[Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl] What is your opinion on Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl now, almost two years later?

[Empoleon671]

Alot of people complain about it being too faithful of a remake... but Gen 4 fans can rejoice knowing we didn't only get remakes but prequels too (legends arceus).. so we got two games, instead of the typical one..

yes, im mildly dissappointed it's in an ultra chibi style/no new content, but the games still hold up. i think they look great. 16 years later and the these classic pieces still are super fun. before DLC drops, the roster of characters is 496 vs Scarlet and Violet's 400.

i like them. i don't love them. I love legends arceus however.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

Alot of people complain about it being too faithful of a remake... but Gen 4 fans can rejoice knowing we didn't only get remakes but prequels too (legends arceus).. so we got two games, instead of the typical one..

yes, im mildly dissappointed it's in an ultra chibi style/no new content, but the games still hold up. i think they look great. 16 years later and the these classic pieces still are super fun. before DLC drops, the roster of characters is 496 vs Scarlet and Violet's 400.

i like them. i don't love them. I love legends arceus however.

I wonder if this thread can fit better in Pokémon Switch Games?

Either way, my opinion on Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is that the game was alright. To be honest, the Sinnoh region was perhaps my least favorite region, especially during the Nintendo DS era, because the Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum had many things about them that annoyed me, such as too much dialog and cutscenes, fog, and too many HMs, and the region itself, in my opinion at least, was bland compared to the other regions. However, I did enjoy the lore of the legendary Pokémon a lot. I had no problem with Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl being faithful remakes, however, unlike many other fans. In fact, I enjoy it when remakes remain faithful to what they're remaking. I didn't really have any issues with the game at all. I enjoyed the graphics, and I especially loved the remastered music. The battle themes go hard in this game, especially the wild Pokémon battles. I also enjoyed the old school feel of the game, where you just battle without gimmicks such as Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, Dynamax/Gigantamax, or Tera Types; it's just good old-fashioned battles. I enjoyed being able to see Pokémon from the older console games make it to the Switch in BDSP. Overall, I would definitely rank BDSP as better than the games on the Nintendo DS. They improved everything regarding those games, including getting rid of the HM slavery, which is always awesome. Yet, I'm still not the biggest fan of Sinnoh as a region, but I do love a lot of those themes and certain locations. I really enjoyed the fact that I got to hear that awesome Eterna City theme again, as well as visit the creepy Old Chateau in a game with better graphics. I also enjoyed the events to obtain the mythicals. Overall, it was a good game, but, you know, it's Sinnoh. Had it been Unova, I would have definitely been singing its praises, but I still like the game because I love Pokémon.

 

[Devalue]

Just finished the main story two days ago. (Borrowed it recently.) Rates it as okay. Followed the original a little too closely at times, but not enough at others.

Positives

• Grand Underground: Improved the sphere mechanic. Added good reason to explore with the Pokemon Hideaways, occasionally with items. Was also nice for grinding. (See: low level Gastrodons and Houndooms. Scaled levels pretty aggressively too.) Views it as one of the biggest positives.
• No HMs. The other big positive. Never needed to drop another Pokemon for a Bidoof. Particularly enjoyed it during Victory Road.
• Updated moves.
• Walking around with Pokemon beyond just the Amity Square ones. (Wishes Grotle was faster. Cannot complain about accurate speed, though.)
• Better major trainers. Actually used held items. Switched Pokemon too sometimes.

Negatives

• Experience Share. Usually tries not to overlevel a gym. Really struggled with this. Avoided enemy trainers like the plague by midgame. Deposited Mismagius (a traded-in Pokemon) constantly to reduce the extra experience. Might as well have had a Bidoof for HMs. Went little better for the rest of the non-traded Pokemon.
• Speaking of Mismagius and experience: what was the deal with obedience? Kept the original levels for disobeying. Cannot say for sure how strong the effect was originally, though. Absolutely crippled Mismagius for nearly half the game. Refused to obey six times straight...twice. Stopped trying after that. Refused to listen at level 11 (so, before Roark). Started listening again after Gardenia (with a level 22 Roserade). Began disobeying again at 31. Required beating Crasher Wake and Maylene to remedy the situation.
• Really easy move access. Hands you amazing TMs for a pittance in Veilstone City (or free, in Nasty Plot's case). Really dampened the value of exploration. Who cares about Dazzling Gleam in the Galactic Headquarters when you bought it for 3000 Pokedollars five gym badges ago?
• National Dex. Describes this as more of a missed opportunity. Hid over half(?) the wild Pokemon in the game behind the National Dex (so, effectively postgame). Why not just give you a choice between "Classic Availability" and "Expanded Availability" at the start?
• Unavoidable affection benefits. Locked them behind side games, picnics, and sandwiches in all the other games. (Well, and EV-reducing berries too.) Forces them on you in this game. Technically could faint your Pokemon a bunch. Would be time-consuming to do, not to mention against the spirit of Pokemon.
• Kept the strange gym and Elite Four teams. Could have used Pokemon of those types, even without dipping into the National Dex. (Maybe not Flint?) Calls this a minor negative at most, but still strange.

Indifferent on the art style, music, and Super Contests. Implemented the Poketch about as well as you could.

 

[Corveone]

I'm not sure what people meant with it being 'too faithful', I mean FRLG were considered great remakes if I recall correctly, and they were so exaggeratedly faithful that you couldn't even see a Gen 2/3 Pokémon until the post-game. Geez, you couldn't even get Crobat, Espeon or Umbreon.

I think the main issue here is BDSP being too faithful to DP and not to Platinum. Gen 1-3 remakes were fine with this because Yellow, Crystal, and Emerald were barely any better than their vanilla counterparts, at least concerning the main game... but Platinum was considered a great upgrade over DP (or DP were pretty bad vanilla versions, whichever you prefer :))

Grand Underground was great to expand Pokémon variety, the issue with this is that it only improved variety for the player, but the AI trainers remain stuck with the lackluster Diamond/Pearl roster of only 151 Pokémon. Still, better than nothing I guess.

The HM removal was also a huge positive. World navigation was arguably the worst part of Sinnoh due to how many HMs you needed.

Faster battle engine is also an undeniably great improvement. The HP bar speed in Gen 4 (and especially in DP) and other battle animations would be a complete torture by today's faster pace standards.

Imo BDSP did their job fairly well all things considering. Even surprisingly well in the 'boss' battle department because it literally has the best bosses in the series (at least in the main games). As a player who seeks rom hacks and fan games with improved difficulty out of disappointment with the very little challenge the series offer, I was really grateful to finally find some of this in an official game.

The biggest two flaws are the absense of Platinum's additions and extended roster, and the inability to disable Affection bonusses without resorting to cheat codes or other bizarre methods.

 

[ReKoil]

They were fine, really. The art style never bothered me.
I never expected the changes from Pt to make it into the game given that they didn't bring any 3rd version changes into the previous remakes either. I don't miss them either, though I do wish flint would have the team he has on his rematch straight away. He has his Platinum team, but only after you beat him once. 🙄 and it changes to yet another version after doing Stark Mountain lol

The biggest annoyance with Sinnoh to me will always be the limited Wild Pokemon variety... topside anyway. It just feels like you're fighting the same handful of Pokemon on most if not all routes. The Grand Underground let's you find other Pokemon starting around the 2nd Gym, with the roster of mons available there updating at certain intervals of gyms defeated iirc.
I like the Grand Underground, though the Secret Bases were too simple imo. Why only statues and nothing else? =\
I wasn't really a fan of what they did with the contests tbh. I did a couple and just found it boring.

At any rate, I'll be playing through BDSP again sooner or later, whereas I wouldn't play DPPt even if I got paid to do it. The game mechanics are just too outdated.
BDSP is already a better Sinnoh experience for that alone.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

The worse Remade pokemon games; Simply cause it adds next to nothing to it while also being just one to one the originals

FR/LG added pokemon up to gen 3, improved graphics, and the sevii islands

HG/SS added SO much new content in legends, starters, pokemon to gen 4, pokeatholon, new safari zone, etc

OR/AS brough back the contest with some more flair, ability to catch practically every legendary through the latios/latias riding, added to megas, and fleshed out hidden bases

BD/SP has a new underground and that new park thing to the south thats super grindy and thats it.

That said i didnt HATE it, but i would absolutely call it the worse remake

 

[Arcanyu]

I enjoyed it and it was nostalgic because I havent played D&P since my original play-through in 2008. I just really wish it had more elements from platinum since I heard how great it was and never played it😭

 

[Corveone]

FR/LG added pokemon up to gen 3

Except they were all locked behind post-game, up to beating the champion the game was literally Kanto-only Pokémon, with the same awfully balanced roster and plenty of trainers using the same Pokémon over and over again.

HGSS only added Mamoswine, Tangrowth, Lickilicky, Yanmega, and Ambipom. And important trainers such as gym leaders still had the same questionable teams from the original games. Well, Clair got a Gyarados, and not much else.

 

[Amore]

The worse Remade pokemon games; Simply cause it adds next to nothing to it while also being just one to one the originals

FR/LG added pokemon up to gen 3, improved graphics, and the sevii islands

HG/SS added SO much new content in legends, starters, pokemon to gen 4, pokeatholon, new safari zone, etc

Except they were all locked behind post-game, up to beating the champion the game was literally Kanto-only Pokémon, with the same awfully balanced roster and plenty of trainers using the same Pokémon over and over again.

HGSS only added Mamoswine, Tangrowth, Lickilicky, Yanmega, and Ambipom. And important trainers such as gym leaders still had the same questionable teams from the original games. Well, Clair got a Gyarados, and not much else.

FRLG also actually…worked. Like RBY (by reputation, never played) were unbalanced, glitch-ridden messes. But the core mechanics of Pokémon are so addictive they sold like crazy. FRLG are actually functional games (well, the legendary "dogs" are broken due to the Roaming IV Bug and Roar making them disappear permanently, but nearly everything else works well).

I love HGSS but I don't want to have a debate on that, so I won't elaborate :)

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

FRLG also actually…worked. Like RBY (by reputation, never played) were unbalanced, glitch-ridden messes. But the core mechanics of Pokémon are so addictive they sold like crazy. FRLG are actually functional games (well, the legendary "dogs" are broken due to the Roaming IV Bug and Roar making them disappear permanently, but nearly everything else works well).

Very true! RBY are held together with spit and hope

 

[Empoleon671]

The worse Remade pokemon games; Simply cause it adds next to nothing to it while also being just one to one the originals

HD graphics, follow Pokemon, grand underground, trainer outfit choices, access to events like cresselia, on top of polish over baseline DP is something. again, the games are at it's core, quite fine.

i think the thing i was most looking forward too was using newer gen pokemon in these games.. i absolutely hated gen 3, and the only reason i got to experience it at all was due to ORAS allowing me to use post gen 3 pokemon (such as empoleon). not including every single one was too be expected but atleast up to 7 i think.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

HD graphics, follow Pokemon, grand underground, trainer outfit choices, access to events like cresselia, on top of polish over baseline DP is something. again, the games are at it's core, quite fine.

HD graphics is a given, following pokemon was in HG/SS so not new, trainer outfit choices is super limited and also not new/better in S/M and X/Y, cresselia event was in the original along with the other besides arceus which i will acknowledge, cant be polish if the main game is just DP but prettier to the point many complain that they didnt put over platinums teams for gyms.

Ultimately BDSP did not add anything substantial compared to its OG. If the Grand underground gave you that then by all means but i personally dont see it as that and could even get picky and say its WORSE as they ruined the base building for statues that feel like they do nothing

Worse remakes

 

[Amore]

If the Grand underground gave you that then by all means but i personally dont see it as that and could even get picky and say its WORSE as they ruined the base building for statues that feel like they do nothing

They ruined Spiritomb…there's no way of keeping track of which NPCs you've interacted with, and you have to get every single unique one. Given the online play, it would have made far more sense to keep the mechanics from Gen IV (although I guess they maybe thought it would be too easy…but not everyone would go online, and there's nothing in the game telling you to do so and no Strategy Guide, so it would still be a secretive method)

 

[Empoleon671]

HD graphics is a given, following pokemon was in HG/SS so not new, trainer outfit choices is super limited and also not new/better in S/M and X/Y, cresselia event was in the original along with the other besides arceus which i will acknowledge, cant be polish if the main game is just DP but prettier to the point many complain that they didnt put over platinums teams for gyms.

Ultimately BDSP did not add anything substantial compared to its OG. If the Grand underground gave you that then by all means but i personally dont see it as that and could even get picky and say its WORSE as they ruined the base building for statues that feel like they do nothing

You can't just dismiss it because you didn't like it. I'm not here to debate whether the features added were any good or not to you, but they were indeed added and not in the original. Flint etc use their platinum team, but only after post game.

If you choose to ignore a greatly expanded underground in your game then go ahead, but it's undeniably a new feature that wasn't present in the OG.

Worse remakes

personally, i thought FRLG and ORAS were worse. I beat both games mind you, but almost zero replayability for me.

 

[Squirtkipfan01]

You can't just dismiss it because you didn't like it. I'm not here to debate whether the features added were any good or not to you, but they were indeed added and not in the original. Flint etc use their platinum team, but only after post game.

If you choose to ignore a greatly expanded underground in your game then go ahead, but it's undeniably a new feature that wasn't present in the OG.



personally, i thought FRLG and ORAS were worse. I beat both games mind you, but almost zero replayability for me.

Agree to disagree then

But i have replayed FRLG and ORAS
i only went back to BDSP for events and thats it, easily the remake i spent the least amount of time on and all that new content really did not make me go "Wow this is the definitive version of gen 4!" like i did with prior remakes.

 

[Corveone]

FRLG also actually…worked. Like RBY (by reputation, never played) were unbalanced, glitch-ridden messes. But the core mechanics of Pokémon are so addictive they sold like crazy. FRLG are actually functional games (well, the legendary "dogs" are broken due to the Roaming IV Bug and Roar making them disappear permanently, but nearly everything else works well).

The core mechanics worked well. The gameplay flow, pace, and balance only worked because they were different times, people had different standards and pretty sure more tolerance towards monotony and repetition.

Example: the Cycling Road (routes 16 + 17)
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pokémon_FireRed_and_LeafGreen/Route_16
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pokémon_FireRed_and_LeafGreen/Route_17

-Grimer (1), Muk (2)
-Koffing (6), Weezing (8)
-Machop (6), Machoke (2), Machamp (2)
-Mankey (6), Primeape (2)
-Voltorb (2)

That is: Sixteen Trainer battles, using no more than five different lines. Two consecutive routes that you can literally win by spamming Psybeam/Psychic. Then comes Fuchsia, with a Poison type gym...

Other similar situations:
Every hiker: Geodude and Onix lines (there are at least three hikers whose teams are identical as Brock's)
Every birdkeeper: Spearow, Pidgey & Doduo lines.
Pokémon tower: A dozen trainers using just Gastly/Haunter

FRLG had A LOT of trainer battles (especially compared to the modern games, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually has more trainers than any other region), but a lot of those battles were clones of each other, resulting in players often battling the same Pokémon over and over again. That gets stale and boring pretty quick, because the roster was too small and clearly not varied enough for such amount of trainers.

This also happens in BDSP to a lesser degree. It wasn't that bad on Platinum because they added +59 Pokémon to make it less tedious and repetitive. And it's certainly not an issue in the newer games anymore because the rosters are much bigger, the type variety better balanced, and there are much less trainer battles due to the modern Exp. Share so each trainer you battle feels more unique.

 

[Amore]

The core mechanics worked well. The gameplay flow, pace, and balance only worked because they were different times, people had different standards and pretty sure more tolerance towards monotony and repetition.

Example: the Cycling Road (routes 16 + 17)
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pokémon_FireRed_and_LeafGreen/Route_16
https://strategywiki.org/wiki/Pokémon_FireRed_and_LeafGreen/Route_17

-Grimer (1), Muk (2)
-Koffing (6), Weezing (8)
-Machop (6), Machoke (2), Machamp (2)
-Mankey (6), Primeape (2)
-Voltorb (2)

That is: Sixteen Trainer battles, using no more than five different lines. Two consecutive routes that you can literally win by spamming Psybeam/Psychic. Then comes Fuchsia, with a Poison type gym...

Other similar situations:
Every hiker: Geodude and Onix lines (there are at least three hikers whose teams are identical as Brock's)
Every birdkeeper: Spearow, Pidgey & Doduo lines.
Pokémon tower: A dozen trainers using just Gastly/Haunter

FRLG had A LOT of trainer battles (especially compared to the modern games, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually has more trainers than any other region), but a lot of those battles were clones of each other, resulting in players often battling the same Pokémon over and over again. That gets stale and boring pretty quick, because the roster was too small and clearly not varied enough for such amount of trainers.

This also happens in BDSP to a lesser degree. It wasn't that bad on Platinum because they added +59 Pokémon to make it less tedious and repetitive. And it's certainly not an issue in the newer games anymore because the rosters are much bigger, the type variety better balanced, and there are much less trainer battles due to the modern Exp. Share so each trainer you battle feels more unique.

Oh yeah, FRLG were too faithful there, that stretch is really boring. At least the other route to Fuchsia has slightly varied topography. Its quite enjoyable if you have a Charizard though - after all the struggles against two gyms that hard check it, then Rock Tunnel, you get a really easy stretch of a Grass gym and then a bunch of 'mons that are either weak to Flying, or have low SpD so can be taken out with Flamethrower (Koffing and Weezing). Its basically the last time in the game the Fire starter is dominant, as beyond Koga all the main bosses bar Sabrina have an advantage over it.

I like the number of battles in the Sinnoh games, but what BDSP botched is that levels needed to be increased due to the always-on Exp Share (and getting xp from captures) means its incredibly easy to end up over-levelled. New games definitely do better with giving us themed trainers, I loved randomly encountering that U-turn spam kid in SV.

Also if you spend more than five minutes exploring, Grand Underground actually does a better job in providing greater Pokémon variety than Platinum did. I felt like most of the new Platinum additions were mid- to late-game, the early routes still had the same old rubbish only without Stunky to mix things up (although getting Gible early instead was nice, pseudos are hard to train in the older games so its much better to get it then than super late like in every previous game bar Kanto).

 

[Ninetales]

I enjoyed BDSP. Initially I wasn't quite sure what to make of the art style, though I instantaneously grew to love it as I began playing the game. One aspect that I'm not the fondest of is the relative lack of character customization, and this is an issue I have with Scarlet/Violet as well. Overall, I thought the games were well-executed, though not perfect. I'm a die-hard generation 4 fan, so it isn't hard to sell me on anything Sinnoh-oriented. I grew up with DPPt and HGSS and Platinum is my favourite main series game to date. I will reverberate what some others have said, I wish that the games perhaps took a bit more from Platinum, and moreover, I would've preferred if they added additional content similarly to that of ORAS. I adored the Delta Episode and I wish that BDSP offered something similar.

Perhaps my biggest complaint is their handling of contests. I wish they kept contests the same as they were in the original games. It's like the saying, don't fix something that isn't broken. The new contests are fine, though an unmistakable downgrade.

As aforementioned my opinion of these games is positive, despite my criticisms. They remained largely faithful to the originals and I loved the originals, so of course, I love BDSP just the same.

 

[NipahRika]

Two years or so later now...

Still not the best game ever. I never went back and finished the game up, sadly. I just was not as interested in these games as I'd thought.

 

[Outlander]

I wanted Pokémon Platinum, but in full HD 3D like Sword & Shield without any of its draw distance issues, and some Gigantamax forms for Sinnoh mons like Driftblim & Torterra...which is not what we got.

That being said I was gifted a copy of Brilliant Diamond for Christmas the year it came out, and I still had a lot of fun playing through it. I think because of its art style it will age a lot better than most of Switch era Pokémon games over time.