BDSP Sinnoh Underground/Secret Bases

[Pyrax]

What are your expectations? The same as DPPt but with QoL adjustments (wifi, etc)? What would you like to see?
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I'm not expecting a lot of drastic changes, just wifi capability and expanded secret bases akin to ORAS (bring back Blissey bases!), but that's about it. I wouldn't mind a reworked Odd Keystone sidequest to make it more convenient to capture Spiritomb.

 

[WyndonCalling]

As someone who always loathed the Sinnoh bases as a literal pale imitation of the vibrant Hoenn bases, the screenshots so far suggest a much more atmospheric environment. I'm resigned to the fact that we're likely to be stuck in caves again, but at least they'll be far prettier caves.

 

[Norzan]

Yeah, i also always saw Sinnoh's secret bases as a big downgrade from Hoenn's secret bases. I'm hoping they add stuff like vegetation and other stuff to make the secret bases and really the whole Underground have more variety than just brown caves and brown corridors..

 

[GhostLucario]

I hope they expand on it. Like RSE/ORAS secret bases were good, I hope they build on that

 

[wanderist]

I never really played with the Underground much as a kid, so it's a bit hard to say for sure what to expect, but I am kinda excited to actually play around with it in the remakes. I'm expecting QOL updates and for connecting to players around the world to be fairly easy. Maybe making it possible to get more items (exp. candies maybe?) through the mining mini games and whatnot.

I miss secret bases so I am looking forward to those returning. Hopefully they update those like others said because I remember I really didn't enjoy them as much as I did in Hoenn.

 

[Alola]

I would like for the drop/discover rates of items to be increased - finding spheres over and over turned me off from the feature as a kid. That or allow players to exchange spheres for evolutionary stones, plates, fossils, etc.

 

[prog rocker]

I would like for the drop/discover rates of items to be increased - finding spheres over and over turned me off from the feature as a kid. That or allow players to exchange spheres for evolutionary stones, plates, fossils, etc.

IIRC, things get better in the post-game... Well, either that or I just didn't have good luck playing there before the League.

 

[JFrombaugh]

I'm expecting the Underground to be pretty much the same as in the originals, but with the online functionality of the Switch it should be a vastly superior experience overall.

Also, if they carry over the ability to make your Secret Base into your own pseudo-Gym from ORAS, then that'll be another huge plus IMO.

 

[WyndonCalling]

Pilfering my own content, but I'd love this to come to fruition:

Secret bases

It may be another bunch of low-hanging fruit to anticipate the return of secret bases given that we already know that the vast underground will be present in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but what we really want to see is an expansion and beautification of this feature.

Sinnoh’s original secret bases suffered from a paucity of visual flair, especially compared to the vibrant variety on offer in Ruby and Sapphire. Just because these bases are underground doesn’t mean they need to be uniform - imagine a trickling stream bisecting a moss-covered hideaway, or a shaft of light from above piercing the gloom amidst rows of stalagmites. Other sites could contain columns, murals and assorted hints of Sinnoh’s mythical past, while Bug-type trainers may feel more at home in a den festered with spider webs. The sky may not quite be the limit compared to the possibilities of the world above, but we certainly hope that the ILCA team pushes the boat out to make this highly-personal feature as varied as can be.

 

[CynthiaLover]

While I rarely, if at all did anything with Secret Bases, both in Hoenn and Sinnoh, I did farm the hell out of the Underground for items. I must've spent more time mining for items than the actual story, killing battery life like there was no tomorrow. While I'm not entirely sure how the mining mini-game will work without the dual screen, especially when trying to find where to mine, I am looking forward to spending more time down there. Hopefully they'll make the item encounters better than in Gen 4, just like @Alola said. I pretty much never used the Spheres yet they clogged up most of the mining spots, so I hope that the rates for other items like Heart Scales (if we're heading back to them for the Move Relearner), Evolutionary Stones, Fossils, etc are increased. Or, if not, maybe make the Spheres more useful, such as using them to buy certain items instead of just Secret Base junk, again just like what Alola said.

Also, hopefully they'll modify the requirements for Spiritomb's encounter in the remakes, although I harbor doubts, especially because of the Switch's better online functionality (not saying it's great, mind, especially since it's locked behind a paywall, but it might be a bit easier). Otherwise getting that ghostly ghoul could be even harder, as you'd either need multiple Switches in the same home or lots of friends to do it yourself.

But, anyway, I am looking forward to mining down there again, as I spent more time farming for items than actual gameplay during those days. While I don't really care too much about Secret Bases, if they can make them similar to ORAS and offer more than just brown caves with brown rocks, then I might dabble in them more.

 

[Puddle]

My prediction is that the Underground will work similarly to the Wild Area in Sword and Shield, allowing you to see other players from around the world walking around in real time. Apart from that, I think it will be much the same as it was before.

I've always found the Underground quite boring - there isn't a lot to do down there if you're playing on your own. There should have been some wild Pokemon and trainers to fight. The addition of wi-fi functionality could make things more interesting, but if this requires Switch Online then I will probably end up largely ignoring the Underground like I did in the original games.

 

[swiftgallade46]

The Underground was pretty boring and irritating. I swear the thing that pinged to show you where items were hidden was wrong half the time and then the digging mechanic itself where it was luck based on what was under the tiles was just dumb. I will admit that most of the items you could get were good. But I hope it gets some major improvements in BDSP

 

[Almonds]

I LOVED the underground. I'd spend hours after hours of digging and digging and burying the spheres, which would lead to more treasure in the area. I was excited to find fossils and heartscales. I once buried everything in a particular 'hallway' (yes, every tile of a walk-able hall) on my friend's game and when I returned her game she had a good laugh because the area was just sparkling nonstop even without the ping.

I expect the underground to be the same more or less. I just want Roark and Byron to be a lot more involved in the feature.

 

[SlowGinFizzzz]

Like others, I hope it'll be a bit more appealing and just ~interesting~ visually, maybe there'll be some added customisation options not only for the inside of your own Secret Base, but also for the "hallways" outside. Another thing I could imagine would be something akin to Join Avenue and the Festival Plaza, where you can make NPCs set up little shops and stuff.

 

[Daenerys]

Assuming that they return at all, I want the bases to have more furniture options and for them to be bigger over all. One of my biggest issues with the bases in the Hoenn remakes was that they were still really small like their RSE counterparts, which triggered me.

 

[venusboi79]

The Underground is probably one of my favorite mini-games ever; not just in Pokémon, but in general. I don’t know why, but it was the perfect “calming, but exciting” escapes. I played it so much that the majority of ‘mons I transferred to Ranch were fossil Pokémon.

So, as much as I would love to see graphic improvements (moss on walls, areas with water, etc.) or Secret Bases that work like the ones in ORAS, I wouldn’t be mad if they changed nothing.

 

[Tood]

I'd like them to expand on the digging parts of the feature. Digging your base's shape out of the cave walls would add a lot more customizeability to everything. I'd like to have separate "rooms" as a possible layout choice.

As someone who doesn't particularly enjoy the aesthetics of "generic cave" settings, having different designs for the walls and flooring would also be something I would like to see. Regional decor would also be a cute idea, like having an Alolan beach set, or Kalosian-style restaurant furniture.

 

[StandbyForBattle]

Now the underground, Expanded into the grand underground. The Grand Underground is an evolution of the Underground feature from Pokémon Diamnod & Pearl. It has been expanded to a larger area, segmented into 6 different areas. It has Fossil Hunting (hunt for fossils, heart scales, shard, and various items), Secret Bases and new feature called "Pokemon Hideaway," There's different biomes in each of the areas of the underground, and you can find wild Pokémon throughout the areas. Many Pokémon are exclusive to these Pokémon hideaways. Is anybody interested in Grand Underground?

 

[Phosphene]

So I brought this up in the general discussion thread, but I'm thinking that the Pokémon Hideouts might become the location of all Poké Radar and/or Platinum 'mons, which might mean the Radar itself is no longer an item. We see a Houndoom there in the trailer--a Pokémon that is avalible in Pearl via the Radar and its evolution can be caught naturally in the wild.

 

[venusboi79]

Personally, this is the best case scenario for the Underground. Same mindless (but satisfying) digging mini-game, but with the added bonus of being able to buy/create statues that allow me to lure special Pokémon in various biomes.

I know some people were hoping for more customizable bases, but I’ve never been terribly impressed with the decorating options in these games; the dimensions and options leave me feeling uncreative. I usually just end up buying the plushies and leaving them laying around.

I am curious to see if the Underground biomes take the place of Honey trees. I saw Munchlax show up in the video, and he was previously a Honey lured ‘mon.