Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl REVIEW: Are They Disappointing?

[@R2bball]

Everyone complains about EXP share but no one complains about how it’s impossible to move without getting stopped by corners and rocks that aren’t touching you!

[@WilliamHungVEVO]

Omnidirectional movement was both a blessing and a curse. Moving diagonally let you double your steps and skip stuff like in Candice's gym. Getting stuck in front of rocks and corners annoyed the shit out of me though

[@jediofmetalii1623]

This.

[@Lupinemancer87]

I personally love the EXP share function. Sure, it should be possible to turn it off for those who likes to punish themselves, but I like that I can train my entire team, and even other Pokemon without having to grind too much.

[@R2bball]

@@Lupinemancer87 Saves me so much time. I love the EXP share but agreed just make it optional

[@ogmechsftw]

just take the racing line bro

[@TheFinalFailSafe]

Even XY, which in my opinion has the better chibi art style, would use detailed, non chibi models for cutscenes. Like when you’re about to fight the legendary. Seeing the extra effort it obviously took to create the cutscene makes the scene feel that much more important. I found the “cutscenes” in BDSP goofy looking but it wasn’t the absolute worst thing, but when you reach the top of Mt. Cornet I genuinely laughed at the cutscene and Cyrus’ stupid looking model

[@Jestiii]

They made Pokemon's 2nd most intimidating villian a Chibi 💀

[@Ray-lc8lz]

I think the fact that they made it a "faithfull" remake was the problem to begin with.

[@ItsYuhBoyyyy]

They were soooo scared to change the formula

[@Ray-lc8lz]

@@ItsYuhBoyyyy ORAS wasn't even as "faithfull" as BDSP and it was awesome. I think it's mostly because they have less work that way.

[@PigeonJr.]

Ever since BDSP's announcement, I cannot say the word 'faithful' in my right conscious and not have a stroke hearing that word.

[@GelloWello]

@@Ray-lc8lz if it was faithful then they should have brought back all of the major features of the original.

[@mattfromwiisports5328]

Sorry replied to the wrong comment

[@qqqqqqqqqqqq121212]

The quintessential example of essential Platinum fixes not be included is the Poketch went back to only having one button - like, they seriously put the Poketch back to its more annoying and cumbersome form so they could be ‘faithful’

[@bartowo]

Who wants innovasion when you can have a more -rushed- , i mean faithfull experience instead Edit: looking back its not as much a rushed product as it is clearly just made to be as cheap as possible for the pokemon company. Regardless still shitty for the consumer.

[@qqqqqqqqqqqq121212]

@@bartowo I don’t think it’s rushed, the Poketch wouldn’t have two buttons if they had more development time… they actively chose to do the dumb ‘faithful’ stuff.

[@pc-u-18]

That’s so stupid

[@MicoDossun]

@@bartowo to claim these choices are rushed feels like you have no idea what the issues are. No issues are a product of time rather than stringent commitment to a 1:1 recreation of a flawed and broken game

[@bartowo]

@@MicoDossun considering the unfinished state the game was released in makes me personally reason that most if not all of the shortcomings were due to not having enough time to put in the effort. The only real sort of innovation in these "remakes" is the underground, besides that everything was deliberately done 1:1. But the motivation behind that choice is something up to interpretation and i personally think it must have been bc that is the easiest and therefore the fastest way bc there is very little time being spent on designing new interfaces and stuff so the devs can just immediately start MAKING the game ya know? Edit: the day 1 "patch" was most likely so they could actually make the consumer download a part of the game so they can put the physical game on a smaller switch vame cartridge which is cheaper for them. The lack of playtesting and abundance of bugs and glitches is clearly bc it was too rushed and they didng care just patch it later. And the lack of innovation is probably just bc they [pokemon company ?] didnt care and didnt wanna put the resources into it.

[@matthansen758]

Your points and complaints are exactly what made me disappointed in these remakes. When you compare it to ORAS and HG/SS it just feels so underwhelming with no real surprises. I was so thrilled playing through ORAS cause it felt fresh and nostalgic at the same time and the Mauville makeover was outstanding. Talk about a minor upgrade making such a big impact cause you really felt the passionate and great job behind what they did. They didn't have to do it but the fact that they did meant so much. The fact that they managed to make me feel young and as excited as I was back then was a testament to what a great job they did. I miss that attention to detail in BDSP and I could tell from the moment they revealed the games that this experience wasn't going to provide anything new...

[@_NightSaber_]

Exactly!

[@PokemonaMoni]

My thoughts exactly. With Legends being so nearby, I really felt no motivation to play this game. And I was very disappointed because I've been excited for a good DP remake since ORAS. But this is definitely not what I wanted, and I doubt I'll ever buy this game. It may be fun but it's not what I want to play, I prefer buying a new game

[@ogmechsftw]

I never got into Gen3, and subsequently ORAS as I didn't have any sentiment towards Gen3. To each their own.

[@CoastalJoe12]

@@PokemonaMoni honestly surprising to hear all the negativity, first time looking at reviews since i grabbed it lol. i played the originals but these games are dope because you actually are able to have gen 2/3 on the switch. being able to finally play them competitively blinded my perspective on it because i had no idea there was this much dispute lol

[@PokemonaMoni]

@@CoastalJoe12 The games aren't bad, they are enjoyable I'm sure. But they're not what should and could have been. We get a game like Legends, but at what cost?

[@TheKingMarkell]

The fact that FRLG was in the style of Gen 3 and added the Sevii Islands, HGSS was in the style of Gen 4 and took some story elements of Crystal and added the Safari Zone and the poke walker, ORAS added the Delta Episode and was in the style of Gen 6. Everyone was expecting it to be in the style of Sword and Shield and it didn’t really add anything new. Not a bad game by any means, just not as good as the other remakes lol

[@masterprick1]

I still don't get how DPP would have looked in the SwSh style, the styles are way too different and it would have made Sinnoh unrecognizable. I think Gen 6 style like ORAS would have been the best, always liked that 3D style the best for Pokémon.

[@TheKingMarkell]

@@masterprick1 I agree. But seeing sinnoh in full blown 3D is what people wanted to see but I guess they can see that in Legends Arceus

[@MoonbeamPony]

I disagree. It added a fantastic new set of bugs for the speedrun community to exploit!

[@LetsTalkSports001]

Yes I agree

[@AlexDayz]

Semi-related but I find it odd that the majority opinion was that SwSh graphics was bad (take the Infamous “ugly tee” screenshot) yet when they decided to try something new for BDSP now people want it with in the SwSh style? And knowing how the fandom can get even if they did release it in the SwSh style they’ll still find something to complain about. Obviously this doesn’t speak for everyone but I feel that they opinion on certain games always flips (just look at how Gen 5 went from being the worse to being the best). Also I don’t know to much about ILCA but besides Pokémon Home have they worked on any games prior to BDSP?

[@MicoDossun]

It’s such a bummer to me that they didn’t work to redesign the look of Team Galactic like they did with Team Aqua and Magma they could seriously have used it. I honestly don’t blame the new games for much because the changes are generally good and the issues are all in what they have not changed. Some old features I like but there are a baffling large amount of features they just kept. The worst sin of this game is letting me realize Diamond and Pearl were kinda bad. I’ve been limiting the amount of money I’m spending on remakes and ports as is so one that is exactly the same by design just can’t be justified.

[@mathieul4303]

Team Galactic is fine. No need to redesign them

[@RoyalKingOliver]

Okay but you didnt say Platinum was bad so I'll assume its the good one lol

[@N12015]

​@@RoyalKingOliverYup. Platinum is the sole reason people say Sinnoh was good. Indeed a big problem was being based on already bad games, but then somehow make it worse.

[@devastatheseeker9967]

My major issue with bdsp is that you cannot say they're the definitive version of gen 4. Also nobody can say that chimchar learning powerup punch does not make the game easier.

[@richard35791]

thats huge bias to fire starter, while my empoleon no longer tank spiritomb and fantina, while glass cannon starterlike infernape buffed with power of friendship focus sash

[@Minirigby22]

Someone's probably already said it in the comments, but the part of wayward cave where Gible is found being blocked with strength boulders was in D/P too, that isn't a change. Only Platinum had them removed.

[@ethandollarhide7943]

My only real problem with BDSP Is the fact that they included some of the Platinum Pokedex, but not all of it. I wanted to use Platinum Dex Pokemon like Gallade, Leafeon, and Yanmega, but only got to use Gallade. Really hoping I get to use Leafeon and Yanmega in Legends Arceus.

[@BloodyDeadCat]

Leafeon is in BDSP

[@roshandinesh6701]

What are you saying all the pokemon are there

[@eclipso7006]

@@BloodyDeadCat He means the regional pokedex not the national pokedex 😐

[@lorenzomabalos9851]

They still kept the fucking 151 Dex because of Masuda's obsession.

[@Elite4GamingZ]

Pokemon let's go or not remakes. 🤦🤦🤦

[@tristanneal9552]

The growing consensus seems to be these games are better than DP but worse than Platinum, and if you've played Platinum or are open to emulating it you can just skip these for Legends: Arceus.

[@iKaterinaPetrova]

@@Jay7707 Your opinion is hot trash. Platinum is undoubtedly superior to BDSP.

[@dannys9074]

@@iKaterinaPetrova platinum is literally almost the same exact game as diamond and pearl. What are y’all talking about

[@onejumpman4647]

@@iKaterinaPetrova "welcome to the internet where you can't have a opinion without someone saying your racist"

[@xBox360BENUTZER]

@@onejumpman4647 You know just because it is a opinion doesnt mean it can´t be wrong based on hard facts.

[@xBox360BENUTZER]

@@dannys9074 And BD/SP are also almost the same games. The difference is that Platinum is a upgrade while the other two games are a sidegrade that cost more then the originals did on release.

[@SacredAlmighty]

This was a flawless video. 10/10

[@buggyyuji851]

Same

[@isaacgates5859]

Did you just review his review? Meta

[@indythechaos1634]

Flawless Comment 10/10

[@Matthewtopia]

What an inspiring comment

[@matthew-l1e8m]

There was a really big mistake when he said that they blocked off wayward cave in these games. It was always blocked.

[@cameroncox1008]

The hit boxes are such a pain I've been getting used to it in the past few days but it's still a work in progress

[@feralpossum2089]

Oh god yeah "Theres a load of space, why am I running against an invisible wall here??"

[@R2bball]

The fact that Onix takes up so much space you can’t move around it in the underground….

[@PokeMixr92]

After listening to the music on YT, I can say that the overworld music is very, very good. The battle themes however sound ridiculously bland compared to the originals, except for the Gym/Elite Four Theme and your rival's theme. Some of the battle themes such as Cyrus's theme, Lake Trio, Galactic Comander etc highlighted the bass and percussion and overall made the themes sound epic in DPPl, but in BDSP they lost that magic. The funny thing is that they decided to stay faithful there as well when I know that IF they had decided to add their own touch and ideas to these themes, they would've sounded a lot better. It's crazy cause I absolutely love what Kageyama has done with the battle themes in Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee. I just wish there was a way to insert the overworld music into a Platinum rom, before I actually start playing Platinum (since I'm not getting BDSP)

[@chloukscolor7905]

Yes, it was the theme I was looking the most forward to :/ Guess I’ll keep on listening to the original, and Braxton's take (only re-orchestration/remix I like of the theme, rip).

[@jasonrider5177]

I can agree that the overworld music is good enough, but I honestly don't think it's worth listening to over the originals still. In a lot of the songs I feel like the mixing and the midi instruments they use are just strange and done badly. I go back and listen to the Lake and Eterna Forest themes in both and just so many small details are just lost in the background of the remakes. Echoes are louder, backing bass and piano is quieter, and everything just gets lost and muddied. They're not bad by any means (I still appreciate the Eterna Forest remake) but I just think that the way they were done in the originals just gives it a much better sound and it was a bit disappointing as a major fan of game music and Pokemon music.

[@jonathan-3008]

I wish they used zame’s music 😢

[@richard35791]

ihope there are platinum remakes in switch sucessor

[@AntiBellum]

I really just hope that the inevitable Pokémon BW remasters/remakes are good. I assume the team behind BDSP will work on the Gen 5 remakes, so it gives me hope that they learned from BDSP.

[@anujsingh333]

If it turns out to be like this, I don't want them touching my beloved gen5 😔

[@AntiBellum]

@@anujsingh333 idk, it doesn’t seem like they made very many changes in terms of gameplay and gen 5 is pretty solid in that department. I do hope that they don’t go with the chibi look though, I think it would take away from the grand scale of the Unova region

[@Mr-Opium]

@@anujsingh333 Gen 5 wasn’t that great we’d be lucky for no Gen 5 remakes

[@Jonqen]

@@Mr-Opium Everybody is crazy about it nowadays. I dont get it

[@Mr-Opium]

@@Jonqen prolly just nostalgia clouding peoples views

[@mediumxanax]

I actively skipped trainers and fed my Pokémon friendship lowering herbs. The battles were super fun then! But I hate how I had to worry about that and couldn't just turn the EXP share and friendship off

[@slevinchannel7589]

It's Dissapointing if you are aware that this is the Biggest Gaming-Franchise in the world when it comes to earning Money. For those not aware what is Possible and how awesome the games COULD totally be, yeah, then it's all fine. You cant miss what you dont understand can exist.

[@weberman173]

@@slevinchannel7589 you misunderstand things not the "biggest gaming franchise" but biggest multimedia franchise. the game shonestly are just a drop in the bucket for the company, they sell well enough but it isnt where they earn their money, its licensing deals, its the anime, its the Merchandise, the games are just there to promote the stuff that actualy makes them money

[@blippy117]

i just wish this game gave me a legitimate incentive to purchase it when i already own platinum

[@ely9266]

Youre right, pretty much no reason to play this if you have the OG games or if you can emulate them

[@anakawyker]

Pokémon follow you, Ramona’s park, you can change your clothes, the graphics look better

[@blippy117]

@@anakawyker now which part of this warrants a $60 market price?

[@nazeersadek6705]

You really don’t have any reason to spend 60$ on these remake

[@ely9266]

@@anakawyker Ramona's park is the same as every other legendsry catching spree area like in ORAS and USUM, boring as hell, idc about the graphics and the trainer customization isnt good, and the following Pokemon might as well not be there since they always get stuck

[@MrGrimmjow007]

I see these games as Remasters instead of Remakes. I been having a blast with it. I never finished Pokemon Diamond back in the day. Now I have the chance.

[@azuroslazuli6948]

Oh, you never finished Diamond originally, huh? That explains a lot. XD

[@PokeMaster22222]

I'd recommend emulating Platinum instead; it doesn't have shared-Exp., it doesn't have missing moves, and it fixes Volkner's and Flint's teams, alongside having the mind-blowing Distortion World in all its glory. Oh, and more content too, such as an extra, earlier fight against Cyrus and the Battle Frontier.

[@mochoman312games2]

i would say dont listen to the second person platinum is slow and if you didn't beat diamond then you aren't beating platinum i dont know if you like grinding but im happy about the exp share and even with the e4 i went under leveled because i didnt feel like grinding on same level mons for 12 hours also the kore content its more just battle frontier and thats pretty much it most more content is in bdsp like rotom and its forms

[@PokeMaster22222]

@@mochoman312games2 Platinum is faster than DP, and it definitely does not feel like an utter disappointment like BDSP do. Plus, DS emulators have speed-up functions anyway, rendering that point entirely moot.

[@mochoman312games2]

@@PokeMaster22222 ya but you have to have a good pc if you get the wrong thing you can get viruses which isnt worth it and half the time speed up just breaks the emulator its not reliable at all and utter disappointment its literally the same game without the distortion world and battle frontier which in the distortion world you barley are in it for that long so i don't know why people are saying its a big deal i actually forgot it existed when i played platinum a couple months ago to play it again and forgot about it again before people started getting mad its not a thing

[@youristevens379]

I was talking about these games with my colleague just a few hours ago at work, and we basicly spoke about the exact same points you made. All in all, i LOVED bdsp. These games really captured my heart in a unique way, that very few other pokemon games have. And i honestly think the combination of Music, Art, Nostalgia and following pokemon (which is always a HUGE deal for me in pokemon games) combined with my already huge love for the original games, really just made this new reskin absolutely fantastic. And while it has a few big flaws here and there. I can now say it's without a doubt in my top 3 main series pokemon games, even WITH its existing flaws.

[@twinfinitely3627]

Same I love bdsp!

[@cheeseboy4958]

how-how did you comment 17 hours ago...?

[@Mapimation]

Bdsp isn't perfect, but its still extremely fun and overall a great game!

[@Mapimation]

Wait! I just noticed something, how did ya post this comment 17 hours age? How!?!? I am so confused rn

[@cheeseboy4958]

@@Mapimation I'm wondering the same thing 😭

[@TulioKip]

I have to say, I liked that following Pokemon wasn't just limited to the first slot of the party this time, this is actually a change I want them to bring into future iterations of this feature. But I simply don't like how the player can still outpace the Pokemon.

[@MrKlausbaudelaire]

yea, Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee made the absolute perfect pokemon follow/ride mechanic. Pokemons who are too big you get to RIDE! And seeing a footage of a player riding an Arcanine made me want to play Let's Go just so I can ride that huge fluffy doggo myself xD

[@Slimeonian]

6:40 oh god yeah, friendship and affection being combined into one is my biggest gripe with the game. Affection is stupidly broken and the fact it’s unavoidable now just annoys me

[@goGothitaLOL]

SwSh did that first, but you could only get the bonuses early if you used Camp alot, otherwise they don't show up until late-game at most but here, the bonuses come out sooner than later

[@Dusxio]

Honestly, I think BDSP's primary aim is those who haven't played Gen4: New fans, or fans who fell out of playing post Gen3. Rather than just nostalgia bait for those who want to revisit Gen4 again. Ilka's made a pretty good game, and hopefully they will be more adventurous with changes they make if they get the next remake.

[@Sylvieboy72]

I agree with you!

[@KnucklesWTD]

There was no reason to not do what HG/SS/ORAS/FR/LG already did besides pure laziness and cost cutting

[@Matthewtopia]

Honestly they shouldn't be trying to be making "faithful remakes". Ever. They should've focused on making the definitive versions of sinnoh. Either way, I'm still having lots of fun with them.

[@Eterrnal_pokefake]

One of my least favorite things about it is trying to walk through a rocky cave and being constantly stuck on the walls / boulders , so infuriating

[@markhunt9643]

For me my issues aren't entirely with BDSP itself, I found myself struggling to play through the game when Sinnoh is my favourite Region and that's simply because the design of the mainline Pokemon Games are just not all that great? Like why do all the trainers on the route use the same few Pokemon, that you can mindlessly Mash A to win? Why is Gardenia using Stun Spore on my Bibarel when she's faster, and Petal Storm will probably kill? Why are Team Galactic using Silcoon and Zubat when I have over 2 gym badges? Why does every single cave only house the same 3 Pokemon, despite being in completely different locations to each other? And it isn't like these are BDSP exclusive issues, they've been like this since Red and Green... It's just the older I get, the staler these games become due to the incompetent design. I don't want Pokemon to be harder per say, I just want a game that's well designed and engaging... I'm honestly more hyped for Legends Arceus as even if that game ends up being shite, at least it's something new.

[@MrKlausbaudelaire]

yea, considering each gen always adds a good set of 3 or 4 "evil" pokemons, the enemy team shouldn't share the same team as... school kids and bug catchers :P Team Galactic should be using Houndooms, Rotoms, Porygons 2 and Z and Sneasels earlier in the game to showcase how much more of a threat they are compared to regular trainers!

[@michaelballack3051]

Games will still sell despite the all the shortcomings and flaws. And that's what matters. Companies will only look at profit. And Pokemon games profit is forever increasing. Sword and Shield alone sold more than any Pokemon game since 1999~2001 with Gen 2. So the higher ups don't need to look back and analyze throughly what could be improved.

[@jayclearmen411]

@@michaelballack3051 yup..me an my bro did our part an didn’t buy those games💯💯💯. but since so many chicken lily livered pansies couldn’t stick to there guns an hold there convictions …we’re essentially screw our selves. An they won’t ever take our complaints seriously now..

[@falconlord7811]

Pokemon games are objectively badly designed games. They put so little effort into them because they know they could and can polish a turd and sell it to you for 80$.

[@MrKlausbaudelaire]

@@falconlord7811 Badly designed? Seriously? Think you can do better than a game with almost 1000 different creatures and their 3D models, each one with 3 or 4 animations for the specific kinds of attacks, with an entire AI developed to play with up to 6 different creatures with 1 or 2 types each to take in factor their attacks, STAB bonus, stats modifiers, abilities, weather, RNG modifiers, all within 2 years between each game, translate it to different languages... while each game gets more and more complicated as it adds up more features to take into account?

[@EliteGuard01]

Cynthia was hard to battle even in my recent run through of platinum, by far the hardest Champion of the Elite 4 to defeat in any game. She has the most diverse team and there for isn't a total push over like many of the others with one type of Pokemon. But my biggest gripe with this game after the lousy graphics compared to ORAS, is that you can't bring in Pokemon from Pokemon Home. This means that I would likely end up with the same team of pokemon that I had in my first and second playthroughs of Platinum. Luxray is pretty much the only good electric type of this generation, and the lack of grass and fire types leave you very few to choose from. So I planned my team ahead of time, only to find out that I couldn't bring in pokemon from home. Very disapointing. So now I will postpone my first playthrough until Home is available, so my pokemon in game won't be over leveled by the time that it is.

[@bones9171]

Cynthia is easy to beat if you’re actually good at the game and know what you’re doing.

[@lesgo6360]

@@bones9171 Yeah I beat Cynthia with only 3 Pokémon in Platinum , but then again, I was overleveled a lot so maybe it was unfair

[@greensprite5974]

Magnezone?

[@chargeentertainment2981]

@@greensprite5974 about to say the same thing

[@MrKlausbaudelaire]

@@bones9171 Cynthia in this remake have all her pokemon with MAXED IVS, EVS, perfect Natures, very specific held items and competitive combinations. Heck, one or two of her pokemons would be BANNED from competitive scenarios! So... no, she is NOT easy to beat.

[@jonahtran1834]

I’m still waiting for Ron to release his dishonest reviews.

[@CritsVG]

[Disclaimer: Personal Opinion!] I (having started Pokémon back in the day with Pearl Version) recently gave it a shot on a friend's copy and just couldn't help it feeling somewhat... old to me. Not old in a good, nostalgic, comforting way, but old in an outdated, backwards-oriented, not very appealing way. Already on a surface level, the copy-pasted trees that are still growing in lines, or the straight edges around surfaces of water seemed like things they could have easily smoothed out more to make it more appealing while staying 100% true to the original map design and concept without any need for redesigning any part of the region. But even worse, the gameplay felt exactly the same as when I took a long break from Pokémon back in the 3DS era. Again, not in a good way, because there isn't even any unique gimmick or drastic change in presentation. Pokémon still aren't properly scaled in battles, they all still look 100% the same as in X&Y (remember when Pokémon used to get a new sprite for every new generation or even each new iteration within a generation? I know it's harder to do with 3D models, but damn I miss those times), and while battle arenas are somewhat more detailed, much of it still looks more like a fassade or in some cases looks worse than backgrounds in X&Y (i. e. the "void" battle arenas which occur frequently). I know ILCA set out to create a 1:1 remake. To me personally, that was just not the most favorable decision, or rather: it could have been executed better. Not sure when or if I'll buy this game myself.

[@BugTimez]

With fighting every trainer (which I've always done because fighting trainers is something I enjoy), and catching any pokemon I liked I was at the champions level once I got to the 8th badge. I was very overleveled and stomped the elite 4. Cynthia still gave me a problem. As I'm a very casual player on first playthroughs of any game, I used items and saved before the cynthia fight. Cynthia KOd me once due to a sucker punch to my alakazam. Fight 2 I calm minded until sucker punch was out of PP then swept her team.

[@MapleMilk]

So essentially it's: Good News: They're Diamond and Pearl remakes! Bad News: They're DIAMOND and PEARL remakes...

[@matthansen758]

Even more bad news: They're Diamond and Pearl remasters and not remakes... ;(

[@V-Jes]

@@matthansen758 Bruh, do you even know what a remaster is as no matter how hard you remaster a 2D game it doesn't magically turn into a 3D game...

[@matthansen758]

@@V-Jes Bro do you even know what aspergers syndrome is? I didn't mean literally of course, learn how to read between the lines...

[@V-Jes]

@@matthansen758 Eexcept the fact that there is nothing to read between lines when you just say they are remasters as you saying they are remasters means you are saying they are remasters, also nobody cares about mental disorders that has nothing to do with what was said...

[@matthansen758]

@@V-Jes Everything that people say shouldn't be taken literally, 11 other people understood what I meant, you clearly didn't... Instead you showed up with a bad attitude. A lot of people say these "remakes" feel more like remasters in a lot of regards, that's what my comment referred to...

[@mewdreamer]

I've been really enjoying these games. They're a fun way to revisit Sinnoh, raise some of my favorite Pokemon again and try out some new Pokemon, especially now that I don't have to worry about using HMs. I don't have a problem with the Exp. Share since it removes the need to grind, one of my biggest issues with the original games that I can recall. I do agree that the problem comes from how they didn't account for the Exp. Share in these games like they've done with previous titles. Except for Gardenia in BD where I chose Chimchar as my starter, the Gym Leaders haven't been easy despite my Pokemon being overleveled. I really love exploring the Grand Underground and it does provide access to some of the Pokemon outside of the Sinnoh Pokedex. Walking around with your Pokemon is always wonderful. I still find the chibi art style adorable, but I can understand why some fans would dislike this art style to a degree. I don't know how I'll rank these remakes with the others, mainly because I'm still not close to the Elite 4, but they are fun and at the end of the day, that's exactly what I want from Pokemon, as well as video games in general.

[@mariowalker9048]

I'm not the only one who noticed the gym leaders being more challenging in the main game. As someone who just played the original Diamond right before BDSP came out. I had a much easier time in the original Diamond than Brillant Diamond.

[@SkepticalI]

I think that the XP share should've been a choice. So in the settings, (like in X and Y) you should've been able to choose whether you wanted it on. I would've had it turned off, because I want to have 1 team - and some extra - but I don't want to be overleveled for the whole game, and make it easy, and the only 'challenge' be Cynthia.

[@fh7463]

I gotta say, I really love these games. I absolutely loved the following pokemon mechanic, as it made me feel closer to my pokemon, like in hgss. The difficulty is also really good as well, as now you need strategy to defeat tough opponents, instead of just ohko-ing everything. It was a nice experience

[@buhgingo2933]

I knew I had to use my brain when I got defeated by Roark. ROARK

[@Shamazya]

I appreciate how you tackled this review. You present your perspective concisely and you don't hold punches but you also don't go unauthentically brutal. You point out a few of the different experiences people look for in a Pokemon game and give your opinion on if this likely aligns or diverges from that desire. The review doesn't feel like it's trying to be a one-size fits all and I think that's a massive positive. These games aren't for me. I knew that before coming in. But I also knew you'd be insightful which is why I decided to watch. Because I'd like to see more content for me from Pokemon I hope this isn't what they do in the future. But it's not the end of the world if they do. You can't please everyone. But even while that is my perspective, it seems to me that on either side that people fall on, whether they want more stuff like this or something else there are lessons from this that hopeful Pokemon can grow from to create an even better product.

[@El_Chucho_Bravo]

It’s a remake, but very different than the others. It’s very faithful to D&P, but new things in remakes are what make them really worthwhile. (Especially HGSS and ORAS) The only real difference is that the game uses modern Pokémon concepts and a new artstyle. In terms of the remakes, it’s pretty far down there for me. I have it at a similar level to Let’s Go, what Let’s Go had that I didn’t enjoy, was all different and new for a main series game. It’s not really what has had people hyped up for years at just the thought, but it was enough.

[@realar]

First of all, THIS GAME IS MISSING MOVES. So, not faithful in that aspect for starters. Second, you can't make actual secret bases, so not faithful in that way either. Third, going JUST chibi in every scene other than the battles is just confusing and affects Cyrus as a character, so it's not faithful to the spirit of the game either. So these games are not remakes, as they are not complete improvements of the originals. They're not remasters either, because they are missing details from the originals. No, these are RECREATIONS. Honestly, I want to see how MODDERS fix this game.

[@Davanthall]

I understand I’m probably in the minority here, but…I actually LOVE being overleveled. It makes me feel like an actual threat to the npcs, like a serious force to be reckoned with. When I play games, I want to feel like the protagonist of a shonnen anime it it’s fourth or fifth season. Over powered and untouchable. It’s a power dynamic that I love feeling, and I want to feel like that in fictional video games where it doesn’t actually hurt anyone in the real world. I know people say it’s not challenging and boring but I just don’t feel that way. I don’t want to be challenged, I want to have fun. I want to play _with_ the video game, not against it. I know betray anyone will agree or even understand where I’m coming from, but that’s just how I feel about the matter…

[@kingLorshi]

You're definitely allowed to feel that way, but that's why most games have difficulty settings. I prefer playing games on normal or hard. Even X and Y with its aggressive over leveling allowed you to turn off the exp share and it is surprisingly a tough nuzlocke game. For me if it is easy then that's just boring because zero thought is given. But that said I get zero enjoyment one shotting everything, I would rather carve out victory just barely because I did something smart or still had a solid team.

[@rbasi25]

This game sucks. The mandatory exp share killed it for me. I am not even going to bother finishing playing it because I have zero desire to do so smh.

[@anasmumin2405]

I love how you say everything you need to say without being toxic 😂 But I share the same feelings as you on the Dowsing Machine and the bike being so hard to use. Also buttons reacting 2 seconds later Also, I failed my Nuzlocke when the E4 caught me off guard 😅

[@CrunchyTire]

using the word toxic is toxic

[@fiz4400]

First Cynthia attempt: Mamoswine vs Spiritomb (Brute force) Drapion vs Roserade (Cynthia Switched into Gastrodon) Togekiss vs Gastrodon (Battle of the leftover holders) Drapion vs Roserade (Brute force) Magnezone vs Milotic (Avoid Scald, metal sound, and one Thunderbolt while tanking a scald) Gallade vs Lucario (tank a flash cannon, trick room, K.O with a drain punch) Empoleon vs Garchomp (Trick room speeded critical hit ice beam for the win) They were at the level range of 65-66 if you are wondering

[@heroichitsuji]

As someone who never played Sinnoh but started in HGSS I ALWAYS wondered what the Sinnoh region was like since I temporarily traveled there for the Arceus event.

[@sethj8716]

Same here I play Pokemon Black I don't hate the other Generations I like diamond pearl and platinum I just haven't played them so I'm happy they're on switch Diamond and Pearl remakes.

[@tiffers3093]

I honestly like the fact that the exp share is always on. I don’t have a ton of time to play games and honestly a lot of times, grinding individual Pokémon like in the older games is almost enough to keep me away from playing some of the older games. I just want to relax and play a Pokémon game and enjoy the 2ish hours I have to play.

[@gizmandiamond4417]

I think it’s a fine feature, but not giving us the option is something I won’t ever understand. It’s so simple to do and they had no reason not to do it, as it appeals to both sides

[@buckets2250]

Agreed, it’s great considering I don’t have a lot of time to play either, so when I do, I like to get the most of my time

[@kingLorshi]

If the exp share (held item) and the exp share (key item) both existed and you could turn the latter of it would appeal to everybody I'd also like to turn friendship off, because it really breaks the game(s).

[@socialistbcrumb]

I find it interesting how different our experiences were with the EXP share because I found the level curve far more busted in sword, but it’s probably because while I try to catch as many Pokémon as possible I normally have a set team of 6 pretty early. That team of 6 was mostly crazy over leveled in SWSH. In BDSP I definitely feel I have some team members who are too high, but not by a significant amount as I head into victory road, and because I switched things up more than normal, a couple are gonna be a bit low level. I don’t think this really negates that you should be able to turn it off if you’re not looking to level grind but I don’t think the curve in BDSP is THAT broken

[@testerwulf3357]

In SWSH the EXP share isn't too bad as long as you either don't keep the same team throughout or avoid plenty of optional battles (or just avoid catching as much pokemon/grinding). BDSP there are a ton of trainers to fight and the level curve is pretty unbalanced, if you don't swap out your party at least once for new mons you're bound to over level. But this is why the 2 were so different for you: in SWSH you stuck with the same member, but in BDSP you switched your team around..keeping your members the same for a decent period of time is what causes the over-leveling! BDSP would of been just as bad as SWSH if you roughly kept the same team throughout the game.

[@socialistbcrumb]

@@testerwulf3357 to an extent, but even my Torterra was properly leveled for Cynthia. If I remember right her Garchomp was still higher level than anything on my team. Going off memory here but in SWSH my Rillaboom down to my most recent member was easily a higher level than anything on Leon’s team. However, I don’t necessarily think it’s entirely the XP balancing. I think time spent in the wild area vs the grand underground, the two places with scaled Pokémon levels, matters. But honestly I probably fought more battles overall BDSP before endgame because of optional areas.

[@testerwulf3357]

@@socialistbcrumb Yea, that's something I've noticed, You can be the correct level for Cynthia but that often leads to you over leveling some gyms because the levels of gyms and stuff aren't the greatest so you're more likely to have an easy time with the game but struggle with the elite 4. The elite 4 and Cynthia for some reason have utterly stacked teams making the difficult shoot up through the roof out of no where! So you either have to deal with the main game being kinda easy to have a decent shot at being leveled enough for the Elite 4 without grinding or you try to stay with the pace of the game and end up getting wrecked by the Elite 4 or having to grind. I do agree though that the underground and wild area do effect things a lot with the scaled levels around the area, didn't really like how SWSH did that as it was so easy to walk into the wrong grass and face a pokemon 2x your current mons level and get demolished because of it! Didn't look up the levels of each area for a nuzlocke and lost some decent members by going into a spot next to the ones my level that I thought be ok as they were in the beginning part of the wild area only to meet something a bit too tough for my current pokemon!

[@socialistbcrumb]

@@testerwulf3357 it’s still not really fantastic, but Pokémon, imo, has always had issues with annoying level curves, granted usually in the direction of artificial difficulty rather than making things easy. The level thing in the wild area was kind of fun in a way but also not necessarily super logical for gameplay

[@joshberg307]

I kinda wish they had added a delta like episode at the end featuring all our favorites, darkrai, shaymin, and arceus. I know they are coded but it would have been cool to just have them ready!! I wish they would create a hard mode with trainers with competitive teams, no exp share/toggle it on and off, and maybe even a nuzlocke mode. I think all of these in the future would make the perfect pokemon experience for veterans and it would still apply to kids as well. They need to call up miyazaki from dark souls to get extreme route designs.

[@bones9171]

No one missed exp share

[@bones9171]

It’s tedious and kinda bullshit.

[@jon....]

@@bones9171 wtf are you even saying?

[@MrKlausbaudelaire]

considering Arceus, Darkrai and Shaimin are tied to limited events, they are prooooobably gonna come out later. Heck, the next game is Legends Arceus, if THAT game or it's release doesn't make players able to get Arceus in BDSP, Nintendo will have wasted a huge opportunity. But I wouldn't put past me the possibility of Darkrai and Shaimin coming out with their events. Heck, now I'm wondering if the Battle Frontier won't be added as DLC like Armour isla and Crown Tundra! Especialy since now Nintendo have a new studio, that means they can focus on more content simultaneously.

[@pepeowen]

EXP share allowed me to have a lot of usable pokemon and broadened the experience for me. Thanks to the grand underground, the variety of mons avaiable throughout the adventure was fantastic. I have to say, I understand the over-levelling concerns. But, if you rotate your team, the overall experience is brilliant. Also, the post-game content is great. A pity hyper-training was not incorporated as a quality of life feature...

[@sammydray5919]

Imagine forcing players to play a certain way instead of the way they want to play just to have a semblance of difficulty. People dont want the exp share removed from the game, they just want the option to turn it off. Is that really so difficult to put in the game??

[@snausages43]

@@sammydray5919 That’s Nintendo for you. Their unofficial motto is “stop having fun wrong.”

[@blueblade6174]

I'm personally on the down side when it comes to the music. I'm not saying it's horrible, but to me the instruments they used for most of the remade sound tracks (I really don't know the proper terminology to portray what I'm trying to say) don't hit as hard. They sound too weak. But my favourite renditions are Mt Coronet and the Pokémon League's waterfall theme. And maybe a couple of more that I can't remember off the top of my head. But most of the others, they sound lacking the *umph.*

[@sega9430]

I sadly have to agree. The remake music just doesn’t work for me and imo sounds worse than the originals

[@CritsVG]

This... Knowing the beautiful rendition of e. g. Route 206 from the Anime that's on KZbin, this supposed remade soundtrack disappoints my ears. :/ It just doesn't sound any more 'high quality' to me.

[@Zarrex]

The one theme that really disappointed me was the Lake Guardians theme. I was actually shocked when I heard it considering all the other music has been good. It just takes away the best/most iconic part of the original themes and it is just a downgrade imo

[@TrunkJunky]

"But none of these glitches contribute to any bad experiences!" Getting softlocked in the ice gym with auto save enabled that forces you to delete your entire save file and start over? Sounds like a bad experience to me.

[@saricubra2867]

Yeah, crap games.

[@soph9033]

Good review! I do not particularly like the exp share, and the bugs are annoying but still I feel nostalgic for 9 year old me playing PD for the 1st time. I am bummed out by the music tho, like my favorite tracks lost their appeal, the digital sound was much better than the orchestra. (fun fact: I beat Cynthia with a level 87 Torterra and like level 40ish Gastredon in my 1st playthrough and it took me like 60 tries but damn did I not know how to play pokemon back in the day)

[@ogmechsftw]

9:15 good point, but don't neglect that some of the best coverage move TMs (sans EQ) which were difficult to access in the original DPP are now readily available in the Veilstone Department store, such as ice beam, flamethrower, thunderbolt, etc.

[@sunstone6750]

In regards to levelling, the problem I had was I’d already played Platinum Usually when I play any Pokémon game I’ll avoid grinding at all costs, just fighting every trainer available, but in these games for some reason I just couldn’t stand the idea of battling, I think it’s because I just thought I could explore it in Platinum instead, which felt a lot more fun to me For that reason, I skipped over half the routes, from Hearthome (when you first get there) onwards I avoided all exploration, I just wanted to get through to the end The problem is that lead to my main issue with Diamond and Pearl again, the elite four is such a massive level jump that you basically have to grind The elite four here were a challenge but I could handle it, Cynthia became just throwing my Pokémon at her over and over until I got lucky, she’s such a high level and the game makes me actively want to avoid levelling, it’s a very contrasting design

[@ArgusLart]

Although I hate the idea of faithful remakes, I am pretty sure it was not a choice made by Ilca. You see, pokémon company has never given a mainline pokémon game to a third party before. It was their first time doing it. They probably did not want to risk anything at the hands of a different company, so they demand it to be a tile by tile remake. I believe that, if Ilca is responsible for the next set of remakes, they will have more freedom to make some changes and improvements, given the success of these games despite the many points we didn't like.

[@CountOrlok777]

the instant I saw they were rereleasing a version of diamond and Pearl instead of platinum, i knew whatever issues that were present in the previous versions that were fixed in the 3rd would be back. it also does not look good to me. honestly i prefer the sprite design over this chibi design. heck for free there's a bunch of rom hacks of the ds and gba Pokémon games. like Pokémon snakewood (a rom hack that's basically Pokémon but the trainers and their Pokémon are zombified), Pokémon flawless platinum (a rom hack of platinum that's pretty good.) there's even rom hack Pokémon games that throw in digimon and/or fakemon (oc Pokémon). so if BDSP disappointed you there's plenty of Rom hacks you can download for free to try out.

[@KnucklesWTD]

The sprites were high quality also this chibi is garbage quality

[@theanimehub2180]

The sprites were ugly....

[@TheStargov]

Also Renegade Platinum is really great.

[@foxbread3714]

Thank you very much for this review! This and MandJTV's video came out just at the right time, as I'm thinking about getting BD for Christmas, and have never played the originals or Platinum.

[@nazeersadek6705]

I do believe that if you can find a platinum copy for a reasonable price on eBay or Amazon then that’s the best way to experience Sinnoh. That’s what I did I found a platinum copy for 40$ Canadian on Amazon Canada

[@saricubra2867]

@@nazeersadek6705 Renegade Platinum, that is a waste of money.

[@johnnyboi6732]

Emulators are free and roms are on the web, its not like fbi or Nintendo is gonna swat you or something and tbh its pretty much better to play the old game platinum anyway since its the ultimate experience of sinnoh, it may not have new graphics and clothing and the shitty following pokemon systems they have in swsh and in bdsp so it is still a really solid game even though its old.

[@MrKlausbaudelaire]

download an emulator and a Platinum ROM. And remember, Drifloon appears only on fridays AFTER you handled team Plasma (if you deal with them on a friday, only next week), and Rotom appears only at night :)

[@saricubra2867]

@@MrKlausbaudelaire Renegade Platinum.

[@erichb414]

Maybe this is just me but I've played Pokemon since crystal version and I hated grinding. HATED it. My Pokemon being "over-leveled" is just not a thing I care about lol. Good- now I don't have to spend 4 hours grinding to beat Fantina or days grinding at the elite 4. Good now I don't have to battle all the annoying trainers on EVERY route. lol

[@luxrayblast]

Even WITH the EXP Share being permanent and affection, I STILL struggled on the League because I didn't over level. Roark was also kicking my butt. I was fighting every trainer and didn't feel over leveled. I never had a perfect nature for any of my Pokémon. I went with whatever I got, I wasn't going to waste my time getting the best natures. I even raised two different teams for the Platinum team rematches and BDSP team rematches at the league because I'm an idiot and a glutton for punishment. My main team was: Grousiin the Torterra Sparky the Luxray Swez the Floatzel Disaster the Absol DoomFlame the Houndoom Tymelor the Dialga My second team was: Demetrius the Lucario DeepFreeze the Glaceon Taikezy the Mightyena Mocha Cookie the Furret Ellie Rose the Arcanine Xefiro the Lanturn My last team was: Zykrindia the Kricketune Setoro the Skuntank Kallian Antiqua the Empoleon Vidogonis the Flygon Biron the Typhlosion Franziceska Von Freeza the Froslass They all made Brilliant Diamond feel like a totally new game! Also no one else can claim they defeated Cynthia's Garchomp with a Kricketune. Zykrindia went in, used Perish Song, Garchomp went for Swords Dance and it was all over for Garchomp. Zykrindia fell that turn, Kallian Swapped in, fell the next turn, Franziceska fell the next turn, but, Garchomp fell too. Also, I may have heal-spammed against Milotic with Kallian on the field, but, I had planned Garchomp's fate ahead of time, so I knew Zykrindia's fate was to fall against the Level 88 monstrosity anyway, but, before he did, I HAD to Perish Song it. Franziceska wasn't out speeding it. Zykrindia WAS holding a Focus Sash, but, it was wasted on Cynthia's Porygon-Z and I was NOT playing hours of Battle Tower for a Focus Band. The Focus Sash wasn't needed though. The AI really choked.

[@Drejitsu316]

Only my starter was over leveled. I had a revolving door of pokemon and didn't have a concrete team until right before Volkner. My team was slightly underleveled by the time of the EF

[@deviousskylark5767]

I definitely had an issue with the Chibi style, but not because of the style itself, but how inappropriate it is for the more gritty tone of the Gen 4 games. As a kid, Cyrus was an intimidating madman, and now he's just a pint-sized funko pop

[@EinManU]

Before watching the video: Imo they just did the BARE MINIMUM they had to do. they took the games, remade them in better graphics - and added quality of life (though some of that "quality of life" is disliked by a lot of people (always-on-exp-share, oversimplified "breeding" (as in rarely even having to breed)) Then there is them saying "its a faithful remake", and not adding newer pokemon/items because of that, but still having the sw/sh-movesets (which people ALSO didnt like - rest in peace toxic and pursuit) i cant even say theyre bad, but they are BRUTALLY average - meaning since the other remakes were ALL really good, they ARE the worst remakes to date. 5/10, not worth your time unless you REALLY loved gen 4

[@EinManU]

okay id say i agree with most of the video ^^

[@goGothitaLOL]

Oversimplified breeding is a good thing, since it increases the accessibility of the competitive scene besides, i never seen anyone complained about it (other than the SWSH egg moves, which were very limiting)

[@mikeymacaque]

I don’t mind the exp share. The game play isn’t improved by placing an under-leveled Pokemon at the front of your party only to switch it out so you can actually win the battle. My problem is that, as somebody who’s used to making a six Pokemon team, I wasn’t gaining enough experience from 2/3 of the battles in the game. This mean that in the Pokemon league, at least for the first few tries, it wasn’t a test of my skill as a player but that the league had Pokemon 5-10 levels higher than me. Once I did the grind and got up to level 60 or so, that’s when strategy became fun. And it’s fine to kick a player’s ass at first, but my problem is there’s nothing between, say, badge 6 and Cynthia that allows you to mold your team or work on deficiencies.

[@mikeymacaque]

Also, affection should be a toggle option.

[@xhomiegreninjax137]

I really liked BDSP, especially because of the Grand Underground and how they actually changed the important trainers movesets to give them actual strategies. These games were pretty difficult in the later half, and the post game content is amazing. I will say, because of how the levels worked midway through the game (Maylene and Wake having the exact same levels) I got a bit overleveled at that point, but I just used the box link and i eventually got on par again. But even though I was overleveled, I almost lost to Fantina, so you know they did something right with the Gym Leaders. I'll say this again, use the Box Link and train your team in a rotation. It basically mitigates any possibility of you being overleveled.

[@OfficialPikadex]

I opted against getting these games so I can't comment on much, but I just wanna say it really bothers me how Sylveon wasn't included. Even if Eevee is restricted to the post-game, the fact one of its evolutions was axed just because it wasn't in the originals is lame.

[@delphoxhoopa7289]

THIS!☝️ Omgosh YES!

[@SteelxWolf]

No Giritina storyline/Platinum remake is my biggest turn off, I really hate that I lost my Platinum years ago. I would play it over again right now instead of BDSP. Although this is my first 3D experience since Black

[@MaxArceus]

I avoided trainers wherever possible, had a team of 7, often went out with only 3 or 4 members with me at a time, used the pokecenter as little as possible, instead going into battles damaged, and using revives outside battles, and best/worst of all, I did not evolve my pokemon. Oh, and I played on set mode. I beat the the Pokemon League with a team of Piplup, Starly, Shinx, Cranidos, Roselia and Swinup... ..doing all that did make the league really tough, which is what I wanted. Aftewards I evolved them, and all their stats went up by 1.5x to over 2x. Had I evolved before the league, I'd have steamrolled them. It's ridiculous that I had to go through so much effort to keep it difficult. Why did they remove so many features? In the underground you used to be able to: -place decorations in your base other than just statues -buy and place traps, like spinner tiles, sand pits and bubbles to make your friends go crazy trying to reach your base -burry gems to have them grow from small to large -play a capture the flag game The dress up mini game from contests and Jubilive TV is just entirely gone. The contests now also lack the move section, akin to Hoenn. It's just the rythm game now, which is harder to play as well due to more input lag making a 'perfect' sound effect not land on the beat, which is confusing. The bike handles like ass, you accelerate faster up a sand slope from standstill, than you do on level asphalt ground. The puzzles are broken as you don't require the speed build up.

[@matthew-l1e8m]

Hold the phone Ron. It was platinum that got rid of the boulders blocking Wayward cave. The boulders were always there in Diamond and Pearl. So you never were intended to get Gible before getting strength. I think you need to re edit the video because you made it out like they made a very stupid change.

[@dr6770]

Here is my problem with the "faithful remakes" excuse. They shouldn't say they are "faithful remakes" for some things but then add new features or remove things, (Pokemon contests, pokemon following you in the over world, removing HM). It comes off like that excuse is just there because they rushed the game out and couldn't implement new updates or incorporate things from platinum.

[@theinsanegamer1024]

I found that the music felt... off. Like the music had a cold and was playing with a stuffed nose. I don't know how to properly describe it, but that's what most of the songs felt like: subdued and stuffed up. The synth organ/whatever at the beginning of Sunnyshore I don't really like, that's a good example. It reduced the "this is the final challenge before the Pokémon league!" feeling. It felt stuffed up and worse. However, when the saxophones start I absolutely LOVE it. The song that are mostly piano, like the Pokémon league, are just AMAZING. However, most of the themes just feel like they have a cold, stuffed up and not as open and grandiose. It's like the "mystery zone" theme, it's subdued, has a less adventurous feeling. It feels like it has a cold. I know I'm not properly explaining things, but it's hard to describe... It isn't bad, but it's just... worse to me, most of them.

[@astercat49]

What a lot of people don't realize is that these games aren't bad unless you think the originals were bad. I really didn't like the chibi artstyle, mostly because it impossible to take Cyrus seriously when he looks like a mildly displeased toddler, but aesthetics are something that is pointless to argue about because it's entirely subjective. The biggest thing that I was disappointed in was just the fact that they were a bit too faithful to the originals. Much of the modern improvements such as unbreakable tms were removed for frankly no reason. I hope that in the future gamefreak will listen better to the community.

[@KnucklesWTD]

The original games ran on 2004 hardware . For a 2021 release it’s terrible,I feel Nintendo wii can handle these game.

[@joshjohnson25]

It’s so unfortunate that all the focus is on the (subjectively) minor negatives, for what is a beautiful, fun remake of an already incredible game

[@DWomD]

Just play platinum on your phone for a better game. Ez 👏

[@vixenrevitup]

I never played DP or Platinum, so this game is a fresh and new experience for me. I love grinding in Pokémon games to a fault, meaning that I often find myself over-leveled regardless of whether EXP Share is optional. I do like that it helps me grind less, but it’s also forcing me to challenge myself to balance that over-leveling. I’m a casual Pokémon player, so I’m a bit intimidated by the battle Cynthia with impose on me when I reach her. I’m only just past the second gym in Shining Pearl. I have a long way to go before I reach her! I am the kind of person who picks Pokémon that I like the appearance of (keeping with my casual self!) but always make sure I have a Water, Fire, Flying, and Electric type on every team! I leave the other two slots to whatever I want. Right now, my team is Prinplup, Luxray, Crobat, Ponyta, Drifblim, and Jirachi. That may change in the future, but I like to go on the adventure and bond with the Pokémon I choose. I’m enjoying this game very much! The art style is pleasant, and I also appreciate the lighting affects at sunset. I understand that veterans will have trouble adjusting to the fact that these remakes are “faithful.” I was born in 1992 and loved the Gen 1 cards and most of the anime, but I never picked up the games until I found a used copy of White 2 shortly before XY were released. I’ve been a happy casual player since! I can’t wait to finish Shining Pearl and I’m even more looking forward to playing it with my niece when I gift it to her this Christmas!

[@JangXVII]

This. Among all the hateful comments I found your wholesome experience. I also started BD and got a Gengar from my friend. The journey has been casual breaks for me. The game is relaxing and nostagic to me, feel like a kid playing Pokemon years ago without understanding a thing (English is not my native language).

[@johtojunkie7190]

I don’t know, the competitive elite four almost sent me to the hospital. Maybe having the required final fights be THAT hard is a bit overkill.

[@neutralb4109]

*One shots every single trainer and gym battle* * Takes 100 tries to beat Cynthia*

[@nihili4196]

I would argue thatis a problem. If you want to put tough fights in game, sure. But do it consistently.

[@Zeturic]

To be honest, I didn't like how HMs were handled in BDSP. So much of the map design is built around the idea of rewarding players who have HMs in their party, with optional items and/or shortcuts, and that is completely pointless when you always have access to them. There are so many breakable rocks, pushable boulders, cuttable trees, etc, that you can only access at a point in the game where you are guaranteed to have the HM and the badge. It just feels like busywork. Honestly, I think that if they'd kept the HM mechanics from the originals, it would've been fine, especially since we can change up our party in the field.

[@hereforthelaughs935]

This is the definition of a lazy game or better put; handing a clearly bad code to an outsource team to insert new graphics on it . When we say "faithful remake", we do not mean take the code, including bugs and put new art style on it. I would hardly even call it a remaster. It is a redesign of the art style. I can count in one hand the new code additions that they made. In a community where people write mods, do data mining from day one, and create nuzlockes, you cannot just spit them on the face like that. I find that completely disrespectful and insulting to the community. No matter how much I enjoy the games, every time I bump in a rock (which is multiple times a day) or see a cut scene with npcs walking in a grid ffs, I can see execs laughing on my face thinking I spend money in their lowest investment. I just want to say we know what you did biggest franchise in the world. We are not idiots. I hope emulation takes over. Thank you.

[@duskplains1235]

I think if BDSP was a platinum instead it would be a lot better but even so it has some big flaws. The underground similar to the wild area in SWSH gets boring real quick and the post game is so short. As someone who really didn’t like swsh and let’s go it gave me more confidence in the series but I still feel like the games need a longer development time and more care with the decisions being made.

[@anderswenell2765]

“This was fixed in platinum”

[@AndrewH1994]

the camera angle was rough especially in combination with the problem with running into every corner imaginable. there are some areas with tree coverage where you can’t see AVAILABLE items or people, and sometimes you couldn’t see a walking path either. they changed the camera angle on a game that was made to be directly overhead and it breaks my immersion of the game a lot!

[@gywii]

17:15 Yeah, you're right, I can't, it's visually nausiating to me. The small trees, unchanged scale of the world from the original sprite based games as well as the unchanged map design make them just so sad to look at and play, with nothing new to offer to make them worth playing for me. So we aren't going to talk about the pricetag and disregard for fan's wishes? (you sort of mentioned the latter with the unchanged dex from DP, but I think it is more important than just an inconvenience). This game is solely catering to the already existing fans (with it clearly not being marketable at all to any newcomers with how shody it looks in comparison to the contemporary video-game market landscape) with the loud demand and expectation for remakes from the former and so many fan games, Roms and concepts showcasing what is expected, yet there was only partial aknoledgement and response to those. A remake only in name. Such a squander and a let down furthering a bad practice trend for Pokemon.

[@theoaremevano3227]

I guess you have a pretty major point there. As someone who had to skip over Pokemon after the first game and didn't resume until Sword and Shield, (mainly because I didn't play handhelds, they give me a headache after a while), these games definitely didn't convince me to finally go back and play Diamond/Pearl since they didn't feel like a 'new' game redoing an old story. It does feel like a brushed up old version particularly since it kept most of the D/P stuff over Platinum's fixes.

[@JerryEatsPizza]

honestly was expecting you to go off harder on the music considering i see you on half the game ost i search up lol, but it makes me a bit sad that the music in this game misses some of that "oomph" i was expecting. oras ost was cool to me because it felt like they didnt just remake the songs, but "remix" them but bdsp just feels like they just slapped a newer soundfont. other than that, great vid : )

[@weasel_in_a_tophat]

The hardest of Cynthia's pokemon for me to defeat was easily Spiritomb. I didn't have a pokemon that could deal super-effective damage against it, and it's very tanky. I also forgot that it doesn't have the rock typing, so I put out my roserade only to have it faint. Twice I got it down to low health AND afflicted with a status condition, and twice Cynthia used a full restore. She also kept switching in other pokemon, but luckily I was able to deal with pretty much everything else. Unfortunately, since I knew she had a Garchomp as her ace pokemon, I purposefully had a counter specifically for it in Mamoswine, which let me one-hit KO it. I almost wish I didn't know about this and experienced it the way it was supposed to be, but I surely would have lost the fight if that were the case

[@buhgingo2933]

I struggled with her stupid milotic. My bibarel tanked its hits but it kept using recover to the point where I had to make sure it used up all its PP before I could knock it out

[@heroichitsuji]

I ended up using my Houndoom to take care of that Spiritomb. Since Houndoom could resist STAB Dark Pulse and had Psychic immunity. I then proceeded to set up a two turn Nasty Plot to get Houndoom (Hades) into sweeping mode. Then I proceeded to have Hades sweep until getting to a faster Milotic. Milotic was hardest for me personally because of the fact that it was faster than my Luxray, and had Ice Beam for my Torterra. Milotic was only efficiently dealt with by Having my Bronzong use Trick Room, followed by Torterra coming in with a Wood Hammer. Garchomp was easily handled with my Rain Dance Icicle Plate Ice Fang Floatzel.

[@richard35791]

what starter do you choose? empoleon with high sp def really help, unless you are speedy lover instead of tank lover

[@richard35791]

@@heroichitsuji ah yes trick room, rain dance

[@obnoxiousoboe]

I personally didn't mind these remakes, but I do hope they release some new DLC material so then they could maybe add some new aspects to the games.

[@Rystic]

"There was no real time or effort put into making it look special" pretty much sums up how I feel every time I see a video about BDSP.

[@ThatVincion]

I had overlevelled Pokémon after the first gym, the disobedience caused me so much grief and I didn't even grind levels, it felt like the obedience cap wasn't high enough between badges. I just fought all the trainers on the way to each gym, it was probably the only frustrating aspect for me. I had the same issue back when I played the original games.

[@mochoman312games2]

i did the same and was fine probably because i had my full team by the second badge but i never had disobedience and i fought everyone

[@Gimothi]

I’m pretty sure that the whole staying “faithful” to the originals is a ridiculous excuse. If you want the OG experience, then go play the originals, plain and simple. In my opinion, it was just an excuse to be relatively lazy and a quick cash grab before they could sell another installment of the franchise, namely Legends Arceus. Zero attention to making a good remake, just a slight visual update for a new console.

[@ImperialKnowledge]

Route 210 gets soooo much better at night. The day version of the music is kinda bland but the night version is far more faithful to the original

[@IBeBradleyy]

I just bought it and will play it in the next 30 minutes, I was nervous due to mixed reviews but I’m not a die hard pokemon fan and havent played every game but did play diamond and platinum on ds years ago so hopefully will enjoy it!

[@vaultzyx3025]

Did u enjoy?

[@IBeBradleyy]

@@vaultzyx3025 yes!! So far! although miss a few things from old one

[@kingLorshi]

In spite of my misgivings of the game and want to avoid it, I still hope you get enjoyment out of it! Sometimes it is good to know what the pros and cons are so you can set your expectations and still have fun.

[@DigitalVanquish]

The secret entrance to Wayward Cave was like that in Diamond and Pearl. It was only in Platinum that you could go and get Gible at an early time. Honestly, the whole time I've been playing, I've just wanted to play Platinum. It's still the best way to experience Sinnoh.

[@thedatabasement]

that's gamefreak for you.. patching out fun or intuitive glitches that benefit the game, but never allocating any time to fixing major flaws

[@joeyteter9383]

For someone like me who didn’t play the originals, since (at the time) I stopped playing Pokémon a generation earlier, I had more fun than most people I assume if they feel the same way that you do about the 1:1 remake. Also, I had to create a second team to avoid my main members being way over leveled. It was fine with me though because there’s always way more than 6 mons I want to use in any given game. But overall I am very much enjoying my time playing these games, even if there are a few problems. My biggest one being Exp share like most

[@Mineifyyy]

i really hope i get these games for christmas

[@levistokes3960]

Yeah Cynthia was tough. After losing twice ti her I needed a new strategy. So I taught rosarade Dazzling Gleam. And uses spiritomb to use curse at the beginning causing it to faint after garchomps earthquake. Then sent rosarade out and it went for Swords dance. So I used Dazzling Gleam. It got down to low yellow. Then it died from curse. I shouted to the screen OMG THANK YOU!! 🤣 but I love what they did to the elite 4. That's the first time I've been challenged in awhile in Pokémon. Honestly I love how 5he game looks graphically.

[@evilmandrake]

Unfortunately, the way Game freak has been taking Pokemon has really turned me off. At this point, I no longer even consider myself a fan of Pokemon. Just for starters, the mandatory EXP Share ruins the way I like to play. What is so wrong with wanting to turn it off? I like to raise each of my teammates individually and create a bond with them, whilst keeping my team evenly leveled. And if they aren't going to make every Pokemon compatible with the new games, Pokemon I just personally formed a bond with, why should I even try? I care about 2 things in Pokemon: creating and hand raising my perfect team and catching a full new Dex. I can't bring myself to buy BD/SP and I doubt I'll get the next new main games unless they change what they've been doing. I'm still going to get Legends, since it is marketing itself different, so I'm prepared for different.

[@GonzoGoesToBitburg87]

I hate the comparisons with Link's awakening. That game was done with an intentional toy-diorama aesthetics. Look at the lightning, the textures, can you honestly say it looks the same as BDSP?

[@basicallyph0r]

BDSP made me realize how OP the latest generations of games have gotten with new moves, z crystals, fusions, megas and dynamaxes. Everything felt underpowered here.

[@BeeEmpress]

You said fusions. Your point is invalid

[@mexstorm1312]

I dont care about faithful remakes to be honest. I want a Gen 4 expierence with the gaming standards of 2021. For a faithful experience just put the original game on the eshop for like 10-20€.

[@awesomeperson5150]

What I was worried about BDSP before they came out was that the “fully upscaled” or non chibi cutscenes would seem like too much of a stark contrast, which is something that kind of happened in ORAS. Thankfully, I never really felt this when they came out, the non chibi cutscenes didn’t feel like an entirely different art style, but like you were looking at it from a different angle or turned RTX on.

[@thequincy_]

I overall agree with every point touched on. A gripe I have with the music is that for the Gym Leader OST, it lacks the flare and excitement the original track did. You also pointed out the movement, and let me say: it is honestly horrendous.

[@shanechav423]

I just beat platinum so I don’t think I’ll need this game I’ll see how legends arcues is

[@amaterasu_xo]

if they just added the Battle frontier from platinum and didn’t change the underground bases it would’ve been a lot better. Sometimes being faithful isn’t a good thing especially when you’re excluding shit from the more definitive gen 4 game Platinum

[@TyrantRedNova]

I can't see a reason to buy BDSP. Is not a remake, is an HD remaster that has some QoL changes (like the HMs being in the poketch), the underground (that was kinda useless in gen 4) and maybe ramanas park. I still would definetely play platinum over these. Yeah, these are DP remasters (calling them remasters from now, not remakes) not Platinum, but Platinum was a necessary update that fixed a lot of DPs problems. Even HGSS mixed a little bit of Crystal in them to make the experience better. Every remake was the definitive way to play the games, but I can't say the same for BDSP. It really makes me sad seeing these games selling well when there is no soul in them, just an easy cash grab that will set a precedent for gamefreak to do these lazy remasters. I hope the Unova fans get a good remake and they include content from BW2 in them. If you're wondering if you should buy BDSP, IMO you shouldn't, just play Platinum, it's a better experience overall.

[@tuvyamaeir4684]

If you don't have the means to play Platinum but you do have a Switch...yeah that's about the only reason. And even then Legends Arceus hasn't come out yet so that may be where the money should go...it's not exactly fair to make that determination so soon.

[@mariowalker9048]

If you call LGFR a remake than you can call BDSP a remake as well. In LGFR you were punished with strictly Kanto pokemon until you completed the pokedex and sevi islands.

[@johnnyboi6732]

@@tuvyamaeir4684 i mean if the gameplay trailer for that legend of arceus looks like that i mean i wouldn't trust it to be good, game looking like it came from the wii and ps3 era oh and yeah 'game not final' of course its either gonna be worse or its gonna be like swsh like nothing changed at all.

[@Personarose]

@@mariowalker9048 That’s not a good argument because FRLG made it clear that you have to wait until the post game to obtain non Kanto Pokémon and also those games felt like Generation 3 games. In BDSP they allowed some but not all of the Pokémon you could acquire from the Platinum dex and even then they are not listed in the Pokédex until post game which at that point why not input the Platinum dex from the start. BDSP is very selective about what it chooses to be faithful about yet they don’t feel like Generation 8 games. If you like them then fair enough but it’s apparent these games are in a weird line between being faithful and being a remaster which is why their remake status is being questioned.

[@TyrantRedNova]

@Mario Walker 904 lets not forget FRLG were the first remakes, where they had not refined the formula yet. And they did not cut pokémon from their own regional Pokédex either unlike BDSP. ORAS fixed this mistake and gave us all pokémon available in hoeen plus their evos from other gens. And they had all pokémon available up to that point (and yes, gamefreak can add all the pokémon, they are just lazy, we had models for walking pokémon since SM and the SS Pokedex post DLC is almost as big if not bigger than the "national dex" of sun and moon). FFS, let's go and HGSS did better pokémon walking animations and models than BDSP. Im not asking that every pokémon should be rideable or somethin like that, but at least give us the ones that were available already and make good models for them.

[@michaelmcgee7683]

I felt over leveled in the beginning, but fought the Elite Four at level 52 and felt the ending difficulty was just right.