The good, the bad, the ugly: Gen IV

Exceptionally good: The story in Platinum
Bad: The way the story sometimes doesn't tell you what to do
Special: LAKE VALOR

 

Good: The music, story, and overall atmosphere
The bad: Palkia's typing makes no sense
Special: The region feels more vast than other regions for some reason

 

Good: The Game corner
Bad: Pastoria Marsh.
The Ugly: Giratina's design. It's a beast in battle but I hate it's design

 

Good: the story (ONLY in Platinum, which fixed a lot of the flow issues that D/P had); the new Pokémon (love Bronzong, Leafeon/Glaceon, and Gallade, especially)
Bad: Pastoria Marsh
Ugly: all the region-specific Pokémon like Arceus that people outside of Japan could not get
Special: Giratina (especially Gira-O)

 

Good: Lots of new evolutions were added to the games, and backwards compatibility
Bad: Very limited Dex in DP.
Ugly: Seemingless no motivation behind Team Galactics plans.

 

SINNOH IS MY HOMELAND

The Good: More attempts at developing Gym Leaders and Elite 4 members is a win in my book. It's not perfect, but I'll give them the good for the attempt. The region is pretty diverse in atmosphere and climate, another good there!

The Bad: (D/P) Team Galactic's goal was straight up laughable, and the pacing was deathly slow.
(Plat.) Galactic's goal is still a bit silly but they at least tried to make it good. Keyword tried.

The Ugly: THE PASTORIA MARSH EUGHHHHHH WHO OKAYED THAT

The Special: A Champion being somewhat relevant to the plot all the way through the story!

 

Good: Pokémon follow you
Bad: only in hgss
Ugly: pelliper is in the game, again

 

The good:

Gen IV is considered the peak of Pokémon for a lot of people. I think this is because this is the last generation of the famous feature, The Battle Frontier, but there's far more to Sinnoh than just that! From enjoyable soundtracks (Cynthia's Champion theme and Cyrus' theme to name some examples), to some rather well-designed Pokémon (the Lake Guardians), there's a lot that one can praise Gen Iv for doing right. Team Galactic, even though it followed the typical evil villain plot of doing something extremely drastic for selfish purposes, was actually the turning point of Pokémon making a somewhat dark turn given Cyrus' character.

The bad:

Gen IV was mainly criticized and made fun of for its complete lack of Fire types. To a large degree, I do agree with these sentiments. The game introduces very little new Fire types, so you're not getting much variety here. The gym leaders here also aren't very memorable (at least, they aren't to me) and it was a bad move by Game Freak to introduce Arceus this generation with practically zero way to obtain it unless via a glitch.

The Ugly:

I cannot stand Lucas' design. The beret is extremely off-putting and completely unnecessary.

 

the good:honestly almost everything in the game
the bad:the snowy weather is kinda annoying to get through to snowpoint ,cynthia's garchomp is kinda OP
the ugly:bronzong?

 

The Good: Platinum's story was overall fun and I loved the Distortion World's puzzle (unpopular opinion.) I also loved the fact that Cynthia played a role in the storyline, unlike what happened in Gen 6. Pokémon Contests were also really fun! I also loved that many Pokémon were given evolutions. Some of my favorites were Gallade and Togekiss.

The Bad: Like others, there wasn't a clear instruction on where or what you should be doing or going to next. I also hated that in Diamond and Pearl, some stuff were just particularly slow, like animations.

The Ugly: That NPC who trades you a Haunter that is holding an Everstone. I know that's like a recurring gag now, but still.

 

The good: Garchomp. Nuff said. Also, Cynthia is badass.

The bad: Incredibly frustrating EXP grinding and infuriatingly slow progression in several parts (Surfing speed, fog and MUD. DEAR GOD THE MUD. NEVER BRING THAT BACK GAMEFREAK) Also a terrible type distribution/variety. Gen 4 is actually my least favorite gen, contrary to a lot of other people, because it was just so darn SLOW.

The ugly: Barry is annoying. Also, just to repeat myself. MUD.

 

I'm replaying through Platinum right now, and despite having a good core the grind has become really irritating. Especially when the Pokémon I'm trying to train keep dying to Rain-boosted Aqua Jets and other stuff like that.

I can definitely understand why a cheat code to change the weather not only exists but is popular...

 

The good: Porygon-z because its my favorite

The bad: The elite 4 battles; i had a lot of trouble with them

The ugly: The poketch; it is just ugly and there are not many good apps on it and not any good colors. The only one i use is the pedometer one

 

Honestly, I kinda like the Pokémon Watch. It's a nice attempt at utilizing the bottom screen, and it's nice to be able to do things like checking friendship anywhere, having the item scanner open to use actively, be able to find out where your planted Berries have fully matured, and other stuff like that.

 

The good: Pokémon and region design. Both felt very varied and nice.

The bad: oh sweet baby arceus on the hood of a Mercedes the snow areas were awful to slog through.

The ugly: Not having a real direction at some points. I gave up my first run through for like a month because I got stuck not knowing I had to go to hecking Mount Coronet.

 

Good: The story was rather interesting, with Team Galatic's goals going beyond anything we'd seen before plus the fact they made the three main legendaries (Platinum) AND the lake Trio relevant to their end goal is a good change, as most only rely on a single Legendary. The Pokémon felt fresh and the big roster kept players interested for a while whilst they experimented with every Pokémon.

Bad: Team Plasma's goals may have been too far fetched, and it may have taken away some of the immersion in the game. My biggest issue though would have to be the amount of event exclusive Pokémon in the game, such as the Lunar duo and Arceus. Also some character's, such as Dawn, felt rather wooden.

Ugly: The rival. Dear god the rival. Never felt more irritated with a character who wasn't actually trying to annoy me.

 

The good: The geography of Johto and Sinnoh! I love how everything was laid out. The cities and towns were absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed exploring the routes.

The bad: IT WAS SO SLOW (Specifically DPPt). WAITING TO SAVE WAS AWFUL. Also, if y'all have ever tried completing the Pokédex in the DPPt games, honey trees were a trash mechanic.

The ugly: The underground system (DPPt). As much as I liked the underground for allowing us to connect with others through 'fun' minigames. I thought it was just so tedious between having to run through a maze and hammering away at a wall to find something good. I can't believe that it was pretty much the only was to get Spiritomb.

What made it special: The mythology and in-game events. I really believe what made Generation IV amazing was Pokémon's willingness to add in very interesting mythology. I mean we had already been exposed to legendaries, but they literally introduced the GOD of Pokémon. Not only that, but they didn't even release the Azure flute to capture Arceus. The Tohjo Falls scene incredible to see as well. I loved all the connections (real life and in-game) that really encapsulated Gen IV.