- The following post is sponsored is in no way sponsored by IGN-

So it's rare for me to make a thread like this where I address something very specific especially so long after it happened... But I think it still holds relevance.For the record I want to make it known that I'm far from a fan of Ignorant Gaming Noo- I mean IGN. On a serious note though, I often times I find their reviews to be extremely biased and likely influenced by companies indirectly bribing them. They don't seem to do a ton of research on all of the games they review either.

That said in regards to the "too much water" criticism of ORAS I'm kind of inclined to agree to some extent with the points the made... OKAY HOLD ON HOLD ON LOWER YOUR WEAPONS! I Let me explain first!

I think it's quite simple really. What they likely meant by that is that having a lot of water means there's less to explore. Since water in Pokemon games is a lot more barren and less varied than land aside from the occasional trainer and Hoenn is to a very large extent made up of water. Sure you can use dive to explore the depths but there's only so much to do down there. While I can't really speak for everyone I find the underwater layouts to be quite repetetive and not too fun to explore (I really only did it to be a completionist). Thus I feel like it's a valid criticism to make. Since whether Nintendo/Gamefreak did that to be lazy or not (which is a whole other discussion) it does mean less interesting locations to explore.

Now granted since ORAS are remakes one could argue to expect them to redesign the entire region is stupid, but they shouldn't purely be judged as remakes they should also be judged as stand alone Pokemon games. I don't think it would've been impossible to add some sort of new town as a bonus since we've seen stuff like that be done before. So even looking at it from the perspective of it being a remake I feel it could've been made better.

That's really all I wanted to say. This is one of the reasons Hoenn is one of my least favorite to explore (I do have more reasons for why I think that but likely also comes down to personal preference). I'm not saying these games are bad but I do think they're far from flawless. Of course if you don't mind it and completely disagree with me and IGN (which I suspect many will) that's fine. My purpose with this post was more to hopefully make people who thought it was a ridiculous criticism understand the reasoning that goes behind it.

I'm gonna like because I'm a hippie and wynatt? :p.

But yea, while I haven't played Gen 3 all that much (really only the very beginning). I'm a bit inclined to agree with you (this is just based on what I've seen and experienced, so yea, #Unedmucatedopinionz). Water in video games are usually hated, and I can only really think of a few water levels I actually like. I don't really like exploring water either, and while I may like the atmosphere (and music) sometimes, it's just not something I look forward to (oh boy I get to explore the water level! Don't you just enjoy drowning?). From what you've explained, I don't think I'd like Hoenn that much either (at least the underwater part).

My personal opinions of IGN is that they suck and that they are really biased and ugh (their top 10 whatever lists are ew), but I don't see a problem with agreeing with the actual valid points they make... (even if they may be far and few in between :p)

I r8 ur opinion 7.8/10. "Too much opinion".

Oh hey I can actually talk about this now.
Not IGN I literally know nothing about them nor do I really care.

yes, there is way too much water in Hoenn. The thing is, there's not much to explore. Thousands of spaces without anything. A good chunk of the map is wasted on routes of diving and surfing with no real relevance. There's so much potential you can do with something as grand and marvelous as the ocean, and it's gone to waste.

Maybe on the GBA it's due to technical limitations, but the remakes are on the 3DS and offer very little in terms of variety compared to the originals, especially when you consider how far technology has gone since then. It's just...a big, wasted opportunity.

I dunno about others, but my thing about it is not that they complained about too much water. I honestly do agree with that point. I always dread surfing, though I'm okay with diving. It's just that its confined to small little areas.
MY issue is their disproportionate score. I can see "Too much water" lowering the score a bit but... From ONE single thing it drops to 7.8? That seems a little overkill to me.

Gamin'Gal :

"MY issue is their disproportionate score. I can see "Too much water" lowering the score a bit but... From ONE single thing it drops to 7.8? That seems a little overkill to me."

That's what always happens. The people in IGN always do this. Want an example? Look up the IGN Sims 4 review and count how many times that chick says the word "pool".
Edit: APPARENTLY THREE... meh you get the point

Mecha Leo : Yeah. The same thing happened with Pokken Tournament, so it's not something new or contained to one instance. But it's an easily recognizable instance of what they do.