Comfort game :)
A bit more clunky than I remember because of the increase in quality of life changes and mastery of minigames in the more recent titles, but still a decently challenging and expansive Pokemon game. I honestly do not think that I ever lost to a gym leader before or since this game which urged me to do better. There is plenty to do after beating the Elite Four like battling gym leaders again, calling other NPCs on routes to re-battle, and tracking down and catching the several legendary and rare pokemon. This is also the only pokemon game I can remember the storyline to besides several vague "taking over the world with a mind-bending legendary" plots, and the game consciously attempts to play into this. The map is split almost evenly into water and land, and with this there is a cautionary message of environmental conservation that is introduced alongside these areas of exploration. The pokemon that populate these areas, while somewhat underbalanced and overpopulated by a bit too many samey water types, make a fun and interesting run regardless of whether it is nuzlocke or casual. Hoenn is a fun region to explore, the aesthetic is much more realized than Sapphire and Ruby, and there is legitimate challenge and reward for those who attempt to engage with this game in multiple ways. It certainly isn't perfect with many undercooked "minigames" and unbalanced pokemon types, but I really do enjoy this quite a bit. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking since I have probably completed this version more than any other pokemon game, but this has always been my favorite of them.
A bit more clunky than I remember because of the increase in quality of life changes and mastery of minigames in the more recent titles, but still a decently challenging and expansive Pokemon game. I honestly do not think that I ever lost to a gym leader before or since this game which urged me to do better. There is plenty to do after beating the Elite Four like battling gym leaders again, calling other NPCs on routes to re-battle, and tracking down and catching the several legendary and rare pokemon. This is also the only pokemon game I can remember the storyline to besides several vague "taking over the world with a mind-bending legendary" plots, and the game consciously attempts to play into this. The map is split almost evenly into water and land, and with this there is a cautionary message of environmental conservation that is introduced alongside these areas of exploration. The pokemon that populate these areas, while somewhat underbalanced and overpopulated by a bit too many samey water types, make a fun and interesting run regardless of whether it is nuzlocke or casual. Hoenn is a fun region to explore, the aesthetic is much more realized than Sapphire and Ruby, and there is legitimate challenge and reward for those who attempt to engage with this game in multiple ways. It certainly isn't perfect with many undercooked "minigames" and unbalanced pokemon types, but I really do enjoy this quite a bit. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking since I have probably completed this version more than any other pokemon game, but this has always been my favorite of them.