3rd Gen Removal of Time

[vaporeon7]

(For those of you who have been here for a while, you may remember I made this thread a while ago, and well I'm bringing some of my old ones back!)

Unlike Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire before them, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen lacked the time function. This was done to follow the original games, Pokémon Red and Green better, as both games also lacked a time function. Because there was no time function, many features dependant on time were not present in the games. Some of these include berries, evolving Eevee into Espeon and Umbreon, the lottery, item giveaways, etc.

So what did you think about this? Did following the original games better outweigh the absence of these features? Which feature did you miss the most due to the removal of time? Do you think this was necessary?

Discuss!

"Our shop does not offer any
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[Sydian]

omg aaron did u rly lol

The removal of time I thought was kind of...not the right move. It's one thing that night and day were removed in RSE, but there was still a clock and certain times of the day. You just had to check your clock and make sure you were on the right end, of course. FRLG though...I feel bad for people trying to complete their Pokedex back then on FRLG, considering you can't evolve Eevee into Umbreon or Espeon there, and without a friend or yourself to trade with, you were screwed over. I understand the reasons they didn't add a clock, trying to stay authentic with being a remake of a game that didn't have a time feature, but with the changes made in generation II with two evolutions that required a certain time, it should have been added. This is part of the reason I don't like FRLG as a remake. It stuck to RG way too strictly in this aspect.

 

[Wobbu]

Although the original games didn't have time, there was no need to cut it in the remakes. Even Gen. 2 Kanto had time! They knew it was possible to implement and they probably knew how to do it. The only good thing about the time exclusion was the imminent death of the cartridge's battery. I have berries that will forever be sprouts in my Emerald Version. As for Espeon and Umbreon, they could've at least included the Moon Shard and the Sun Shard (à la Pokémon XD).

 

[XeroNos]

Actually the time feature is a good thing and I will definitely want it to be included.

 

[Golden Warrior]

The time feature used in Ruby and Sapphire left some things to be asked for. Like a proper day/night system that Gold and Silver so easily displayed before the GBA game era. I honestly wish that Fire Red and Leaf Green had these types of features as well, even if only on the level of Ruby. Because, as Vaporeon stated, no berries or proper Eeveelution.

3rd Gen. had potential for great time functions, but none really used it to it's fullest like the Generation before it.

 

[Varion Bluefire]

The time feature was removed, since it didn't really have any uses barring stuff which was introduced after Generation 1. (eevees, berries, special pokemon)

But if it was in the game, it could be a lot more interesting, like adding certain pokemon appearing at certain times, like Lapras in GSC.

 

[PokeChris123]

I kind of wished they kept the time feature (and I wished they kept the day/night feature from G/S/C). I would have liked Day/Night, Pokemon appearing at cetain times and Espeon+Umbreon. That's not the only thing I wish they had, I also wish they had some of the evolutions and pre-evolutions of Kanto Pokemon (Like Pichu, Crobat, Kingdra, etc.)... Sorry if I got a bit off topic.

 

[Tsutarja]

When I was first flipping through the FRLG game guide from Nintendo Power, there was a page in there with a snapshot from RS (not Emerald because this was 2004) of the player's room's clock, and I had thought it was from FRLG, and not Ruby or Sapphire. So when I found out it wasn't in FRLG, I was a little upset, and I wish they had programmed the clock in. After all, if they wanted it to mock the original Red and Green, then they should have included the clock if the Sevii Islands could have been added, but that's just me.

 

[Hikamaru]

omg aaron did u rly lol

The removal of time I thought was kind of...not the right move. It's one thing that night and day were removed in RSE, but there was still a clock and certain times of the day. You just had to check your clock and make sure you were on the right end, of course. FRLG though...I feel bad for people trying to complete they're Pokedex back then on FRLG, considering you can't evolve Eevee into Umbreon or Espeon there, and without a friend or yourself to trade with, you were screwed over. I understand the reasons they didn't add a clock, trying to stay authentic with being a remake of a game that didn't have a time feature, but with the changes made in generation II with two evolutions that required a certain time, it should have been added. This is part of the reason I don't like FRLG as a remake. It stuck to RG way too strictly in this aspect.

Yeah I was kinda sad there was no proper time system in 3rd Gen, especially given how hard it is to evolve Eevee into Umbreon or Espeon. I understand that with FR/LG they were trying to keep to the roots of the original games but it wouldn't have hurt to have added time in. It really screwed over FR/LG players trying to complete the Pokedex yet had no-one to trade with.

At least Game Freak learned their lesson and re-implemented time in 4th Gen, but made it better.

 

[BlueMudkipz]

The time feature is a huge part of Pokemon, and I was so glad when they added it for Pokemon Gold and Silver.

But in R/S/E I hated the Time feature, but again, it was the first Gameboy Advance Pokemon game, so they were fixing some kinks and such.

~blu

 

[Treecko]

I loved the Night and Day system. It made the games feel more real. I wasn't bothered by certain Pokemon appearing at night only cause the ones that do make since like Hoothoot. Owls don't show up in the day time do they? Nope they're nocturnal. Some bugs only appear at the night time too so it make sense this concept was implemented in Pokemon. It's not really that hard to play the game in the day or night. So it really disappointed me it wasn't in RSE or FRLG. Though I can get if they didn't know how to put it in due to space or the internal battery problem, but the lack of night and day made the games feel so odd. So glad it was brought back in future generations.

 

[Soldier Randy]

I definitly looove FR/LG, they're my favourite games of the whole franchise. But I have to agree in here. I was already pretty upset when they implemented a stupid (in my opinion) weather system instead of day and night in R/S, and then FR/LG didn't have it either, I was really dissappointed for this although a little happy for the lack of the stupid weather.

I'm sure that if night and day were implemented (as in G/S/C not the ****** way of R/S/E) Espeon and Umbreon wouldn't be available until you got the National Dex like with Crobat, but I've wouldn't mind that, I would be pleased seing Kanto changing from day to night on GBA grafics, but I have to wait longer, until HG/SS.

Still FR/LG are my #1 pokémon games!!!

 

[LusoTrainer]

The good thing about lacking time is that it won't make your cartridge obsolete after a couple of years.

Still, they could have made Eevee evolve into Espeon and Umbreon with a Sun Stone and Moon Stone respectively (thank the community for hacking). But then again, trading was always a present "feature" with Pokémon games.

 

[Brendino]

After adding a day/night system in G/S/C, then scaling it back to just a time-based system in Ruby and Sapphire, to removing it all together in FR/LG really bothered me. Even with the excuse of wanting to make it reminiscent of the originals by not having a clock seemed more like a poor excuse for not including it, as remakes are supposed to be updated versions of the originals, not carbon copies. You lost so many features like growing berries, having periodic sales and especially evolving Eevee into Espeon/Umbreon were quite annoying.

The only upside I guess is the fact that you don't have to deal with your internal battery wearing out down the line, and losing all these features anyway. But still, I would've rather gotten a few years of use out of a time system in FR/LG than to have never gotten one at all.

 

[Amore]

Well, Emerald was my first game, so I didn't experience day/night until Gen IV and really just forgot about the clock I'd set in Emerald.
However, once I realised there was time, I then thought I could get an Espeon/Umbreon with my Eevee in LeafGreen. how wrong was I.

This is probably my least favourite thing about Gen III - not only could I not get Machamp, Alakazam etc. due to the difficulties of trading pre-Gen IV, but I couldnt get these, two of my favourites, for no apparent reason.

I've also not had internal battery issues with Emerald, so to me there really does seem to be no upside to losing the time feature.

 

[Altair1]

The time exclusion didn't really bother me at the time (I was young), I can imagine how it can be a pain for some people wanting Espeon and Umbreon. No Wi-Fi to make things convenient as well... ;P

I have berries that will forever be sprouts in my Emerald Version.

Emerald doesn't even have this problem, it and FireRed/LeafGreen have a patch which can fix the berry glitch that can be transferred to Ruby/Sapphire via the link cables.