I'm going to do this backwards and start with the ending, since that is what I know people have issues with. Yeah, the Celebi thing is stupid and you lose a lot of the stakes with the concept of reversing time (but also not reversing time since they still win?) Really, a lot of the finale feels super weird and rushed, with a lot of plot points being rammed into a short period of time (Regi trio, Rayquaza, etc.). So with all of my issues about the ending, why is this score so high, especially compared to Gold, Silver, and Crystal? Well, my biggest issue with GSC was the character dynamics being really lacking, and here the characters are so much better. Ruby and Sapphire are great characters that play off each other very well but are also entertaining enough to spend time by themselves without it being boring. That being said, every time Ruby and Sapphire are on the page together I found myself having a big dumb grin on my face. Even though the story is pretty simple, it is carried by Ruby and Sapphire's characters and the other fun characters that make up the rest of the cast so the entire experience it is just so much fun. I found the ending absurd but I don't think it sullied my experience too much because the way it ends isn't even about that. So many of the arcs so far end with the defeat of the villain, but here most of the final chapter is about the conclusion of Ruby and Sapphire's journey (as I'm writing this I have finished up to Gen 4 so some of the future arcs do actually take this up, like Emerald for example). But I really can't gush enough about Ruby and Sapphire as characters, they are so entertaining and have really distinct personalities, as opposed to Gen 2 where it was just a worse version of the Gen 1 dynamic. I think that only having two main characters really helps the story, as does the length of the arc. I hate that I am so negative on GSC, but it really does help me express my point. In that arc, Gold and Silver play off each other for a good bit, and Gold and Crystal have a bit of time together, but Silver and Crystal hardly interact until the end and Crystal spends so long not even being aware of the other two trainers. In Ruby and Sapphire, it is them being together or them being apart, and those were the main dynamics, which allowed for those dynamics to be better fleshed out. Both Ruby and Sapphire grow substantially in the story because of one another and that helps sell them working together in their final battle, as opposed to in Gen 2 where they just end up together in the end and then decide to work together. Basically what this word vomit comes down to is "Great arc, dumb ending, still great anyways."
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