POKEMON GENERATION 3 REVIEW

Alright, now we've arrived at my personal favorite generation of Pokemon, generation 3! I'll try my best to put any bias aside because this was where I started playing the series.

Overview and History
The year 2003 was a bit of a dark time for Pokemon, as by this point many fans of the original games were starting to grow out of the series. Despite this, Gamefreak managed to release another entry in the series that was as strong as ever, with over 100 new Pokemon to collect in an entirely new region! First released in Japan on November 21st 2002, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire released a year later in the West. Apart from boasting upgraded graphics capabilities due to the Gameboy Advance system, Ruby and Sapphire introduced many new features to the series.

The game was somewhat divisive for fans as it introduced many new features whilst also getting rid of others introduced in the earlier gens. Still, it proved to be popular enough and a remake was made in 2014 entitled Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

An updated version featuring elements from both games, titled Pokemon Emerald was later released in 2004.


GAMEPLAY

The turn-based battles return, with some great new features! First is the addition of double battles, enabling the player to engage enemies in 2 on 2 battles, bringing a whole new element to battling. This format would later be adopted for official Nintendo-run tournaments, too. Entirely new strategies could be concieved that revolved around the use of two Pokemon at once. Certain moves like the ever spammable Earthquake now had a risk to them because using such moves would also harm your teammate.

Pokemon now had abilities, traits that affected them in some way. For instance, certain Pokemon had the ability 'Levitate' which made them immune to any Ground type move. In addition to abilities, all Pokemon now had natures. Natures functioned as a way of making Pokemon differ even more from one another. Most natures slightly raised the base stat of one Pokemon while slightly lowering another. For instance, a Pokemon with an Adamant nature would have a boosted attack stat while suffering from a reduced Special Attack stat.

For those who are interested in the battling mechanics, the IV and EV system was altered from the last games. Defeating certain Pokemon would result in a different EV (effort value) yield, allowing players to easily train a Pokemon with a specific stat. Before, the maximum IV (individual value) a Pokemon could have was 15, but was increased to 31 in this generation. I'll go into more depth on this when I eventually write my complete guide to Pokemon.

Berries made a return, but were greatly expanded upon. There were now many, many types of berries to be found, each having a different effect. Some healed status effects, some healed health, and others could be used to create Pokeblocks (more on that later)

Introduced in this generation were Pokemon contests, a different way to interact with your Pokemon. Contests involve choosing a Pokemon to participate and choosing one of the Pokemon's 4 moves to try and win over the crowd.
By feeding your Pokemon Pokeblocks, you can increase a contest-related stat point that will cause them to be more appealing in the contests. The contests function quite differently to battles, requiring you to wait until its your turn before choosing your move.


DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GAMES
Ruby and Sapphire each feature exclusive Pokemon again, but the main difference now is which evil team you face, and which legendary you acquire. The two evil teams this time around are Team Aqua and Team Magma, with Kyogre and Groudon introduced as the respective legendaries. If you are playing Sapphire you will face Team Aqua with Magma acting as allies, and vice versa.

Pokemon Emerald would later mix the two together, with both teams acting as antagonists and allowing you to catch both legendaries.


STORY
You are again tasked with beating all 8 gym leaders and ascending to the rank of Champion by defeating the Pokemon League's Elite Four. The narrative this time around involves The player moving to the tropical region of Hoenn, where they begin their Pokemon adventure. Choosing from one of three new starter Pokemon, you set off on your quest to catch em all and defeat the evil team, who seeks to take control of that version's legendary and bring about a cataclysmic environmental change.

PROS
-The new Pokemon designs are fantastic. The Fire starter, Blaziken, is my favorite Pokemon out of all of them. It's just so powerful and cool looking. Other designs like Rayquaza and Aggron also really stand out.

-Hoenn is a beautiful region that is a blast to explore. With some very unique towns including Fortree City (built in a forest with houses inside trees) and Pacifidlog Town (houses built on a series of floating rafts in the ocean), the region has a variety of unique locations to visit.

-The music has never been better. With trumpets a plenty, the soundtrack took a turn for the bombastic, with a good mix of action-packed battle tracks to more peaceful piano medleys. Route 110 is a stand out, in my opinion.


-The new battling features were a welcome addition. Double battles, natures, abilities, they all added so much to the gameplay itself that it feels odd playing the older games without them. Pokemon could now feel extremely different from one another, despite being members of the same species.


CONS
-The removal of the day/night cycle from the previous gen seemed like a step down.

-Some of the designs were truly duds. Pokemon like Luvdisc and Roselia seemed a bit pointless (though Roselia would get better in Gen 4)

-The evil teams aren't really that interesting (despite having awesome music). Their goals don't really make much sense and I don't see how they'd think it's a good idea to expand the land/sea to the point where it's impossible to survive it.


CONCLUSION
As I've already said, Generation 3 is my favorite gen. It brought a bunch of welcome new additions to the series and the new Pokemon designs were mostly amazing this time around. While I didn't really care for Pokemon Contests that much, I'm glad they at least went through the trouble of implementing them for players who did enjoy something different. Hoenn has a special place in my heart and I'm not sure if it's just the nostalgia talking here but when I replay it or listen to the soundtrack. It just makes me feel happy and warm inside. It takes me back to the days of running around Slateport listening to the cheerful music, to descending to the depths of the seafloor to confront Archie. I'm sure everyone has similar memories that correspond to their own favorite gen, and it's a great feeling. To me, Hoenn is where the heart is.

My first video game ever was Ruby, and so Gen 3 holds a unique place in my heart. The music in those games was some of the best game music in general. Great review, by the way! I'm glad you didn't revert to the usual "too much water" criticism. The huge sea that you could explore was one of my favorite parts of the game.

Thanks, I didn't think there was too much water at all. It even kinda makes sense since it's a tropical region and all...

I never understood the complaints against the "too much water" criticism. There IS too much water in Hoenn, and its highlighted by that annoying surf music as well. It doesn't matter if it "makes sense", it wasn't executed well. I love the ocean and exploring it has always been a fantasy of mine, but it could have been done better.

The only complaint I have is more to do with how spaced out the islands on the right are. I think Pacifidlog and Ever Grande could have been brought in closer together a bit more.

Yeah. My complaints could be remedied by faster surfing speed and shorter distances. It wouldn't necessarily "fix" the problem, but it would certainly help.

Quote from: Heaven 87 on October 03, 2016, 12:20:03 PM

Quote from: Big Boss on October 03, 2016, 11:44:09 AM

The only complaint I have is more to do with how spaced out the islands on the right are. I think Pacifidlog and Ever Grande could have been brought in closer together a bit more.

Yeah. My complaints could be remedied by faster surfing speed and shorter distances. It wouldn't necessarily "fix" the problem, but it would certainly help.

*cough*

Alternate music would be nice as well.

You don't like the music? I find it quite peaceful.

It's - by far - the most annoying music in Pokemon. It doesn't help that it features an overabundance of the low-quality trumpet sound and a very small repeat window.

I'll archive this. Nice review; covered all the bases.

I probably would've brought up the revamped experience system, because this is the generation that introduced EVs and IVs. I also would've cited the inability to transfer Pokémon from previous generations to be a major con. I understand that it was because of the technological limitations of the time, but it was still kind of a huge bummer.

I'll archive this. Nice review; covered all the bases.

I probably would've brought up the revamped experience system, because this is the generation that introduced EVs and IVs. I also would've cited the inability to transfer Pokémon from previous generations to be a major con. I understand that it was because of the technological limitations of the time, but it was still kind of a huge bummer.

I thought they were in Gen 2 already but this gen just improved on it

I thought they were in Gen 2 already but this gen just improved on it

Nah, all Gen II did was split the Special stat into Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense. The exp system remained the same.