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Well, Pokemon Ruby was my first game so it's hard not to be biased. Generation 3 had some of my favorite Pokemon like Manectric, Aggron, and Salamence. I thought overall that the games were unique because of the introduction of natures and abilities as well as the revamped ev and iv systems. Even though I did not play previous games, I think the reboot was the best for the series.
The mechanics introduced were insanely important to the competitive battling scene as it is today. No one can disagree there.
As for the games themselves... when they were first introduced and during the time between their release and well through the release of DPPt, I thought they were pretty great. Everything was colorful, there were some awesome new Pokemon introduced, graphics were a HUGE step-up from Gen 2... However, after playing through Emerald again recently, the game honestly annoys me. It's very slow-paced. Just... everything... is slow. That's really my only complaint with it, but it's had a huge impact (since I'm pretty impatient). 5th gen has spoiled us with good pacing. So yeah. That's my .02.
We are still discussing Gen III? When did these games become such a point of controversy? Oh, wait...the day they were released. Nevermind.
Anyway, I'll say what I've always said: I was incredibly disappointed at first. When I was younger, I couldn't understand the reason for the no-compatibility thing, which was a huge downer for me as I had trained over twenty Pokemon to level 100 in GSC and was eager to use them in the new games. Nowadays, that complaint is obviously obsolete. I do, however, maintain that it had some of the most boring characters the series has ever made (yes, that includes Steven,) especially the Elite 4. I also think the plot, while good in theory, was really poorly handled in RS; to the point where it's my least favorite in the series. Plus, the definitive lack of post-game didn't really allow for much replay value. I also think Brendan looks quite stupid. May all the way.
On the upside, now that I'm older and into competitive battling, I can appreciate all the new things the games introduced in that regard (Natures, EV's, etc.) I think the Pokemon look fantastic, and the region itself was very diverse and colorful and well worth exploring. The music was phenomenal and the graphics were really good for its time. And let's not forget that "Gen 3" encompasses other games besides RSE. I loved the side games like Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness, as well as the Gen I remakes -FrLg. I still play them sometimes even today. Also, Emerald did a lot to fix my main issues with the series. Though the plot is still poorly handled, it is light-years ahead of RS and I can only thank the stars for that. The inclusion of an actual post-game also helps.
All in all, RSE are not my favorite games, but they're certainly not bad. They're okay. The rest of the third generation though, gets an A++ from me.
I originally lost interest in pokémon and skipped the entire Second Generation... and got back into Pokémon with Emerald.
So well... I wasn't having high expectations with story, but I thought it was pretty okay. But what I loved was exploring the world and I still say Hoenn is my favorite region.
It was a pretty fun game too with many things to do everywhere. The story didn't matter so much as the game world itself, I like the characters in it too, even though they are hardly expanded upon (if at all).
But really, what makes me like the game is how open is Hoenn: there's a lot of things to do but you have no pressure in doing anything.
Because I played Emerald first though (I checked Ruby before though, but by then Emerald came out), I can very clearly see the flaws in the first two games and how they might be pretty underwhelming. I wasn't interested in FRLG back then either, as all I played of Pokémon before was Red... I see them as good enough remakes, but they simply don't appeal to me.
I obviously missed all that "you can't trade pokémon from the old games" too. I had little intention to trade anything from Red that was poorly trained anyways so a fresh start seemed a good enough idea for me.
I fell in love with all of Hoenn's Pokémon instantly anyways, so not like I wanted to train any Blastoise anytime soon.
I started to lose interest in Pokemon by then. However, on a whim, I played Sapphire. I loved it. It was a much-needed step up from Gens 1 and 2. Abilities, Natures, all that good stuff was a wonderful change, made it more engaging and fun. Back then, I had no idea what EVs/IVs were, so I just did as I always did, play it to have fun. I fell in love with the Hoenn Starters. Torchic and Treecko were absolute favorites, even Mudkip got my vote (and I'm not big on Water-type starters). The region itself was beautiful, the music was fun and enjoyable, and the graphics were astonishing at the time. There were some drawbacks, such as the lack of night/day, lack of connectivity (though that didn't bother me much at all), and a somewhat lackluster story, but I was willing to forgive that, since it introduced so many new things, breaking many boundaries. Many of my favorite Pokemon were introduce in Gen 3: Blaziken, Sceptile, Gardevoir, Absol, Glalie, Manectric, to name a few. Frankly, I was glad to be rid of Kanto and, to a lesser degree, Johto. The new Pokemon, a beautiful region, a revamped system, I was very happy. Emerald fixed many of the problems that Ruby and Sapphire had, which made it my favorite of the Gen 3 games. While it was okay to revisit Kanto in FR/LG, Hoenn still was my favorite region, so I played Emerald more than I did FR/LG.
So, in short, I felt Gen 3 was a breakthrough in many ways, and many of my favorite Pokemon appeared in the Hoenn region. So, even to this day, I still love Gen 3, and I hope it gets a chance for a remake, so I can visit that region one more time.
After Playing Emerald, it's overall really nicely done.. Generally.
There are just so many little annoyances that tended to drive me up the wall.
Like how they handled the Fishing system..... I swear, once I had to press the button 15 times on one cast. Over times, the Fish would get away the very second it bit and I never had a Chance to press it.
And then, of course, trying to play it on a DS was all kinds of frustrating (but I had no choice. Gave my GBA to my Nephew.)
If you can just get over the small imperfections, it's a really good game.
EDIT:
OH, And the Battle Frontier! I mean, how much did Game Freak absolutely HATE us to inflict that travesty upon us!
Even now, I can only imagine that anytime someone mentions "Battle Frontier" to someone who works for Game Freaks, a Chorus of Maniacal Laughter Rings out through the whole Building.
One Mistake I do no miss.
Back when Gen III was still going, in 2002 - 6, it was the best thing that ever happened to Pokemon - the graphics, mechanics, and overall gameplay were better than ever. But now, a decade later, when we've had Gen IV and V, you can clearly see all the flaws that were there, such as the fishing system and over-abundance of water in RSE, to the lazily done remakes of FRLG (compared to the brilliance that was HGSS). Gen III's still brilliant, but not as brilliant when compared to the more recent games.
While a great world and cool music, frankly, the characters were forgettable, the game didn't just have incompatibility with GSC, it makes almost no references to it, nor does it allow travel. I imagined you could take a boat later on in the game to Johto, battle Gold, see how the world moved on. Cinnabar Island could've been turned into a tourist resort following the volcano (mirroring the anime, perhaps), you could see Giovanni and other missing Generation I characters, Pewter's museum is reopened.
The problem was twofold:
1) the over-reliance on the e-Reader, but I digress.
2) the original Pokémon demographic was starting to largely move on, and while Generation II was a nostalgia trip while still allowing for newcomers, Generation III made no such concessions and seemed to revert back to younger audiences, who were discovering it for the first time. As such, huge changes, especially the Berries, turning them from somewhat helpful status-healing items to ingredients for PokéBlocks. And the thing was glitched, too.
Generation III is probably my favorite generation for many reasons:
*Hoenn. I love how tropical the region was. It was the first region to break away from the "10 cities/towns per region" rule. I loved most of its areas. The Hoenn region set my expectations for future regions so high that not any of the other regions can be compared to Hoenn.
*The Pokemon. I love how diverse the Pokemon are. This generation introduced some of my favorite Pokemon, such as Altaria, Tropius, Camerupt, Wailord, etc. It also has my favorite Starter line, Sceptile. I rarely use Starters during my gameplay, and that's saying something.
*Remakes. Generation III started the "remakes" of older Pokemon games.
Gen 3 is by far the best and worst generation. Graphically and audibly the games can go run themselves off a cliff, but the overall region progression, the region itself, and whatever the games had to offer are unparalleled as of yet. The gyms came as hard as they can get, the victory road even more so, and the E4 was phenomenal. Story could have been tweaked a bit more, and that's what eventual remakes will do, but it was enough then. Got into Pokemon with the originals, but RSE really sunk the series into my mind, so maybe that's why I'm so fond of it.Screw you Tate and Liz, you big bunch of freaks.
I really enjoyed Leaf Green and later Emerald (though I hated the Battle Frontier). I also enjoyed Colo and XD.
Well, the graphics are ugly. I mean, Gens 1 and 2 had a charm to their crappiness, and Gens 4 and 5 just have quality graphics. Gen 3 was kind of the awkward transition where it was trying real hard to look good but the result just doesn't look right. Other than that, no complaints, I love FireRed and LeafGreen :D
Like the person who started this thread, my absolute favorite and first Pokemon game was Ruby. I have to admit, I haven't played it in a while, but as a younger girl, I thought the Pokemon were really fun and colourful compared to my brother's Pokemon Blue. I loved to do contest and make Pokeblocks (but I also enjoyed Poffins in DPP). I loved the fact that there was rain where you got the Castform (holy flowers, I can't believe I remembered that's where you got the Castform). The Tropius I didn't understand, so they always annoyed me when they showed up in the rainy area. But aside from that, they brought many of my favorite Pokemon, and I thought it was fun with the more variety of decorations in your room (or maybe I haven't gotten far enough in Silver...)
Keep in mind this is what I thought when I was little and I haven't played it in a while.
emerald was my first game i loved it alot, my opinon of it is that its awsome !!! or it was back then .... it needs a remake very soon
Gen 3 is still my favourite gen
Generation III (Specifically R/S/E) got the most unfair judgement in terms of games. It was the step-up in graphics and change up of console from GBC to GBA that was the cause of this but I still think Ruby & Sapphire are the best games to date, even ahead of B2W2 which I thoroughly enjoyed.