I played RS and ORAS multiple times but had not played Emerald until now. I expected I'd see it as a straight upgrade to the original and make me resent the remake for ignoring all it content but surprisingly I didn't (aside from the battle frontier).
I actually think the story changes make the pacing worse compared to the originals by adding additional scenarios not in the original. They make the time between gym 6 and 7 and then 7 to 8 annoyingly long.
I also disliked the replacing contest halls with battle tents aside from the one in Lillycove. Those are poor imitations of facilities in the frontier with insulting rewards. Not worth messing with progressing contests throughout the game.
Post game stuff is great at least and so are updates to gym rosters so I can still see this being the best version, it's just not the best to the extent Platinum is the clear best between original gen 4 and their remakes.
I actually think the story changes make the pacing worse compared to the originals by adding additional scenarios not in the original. They make the time between gym 6 and 7 and then 7 to 8 annoyingly long.
I also disliked the replacing contest halls with battle tents aside from the one in Lillycove. Those are poor imitations of facilities in the frontier with insulting rewards. Not worth messing with progressing contests throughout the game.
Post game stuff is great at least and so are updates to gym rosters so I can still see this being the best version, it's just not the best to the extent Platinum is the clear best between original gen 4 and their remakes.