What is with all the hate for the 4th generation? Page 2

Started by Dialga's Song of Time November 24th, 2010 7:05 PM
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Non-binary
Seen March 10th, 2023
Posted June 14th, 2017
777 posts
15.6 Years
My main problem with DDPt was the way it was set up. As stated earlier, it was way too slow. I've only managed to actually complete the game(s) two or three times, whereas I've completed games from every other generation more times than I could count. Not because they're particularly hard; they're just tedious. I'll get to a certain point after a week or two of gameplay and realize my team is underlevelled, despite all my efforts, and have to grind. And grind. And grind. Then I'll manage to beat a Gym leader, but when I reach the next city I'm stuck with the same problem. By the time I get to the Mt.Coronet quest or whatever I'm just about fed up with playing. That simply isn't entertaining. I play video games for fun, not for spending dreary hours on grinding and working my way sluggishly through long routes and caves.

They also felt... generic, in a number of ways. The plot was extravagant and dramatic. We had giant epic dragon legendaries on the box art, a Pokemon equivalent of "god", a crapload of evolved forms for old 'Mons, and an evil team that was literally trying to destroy the universe. It's like they were trying too hard to make it seem flashy and cool and neat. I guess it worked; Gen 4 got a lot of kids into Pokemon. But to older fans this wasn't exactly appealing.

Also, there wasn't a lot of freedom with Pokemon you could use. It's not surprising that so many DPPt teams have Luxray/Staraptor/Floatzel/Roserade on them. If you wanted to use a new Electric-Type you've never trained before, your options were pretty much Shinx and Pachirisu. Need a flier? Better grab a Starly early; there aren't many other decent Flying-Types available. To sum it up, either you could use vague/old Pokemon, or you could use a handful of "cool" new ones. Keep in mind that the aforementioned level curve and tedious style of DPPt makes it very difficult to get by with "weaker" Pokemon.

I didn't really mind the region itself. In fact I kind of liked the geography of it. None of the cities or locations really stuck out to me much, though. Sinnoh was just sorta... meh, cool, whatever. I was disappointed with it, in the end. I think a lot of people, particularly older fans, were similarly disappointed.
Age 29
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Scotland
Seen May 9th, 2013
Posted February 29th, 2012
392 posts
14.3 Years
It feels slow. The general plot is rubbish. Designs are all a let down, especially the evolutions that you have to compare to the older stuff. Basically, the only thing I can actually say I liked about it was the roundabout way the map was made, so that the world feels bigger and less linear. And all this online connectivity stuff? Hardly anything to comment on at all, because in this day and age any developer would have thrown that stuff in. Regardless of the quality of the game, that would have been there. It didn't take a brainstorm to come up with it.

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. >_>
At least the Gen V trio change type. And their idea in general is better than three generic pixie-style Pokemon. And, to top it off, you only get one genie in each game until you trade.

People hate the new......
And yet Gen V is held in high regard. Funny one that.
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Enigma

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Age 25
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Posted July 12th, 2016
1,221 posts
15.2 Years
Haters gonna hate. With every new generation after Gen II, there's always hate for it. I, personally, don't hate any of the games. The only thing I ever noticed bad about Gen IV was the slow battling, and I haven't even noticed until recently. All the good things that Gen IV brought should be taken into consideration before automatically saying that you hate it, with the most major one being Wi-Fi.
*sigh* If you don't like the games, don't play them...

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Age 30
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Seen July 5th, 2013
Posted May 26th, 2011
1,696 posts
13.1 Years
Well I've hated gen. IV. at first (I still hate some pokes) but generally that has changed once i got used to it.
I think it has a lot to do with Game-Freak messing with gen. I Pokémon(giving them evolutions of which only Electivire is good)!

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StratusJm

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Male
Seen July 22nd, 2011
Posted April 11th, 2011
412 posts
12.9 Years
The Bad:
  • Way too many evos. There were good ones like Roserade, Rhyperior, Froslass and Electivire and many were needed (Tangrowth) but some were awful. Probopass and Lickilicky need to die, now.
  • So many wasted opportunities with legends. WHY was the 3rd game not centered around Arceus? Seriously the GOD OF POKEMON and he didn't have any part in the game whatsoever. Also Cresselia and Darkrai could have been proper good. Heatran and Regigigas were COMPLETELY unnecessary as was Phione and Shaymin (Manaphy is the resident cute legend not that little thing)
  • Too few fire types/too many (crappy) water types.
  • Mount Coronet. Need I say more?
  • The snow on the way to Snowpoint city
  • Mount Coronet
  • Distortion World
  • Mount Coronet
The Good:
  • Epic legenday designs. Dialga, Giratina, Arceus, Cresselia and Manaphy are some of the best designed legendaries ever in my opinion.
  • Good evolutions like I said before.
  • Am.... ooh the physical/special split!
  • Beautiful designs for the new eeveelutions.
  • Bidoof..he's funny
  • Best starter designs ever. And competitively useful too.
  • Eh? Cool name.
  • Some new and interesting typings
  • Am that's about it. I thought i'd have more. Oh well
I should add I do actually like the games i'm just p*ssed off cos they could have been amazing. I wouldn't call them bad.
Female
Seen December 28th, 2010
Posted December 26th, 2010
22 posts
13.2 Years
It wasn't that bad, perhaps my least favorite, but not necessarily bad.

Meh...for me, I was just annoyed by the overall story. The story was boring and I would lose motivation to finish it. I finished my Diamond, but my Platinum is still waiting, after like 3 months. xD

The overall pokemon designs had a strange air around them which I personally didn't like. Just like Hoenn's were tropical, Sinnoh's were...sinnohy, just not my preference. They were creative though,maybe not in a good way, but they were more creative. Much more creative Voltorb. Poor Voltorb...

There were too many legendaries. I would have probably been fine with them if most of them had a bigger effect on the plot, but then the plot would just become longerrrr. I didn't like them too much either. Dialga, Darkrai, Cresselia and perhaps the Lake Trio were the ones I actually liked. I still love Shaymin though, that cute little flowerbasket.

The evolutions were just funky. I didn't like the designs, but they were surprisingly useful, especially Mismagius and Honchrow, but the pre-evos, we could have done without.

Then we have those dang Honey Trees that taunt me so. I will one day chop all of them down for mocking me with false hopes of Heracross and Burmys. ;_;

No one had mentioned this I think but, what were the Unown doing in the Solaceon Ruins? Am I the only one bothered by this? How dare that alphabet soup leave Johto (and those wittle islands in FR).

But, I'd still restart my game. Well, not more than twice. I blame nostalgia, though, for some people's hatred toward Gen IV. I WLL ADMIT: the reason I don't like the designs too much is because they are too different from Gen I, which is my nostalgia generation. I probably am too picky because of this too. Gen IV is (was) new and with pokemon new ≠ good.
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Equestria
Seen May 3rd, 2020
Posted December 11th, 2013
126 posts
12.9 Years
1. They are slower than snail mail. I'm not kidding.
2. Grinding forever and ever.
3. Waaaaaay too many legendaries. If everything is legendary, are they legendary any more?
4. Mount Coronet.
5. Deep snow.
6. This and the animé are why they are considered childish at my school.
7. Too tedious. Tedious games get boring fast.
8. Not as creative as the other 3 gens.
9. Butchered evo's of great older Pokémon.
10. Honey Trees.

The list goes on and on...

This only applies to D/P/Pt, I have nothing but respect for HG/SS, other than how short it was.
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Age 29
Female
Lake of Rage
Seen December 12th, 2015
Posted August 15th, 2012
1,931 posts
13.7 Years
I loved playing through the gen IV games, they have added a lot more adventure from the 3rd generation, not to mention having the biggest region (which had snow!) I guess people are not used to change.
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Age 31
Female
Ontario, Canada
Seen December 14th, 2010
Posted December 14th, 2010
14 posts
12.4 Years
Honestly, I've been into pokemon from the beginning, but I've always been interested in new pokemon. However, Gen. IV I found that I hated all the starters, not going to lie... I just thought they looked kind of silly. Of course, this could be because of my preference of four legged pokemon... I always chose Bulbasaur and Chikorita, although Charmander was another favorite because of Charizard... I honestly don't even remember Gen. III's starters.

I lost my saphire, which sucked horribly because I loved the plot. So many crazy little extra things. D/P had that potential, the legendaries could have had so many cool stories, but it fell short for me. Also some of them should have been saved... as others have said, great legendaries, no room to give them their full potential. It's really too bad.

The trio pissed me right off. Compared to the birds and the dogs? Come on now.

I only like the cover pokemon (Giratina, Palkia, Dialga) now that I've watched the movies and understand their story wayyyyy better. Hate the stupid mountain.

I actually love that they're making more evolutions, just wish they did them better... I always loved evolving my pokemon. Although baby pokemon seem kinda silly in my opinion.
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Age 29
Male
The Great North Strong and Free
Seen October 7th, 2013
Posted April 6th, 2013
1,931 posts
15.9 Years
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.
I find a lot of people are complaining about Heatran in this thread, whilte I too thought that DPPt had too many legendaries I think Heatran deserves to be cut some slack. I think Heatran is, like Cresselia and Darkrai, is just a sufferer from horrible circumstance. Besides the pixies and Dialga/Palkia, Heatran actually had the biggest plot point. In fact he gave us something to do post Elite 4. The problem is: We just finished climbing a stupid mountain, who wants to do it again, and twice!? No one, if they had saved Heatran's protector of the Volcano plot for another game I think he would have been way better recieved.


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.


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.
I just wanted to say that this is an excellent post.

It doesn't exactly help matters that fakemon were created that looked badass and upped people's expectations (magmar evo) and instead of using that for inspiration they make that thing that is Magmortar that looks like utter crap in comparison.

You know it's bad when people prefer a FAKE pokemon.
People will always prefer Fakemon to real Pokemon. Why? Choice and obscurity. I can go to Devient Art right now and find 400 different Fakemon. I may only love 20 of them, but those are the only 20 I'll ever have to remember. The other 380 are gone from my mind, as I never have to see them again. Then I'm free to dream about my favourite 20.In real Pokemon though, we have to stick with what we got, and even though we like 30-60% of the real Pokemon (compared to 5% of the fakemon), we have to deal with all the ones we don't like every time we open up the game. Pokemon vs. Fakemon in a game of preference is simply a game that in the long run, Pokemon cannot win.



Anyways, I find it kind of funny that people are complaining about grinding since I often see people claim that Pokemon games are way too easy. Plus I never had to grind...though nothing will beat Emerald sick plot and surfing in DP was atrocsiously slow.

Finally, I'll just say that I liked alot of the 4th gens Pokemon and I also liked Sinnoh geographically. My biggest complaint is that none of the cities had any lasting impression on me. They had no personality, or actually, no; none of the towns showed off what could have been an amazing atmosphere. Jubilife was dead, Hearthrome was boring, Sunnyshore was dissapointing and Solaceon, the town with the most personality, practically tried to hide it. In comparison I still remember and love a lot of the 3rd gen and 2nd gen cities. Foretree? Goldenrod? Ekruteak? Olivine? Sootopolis? Pacificdog? Hell yes!!
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bobandbill

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Seen 3 Hours Ago
Posted 3 Days Ago
16,785 posts
15.2 Years
To be honst, every generation has its hate (I have seen similar threads across forums applied to different generations) - including the new 5th gen (you don't have to look any further than the english names for the starters if you want to look), and including other gens - even 2nd. Every gen has its dividing points on which some people like and some people hate an aspect or few, and there's also the mentioned nostalgia issue for many people as well in instances. Such is the Pokemon fandom, really.

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I find a lot of people are complaining about Heatran in this thread, whilte I too thought that DPPt had too many legendaries I think Heatran deserves to be cut some slack. I think Heatran is, like Cresselia and Darkrai, is just a sufferer from horrible circumstance. Besides the pixies and Dialga/Palkia, Heatran actually had the biggest plot point. In fact he gave us something to do post Elite 4. The problem is: We just finished climbing a stupid mountain, who wants to do it again, and twice!? No one, if they had saved Heatran's protector of the Volcano plot for another game I think he would have been way better recieved.
If Heatran had some sort of part in another game, like you said, I would probably come around to it more. A volcano protector Pokemon being the main part of a game would of been really interesting. Heatran had a bit of a plot, but it's just that anything that's thrown in after the main part of the game seems less important to me. I take it as more of, "Well you can do it if you want, but you don't really need to."

I agree, the fact that you had to climb the mountain again just to go capture it was a big pain. That probably adds to the reason why I can't stand Heatran at all. xD
Age 29
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The Great North Strong and Free
Seen October 7th, 2013
Posted April 6th, 2013
1,931 posts
15.9 Years
If Heatran had some sort of part in another game, like you said, I would probably come around to it more. A volcano protector Pokemon being the main part of a game would of been really interesting. Heatran had a bit of a plot, but it's just that anything that's thrown in after the main part of the game seems less important to me. I take it as more of, "Well you can do it if you want, but you don't really need to."

I agree, the fact that you had to climb the mountain again just to go capture it was a big pain. That probably adds to the reason why I can't stand Heatran at all. xD
Exactly! Heatran isn't a bad concept he just got royally screwed by the game developers! The whole mountain was weirdly developped, and if you're like me and try to battle every trainer it was freaking confusing to boot. And he had some backstory...they should have saved him for later and bumped up the Cresselia-Darkrai plot like you said earlier! Silly GameFreak. :P
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StratusJm

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Male
Seen July 22nd, 2011
Posted April 11th, 2011
412 posts
12.9 Years
Sinnoh suffers from the fact that it was a great concept was was poorly executed. All the areas in it that had potential to be amazing (the main plot, Mt.Coronet, the legends) just didn't work out right and that meant what could have been the best generation so far is really just a "meh" region.
Seen May 16th, 2014
Posted October 16th, 2013
182 posts
12.6 Years
Wow. I never knew anyone took the games this seriously. Analyzing them, making points as to why they hate them. I thought D/P/Pt were good games. Did I love them? No, but they were still fun to play, I thought so anyways. Maybe Platinum could have been better, I mean to me it was essentially Diamond/Peral with a new 'world'(an annoying, new, world ><), but I liked it none-the-less. I never had to grind my Pokemon, in any of the 3 games, any grinding was done by choice. They didn't feel slow to me(okay, surf was slow xD),they felt long, which was okay by me. Its all a matter of perception, like people say. Years from now, (when all Pokmeon games will probably be based off of places in the US and the list of animals to convert into Pokemon is wearing down)I'm sure some of you very people who are saying that Gen. 4 down right sucked will be begging for a remake of it.

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Victoria Concordia Crescit

Age 24
Male
Jakarta, Indonesia
Seen 16 Hours Ago
Posted November 7th, 2018
539 posts
14 Years
My plus and minus
+Good game
+Strong Pokemons

-Slow Game
-Bad looking Pokemons (some)
-Boring Game

My fav games was GSC, I even like it more than HGSS, I don't know why, but my feeling is so happy when play it, maybe because nostalgia? It's why I really liked GB/C hack, I also liked classic musics, I was very happy when I'm a kid that haven't school, I want to go back to that time :'(

SamuraiMaster

and his son, Layne (Buizel).

Age 32
Male
Colorado
Seen December 16th, 2013
Posted July 25th, 2011
727 posts
14.7 Years
It's not just generation 4 dude.

I got pokemon from every generation I think never should have been thought of, but my fav pokemon is Buizel....gen 4.

If I had to choose a generation I wouldn't like over anything, it would probably actually be gen 5. The starters look to weird for me, but I'll probably still buy B&W.

I will say however on some levels, Bidoof is kinda stupid. His character was cool in Mystery Dungeon, but as a pokemon, he just isn't there.....
My Buizel is not amused with your foolishness.

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Arma

The Hyena

Age 30
Male
The Hague
Seen 4 Weeks Ago
Posted June 9th, 2020
1,681 posts
13.4 Years
The good:
-Physical/ Special Split
-Cool sprites the in battle ones I mean.
-New moves


The bad
-After 30 minutes of gameplay I already encountered more Gen I, II, II pokemon then IV ones.
^bothered me the most, and the serious lack of fire types.
- The aforementioned speed issue...
- Lame evos and legendaries. except Roserade.
- The mud, The snow, mt. Coronet.
-Character OW's
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Age 31
Male
New Jersey
Seen August 30th, 2011
Posted May 2nd, 2011
102 posts
12.4 Years
I found gen 4 to be incredibly dull. There were too many unneeded evolutions (many of which were very ugly, imo) and the majority of the new Pokemon were simply boring. I think the Starly line is the worst regional bird we've seen, and don't even get me started on Bidoof.
There was no variety in the game either, the same Pokemon popped up over and over.

That's not to say the generation didn't offer Pokemon I liked. I love Shellos, Buizel, Kricketot and Kricketune, but interesting and memorable gen 4 Pokemon are few and far between.