first game in the series that I've fully completed in a while - and this time not just for the shiny charm. While the graphics leave a lot to be desired, and the story may have some problems, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. I constantly found myself off just doing my own thing apart from the main story, exploring and catching everything that I could (including trying to reach areas without having the necessary ride pokemon yet). Was a breath of fresh air for the series really, the openworld and stealth catching aspect feel like things the series should have tried out ages ago. While it unfortunately comes off as a bit of a "test" game, it still feels like much more of a proper sinnoh remake than bdsp, and if anything it makes me excited to see how they could improve a lot of concepts from this game in future installments :)
[slight spoilers past this? vague enough, though]
I know some people didn't necessarily enjoy the end battles (main scenario or post-content) since they aren't the traditional battles, but honestly? One of my favorite portions of the game, especially the one after the main story. It felt so much more involved than a regular battle and really made it feel different from all the other battles, whether they be regular, alpha, or legendaries.

Definitely has a lot of issues, but there's still so much to love with it! Personally a particularly big fan of how alive everything feels - they really did what they could to make it feel like you were in a city apartment complex during the 302 segments. Was very successful in the sense of slowly stripping the player of safety while providing increasingly claustrophobic environments to move in, and the environments themselves were really fun to explore and see change! The story, while pretty wild, still rings as tragic no matter which ending you get, and I had a lot of fun really diving into what was going on & piecing everything together. My main issues with it were the combat system and some design choices (namely sound), but the former at least gets a little easier with practice!
If some aspects of this game were executed a bit better, I really think it would be far more appreciated than it is.

absolutely adore this game. maps are huge and make you really feel like you're doing something with how large and expansive the battles get, even if they can be a bit fatiguing at times. loved how the pairing/generation and castle systems worked, especially discovering certain pairings have practically gamebreaking kids and grinding in the arena. my only real gripes with this game revolve around minor QOL aspects, such as being able to skip or speed up things, lack of a proper trading system, and the story being a little lackluster or barebones - but that last note is really just a limitation of the tech what with lack of cartridge space and things they had to cut to even get this out (plus there's loads of supplemental content outside of the game that go more in depth with story anyways).
always excited to think of this game one day getting the remake treatment that it deserves!

Ended up loving this far more than Rev1! Being able to switch to the partner characters (and separate them similar to RE4's mechanic) gave a lot more control over situations, and especially helps considering different abilities or inventories. Skill system was a surprise for an RE game but I loved that feeling of "building up" throughout episodes until the end. Can't exactly discern what I like about the story but it had me actively excited to get through each episode and learn more!
Haven't had a chance to play raids with anyone yet, but solo is so fun that I can see why people praise it.