3rd Gen ☆DEOXYS CHALLENGE☆ - What do you personally think of the RSE games?

So, just as the title indicates, upon your playthrough of these three games: Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald, what is your personal opinion about thee games altogether? What has been your favourite/least favourite experiences about playing the game? What do you think about the features, or the plot?

Feel free to share any of your thoughts here~ :3

Guess i'll give my take on this matter, to be the first in.

I did enjoy RSE quite a bit back when they were new, because the graphics on the GBA were a major step up from what GSC had to offer. And I do still like a lot of the Pokémon that Hoenn presented us with, so yes, I thought Ruby and Sapphire were quite fun for the time they were new. And even not long before DP released I still found them alright. And in 2005 when Emerald was new, I did like the adjustments that it made to Ruby and Sapphire, and there was the Battle Frontier which I had fun doing back then.

But at the same time, now, after getting more used to mechanics like the physical/special split, 3D environments, and a game that runs on more accessible technology (i.e. the DS being able to sleep, while the GBA isn't), it's harder for me to really play these games anymore. After playing through games like BW, B2W2 and Platinum so many times, coming back to this, where few Pokémon learn very good moves all-around, I find the mechanics in these hard to re-adjust to. And no, my complaints are not "too much water".

It doesn't help that I think most of the characters in the games were relatively bland and weak, such as Brendan/May, who was at the time the only rival who you never even see the final form of their starter, and they don't even fully evolve the other Pokémon they use, either. Not to mention Wally is hardly any better, as he doesn't do much until you see him at Victory Road. And although there are some defenders of Team Magma/Aqua's plans to expand the land mass/sea respectively, I am not one of them. Not only that, but training is absolutely horrible, since just like with GSC, the wild Pokémon are so low level most of the time - like if you're doing a Nuzlocke or Wedlocke and something dies, then you have to train for hours (unless you're playing on a ROM with super-speed access) because there are no good training spots compared to the later games. And with Ruby and Sapphire, they have probably the worst post-game in the series, RBY notwithstanding, as all you really get to do are contests, hunting Latios/Latias and a Battle Tower that requires you to go in at either Level 50 or 100 (and DON'T mention hunting the Regi trio, as you can do that before beating the game). And with the Battle Frontier in Emerald, it's the same deal in that you basically had to train up any Pokémon you wanted to use to the same level, lest you enter the facilities with an uneven team.

However, despite all of this, I will NOT say that Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald are bad games. Far from it, in fact. They did introduce a new jump for Pokémon as a whole, changing the game in several ways such as introducing abilities, natures, EVs, and such. And i'll admit they did have a lot of ideas that were at least clever, such as contests, hunting the Regis, and being able to use two bikes with different capabilities.

So, in short, Ruby and Sapphire are my second least favorite games in the series, only ahead of Gold, Silver and Crystal. I was really juggling between which ones I like less, and i'll be honest, I almost said Ruby and Sapphire, because I feel like part of the reason they're even popular now is because of the people that hate on Generation V and VI, while in comparison GSC were always popular. But again, there is a lot to like about them, so I can't call them bad - I would just rather play most of my other games than them, mostly in part to the technology we have now.

There you have it.

This is quite a funny topic to answer, because my opinion on the third generation has been extremely flexible over the years, and after playing through the games again and really taking a look at what it provided compared to the other games, its position on my favourites list has drastically changed.

My first impression of the games was honestly very good. If I remember correctly, the games were released very early on in the GBA's life cycle, so at the time, I had only really been used to GBC games when it came to quality. I'm not certain if this was before my brother got a PS2, which was arguably more impressive, since the portable consoles aren't really made to be as impressive. But yeah, I think it was before I'd experienced anything better than GBC, that I got to see the third generation Pokemon games for the third time. And while the graphics may not have been that impressive again, for someone who had only really experienced the older generations of Pokemon games, Super Mario Land and Wario Land 3 before, I was pretty amazed by what the games had to offer. I absolutely loved the new Pokemon, I loved the progression of the game, and I had a lot of fun with it. It was still in a period of time, where I wasn't fully aware of all the functions of the games, or even knew all the typing match-ups, so the features it provided didn't really wow me that much, but just the design-value and the gameplay was enough to leave me impressed. Unfortunately, I lost my copy of Ruby only a few months after getting the game, so I didn't actually get to play it all that much. My mom didn't want to buy a new version for me, so a lot of years went by before I truly got to play through the game again. I did watch others play, and helped them out at certain points, but I never really got to play it through myself. In the span of time that I didn't own the game, I got to play through Leaf Green, which was the last Pokemon game my mom ever bought for me, Diamond together with a friend, and a bit of Black after finding the wonderful world of illegally download ROMs (oops). I don't know exactly what it was that caused this, but at that point in time, I ranked the Hoenn as my second least favourite region, only getting passed by Unova. I imagine it might have been because my experiences with the other games had been much longer/better, so I just came to dislike the game for whatever reason. And for the longest time I went thinking that I didn't actually like the games. That was until the summer of 2012, where I found out, that one of my friends had a copy of Sapphire. At that point in time, I'd still not fully played through the region again since losing my game all those years ago, and since it had been a while since I'd had an experience with a Pokemon game on the actual console, I decided to borrow it from him. And I enjoyed it so much. It was the most fun experience I had had with a Pokemon game in a long time, and I found myself appreciating the more technical aspects of it more than I did as a kid. So Hoenn quickly shot up to becoming my second favourite region of all time, only being surpassed by Johto due to nostalgia.

Onto what I actually like about the games vs what I don't like. The main thing that I really like about the third generation games, is the way they completely reformed the Pokemon formula from what we'd seen in the two generations prior to it. I mean, the whole 8 gyms, e4, catch 'em all formula was still the same, but the third generation introduced an actual story to go along with it. In the first two generations, there wasn't really any actual story involved. You were just going through the regions, collecting all the badges, occasionally having to fight your rival, and stopping Team Rocket because the trouble they were causing was getting in the way of you gathering all the badges. The third generation completely changed that around, and tied an actual plot into the game. And while the plot may be kinda weak compared to later generations, it was still the one to start the trend. But yeah, it introduced "evil" teams that actually had motives other than stealing Pokemon, and tied the titular legendaries into the actual progress of the story without just being like "oh btw here's a wing you can go find this pokemon now". It used to legendaries to spice up the story, and really hype up the battle with the Pokemon. And while I did say the plot might've been a bit weak, it's still my favourite of any from the Pokemon games today, simply because it kept it simple while still being interesting, and you could honestly sympathize with the evil teams, since they just really believed that their motives were to better the world (despite giving them such intimidating designs).

Other things I really love about the games, is the way they hype the battle with the champion. In the first generation, the champion battle wasn't nearly as exciting because you'd already fought your rival multiple times before reaching him as the champion. In the second generation, you didn't get to battle the champion throughout the game, but he was the final member of the E4 from R/B/G/Y, and you barely even heard much of him, apart from when you infiltrated the Rocket Hideout with him. But in the third generation games, you met him multiple times during your travels, without outright being told that he was the champion, and he was involved with trying to stop Team Magma/Aqua, so you got the feeling that he was somewhat strong and important. And in the end, you find out that the person who's been helping you throughout the journey is the champion! It's not that it was really that hard to guess, but they don't make it super obvious like in generation 4 (where I think they outright say that she's the champion), but they still show him enough times for it to feel exciting.

I also really like the Pokemon in this generation. While a lot of them have been subject to critique, as well as people claiming this was where the era of good Pokemon designs ended, I feel like the third generation introduced some of the coolest Pokemon, along with a lot of creative ones. I liked pretty much all the starters, I really like the whole Feebas/Milotic evolution, even if it does feel a bit reminiscent of Magikarp/Gyarados, and other than that, the generation just introduced a lot of Pokemon that I just like for whatever reason. My favourite thing however, are the legendary Pokemon. I feel like this generation really did it right. While I really wish that Deoxys and Jirachi had been available without the need of events, I really liked how you got to find a lot of the legendaries. The way they involved the titular legendaries in the story was really cool, and made it way more exciting to battle them than just being told you can find them somewhere. Rayquaza was the first legendary where I felt like it was actually given a decent challenge to get to. Articuno had just been pushing around a few boulders to make you able to reach it, and Ho-oh was really just tedious to get to. But Rayquaza actually required a little bit of skill to get to, by being able to maneuver your bike over the cracked floor while not losing speed. While it may not be all that hard now, I remember I was one of the few who was able to do it when I was young haha. And when you finally reached Rayquaza, it honestly just felt really cool. The way the view of the sky was open, and it was just sitting there. idk I just always really liked that. And then there's the regis. I think they might have had the most elaborate puzzle in a Pokemon game to date, and I really enjoyed figuring out how to find them and catch them :D That's about it for the main things I enjoy

As for the things I dislike though, there also are a few of those. First is something that's already been addressed loads of times before. The amount of water in the region is ridiculous. It wouldn't really have been as big of a problem, if it wasn't because most of the routes were filled to the brim with constant Pelipper with supersonic encounters that were apparently impossible to run from. It's one of the main reasons I disliked the later parts of the games, because the last few routes and cities were all surrounded by water, and with the cost of repels you either had to empty your pockets, thus making you unprepared for the E4, or deal with constant encounters while just trying to progress. At least you didn't encounter Pokemon underwater unless you were deliberately trying to. I mean, going through the grass, it took ages to find Pokemon.

My only other big complaint specifically to the Hoenn games, is the lack of post-game content. There were the legendaries and the Battle Tower/Battle Frontier, as well as the secret bases, but that was about it. And considering the massive post-game that G/S/C provided, it was something pretty big the games had to follow up to, and they really didn't deliver. I personally never found the Battle Tower or Battle Frontier that enjoyable, and there was only so much you could do with the secret bases.

But other than that, I don't really have that many complaints. Obviously there's the things like the lack of the physical/special split, but that's an issue that applies to all pre-4th gen games, so I'd hardly say that's an issue with those games. Maybe also the insane amount of potential double battles that just become consecutive single battles, but I think that might have been fixed in Emerald iirc. I also realise I didn't mention contests, but that's simply because it was never really that stand-out to me. I didn't dislike them, but I was never too interested in them either. I know a lot of people enjoy them, and I think it's a cool feature, but it's just not something for me.

Ohhoho They were definitely my favorite games of all time! While the post game was lacking, at least in Ruby and Sapphire, the gameplay, Pokemon, and new features more than made up for that. The region was spectacular, the gym leaders were really cool, and the elite 4 was one of the best! Not to mention these games had Steven and Wallace who are my favorite NPCs ever <3 RSE also had the coolest looking protagonists! To top it all off these games are where Castform was introduced haha. I'd give them a 11/10 and would recommend that everyone who enjoys Pokemon play them at least once! c:

On most sides, RSE were good improvements of the previous games. The most I liked of these games is the improved plot in comparison to the previous games. You really feel the legendary Pokémon are involved in the game and not just a powerful Pokémon being boringly standing in a cave or something waiting to be caught.
The double storyline between Ruby and Sapphire is another thing I liked. Team Magma as the antagonists and Team Aqua as your allies in Ruby while in Sapphire Team Aqua forms the bad guys and Team Magma assists you.
Also these games show some new features, secret bases and abilities for example, and improve some old ones like the pc system.
Overall, they're good games for the time and are great to play on emulators (while DS emulators tend to have their restrictions).

I'm going to say that R/S/E were probably my most favourite games of all time. Especially Emerald. I remember Ruby being released years ago and I was super excited to go pick it up. Dang those were the ti mes! I thoroughly enjoyed the starting of the game- it felt fresh and it had much better graphics then the Gameboy Color, something I was really ecstatic about! It really made me happy. I remember getting super happy on finding new Pokémon in cool areas such as Mawile on the lower floor in Granite Cave, and Tropius on the jungle-like route. Wow, those were the days. I was really really happy about the new teams and stuff too! The idea of having two new gangs; Team Aqua & Magma was awesome and in how in Ruby one of them was okay with you while on the other game the other team was okay with you. I really think that worked out well and it contributed towards making the game much more enjoyable.

Honestly, I think why I enjoy these games so much is because they actually had a much more stable story and it was much more firm and interesting, which was something Gen 2 partially lacked. The cutscenes- the events with the team members; it just makes it all too cool and there was a bunch of stuff you could do. Especially in the region of Hoenn. There's tropical islands, volcanoes and much more! Exploring a humid region was pretty intriguing as it was the first time that we actually saw stuff properly like ash and volcanoes. It was an epic experience, truly.

Don't forget Steven too! Like Olli said, Gen 1 and 2's champions were either too common or you didn't even know much at all about them before you challenged them. This is different for R/S! You actually have some cool quests and things to do before you actually challenge him, and you don't even know that he's the Champion. I was pretty astonished to find out he was the Champion, as I would've thought he'd been one of those random trainers who like travelling the world, and because he's Steven collect stones. The battle backgrounds were also amazing, in Gen II there were no battle backgrounds so they were a semi-big thing in Gen 3. There's one for snow, one for sand, one for water, one for grass, tall grass, there's a lot! Even for the Elite 4 and Champion.

But then there is always negative parts towards the game, like any other game. One super annoying thing is (and you have to agree with me on this one) is the Wingulls when you surf around the region. They barely give you any EXP and just use Supersonic to annoy the hell out of you or they just make your HP unnecessarily go down which is just a waste of time. I wish they would've added much more of a variety of Pokémon to the sea routes, as part of the region is water. Makes no sense, really.

Also, you can't forget that this was the first generation to actually make your dad an NPC in the game! And not only an NPC, but a member of the Hoenn League! And that he'd make you go challenge other Gym Leaders then make you come back was just exciting. Plus the battle with him was very difficult and I am gonna admit I lost a bunch of times against him. I was always underlevelled before challenging him because the gym trainers were weird for me and they didn't work well against my Pokémon. Oh well.

Lol guys, your posts are too long!

Anyway. 7 Years ago, GBA on PC, and Pokemon Sapphire. My first Pokemon game. The game was incredible cos I was a huge Pokemaniac and to be able to collect your own Pokemon was incredible. Friends told what it was like so I imagined it to be 3D but I still loved it. I still remember what it looked like in my mind back then lol.
Anyway, Despite it being awesome, I quit many times cos of stupid reasons. Like, I didnt know what was Flash for so I spent way too much time in that dumb Dewford town cave, and stuff like that.
I remember picking Torchic and being disappointed cos I expected a cool Phoenix as a final evolution lol.
Anyway, Hoenn is now my favorite region and I am really happy I started with it. And I love all the water! Yes, I do! I mean its a freakin' island, what are you expecting lol

Oh yes I have been waiting for this day for a while now I can tell you my personal thoughts on RSE. These games were my childhood or at least my early childhood they are what got me hooked on the franchise heck Emerald was the first Pokemon game I ever owned so that means it is special to me even though it was sold by my father. I loved these games from start to finish even though some parts *cough* surfing sections *cough* made me want to pull my hair out from how annoying they were. I would have to say my most memorable thing in those games was facing the champion whether it be Steven or Wallace mainly due to the music I mean come on that music is awesome as heck. So all in all I love these games they were my childhood and I still wish I had them to this day because they were my first experience with video games a thing that has shaped my life and that I will never forget.

Also wow people really like making long posts I just say what needs to be said XD

Now here's the time to look back on what was my first Pokemon game ever.

I had only just celebrated my 11th birthday, back in 2003 and I recall getting a GBA SP (the limited edition tattoo print one nonetheless) and Pokemon Ruby, and I was like so eager to play it immediately.

I started my game, chose Mudkip as my starter and it was so strong for something so adorable. By the time she (mine was female) became a Swampert it was proven that it makes nearly everything easy-mode, and while I had such a redundant type coverage in my team (remember I was still a noob back then) I was always intrigued by the story and how the villain teams were planning to use Groudon and Kyogre to dry out or flood the world to expand the land or sea was something that kept me on the edge, given how much I hear about terrible natural disasters myself.

There was a lot of water and surfing sections, but Hoenn has a unique place as a tropical region and having a very different Pokemon design approach compared to most generations, so it's easy to see the connection many players had.

too much water
too many trumpets

RSE remains my favourite Pokemon generation. It's the perfect amount of challenge, and all there is to discover blows me away. The regis, Shoal Cave, the final battle with Steven, those were all great.

I also think that the RSE games were aesthetically the best in the series; I can spend hours upon hours gushing over how beautiful Victory Road and Lavaridge Town; the little things like the flowers and the hot tub. The attention to detail in these games is absolutely astounding.

Very fun and enjoyable.

I think the differences between them, though minor, are really cool.

Overall i love the pokemon, and i think the region is one of the most interesting, the tropical aspect are amazing. I think the pacing of the games was excellent, maybe even the best in the series overall. The sunken ship was soooo cool.

Oh yes! Here goes my opinion on the third generation.

Being the first Pokémon game I've ever played, Pokémon Ruby has done a lot to me as a kid. I hard something to enjoy back then. Something to relax with.

Whatever. Here's my real opinion.

The first two regions were really connected to each other. Game Freak then decided to include none of that when they made Ruby and Sapphire. I don't mean to bash, especially due to the fact that they're my favorite Pokémon games to date. Generation III has been a huge step for Pokémon. A step so huge, older Pokémon fans would criticize it for not sticking to the originals. Well I think the third generation is just fine, even with all the hate.

This generation has brought us a lot of good things: contests, two villainous teams fighting against each other, Abilities, Elite Four battles with different music from the Gym Leaders', French horns, and much more. The graphics were great back then. In fact one of the things that appealed to me was the color.

The sprites and the overworld just had a lot of whimsy in them. The Pokémon just looked so cool and appealing back then. This very decent palette is something Generations IV and V never had, and it will stay that way to me.

The music. THE MUSIC. In general, the music was just great: the simplicity of the GBA's sound system limits mixed in with the very notorious sounds of the French horns (not trumpets). Most other music, like the Rival Battle, Route 113, Verdanturf and Fallarbor BGM just made me feel like I was home, wanting to go back to where I started. But the Champion music, imo, wasn't as threatening as the first two themes, especially Lance's.

The Pokémon introduced here were not just fine: in general, they were awesome. Some Pokémon which have underrated designs, like Chimecho and Feebas, still strongly appeal to me. Even if Chimecho and Feebas will (probably) never appear in the wild, I still love them. Skitty was my favorite Generation III Pokémon, and it will stay like that for quite some time. Many other Pokémon were just at their finest, in design, or in general, like Sableye and Aggron. Shedinja was possibly the best gimmick Game Freak could ever come up with. All these Pokémon were just...wonderful. Even those as derpy as Wailmer and Gulpin. I never actually had the opportunity to get the legendary golems, but if I ever get to play ORAS or RSE again, I'd try.

The story overall was pretty neat. Two villainous teams trying to summon a legendary Pokémon to either heighten or lower those IGN ratings (even if they were for ORAS, not the original games). Nice move, Pokémon. Mt. Chimney could be my most favorite storyline setting ever. I could just remember the music of threatening French horns mixed with those low-quality sounds.

The villainous teams were at their best that time, until Team Galactic quickly rushed to the spot. Two villainous teams? Original! I didn't really care about the characters, just the gameplay, but the remakes came, and bam!

The remakes were possibly the best decision Pokémon could ever make. I know for a fact that the reason they were made in theme first place was that it was the only way to get all 386 Pokémon at the time. FireRed and LeafGreen weren't as colorful as Ruby and Sapphire, but the overworld sprites were certainly better. If only I finished the game...

Pokémon Emerald was a big step for Generation III. Why? The Battle Frontier. Although I never actually got to play it (because I was a noob as a kid and let my Swampert get owned by that dreaded Ludicolo), I'd love to try. The mechanics and characters were neat, but the music was the best part of the Battle Frontier, particularly when you battle a Frontier Brain. I also loved how the Safari Zone got upgraded. Sadly, this sweet mechanic has never made it in Generation V and onward, because "we kids have our own definition on what fun is in the current age of smartphones". I just wish we could even see these characters again.

Overall, I love this generation. The things I held dear the most were the music and color...things that the newer generations will never be good at doing...until the Hoenn remakes came! Yay!
Ahem.

Anyway, that was my overall opinion. I don't need to talk about the contests or Abilities or the day-night cycle or whatevs for reasons.

I really like the pokemon designs, and character designs.

I say it took a risk by not having compatibility with the previous two series and it did alright. I still think Gen 2 is better than R/S/E but it did a great job at adding some new stuff such as the Pokemon Contests, new Berries, Abilities and more.