once when i was like 11 or 12 or something i was at this christian summer camp and some kid was being mean to me and making fun of me etc and i got mad and picked up a small rock from the ground and threw it at his back and a bunch of camp counselors saw and i got in trouble and one of the counselors sat me down and said what i did wasnt very christ like and made me feel guilty about it and i cried about it all day. and then for about a week or two i tried to atone for my sins by reading the bible but it was the old timey king james translation and it didnt really make sense to me so i gave up and became an atheist. so i relate to james in that sense

The level curve in the second half of the game is fucked, I don't really care, this to me is Pokemon operating at its most fluent. An unbelievable amount of content and complexity wrung out of the absolute lowest rent tech and basic mechanics available. Something that, uh, the series still does today despite the budget and hardware to absolutely not have to do. The journey from local kid to legend surpasser is I think the best basic RPG character growth setup the series has ever done. Like a kid-friendly version of the killing God most console JRPGs had you doing at this time. Also, the core Pokemon combat system is just so much better than the vast majority of those. This game really feels like the pinnacle of what the basic Gameboy/GBC hardware could do, and it's fun to go back to.