3rd Gen Least favourite features?

Ok so given that this is an older generation forum a lot of our posts focus on how much we liked these games, how great they are, how these young people are lazy and entitled etc.

But let's be honest, they're not perfect and we're all picky. So my question to you is, what are your least favourite parts of the Hoenn games?


Personally it is without a doubt Battle Palace. Little things like how I can't own a Zangoose in Emerald irritates me but I get why it was done. But Battle Palace...all this talk throughout all the main series about working with pokémon to achieve greatness, the idea that both parties benefit, and then one of the facilities is basically you sending out your pokémon with no instructions? It's incredibly boring and also frustrating - not just because I like to have a ridiculous level of completion in my games, but because I sit there knowing I can do better. I didn't like many of the changes when BF returned in Platinum but ditching this was certainly the right thing to do. Literally the only part of Emerald that I never even slightly nostalgic for.

colours said:

I always thought it was unique that the entire point of Battle Palace was that you don't give instructions to your Pokemon? That's just me though; the fact that your Pokemon attack depending completely on Nature is something that, to me, is exciting.

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Hey if I thought we were all going to agree, I wouldn't have bothered posting. I think at one point I had your enthusiasm but right now I hate it like I did when I was younger and didn't understand it.

Okay so I just realised I actually feel kinda strongly about this haha, but I loved how in RS there was Contest Halls in various towns, so the player could almost have a side role as a coordinator as they go along on their journey. But in Emerald, these were replaced with the Battle Tents, which felt kinda pointless to me, and although contests were still cool, imo it was better collecting ribbons as you progressed in your journey and that was one of the only things I disliked about Emerald.

I only ever played Emerald but I did find that would have been fun yeah. Although I enjoyed being able to access Full Heals so early in Slateport City through the Battle Tent, and the Fallarbor Town one with the Set!KO!Tourney! setup is probably my 2nd favourite Battle Frontier style in the entire game.

@Colours I prefer Flash in LeafGreen where it lights up the whole tunnel - in Hoenn yeah it's very frustrating - I think HeartGold and SoulSilver perfected the mechanic, but by then we were no longer saddled with it as an HM.

i always hated some things in rse. The first thing as the competitive meta.it as ridiculous depending on your starter.the e4 was ridicuously hard.the contests were a waste of time.dont even remind me a out the regi puzzle.that thing is ridiculous.thats it. Gen 3 is still my favorite g3n

Luna said:

Okay so I just realised I actually feel kinda strongly about this haha, but I loved how in RS there was Contest Halls in various towns, so the player could almost have a side role as a coordinator as they go along on their journey. But in Emerald, these were replaced with the Battle Tents, which felt kinda pointless to me, and although contests were still cool, imo it was better collecting ribbons as you progressed in your journey and that was one of the only things I disliked about Emerald.

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I agree with this so much! I LOVED entering contests along my journey - I don't think I even entered a single battle tent in Emerald though, I was really disappointed :(

Most of the things I disliked from RS were fixed in Emerald (or rather I played emerald first, so felt ruby was lacking those things) but one thing i disliked about all three is the fishing mechanics. First, as someone who likes to catch 'em all while doing other things, it's difficult cuz you have to pay a lot of attention to it. Second, the "Oh a bite!" can appear at almost any time, not only making you on edge, but giving you an itchy trigger finger causing you to prematurely real in your rod which is a pain in the butt. Third, you have to do this multiple times, it's not a case of pressing A when you get a bite once, and battling the pokemon, you have to do this around 4 or 5 times each time getting that itchy trigger finger more.

As for the battle tower/frontier, for a filthy casual like myself, it's not very fun, and the battle palace is complete bs, so I never even bother with it tbh

I remember that I used to get annoyed of diving underwater to find Team Aqua's Hideout, morever you could need to take HM slaves pokemon with you.

I loved pretending that my trainer was a coordinator. ❤
I didn't like the Battle Tents.

Some of the pokemon felt gimmickey, such as Plusle and Minum for example. They were like Pikachu rip offs. Not that I liked Pikachu in anyway, but it just felt weird.

I actually didn't like Treecko. I felt it incredibly weak in comparison to Mudkip and Torchic, and it still feels weak to me despite it's incredible speed and Attack stats. Maybe it just doesn't fit my battle style.

I reeeeeeally disliked Electrike and Manectric. Salt was put in the wound when Manectric got a mega evolution.

Not sure if I really disliked any of the RSE features considering they are my favorite games of all time(well maybe not anymore because of SM...)

If I had to pick though it would probably be the lack of a day and night system.

Choice Specs said:

Not sure if I really disliked any of the RSE features considering they are my favorite games of all time(well maybe not anymore because of SM...)

If I had to pick though it would probably be the lack of a day and night system.

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Yeah I suppose that was the only thing to sort of thing that could have been added to the games, but that pretty much sums it up, RSE didn't have many features at all that were to be disliked.

I love the weather effects, I just wish there was more of them and more variance in what they are. I find it hard to see many other flaws in these games, though.

Well not a feature but I just encountered the single most frustrating thing in Hoenn. That house in Sootopolis City with the inside door blocked with trees!

So irritating that it never turns into anything

To me, R/S was the worst Pokemon games I've ever played.
I felt that the obscurity of some of the puzzles, for me at least, made the extras not fun and unplayable.
At a time when my interest was waning, having to look up braille was not my idea of fun. Also, having to have certain pokemon in your party in order catch others was annoying. I think trying to get a wailord was where I eventually put down the games. And there was waaay too much surfing. Sorry, but having to constantly keep a supply of repels was tedious.

I didn't like how GF took away the Day/Night cycle. It took away a bit of realism that GSC had.

I always remember not being a fan of the Pokemon Contests, did't really feel like a natural part of the game

In hindsight, not having the physical/special split by this point is pretty frustrating. Neuters a lot of otherwise decent (in-game wise) Pok?mon like Sharpedo and Mightyena because their STAB type doesn't correspond with their stats.

Gigadweeb said:

In hindsight, not having the physical/special split by this point is pretty frustrating. Neuters a lot of otherwise decent (in-game wise) Pok?mon like Sharpedo and Mightyena because their STAB type doesn't correspond with their stats.

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You forgot Absol. But yeah basically all Dark and Ghost-types are hurt by it.