I think when I rated Pokemon Gold 4.5* last year, that was a heavy nostalgia goggles review. I still like this game, a lot, but I think if I want to review this seriously (even if I'm only really keeping track for myself) I have to knock it down half a star. It's still a great game that builds the structure that Gen 1 made into something competent, but there are certainly some parts of the game which are less than stellar: primarily the level curve. It's still probably my favorite Pokemon game and one I hold dear, but it's nontrivially because of nostalgia.