Yep, these games again. Every time I criticize them I get a lynch mob but you know what? It's my book and if you don't like that I have genuine problems with Gen 4 then leave me out of it. I'm allowed to not like something, I don't care if you love Gen 4 and think it's perfect. I don't like these games, I think they are flawed in many places and made terrible choices.

I'm all about debating and will gladly do so, just don't be a dick. And please don't triple team me. If you all have something wrong with what I have to say can you at least make your own comments so I don't have to worry about the character count! 

With that out of the way let's just do this. And Difficulty in Pokemon is coming... eventually.

Diamond and Pearl, what do I not like about these games? The story, the pacing, the Pokemon, the Pokemon, I hate the Pokemon, fuck Probopass, what idiot made surfing slower than in Gen 1, and the characters.

Now keep in mind before I get called a nostalgia blind fanboy for liking Gen 5 because I know it'll come up let's address something. While White was my first Pokemon game I didn't understand the story and I still wonder how I even beat it. I never listened to anything, as a matter of fact I only knew that Team Plasma was bad and wanted to take Pokemon from people. I didn't know about Ghetsis's smart evil plan until I went online and heard everyone talk about it! 

No it wasn't until I replayed the games years later I could fully appreciate the story. As for Gen 4 I remember even as a young tyke playing his second Pokemon game that it was kinda stupid. I always hated the long ass drop offs between badges and couldn't remember the gym leaders outside of the anime renditions for the life of me. I still think that Candice has a Medicham sometimes because that's how I remember her!

So for the record I've had these opinions for a long time, I don't want to hear crap that I'm a biased Gen 5er or whatever the name is. If you can't debate like a normal person then I will kindly ask you to fuck off. And no that's not me being unable to take a different opinion or criticism. If you find a genuine problem with one of my points and present your argument in a respectful way then props to you. I don't want people just trolling around pretending 'ur wrong.' is an argument. 

Ah the story, this is Diamond and Pearl's story, not Platinum. And I did play Diamond. And it was miserable. So Diamond and Pearl have a very strange story. The Grunts constantly talk about how they are gathering energy for some reason which is odd but I was intrigued. Then Cyrus is like 'lolnope.' and for some reason we're now resetting the universe. We get no reason why he's doing this, how this relates to energy, or what any of this has to do with those Galactic Grunts attacking Rowan in their INTRODUCTION for his research. It almost seems like they saw how it worked in Ruby and Sapphire and tried copying it. But at least in Ruby and Sapphire the introduction actually worked because they have a reason for wanting the Devon Parts and it matters.

Then there's their infamous Honey Holdup where they try to get honey from a man..? Can't they just buy it I mean it's really cheap. Maybe if it was some rare valuable but that's not true. Why do they even take over Windworks other than to be a roadblock and to introduce forgettable admin number 1? Again the energy isn't a reason because that's just some shit they threw at the wall so they could call Cyrus's actual plan a 'twist.' 

You can make the same argument with Team Plasma but their plans actually intersected in an intelligent way! Ghetsis knew that if he got people to actually question the ethics of Pokemon he could win over followers and have more trainers release their Pokemon. Thus making their cause look more just and causing more people to follow it until they win, Ghetsis plot twists everyone, stabs N in the back, and takes over the world with a legendary!

But energy has nothing to do with Palkia or Dialga, they use the lake plot devices to summon them. What if the energy was needed to open the portal using a machine or better yet create the new universe, and as it's activated the legendary swoops in to stop Cyrus because he's tearing a hole in their dimension? One small tweak cuts out hours of lake filler and makes the plot fucking work!

What's more is you could say Cyrus's grunts are just idiots and he doesn't trust them but that's like if America sent their soldiers to stock up supplies and do recon on Iceland and then ordered them to blow up the moon! He could've at least put all these time and resources into helping with his goal. Maybe get some research on the Lake Plot Devices, attack random factories that end up having all the parts you need for a bomb? Then when it all comes together it's an actual surprise, say you are in Canalave and you stumble upon a book that a Galactic Member was reading that had information on explosives? That would be amazing!

But nope we get pointless buildup instead. Cyrus isn't an idiot so he should at least be having his members do something, anything, that culminates towards their goal. Right? Maybe building a base on Spear Pillar, taking over a city to establish them as a threat, anything really!

It all feels like it was the early plan but the devs decided they wanted some of their 10 unused legendaries to play some role in the storyline and poorly spliced the lake plot devices in! Then there's just stupid choices that make your head hurt. Why does Team Galactic, who have established themselves as terrorists, have two bases out in the open, one in the biggest city in the region! And furthermore, why are they just allowed to sit out and do their evil plots! Wouldn't it be cooler if the police stormed the entrance and you had to find a back way in to where the Galactic members were secretly hiding. Then they'd at least be cunning!

Even Team fucking Rocket had their hideouts hidden underground or something I mean my God what's next? In Gen 8 will team 80s have their fucking death laser just sitting out in a giant city while it loudly broadcasts that they were all going to die? That's basically what's happening with the Lake Plot Devices being stored in Veilstone. What if the police did something? Cyrus's bad plan would completely fail if they just went down a few floors!

 Then pacing is another issue in and of itself. In the beginning there are large hour long stretches between anything. The only real thing that happens between badges 1 and 2 is that stupid Galactic fiasco. Then there's about a 5 hour gap of nothingness between badges 3 and 4 where you fight only trainers and after you meet Cyrus in Coronet, nothing else happens!

Why would any game have just 5 hours of nothing? In Sun and Moon if you just ran across all of Akala fighting trainers with no story breaks, no trials even, do you think people would enjoy those games? NO! Why that fuck would you, in a RPG especially, want to spend 5 hours just running and battling? 5 fucking hours!

Platinum fixed this but this is my problems with the originals. And the fact that they shipped out a product with a 5 hour gap of nothing and people still argue that the pacing is good hurts. Now maybe it's not the worst pacing in the world. But objectively when a game has a story that follows you throughout the entire journey and puts emphasis on this story as the main goal has a 5 hour gap of nothing story wise, the pacing cannot be considered perfect. And the rest of the game isn't a cakewalk either.

The infamous Triple Gym Fuck as I call it appears after this trek. 

https://youtu.be/cifA08txjNQ

Skip to 14:39 to find what I'll be referring to for this next point. This graph perfectly represents all of my problems as a timeline for the games. And they do explain why this graph is accurate for someone who would play the game at a normal rate before the graph is shown off in all of its glory if you think it's not legit or fair or something.

There's a two and a half hour gap between badges 3 and 4, then 2 hours between 4 and 5, then less than an hour between 5 and 6! And 6 to 7 is almost as bad because you're trying to be engrossed in the story and you just want to fight the gym and use rock climb for the pointless lake event.

In the anime this same problem exists, for the first time ever you spend maybe 10 episodes or less between gym battles. Because they skip from badge 6 to badge 7 in an instant just so they can focus on the Galactic arc and not have to worry about gyms like the actual games!

Basically we're going from 5 hours of nothing to everything in just over 5 hours. From 11 1/2 to about 17 1/2 more happens than any other point in the game! Including 4 gyms (Half of the game's gyms!) and 5 team Galactic encounters! This is not healthy and part of the reason the gym leaders are so forgettable! They're trying to balance gym battles and story to the point where they step on each other's toes. In Sun and Moon before the big story event at Ula Ula you beat all the trials so you could focus on just story for a while! That way they don't interfere!

Then once you finish that hot mess you're hit with an absurd level curve forcing you to grind and absolutely nothing until the end of the game because they ended the story too early without enough substantial content until the end. Meanwhile Ultra Sun and Moon have a whole trial left to do and resolutions to characters before you're done even after the main threat is stopped.

So I hope you can see why I have so many problems with the story and the pacing. Now for the characters.

There aren't any.

The characters they do try to introduce are so forgettable. Riley, Eterna Forest lady, and Wayward Cave Girl are the only characters outside of the usual champ, rival, and team leader. Cynthia is fine if a bit annoying with her dumb 'Go to the Psyduck.' thing and then after you help them she walks over to you proving she could've done it herself and the roadblock could've just been that the fog was too heavy or something.

Barry is an asshole but the only one who's somewhat memorable from all the stupid shit he spews. Cyrus is boring, has no backstory, and doesn't even bother talking to his team! (Again please remember I am referring to Diamond and Pearl.) 

So there's one character I like and that's because Cynthia carries the trend of champions being bad ass and earning their champion title. (Except Diantha.) Let's go into the forgettables. These three are only really here to shoehorn in some double battles and so you can explore a new area without having to stop and heal or worry about PP.

I can't remember anything about them other that they exist and Riley gives you a free Riolu. That's it. And I don't care if you can tell me what Wayward cave girl had for breakfast the month before we met her I don't remember them and this is my opinion.

Then there's the Pokemon. There were 18 extensions of previous Pokemon in Johto. There's 29 (I believe, I may have missed a few but I counted myself.) in Sinnoh. Not to mention 12 legendary Pokemon, 3 of which didn't need to exist and are only plot devices.

Why in the name of God are there so many extensions of old Pokemon? Gen 2 has its own reasons, it's a direct sequel to Gen 1 and many Pokemon were intended for Gen 1 but were cut. Even then the new Pokemon are not that great either. Presenting, every Pokemon I hate or dislike in Gen 4 (Including the previosuly mentioned extensions.) Bidoof, Biberal, Kricketot, Kricketune, Sheildon, Burmy, Wormadam, Combee, Cherubi, Cherrim, Purugly, Stunky line, every baby Pokemon except Riolu, Finneon, Lumineon, Weavile, Tangrowth (What happens when Tangela fall on Jinx's old design. And I mean from a design standpoint as well as if they're memorable or useful.) Togekiss, Probopass (FUCK PROBOPASS!) Lickilicky, the Lake Trio, and Phione. 

31 Pokemon. 31 fucking Pokemon. Making for a grand total of 76 Pokemon I tolerate or love. And many are extensions of older Pokemon that build off or great foundations and aren't original at all.  Yes some of these are subjective but many others also think these Pokemon are bad in one way or another. 

Not only that but there's a serious problem with type balancing. Here's how many fire type Pokemon they introduced not counting forms. 5, here's how many you can get in a regular play through, 3, here's how many aren't the starter line, 0. And the fire types you can get aren't that great either, Ponyta is garbage, Flareon isn't worth the Eevee, and all the others are locked until the post game. So if you didn't pick Chimchar because you like Turtwig more (Like me.) No fire types allowed. 

I should've have to pick a starter I don't like just to have a balance team that is capable of holding their own in battle. That is a serious flaw with the game that cannot be ignored or passed off as 'Just choose Chimchar' or 'It's not that bad.' and it's not like I can go on GTS and get a fire type now because the Wifi is gone! So this problem is now even worse than it was a few years ago!

Even then I shouldn't have to rely on using the game's online to get a balanced team. This isn't subjective. This is openly weakening my chances because I didn't want the monkey. An RPG shouldn't almost completely lock off an entire type, one that is part of the basic fucking triangle, to a choice! And you know what's even more laughable, guess how many Pokemon the Fire Elite Four member has? 5. Guess how many are fire types. 2. The rest are completely random Pokemon that don't even come close to belonging. At least Lance's Pokemon look like dragons! They didn't even give him the 1 other fire type they added Magmortar!

Why is it that even in the fourth generation of Pokemon they are still backing themselves into a type corner with their elite four choices? Every game until Gen 5 had at least one trainer who either copypasted the same mon because they didn't add enough of that type or has completely unrelated types! For the love of God just add in some more fire types! You have so many that people would love to use! Like Houndour, you can't catch it until the post game of Gen 2 which sucks because you have to use a fire type from Gen 1 so you can't do an all new Pokemon run (At least they had fire types though!)  

But wait it is in the dex. It's a version exclusive to Pearl which already means half the players are still screwed, but you have to breed Houndoom to get it. And guess how you get Houndoom? The POKE RADAR!That Post Game item! Yep this was the game that started the trend of making Houndoom a version exclusive which sucks and is just dumb! The originals didn't have this be the case so why is it here now?

They had the chance to finally let us use Houndour, one of the coolest fire types, in our main adventure and even programmed him into the game knowing very well that they didn't have enough fire types. And they put him in the post game.

Of course this problem was fixed in Platinum as they added the Ironworks letting you get Magmar and Flareon thanks to Eevee girl. You can even find Houndour in the wild in Platinum. But it's the fact that once again they had to completely rework their game and release an improved version to fix this massive problem that further proves my point. They had to have known about this problem when they were deciding on Flint's Pokemon, right? And they didn't do anything about it. Even making the fire types they did have available in the main game. 

That's the root of my problems. Despite being delayed and taking over 3 years of development Diamond and Pearl feel unfinished and rushed. So much in fact that they had to scramble together an actual definitive addition. We didn't need Crystal but it was nice because of what it added, we sorta needed Emerald because Rayquaza was an enigma and there were some flaws in Ruby and Sapphire. We needed Platinum. Because Diamond and Pearl were such a mess.

I love Platinum and it's one of my favorite Pokemon games, but Diamond and Pearl are my second least favorites. The reason I like X and Y more is that there's more stuff to do and while there are massive story flaws at least those don't impede me from having a team with the core three types.

There's more fun to be had and they added a lot more. 3D graphics, Mega Evolution, Super Training, and so many other fun things that made X my most played game at about 500 hours. But I'll get into defending X and Y another time.

Then there's just some annoying problems like the games running incredibly slow when compared to the GBA versions, the game constantly tries slowing you down with surfing taking forever for no reason, and they added in two different hazards to further slow you down. Snow halts you to a crawl and mud is just a pain and the reason I avoid the entire area left of Pastoria. Heck I even forgot about the mansion there because I never wanted to revisit it after my first painful trip there.

The game is determined to annoy you with little things like too many HMs or the abundance of stupid design choices like all of Mount Coronet, the route with a bunch of fog, (Why would you ever design this other than a cheap attempt at padding!) or the stupidity of the lakes and enemy base placements.

So why do two bad eggs ruin an entire generation for me? Well it's because those games are just so problematic when I think of Gen 4 my mind jumps to the first games, sloppy messes that drag down HG and SS and Platinum. Platinum can't entirely save the games either because it still carries many of the flaws. The core problem of the lake trio, the base placement, mount coronet, the lack of characters, and more still stay. And I can't love a generation just for remaking one of my favorite games. If that was so then Gen 6 would have to be higher up too. But I wouldn't place either of them above generations with actual solid design so even if HG and SS saved the generation for me it'd still be number 6 on my list.

Well that's all, this chapter was incredibly long and took forever to write so thanks for reading it. Let me know if you feel the same or if you disagree. If you want to debate with me feel free to do so but please bring actual evidence to back up your points other than just saying 'ur wrong.' Thanks for reading and I swear Difficulty in Pokemon is coming! Have a great day, bye!