BDSP Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl General Discussion

[Puddle]

Oh my goodness, they actually did it! They improved the battle graphics and it looks beautiful. I'm so happy.

Spoiler: Video analysis

 

[Welkamo]

The improvements in the new trailer are more than just colors.

Spoiler: Lucas Bag Comparison

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I'm actually hyped for this game now. I was thinking how the lighting in the overworld looked nice but battle models looked janky. This is such a big improvement.

I will say that, even as someone who really likes the chibi style of the overworld, I had some issues with the battle models. With the OLED improvements, I can now safely say that I like the battle models now.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

It was just a short clip of BDSP shown in the promotional video for the Switch OLED that hadn’t been seen before. The clip’s graphics were different in many ways from what we saw in February. No actual news on gameplay or anything yet.

Is this official or a leak? If it's official, where can I see it?

 

[prog rocker]

Is this official or a leak? If it's official, where can I see it?

It's in the new Switch model trailer.

 

[swiftgallade46]

Is this official or a leak? If it's official, where can I see it?

It’s official. You can watch it on serebii.

 

[Greninjaman]

Here's the question: will we be able to play the games on the original switch or will we have to get the new version in order to play them?

 

[Phosphene]

will we have to get the new version in order to play them?

I highly doubt this will be the case. SwSh got a special Switch Lite edition, and yet those games are playable on a regular Switch. A trailer for a new Switch featuring a prominent, upcoming game doesn't mean that said game will be exclusive to that version of the Switch.

Edit: Also the official page for BDSP makes no mention of it only being available on the new Switch, instead stating: "Experience the nostalgic story from the Pokémon Diamond™ and Pokémon Pearl™ games in an adventure reborn on the Nintendo Switch™ system." Emphasis mine.

 

[Everclear]

Fans: "The over-world graphics look like crap, please fix them!"
TPC: "What's that? Improve the battle graphics by 10%? No problem, we got you fam."

Yeah I'm not 100% sure what they were thinking by updating the colors and shadows a little bit and calling it a day.

And I do think that that's the only improvement they've made so far for the graphics because if they had done anything else to make these remakes more appealing in the time since the first game preview they would've shown it by now to build up hype. Guess we're stuck with chibi graphics for the overworld.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

Guess we're stuck with chibi graphics for the overworld.

Was there ever an indication that this was going to be changed? Colors and textures, sure, but I was never under the impression that an overhaul of the overworld style was in the works.

 

[swiftgallade46]

Yeah I'm not 100% sure what they were thinking by updating the colors and shadows a little bit and calling it a day.

And I do think that that's the only improvement they've made so far for the graphics because if they had done anything else to make these remakes more appealing in the time since the first game preview they would've shown it by now to build up hype. Guess we're stuck with chibi graphics for the overworld.

They’ve shown hardly anything about the game at all. In the one small clip we got since their announcement more than five months ago, the graphics have been improved. To me, that suggests that we will continue to see improvements for a while. The chibi art style isn’t going anywhere, but other improvements are definitely on the table.

 

[Jimothy]

The slight graphical improvement was always going to be how they were going to improve? Unless I'm misreading, some folks seem to think that development was somehow impacted by Twitter's negative reaction. By the time we saw the first trailer, it was already way too late for that.

We saw a trailer made with mid-development assets, we are now seeing polished (but still not completed) assets, none of this is at all a reaction to anything the public said.

 

[wanderist]

Honestly the battle scene improved more than I expected it to, so I wouldn't be surprised if the overworld looks a lot better too now. But it's still going to be the same chibi artstyle, that was never going to change that far in development.

 

[Esserise]

Here's the question: will we be able to play the games on the original switch or will we have to get the new version in order to play them?

Nothing is going to be exclusive to the Switch OLED model. There’s no difference between it and the regular Switch in terms of processing power or anything - it’s just a bigger/different material screen, a LAN port, 64 gig storage, better speakers, and a better kickstand.

 

[Poke Dragon]

Nintendo isn't going to risk splitting its Switch userbase anyways, doing so will damage sales of potential games.

 

[Greninjaman]

Nintendo isn't going to risk splitting its Switch userbase anyways, doing so will damage sales of potential games.

Like what happened with the Wii U right?

 

[Poke Dragon]

Like what happened with the Wii U right?

The Wii U's problem was more about the name than much else. I'm more so talking about how the New 3DS had a few games that couldn't be played on the original 3DS at all, something that became a problem for New 3DS exclusive games not having as many sales because it did the taboo of splitting the userbase of the same line of products that shouldn't be split in the first place.

 

[prog rocker]

The Wii U's problem was more about the name than much else. I'm more so talking about how the New 3DS had a few games that couldn't be played on the original 3DS at all, something that became a problem for New 3DS exclusive games not having as many sales because it did the taboo of splitting the userbase of the same line of products that shouldn't be split in the first place.

That, and some Old 3DS games were made with only the New 3DS in mind, making them playable on the old systems but with lots of lag (like in Hyrule Warriors).

 

[Puddle]

Honestly the battle scene improved more than I expected it to, so I wouldn't be surprised if the overworld looks a lot better too now. But it's still going to be the same chibi artstyle, that was never going to change that far in development.

I'm looking forward to seeing whether they've made any improvements to the overworld. I really like the overworld already, but there's a few small details here and there that could be enhanced. The tall grass, for example, looks a little bit artificial and doesn't quite "gel" with the other assets which have more realistic lighting and shading. And a few people have pointed out that the colours in Floaroma Town are too dark.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I'm kind of surprised that people really thought that the chibi character models for the game could have been changed due to fan backlash. I can understand not liking it, even though I think that they're cute and charming, but it would be far too late to make such a huge change with the games' graphics. I don't think the amount of mixed reactions on Twitter would have been enough for them to go back to the drawing board with the game. Not to mention that just sounds like a really bad way to handle video game development in general.

As for the new Switch, I can't really see them repeating the same mistake with the New 3DS with the Switch, especially when I assume one of the reasons the console has been such a huge hit is because fans don't have to choose between different systems to play different games. They wanted to show off a bit of BD/SP with their newest Switch system, but it won't be exclusive for that model.

 

[PokeFanForever1]

Yeah I'm not 100% sure what they were thinking by updating the colors and shadows a little bit and calling it a day.

And I do think that that's the only improvement they've made so far for the graphics because if they had done anything else to make these remakes more appealing in the time since the first game preview they would've shown it by now to build up hype. Guess we're stuck with chibi graphics for the overworld.

A lot more has been changed than the colours and shadows. In fact in every pixel there's at least some change

Lucas's Model has been vastly updated with better textures, better lighting and shadows (this is especially noticeable on his hat and bag where there are details that weren't there before like seams and zips)
Also referring to the above point you'll notice he has a white highlight around him now (that relates to the new lighting)
The colours as has been pointed out have been altered, being much less saturated.
They have completely changed the grass transition into battle.
Background elements like trees and bushes have been changed, added or improved
You can also see that instead of just sliding into battle the camera seems to pan around Lucas making it much more dynamic.

And this is just a couple of seconds of footage! There's a lot of changes at play. As for the overworld we haven't seen an updated look at that yet but it has likely also undergone some improvements though they're not going to change the chibis, in order to do that they would have to start from scratch and that just wouldn't be possible, but it's likely plenty of improvements have been made there too.