pixies case, all that changes are the headdresses. The genie trio is just as bad, they're literally the same sprite three times with minor edits. That's not creative at all, just lazy.

The way I see it, if such a large percentage of the fanbase hates that particular generation, something must have gone wrong there. What are some things I dislike about the 4th generation? I think Sinnoh is a boring region, the Pokemon are too round and unrealistic, and the trainer designs weren't so great either. I also wasn't a big fan of how they tried to pull of the 3D, but it was passable. It's was alright overall, but it had many flaws.

​

 

[ZenTheObscure]

They're the same Pokemon three times. In the pixies case, all that changes are the headdresses. The genie trio is just as bad, they're literally the same sprite three times with minor edits. That's not creative at all, just lazy.

The way I see it, if such a large percentage of the fanbase hates that particular generation, something must have gone wrong there. What are some things I dislike about the 4th generation? I think Sinnoh is a boring region, the Pokemon are too round and unrealistic, and the trainer designs weren't so great either. It's was alright overall, but it had many flaws.

​

oh i get it i get it i thought you were just sayin they werent creative like they were recycled pokemon with diff colros (the fairies look similiar to mew tho....hm) but thats a good point.

 

[Kirbychu]

oh i get it i get it i thought you were just sayin they werent creative like they were recycled pokemon with diff colros (the fairies look similiar to mew tho....hm) but thats a good point.

I think the genies in particular had a nice concept behind them, and they had some great potential... But laziness ruined that and thus we end up with the same three Pokemon.

 

[Krizor]

The way I see it, if such a large percentage of the fanbase hates that particular generation, something must have gone wrong there.

Not necessarily, since what some fans like and don't like about a particular Gen is a matter of opinion.

 

[Ayselipera]

What you've listed (besides the legendaries) is everything that most people don't have a problem with. The whole introduction of the GTS is great. I know it's been a great help when it comes to filling up my Pokedex. I never really put PMD and the IV generation together, but you're right in doing so and I agree. I loved Explorers of Sky and that same story wouldn't have happened without the IV generation.

The problem that I have and that I've seen many others have is that they don't like the designs of the IV generation Pokemon. I myself don't even care for the region. The cities and towns didn't do anything for me and by the time I got past Hearthome I found myself extremely bored.

I'll divide the Pokemon into two groups, legendaries and non-legendaries. The non-legendary Pokemon of Sinnoh were okay at best. There are some that I really like for instance, Abomasnow, Vespiquen, and Magnezone to name a very few. While on the other hand I could write an essay on every Pokemon I didn't like and why. Not to mention one of my biggest problems of the whole generation was the lack of new fire types. We were given the Chimchar line which I loathe and then Magmortar which was alright for myself, but I know a lot of people had problems with that. Now I'm not sure, but as far as my memory goes I only remember Ponyta being a wild fire type in most of Pearl and Diamond. I must of used Ponyta every other game due to the lack of fire types it was ridiculous.

Now for legendaries. I'm not keen on legendaries to begin with. I think we had a good number going in Kanto and I wish they stuck to that same number, five legendaries per game. Sinnoh had fourteen legendaries. The only question in my mind is why? The lake trio and dragon trio I can understand. As much as the lake trio is just a copy of three Pokemon I can let it slide because they had a lot to do with the main plot. As for the dragon trio they were the main point of the whole game. Manaphy was the cute little Pokemon of this generation like Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi were before, but the addition of Phione was unnecessary. Regigigas's purpose is unknown to me besides being the trio leader of the golems, but I think we all could of lived just fine without it. Heatran, what I think to be the most wasteful effort in a legendary, is just... why was it needed? I'm still lost on that one. Shaymin and Arceus once again were just unnecessary. I really don't know how else to explain it. They added nothing to the main story line. Yes Arecus is the leader over the lake and dragon trio, but considering it was an event Pokemon makes it seem to me less important.

The only two legendaries of this generation that I have any sympathy for is Darkrai and Cresselia. I really wish they were saved for another game. They could of had an amazing main story line, but instead they were tossed to the side just like most of legendaries I've named above.

 

[mondays suck]

Well, let's make a list why at least I think this generation is terrible

Good:

• Phy/Spe-split. One of the best things to happen to Pokemon for ages. Bite doing special damage just didn't make sense.
• That whole trading crap, I guess, even if I never could benefit from it because I never had wifi and never will.
• The ability to just dig up evolution stones and stuff in the underground I've often found to be useful.
• And, uhh, that's pretty much all I can say here

Bad:

• Legendaries, legendaries everywhere.
• And, most of these legendaries suck royally. Look at Palkia's so very child-friendly design. The aforementioned pixies. So much event-only garbage. Others like Cresselia and Heatran being completely irrelevant to the story, they should have made them like Snorlax or Sudowoodo (the initial Sudowoodo, before it started randomly spawning in the grass, that is) instead, dammit.
• Evolutions of old Pokemon are just as bad. Gallade and Frosslass were innovations, but that's pretty much it. Some are debatable, but most of them are just terrible. Tangrowth. Lickilicky. Probopass. NO.
• Many, many Sinnoh Pokemon (and there aren't even that many of them, considering how much legendaries and evolutions this generation contained) are utterly forgettable. Everyone knows Kricketune and Bidoof and Lucario (which I hate too, but for another reason), but no one will EVER remember Lumineon or Glameow. Except for being forgettable. One could argue that Hoenn has an even worse form of this problem, but that's only worse because in Hoenn, WAY more regular Pokemon were invented than in Sinnoh.
• The games are SLOW. Horribly slow. This is my favorite point to criticize because it makes the game boring as hell, take ages to finish and demotivates the player. The hardest kind of game there is is the tedious game, it will break your will.
• Honey trees. Make some Pokemon pretty much unusable in this game. So you want, for once, use a Burmy in your team? Well, have fun buying honey, waiting 6 hours and getting just another Wurmple.
• Platinum is often called a massive improvement over DP... How can it be if it has Distortion world, the most annoying part of a Pokemon game there ever was? In general, this whole Mt.Coronet quest thing takes waaay too long, even in DP.
• Grinding. These games require more grinding than any games before, and with the horribly slow speed, it gets even worse.
• I could add more, but this post will get to long otherwise.

So yeah, Sinnoh sucks.

 

[Ayselipera]

• Honey trees. Make some Pokemon pretty much unusable in this game. So you want, for once, use a Burmy in your team? Well, have fun buying honey, waiting 6 hours and getting just another Wurmple.
• Platinum is often called a massive improvement over DP... How can it be if it has Distortion world, the most annoying part of a Pokemon game there ever was? In general, this whole Mt.Coronet quest thing takes waaay too long, even in DP.
• Grinding. These games require more grinding than any games before, and with the horribly slow speed, it gets even worse.

I couldn't agree more! I don't know how I forgot these points. :o

The Honey trees started out as a great idea when I first heard of them, but in the end they became one of the biggest pains. Especially if you have a tendency to forget that you even placed honey somewhere in all of Sinnoh. I can't tell you how long it took me to find a Burmy.

I can't stand Distortion World either. While I do think Platinum brought about much needed changes, Distortion World was not one of them. The main plot in Diamond and Pearl was already long and drawn out. I didn't need or want to go through an extra 'world' just to move onto Sunyshore. Not to mention you wait so long in the game to finally make it over to Sunyshore and there really wasn't anything special there. I was expecting some amazing city.

The grinding was definitely a little much. I would always end up at the Pokemon League with Pokemon in their mid 40's which wasn't enough to face a Champion with level 60 Pokemon. Eventually I was stuck trading over all my Pokemon for every time I began a new game because the extra experience points the traded Pokemon would get really made a difference and cut out some grinding time.

 

[Timbjerr]

care to elaborate on the lack of creativity in those two trios?

Kirbychu did most of the explaining for me, but I'll add that I can't differentiate between the three members of the lake trio. AT. ALL.

I know one's supposed to represent knowledge, one emotion, and one willpower, but their naming scheme and general designs do nothing to represent this. If given pictures of the three and their names and the spiritual human aspects they represent and asked to match them all, the only connection I would make is Azelf being the one with the blue head. And that's only because I'm well-versed in Spanish and can see the etymology of "Azelf" as being Azul (blue) + Elf. XD

At least the Genie trio have different types to differentiate them and their color scheme changes to match their type, even if that's the only thing different about their designs. XD

 

[Kelp]

It seems to me at least, that people complain at every new generation.

They thought Sinnoh was bad, but now I see people have moved on to complain about 5th gen, saying GF/Nintendo is running out of ideas.

But pertaining to Sinnoh, I thought it was one of the best generations. Despite the spamming of gen. 1 evos, most of the pokemon were of new and interesting concepts, and the whole region as a whole was quite innovative.

 

[Mew~]

The games are SLOW. Horribly slow. This is my favorite point to criticize because it makes the game boring as hell, take ages to finish and demotivates the player. The hardest kind of game there is is the tedious game, it will break your will.

I wouldn't say thats a problem with the game - just a problem with the players ability. If anything it wasn't slow, just long. Honestly, if it's long, it makes it more fun, it just shows you fail you can't get complete the game because it's too long, every pokemon game has about 20 hours of gameplay up until you beat the elite four the first time.

 

[Kirbychu]

It seems to me at least, that people complain at every new generation.

They thought Sinnoh was bad, but now I see people have moved on to complain about 5th gen, saying GF/Nintendo is running out of ideas.

I think that's mainly because the online fanbase is mostly composed of the veterans. The people who started with Generations 1 or 2. We grew up with simpler Pokemon and trainers, and it's obvious that Game Freak's drastically changed character styles since then. The majority of the fanbase (The kids) don't care at all, most will play one or two generations then move on. I think there's a growing generational gap that's causes more and more people to complain about the newest generation. We started out with a different style of Pokemon. Many Generation 1 players are in there 20s now, while many 7-12 year-olds will pick up their first Pokemon game this Spring.

If you think 5th gen is bad it's only going to get worse. We're never going to get that Gen 1/2 charm back, and the kids today will probably never get their Gen 4/5 charm back as well. The Pokemon aren't necessarily getting worse, they're just changing styles. You're either for it, or you're against it.

The wonderful thing about Pokemon is that you get variety. You can choose if you want to be a collector, breeder, competitive battler etc. Game Freak returns old Pokemon every generation, so that the games can appeal to everyone.

I wouldn't say thats a problem with the game - just a problem with the players ability. If anything it wasn't slow, just long. Honestly, if it's long, it makes it more fun, it just shows you fail you can't get complete the game because it's too long, every pokemon game has about 20 hours of gameplay up until you beat the elite four the first time.

He didn't exactly mean the storyline was long, he meant the game themselves were just too slow. Go surfing in DP right now, and you'll see what he means. Maybe even participate in a round of the Battle Tower. These games were so slow it's not even funny. At least Platinum fixed this for the most part.

 

[Nohr]

The story progression is too slow, the plot is extremely dull, and predictable, most of the 4th gen pokemon are lacking, especially the lake trio ( they shouldn't even be considered 3 pokemon, they should be 3 forms of the same pokemon, because well, they ARE.).
The mascot legendaries look like Mega-zords from power rangers back in the 90's, And none of the cities have that original 'spark'. I can't even remember any cities to be honest, since they're generally all the same, except the snow one, which was decent.

Honey trees, blew. Good concept in theory, AWFUL in execution.


I mean, when the poster-child of a generation is Bidoof, it's bound to fail.


I can't wait for Gen 5, as it looks a LOT better, especially the new pokemon. Gen 4 was a big test of my loyalty to the franchise...and definitely the worst one yet. Good thing HG/SS saved the series.

 

[Amore]

People hate the new......

I'm not going to argue...except for one point. Somebody reckoned that the dislike for Gen IV was the opinion of the majority of the fanbase. Now whilst I'm not exactly sure what the definition of "fanbase" is...there are millions of people not on the internet forums......and they loved Gen IV, otherwise they would have traded them all back in, wouldn't they?

Then again...I kinda like Bidoof...and Honey Trees are worth it when you have less time to play the game, so you slather a tree before school, come home, and before you do your homework, you find a Burmy, Combee or Munchlax :D

Gen I/II don't bring controversy because most of the internet-savvy pokécommunity members played those games first...heck, I should be part of the Gen II fans....but I got into pokémon late xD
Give it a couple of years....more Gen III/IV fans will be online.....and the opinions will appear to have shifted, whilst they haven't.......there's just less of a majority.

 

[The 100 Mega Shock]

It looked absolutely terrible.

Pretty fine 2D artwork ditched for 3D overworlds that looked like ass. It wasn't until Heart Gold that Game Freak got the hang of making overworlds that didn't look awful. They also did a really poor job with the music, ranging from the whole thing having poor instrument samples to just plain awful compositions (What the hell was going on in every battle theme)

[It doesn't help that this was the point I figured they need to draw character with real walk cycles for once.]