So Pokemon OR/AS dont ever get the same recognition as other remakes in the Pokemon series. And I sort of agree, these titles aren't as strong as remakes as HeartGold/SoulSilver were for their original games, respectively.
Though when it comes down it, I'll take OR/AS over the original R/S/E any day of the week.
First off, there's the improvements that come with the nature of being a newer game, all the advancement from generation 3 to 6.
- Physical/Special Split (significantly improves the battle system)
- Infinite TM's (Having TM's being one time use was irritating)
- PSS (The best online system
- Super Training, Pokemon Amie, Triple Battles, Horde Battles.)
- New evolutions to gen 3 pokemon such as Roserade and Gallade
- Day/Light cycle (was taken out in gen 3 after being in gen 2)
- No Safari Zone (don't @ me, it has always sucked)
Then improvements upon the original games, in my opinion:
- Characters (like May, Steven, and the evil team) have more personality, and a result the story feels better realized (still not that "good", just much better.)
- World feels richer with the abundance of more lore, especially from places like Mauville City and the Sunken ship, and even the Buzznav app. Hoenn just feels more lived in than before.
- Dexnav. One of the best features Pokemon has ever introduced. It was fun catching pokemon with egg moves or hidden abilities.
- Soaring. Flying across the region was Latios/Latias was awesome, a shame that the mechanic never returned.
- Improved Secret Bases, it's cool how you can almost turn one into your own personal gym.
- Better music. It's much more chill to listen to than the overused blaring trumpets on gen 3, which just gave me a headache after a while. This is probably the most subjective point in the entire list, so if you prefer the OG soundtrack, I understand.
- Better graphics (cheating, I know). OG Hoenn felt way too washed out and felt like it was created with pastel. OR/AS art direction I think is really good and recreates many locations beautifully, like Meteor Falls. Or I like it across the board, EXCEPT for Chibi heads.
- Better surfing, faster speed plus lowered encounter rates make the game way less annoying in the second half. And unique models for Wailmer, Kyogre, and Sharpedo/
- Mega Evolution. Better implemented in ORAS over X/Y, cause of a lot of gen 3 pokemon actually get it. Cool new designs for old gen 3 pokemon.
Let's get to the elephant in the room: Battle Frontier. Yes, I agree with most that the removal of the facility sucks. I think due to this, Emerald does have the better postgame (and the gym leader rebattles). However I think ORAS's postgame isn't all that bad. I liked the Delta Episode, and the Deoxys battle at the end is an AMAZING moment of fanservice, that I'm really surprised people dislike it. Plus Mirage Islands is cool idea as well.
But as for other reasons people say R/S/E is better, I just can't agree. I've seen people cite trivial things like the removal of the berry blender minigame, no game corner, and removing a single floor from the trick house. I didn't notice many major difficultly changes from R/S, both felt fairly easy to me. Just be sure to stash away that Latias in a PC box, I hate that they just give you one for free, even if it serves the purpose for Soaring.
I think if OR/AS were to have a single change, which is adding Battle Frontier, I think people's opinion would be much higher on the game, even if the rest of it was as-is. But in it's real state, I think it's really good remake of gen 3, and oozes with atmosphere and charm. Sure there are some features removed, but in my opinion, the ones that have been added throughout the years and in ORAS outweigh them significantly.
It also partially redeemed gen 6 for me. X/Y was really disappointing to me, but ORAS was a really good rebound that fused the generation 3 games with the cool new features of X/Y, QoL improvements throughout the years, as well as some ideas of it's own. It's not in my top echelon of Pokemon games, but it's pretty damn good none the less.
Though when it comes down it, I'll take OR/AS over the original R/S/E any day of the week.
First off, there's the improvements that come with the nature of being a newer game, all the advancement from generation 3 to 6.
- Physical/Special Split (significantly improves the battle system)
- Infinite TM's (Having TM's being one time use was irritating)
- PSS (The best online system
- Super Training, Pokemon Amie, Triple Battles, Horde Battles.)
- New evolutions to gen 3 pokemon such as Roserade and Gallade
- Day/Light cycle (was taken out in gen 3 after being in gen 2)
- No Safari Zone (don't @ me, it has always sucked)
Then improvements upon the original games, in my opinion:
- Characters (like May, Steven, and the evil team) have more personality, and a result the story feels better realized (still not that "good", just much better.)
- World feels richer with the abundance of more lore, especially from places like Mauville City and the Sunken ship, and even the Buzznav app. Hoenn just feels more lived in than before.
- Dexnav. One of the best features Pokemon has ever introduced. It was fun catching pokemon with egg moves or hidden abilities.
- Soaring. Flying across the region was Latios/Latias was awesome, a shame that the mechanic never returned.
- Improved Secret Bases, it's cool how you can almost turn one into your own personal gym.
- Better music. It's much more chill to listen to than the overused blaring trumpets on gen 3, which just gave me a headache after a while. This is probably the most subjective point in the entire list, so if you prefer the OG soundtrack, I understand.
- Better graphics (cheating, I know). OG Hoenn felt way too washed out and felt like it was created with pastel. OR/AS art direction I think is really good and recreates many locations beautifully, like Meteor Falls. Or I like it across the board, EXCEPT for Chibi heads.
- Better surfing, faster speed plus lowered encounter rates make the game way less annoying in the second half. And unique models for Wailmer, Kyogre, and Sharpedo/
- Mega Evolution. Better implemented in ORAS over X/Y, cause of a lot of gen 3 pokemon actually get it. Cool new designs for old gen 3 pokemon.
Let's get to the elephant in the room: Battle Frontier. Yes, I agree with most that the removal of the facility sucks. I think due to this, Emerald does have the better postgame (and the gym leader rebattles). However I think ORAS's postgame isn't all that bad. I liked the Delta Episode, and the Deoxys battle at the end is an AMAZING moment of fanservice, that I'm really surprised people dislike it. Plus Mirage Islands is cool idea as well.
But as for other reasons people say R/S/E is better, I just can't agree. I've seen people cite trivial things like the removal of the berry blender minigame, no game corner, and removing a single floor from the trick house. I didn't notice many major difficultly changes from R/S, both felt fairly easy to me. Just be sure to stash away that Latias in a PC box, I hate that they just give you one for free, even if it serves the purpose for Soaring.
I think if OR/AS were to have a single change, which is adding Battle Frontier, I think people's opinion would be much higher on the game, even if the rest of it was as-is. But in it's real state, I think it's really good remake of gen 3, and oozes with atmosphere and charm. Sure there are some features removed, but in my opinion, the ones that have been added throughout the years and in ORAS outweigh them significantly.
It also partially redeemed gen 6 for me. X/Y was really disappointing to me, but ORAS was a really good rebound that fused the generation 3 games with the cool new features of X/Y, QoL improvements throughout the years, as well as some ideas of it's own. It's not in my top echelon of Pokemon games, but it's pretty damn good none the less.
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