"It is hard to show that your hack/ a hack as a good story. Because either A: You keep it a secret for the player to find out, but then most people will have a hard time starting it/giving it a try."
I've a strong feeling DE is like A here. At least it is totally different from what you would expect but as minus, the storyline can be a bit cliche at times though. I was going on for something you wouldn't see in any other hack and in this one, even having gym leaders to face would be totally pointless even though I have added them there. You're on a quest to reach some archeologists from the uni you're studying in a place called Rocky Mountain who found some strange writing about Elemental Orbs and the past there. Doesn't sound that cool but as things go on, you're going to understand more and more about the past leading into an epic way of ending pokemon, or maybe even an RPG game. But yeah... it doesn't work the way I want it at times though, there are still lots of things to be improved about the planning I've done.
Well, assembly isn't that difficult. Especially if you're planning to study ARM/THUMB that is. I'd even say z80 for GB/C is a bit "harder" because of all the restrictions behind the operations you can use but it ain't that bad either. I have never properly used ARM/THUMB for GBA hacking though so I may be wrong what I said though.