6th Gen Were the ORAS games just as good as the originals?

[Starry Windy]

ORAS definitely surpassed its original iterations of Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald in many ways, because it has modern features that make it stand out much more. Like Mega Evolutions, riding with Latias or Latios, unlimited usage of TMs and all, topped with battling 5 Team Aqua/Magma grunts at the same time via Hordes Battles (that's the kind of grunt matches that I wanted it to be) and improved storyline.

 

[hooville]

I think I prefer ORAS. The original Ruby/Sapphire games were my least favorite Pokemon games. They broke ground with the graphics, natures (I think....right? Weren't they the first to introduce natures), but I was less enthused by the Pokemon in the game.

That said, I'm loving my Alpha Sapphire. Riding Latias is key. I just wish they took more elements of Y and X (like personalized outfits).

 

[mikey]

I think I prefer the originals, just because they seemed more challenging to me.

Although, ORAS are fantastic remakes that I do love. Definitely a close one!

 

[Altairis]

I did miss some things in Emerald - e.g. the number of double battles it had, a certain frontier, etc. I also dislike some of the things that went missing (Granite Cave, or at least needing to explore it to find Steven [don't mind redesigns to caves], the Berry mixing game). But overall I feel its polishing (surfing IS better, the improvements to Team Magma/Aqua plots, revamped secret bases) and additions (DEXNAV, Sea Mauville sidestory, soaring, Delta episode) outweighs those disappointments personally.

Just wanted to quote this because it echoes my feelings exactly \o/ I was really disappointed at the lack/changing of certain things, but a lot of the things they added to ORAS specifically (ex. not just inclusion of Mega Evolutions, which comes with every new game now presumably) such as DexNav and Soaring made it WAY worth it.

I was worried about seeing Hoenn in the XY graphics and thought they would be butt-ugly, but I actually like how they turned out, but I kinda wish that the routes seemed bigger; probably just because I'm older, but I felt like I didn't have to walk around for a while to get to the next place.

Also I'm glad that the response is generally positive to ORAS - 19 people voted for ORAS and 4 for RSE as of this post! :D I understand why people would vote for the third option, though I wonder if it would be the same if I asked regarding RB vs FRLG and GSC vs HGSS?

 

[Buu]

Honestly the remakes are by far better as all Pokemon remakes have been, however you can't take away the feeling that RSE gives you when you play it, the only downside to the originals is that they don't have online features (excluding PokeMMO).

 

[Eden]

Truth be told, I used to have a scathing view of Hoenn, but ORAS managed to change my mind. It corrected just about every problem I have with the originals, and I enjoyed just about every moment of the main game.

 

[Dysergy]

Definitely much better. I absolutely love the DexNav, and surfing on top of a Sharpedo. Soaring was absolutely amazing - although I wish they'd patch the map to make the Battle Resort Island actually look like the Battle Resort...

My main grip is that on foot, I can run from Littleroot Town to Lilycove in just a few minutes. I kinda wish the maps were a bit larger and more expansive? But then, I guess they run the risk of boredom through repetition. I'm curious about what's next for Pokémon. In terms of Evolution, I think they've pretty much covered it. I wonder if we'll get some sort of Fusion Mechanic in the future... Hmmm.

 

[illumine]

The original games had a certain sense of subtlety and of various hidden facts, secrets, mysteries, and etc., from Shoal Cave to just looking around in places with the bike, the Regis, etc., and I feel that ORAS are perhaps a bit too flamboyant to carry that through, and most of the additions seem to compromise that without adding anything on the whole that the other modern games lack, other than new features and such which would in any case tend to be added to in the next generation of games such as it were. It doesn't really feel as personal or engaging in that sense, so there isn't that much interest in it as a remake, in any case adding things to a remake doesn't necessarily make it worthwhile in itself, while it doesn't really engage with the original game beyond regularising it. The DexNav feels more like a fan thing than a statement, like a scene thing rather than something which would really contribute to the game, while importing elements from games which aren't Pokemon and are probably better at it; contests already fulfilled that function in some ways. In any case we've got remakes of Hoenn and nobody's done anything with Ho-Oh so like what.

 

[Sun]

Out of all remakes, OrAs are slightly the better ones. Otherwise everything else pretty much improved from Ruby and Sapphire.

 

[Gary29]

ORAS was definitely better than RSE to me. The graphics astounded me, the storyline has really nice twists compared to the original, making it more than just a remake but not entirely a sequel, and the new additions (Soar, DexNav etc.) are wonderful. The only thing currently missing is the Battle Frontier.

 

[PlatinumDude]

As much as I love the original R/S, OR/AS took them and made them even better because there are more things to do in the post-game, like the Delta Episode and legendary hunting.

 

[Pepperton]

I don't think there's much argument for RSE spare my beloved Battle Frontier; ORAS was a wonderful remake that took the characteristics that made RSE great and improved on them.

 

[MisterBazilion]

I think they cut out a lot of stuff and made the remakes far too easy. Also, the lack of postgame was pretty bad. All in all, I was disappointed and wished they remade Emerald instead, and I wish they had just made the games more substantial/challenging.

Don't think I didn't like the games, because I did. I just thought they could have been much better.

 

[SparklingMistral]

I didn't think either was really better over the other. I wasn't a huge fan of RSE to begin with, haha, so I didn't really have high hopes for ORAS being much better. Don't get me wrong, I did like ORAS, I just don't think it was a significant enough difference for me to be swayed one way or the other.

 

[Weedy Speedy]

They're better than the originals, but they're not as good as Emerald.

 

[Gigadweeb]

So far, R/S/E, emphasis on Emerald.

Emerald had:

• Battle Frontier
• both box legends
• Gym rematches
• Legendary 'mons that aren't handed out before engame
• not-generic anime designs (kind of looks like they tried to make all the girls in the game generic lolis and the guys generic shotas)
• Battle Frontier
• not press-A-to-overlevel Exp. Share
• Battle Frontier
• THE GODDAMNED BATTLE FRONTIER

OR/AS has:

• better graphics
• Delta Episode
• better music
• more Pokémon
• Soaring

I think Emerald wins. just because of how goddamned good the Battle Frontier was.

 

[Geltza]

As a game, ORAS is obviously better. In my opinion I don't really know how anyone can deny that.
That said, I was young when I played Ruby for the first time and the feeling when playing that game brand new was a lot better then the feeling I got when Playing Omega Ruby for the first time. Maybe it's just because I'm older now. But if I could only choose one of them to play and the other one gets destroyed I'd have to say I'd play Omega Ruby and destroy Ruby. I'm never going to get that "Oh my god this is so amazing!" feeling from Ruby again like I did back in the day.

This of course is talking about Ruby compared to Omega Ruby. Emerald comes under a different argument for me!

 

[Dansparce]

Emerald > Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire > Ruby/Sapphire

As everyone else has said, the Battle Frontier is just way too good. I've wasted countless hours in it, and was disappointed by the lack of it in the remakes (Another sorely missing feature was the Gym Leader Rematches).

But otherwise, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are much better than Ruby/Sapphire, at least in my opinion.

 

[Loriania]

I never actually got to play Ruby or Emerald, but I think AS improved on Sapphire. (Really like soaring with my Latias.)

 

[Altairis]

For me they were way better. I never enjoyed R/S/E as a child so the remakes were very refreshing and gave me a new opinion on the Hoenn region. I think I'll enjoy Sinnoh remakes better if they ever make them but the OR/AS remakes were way better than the originals to me.

This isn't really meant for you specifically but I'm just curious and decided to quote you because it's the first post I saw--do you think you would have enjoyed the original RSE games if you were younger? Was it the new looks and features that caused you to like the region/games better, or just that you're older maybe? I know that I used to dislike LeafGreen as a child but I realize now that it's not so bad :p

also sorry about the notifications I keep noticing new errors every time I save changes