BDSP Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl General Discussion

[RavenRaziel98]

Yes, that's what I'm expecting. I'm just looking forward to some of my favourites like Typhlosion, Furret, Castform and Floatzel making their proper debut on the Switch. I'm curious to find out whether the Gen 4 National Dex will be returning (a screenshot of Bidoof's number suggests that it will), or whether the Sinnoh Dex will be expanded to include the rest of the Pokemon (with starters and legendaries existing in the game but lacking entries, perhaps).

Yeah, the Pokedex stuff is kinda unclear, but if I remember correctly there were pokemon shown in the underground hideouts that weren't in the original Sinnohdex, but the question is if they spawn there before getting the National Dex.

 

[SlowGinFizzzz]

I only really expect the original 493 Pokémon to be in the game (but also obtainable in-game). The question is whether cross-gen evolutions (most notably Sylveon) and regional variants (Alolan Vulpix and Sandshrew are a must IMO) will show up too or not; I hope so, but don't expect it (same with Megas).

 

[TheCapsFan]

The more I think about it, the more I realize that BDSP as a concept is quite astounding, really. You can't tell me that GameFreak didn't look at the secondhand market for Platinum and think "huh, there's a huge profit opportunity if we remade this game for Switch!" and instead thought "people are paying a lot for copies of Platinum...let's remake Diamond and Pearl instead!" Like, what is the point here of remaking a product that you have said is essentially inferior (remember when GameFreak was justifying the concept of SwSh DLC? They said that it was to replace fine-tuning the game through releasing a third version) if it's not just for a quick buck; but at the same time, you run the games department for the largest, highest grossing franchise in the world...

I don't know, man. I'm going to save my harshest judgement of BDSP for when I actually get the game, but MAN, I hope Legends: Arceus can make up for this.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

The more I think about it, the more I realize that BDSP as a concept is quite astounding, really. You can't tell me that GameFreak didn't look at the secondhand market for Platinum and think "huh, there's a huge profit opportunity if we remade this game for Switch!" and instead thought "people are paying a lot for copies of Platinum...let's remake Diamond and Pearl instead!" Like, what is the point here of remaking a product that you have said is essentially inferior (remember when GameFreak was justifying the concept of SwSh DLC? They said that it was to replace fine-tuning the game through releasing a third version) if it's not just for a quick buck; but at the same time, you run the games department for the largest, highest grossing franchise in the world...

I don't know, man. I'm going to save my harshest judgement of BDSP for when I actually get the game, but MAN, I hope Legends: Arceus can make up for this.

Diamond and Pearl sold better than Platinum. Plus the director probably wants to preserve the games he created as well as possible.

 

[Oriden]

Diamond and Pearl sold better than Platinum. Plus the director probably wants to preserve the games he created as well as possible.

I don't think sales are a good measurement here, because of course D/P sold better seeing as they came out first. That doesn't mean that Platinum wasn't better, though... just means that not everyone who bought Diamond or Pearl was willing to shell out money for essentially the same game with only a few changes. I know I wasn't. I played Diamond, I wasn't going to play Slightly Better Diamond.

Still won't.

 

[Daren]

The more I think about it, the more I realize that BDSP as a concept is quite astounding, really. You can't tell me that GameFreak didn't look at the secondhand market for Platinum and think "huh, there's a huge profit opportunity if we remade this game for Switch!" and instead thought "people are paying a lot for copies of Platinum...let's remake Diamond and Pearl instead!" Like, what is the point here of remaking a product that you have said is essentially inferior (remember when GameFreak was justifying the concept of SwSh DLC? They said that it was to replace fine-tuning the game through releasing a third version) if it's not just for a quick buck; but at the same time, you run the games department for the largest, highest grossing franchise in the world...

I strongly suspect these are minimalist releases intended to have a winter release, and Platinum would take quite a bit longer to remake than DP since it had the Battle Frontier and other additions like the villa.

 

[Oriden]

I strongly suspect these are minimalist releases intended to have a winter release, and Platinum would take quite a bit longer to remake than DP since it had the Battle Frontier and other additions like the villa.

Well, the code for that stuff could've just been copied over if they wanted to use it (like most of the data is, there's a reason beast balls are showing up in the assets and it's not because UBs are in). So I think mostly it would've just come down to tweaks and modelling.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I strongly suspect these are minimalist releases intended to have a winter release, and Platinum would take quite a bit longer to remake than DP since it had the Battle Frontier and other additions like the villa.

For some of the larger features like the Battle Frontier, Distortion World, and Villa, yes. But not for things like the Platinum Dex and trainer rosters. They had to rebuild those from scratch anyway, setting them to Platinum's encounter tables and trainer rosters would not have been any harder than recreating DP's. There's no excuse for why those things are missing, they just intentionally decided not to.

 

[TheCapsFan]

I strongly suspect these are minimalist releases intended to have a winter release, and Platinum would take quite a bit longer to remake than DP since it had the Battle Frontier and other additions like the villa.

I mean, the fact that they are patching in new things like costumes and the Grand Underground Pokemon Hideaways shows that they are at least spending some development time on extra content past the generally "minimalist" basis.

However, you do make a good point.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Plus the director probably wants to preserve the games he created as well as possible.

Why then add even the QoL improvements? Why even make the game at all when they don’t aim to innovate or change the experience even if it comes at the expense of gameplay? They could've just released a DP port and called it a day if that’s the reason.

 

[RavenRaziel98]

Since the day one patch seems to be rather big I'm becoming unsure if I'd even play the game if I somehow get it earlier than expected.

 

[JFrombaugh]

I've been following the leaks on Centro, and while I won't post specific spoilers on here since it isn't the right thread, I'm having a mixed feeling about BDSP.

While I'm still preordering the games out of sentimentality, and am very much looking forward to finally getting to replay Gen IV on the big screen, I do have to agree that I'm hit by a big feeling of "what could have been" and that for all the new stuff with the expanded Underground, there's a surprising amount of content from Platinum that seems to be cut, and a lot of features that I thought would make it in that apparently didn't. All the stuff I've been reading about how the games were apparently rushed to get them ready by November 19 is not encouraging, either.

If it wasn't for the fact that we've got Legends coming out in 2.5 months, there's no doubt I would be a lot more disappointed.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

Disclaimer: I don’t really mean to judge people if they got the games or not. Nor do i want to target any person in particular. This opinion has been swirling in my mind for quite some time and I just wanted to share it in the least toxic way possible. Again, I’m glad people who bought the games enjoy and love it, and I’m happy for them: and most certainly respect their decisions about buying them as educated consumers.

Now onto the main thing:

If I’m being honest “It doesn’t have much but I bought it anyways” probably won’t have much effect on the next games, because the sale already happened. If I were to go into conspiracy mode I’d guess that this is the exact reason these games don’t have many extra features. The fans love the originals enough, and have a desire to just have Pokémon content irrespective of new additions that they’ll get the sale on a game like BDSP anyways. Adding the least amount of extra content possible while getting the maximum amount of sales probably leads to a release like this.

I still at am a loss at choices that don’t impact the budget at all or minimally (game teams and Pokémon distributions) that don’t make it to the games, but for the major things, I think it’s a case of the developers catering to the lowest common denominator audience.

I’ve started to feel like third versions and games like this are just playing an elaborate game of “How much can we save by skimping a game till the people actually stop buying it?” and want to stick at a balance with a game that doesn’t have any glaring issues or bugs so people don’t outright refuse to buy the games; and has things like nostalgia and a charming but cheaper (to produce) art style so people can see some positives that compel a purchase.

Overall, I am not too bothered since for me these games only serve as a refresher and cater to the audience that likes the original games while we get a radical and a more ambitious release like Legends- so both demographics get covered. I see this more as a supplemental release and personally would call it more of a remaster than a remake (that isn’t derogatory to the game imo, but I’m gauging it based on the actual creative changes and the direction compared to the OG games).

As long as both nostalgia and innovation get catered to and we get releases like legends that are higher effort and test the borders of the franchise, it seems great! But had BDSP debuted on its own without legends I’d have some harsher thoughts.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

Spoiler: English version

Spoiler: Japanese version

 

[Silktree]

As long as both nostalgia and innovation get catered to and we get releases like legends that are higher effort and test the borders of the franchise, it seems great! But had BDSP debuted on its own without legends I’d have some harsher thoughts.

To be honest, I expect there to be a fair amount of backlash around Legends unless they start revealing more features beyond new forms/evolutions. I honestly doubt that the average traditional player is going to like catching Pokemon multiple times, especially when most of them are already in BDSP. The game has a good concept, but execution makes a world of difference.

I think they should have done more with Alpha Pokemon to spruce things up a bit the way the Orre games did. They seem like a minor feature.

 

[Oriden]

To be honest, I expect there to be a fair amount of backlash around Legends unless they start revealing more features beyond new forms/evolutions. I honestly doubt that the average traditional player is going to like catching Pokemon multiple times, especially when most of them are already in BDSP. The game has a good concept, but execution makes a world of difference.

I think they should have done more with Alpha Pokemon to spruce things up a bit the way the Orre games did. They seem like a minor feature.

They've already revealed a lot? We've seen the research tasks, the pokemon interactions, quests, alphas, nobles, wardens, crafting, ride pokemon, glimpses of the plot... it's already lined up to be a really immersive game compared to the usual pokemon title.

 

[RavenRaziel98]

Apparently the update will be already available by tomorrow.

You'll Really, Really Want To Ensure Your Pokémon Diamond/Pearl Remakes Are Updated At Launch

You'll be missing out without it...

www.nintendolife.com

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I honestly doubt that the average traditional player is going to like catching Pokemon multiple times, especially when most of them are already in BDSP.

I mean, didn’t they already do a lot of that in GO and Let's Go? I think "no trainers" part is mostly going to be flavour text as we've met some battle-able Pokémon and trainers till now.

 

[Daren]

I'm expecting Legends backlash, partly because I see a lot of people on twitter projecting everything they want from the series and assuming it'll be in Legends. That's not GameFreak's fault but I still imagine it coming; I've already seen it being heralded as the harder, more mature game there's been requests for despite the lack of evidence for either, and we already had the whole "open world oh wait it isn't" thing.

The other thing I suspect is complaints over the pokédex missions requiring certain tasks like evolving the same species repeatedly (so not just capturing the same thing like in Let's Go but training several of them).
Edit: Hold on we're in the BD/SP thread...

As for the Mythicals unlocked by the other games, I'll certainly take it over the old Mythical distributions methods.

 

[Silktree]

They've already revealed a lot? We've seen the research tasks, the pokemon interactions, quests, alphas, nobles, wardens, crafting, ride pokemon, glimpses of the plot... it's already lined up to be a really immersive game compared to the usual pokemon title.

These aren't exciting research tasks, and other than Alphas, the rest are just tweaked versions of what we got in SM, except with the AI not even having teams. I'm glad it's enough for you, but a single player game should make up for the lack of multiplayer.