The Misunderstood Generation: Pokémon on the Game Boy Advance

I have never understood this logic. All the time, people say 'Oh damn, I don't like Pokémon anymore. They don't do anything different. It's just the same game with tweaked Pokémon everytime.' Yet, when you ask them which generation is their favorite, they say the second. But...why? Did Generation II add so much more to the first generation of Pokémon? I'd argue no. Yes, they added a couple of new types. They wouldn't have needed too if Generation I wasn't so horribly imbalanced. They added the Day/Night system. While cool, it changed little about the world other than what time of day you could catch certain Pokémon or when events happened and stuff like that. Battles, the core of the series, remained largely the same. Held items were added, but the selection was rather limited. Gender was added, but the only thing that did was make female Pokémon weaker.

Generation III was where the real change happened, and I'd say, is the real reason people don't like it as much. Most people say they want change, but in reality, it's only small steps they want. Generation III rehauled the entire basic structure of the game, from EVs to IVs to genders and breeding. It added Pokémon natures and abilities to the mix, making battles even more interesting because no Pokémon was alike. And it added double battles, which are the most visual representation of the shift in Pokémon: this isn't your ten-year-old self's Pokémon.

Now, a lot of my differences with people are subject areas: I love Hoenn. After the Kanto expansion Johto was in Generation II, Hoenn was a whole new world. The Pokémon looked different, and it wasn't the increase in bits. They had a new feel that I appreciated. The world was more vast; sprawling and varied. The enemies were different this time around. Ruby invigorated my lost Pokémon passion in a way that I now may never leave the series again. A lot of people disagree with me on that point, and that's fine. Taste is taste. Not everyone has the same kind of it. Some, like me, don't even have it.

But you can't deny, if you don't like Pokémon for it's unchangingness, then how can you pedestal Generation II?

I'd just like to understand, really. I know this is fairly rant-tastical, but seriously, I just want to know why people love it so much. SoulSilver gave me that glimpse of Johto that I wanted, but it wasn't there when Johto first came around.