3rd Gen Hoenn has a better story than you think

[SpeedySlowpoke]

When we think of the plot in hoenn we think of the vague goals and ambitions of Maxie and Archie.
However the story that hoenn has to tell is much deeper than what one would see at first glance.
Yesterday poke tuber Tama Hiroka uploaded a video on a review of Ruby and Saphire and it is a really good review and I recommend you should check it out
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze8uhmeFt7A
If you don't have the time to check it out ,basically it covers the motives behind game freak making hoenn the region as it is.It covers how Japan carried out projects to expand its land for rapid development and also for farmlands to feed the growing population.This however led to lots of damage to the environment and sea creatures and also badly affected the fishermen.
The game aims to present this problem to children and has the protagonist solve the problem.However it is concept beyond the understanding of most living in the West as lack of land is a problem they have never experienced or known of.
The region of hoenn represents a harmony between land and water and people.There are a lot of NPC's whose statements make a lot more sense now that I understand the back story.
Team Aqua represents the fishermen and environmentalists while Team Magma represents the beaureaucrats and the farmers.
People say that hoenn's plot has led to every Pokemon game following it having the same idea that is to stop the bad guys from using a legendary to wreak havoc.But I would argue that gen 5 games are the only games that handle this plot better than gen 3.
One of the only bad things about the plot is that the characters are not fleshed out enough. This is in my opinion almost wholly because of the lack of dialogue.
People complain about the Pokemon games from gen 5 and every Pokemon game after it being too wordy but that really helped flesh out the characters which makes the really good story stand out.
I would argue that Hoenn has a better plot than the Unova games except for the execution.
The other bad thing is that there is no good ending to the Maxie's and Archie's plot.
So all in all this video really changed the way I viewed this wonderful game.

 

[Lunar]

I was literally watching this video this morning before I saw your post!

It certainly is an interesting video, and shows how Game Freak were trying to show the world one of the problems that was going on in Japan at that time, and something close to their hearts. It was their first attempt at this kinda storyline so I'll forgive them for some of the characters not being fully fleshed out and it became the basis for a formula which has spanned well over a decade! Emerald really solved a lot of Ruby and Sapphire's problems, and I've always found that to be the 'complete' version of the story, but this definitely sheds new light on how GF went about creating the beautiful region of Hoenn <3

 

[Inner Rhymes]

I saw the video at around 2 am in my timezone, and trust me, i was actually mind blown by the actually history behind the plotline of Hoenn. I mean, i did have the basic notion that preservation of nature was the main theme, but i did not know it was linked to real world incidents/events.

 

[Zeostar]

I did enjoy hoenn's plot a bunch, but after playing getting into other JRPG's it's sunken my opinion on it slightly. (Not specifically hoenn but I guess Pokemon plot lines in general).

The apocalyptic event with the drought/rain is the peak of the story, but it's over as soon as it begins. I do like the cutscene of Rayquaza chasing off Kyogre and Groudon.