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Secret Bases don't have decorations and Capture the Flag anymore (sadly), but they now have Pokemon Statues, which I think is a fair trade, since they allow me to design my very own Dragon Chamber, filled exclusively with my favourite Dragon Pokemon Statues.
Wouldn't it be better for your Dragon Chamber to have Dragon themed decorations like banners, rugs, etc. instead of just Pokemon Statues though?
BDSP has a much larger selection of available Pokemon, though. I'm pretty sure that between the two versions it'll be possible to catch all 493 Pokemon of Gen IV, whereas in HGSS quite a few of them had to be traded from DPPt.
There were already 451 Pokemon available between DPPt though, the only ones that were really missing were some of the past gen starters and legendaries. Compare that to GSC, where there were only 251 Pokemon in the originals but HGSS added a ton of 3rd and 4th gen Pokemon to bring it up to 451. So 200 Pokemon were added to HGSS, but if you only have the first 493 you're looking at only 42 added to BDSP. Pretty stark difference there. Having all 493 that existed in 4th gen isn't much of an accomplishment when the originals were already pretty close to that point that to begin with.
I think perhaps it's true that more effort was put into HGSS, simply because there were more things that needed improving. For example, there wasn't really much of a story in GSC, so they added the new scenes with the Kimono Girls to bring the game up to modern Pokemon standards. They included the Kanto dungeons which were originally left out due to limited space on the cartridge, and added a minigame (the Pokethlon) because Johto originally lacked one.
DPPt, on the other hand, were pretty much perfect apart from the slow animations, HMs, limited Pokemon selection (in DP), and the fact that the Underground was (in my opinion) a bit boring. So remaking these games required less effort. That doesn't necessarily mean that the end result will be less good.
I suppose what it really boils down to is what do you value more: innovation, or overall quality. A lot of people would have preferred a remake with more significant changes (like the brilliant ORAS) so that exploring the same region again feels more worthwhile, and I can understand that. But for me personally, I'm happy as long as the game is of a good quality overall, even if most of that quality owes itself to the groundwork laid by the original version of the game.
I'm really looking forward to playing what is essentially classic Pokemon on the Switch; the first entry of the 3D era not to rely on flashy new forms or battle gimmicks.
While I do agree that DPPt (especially Platinum) were near perfect for their time, part of the problem is that advancements in the series that occur in between the originals and the remake can cause the remakes to look worse than it used to be. Now in some ways they've done a good job of that with some of the QoL features, they have kept up with advancements such as the removal of HMs, customization. But in other, and especially larger aspects such as graphics and artstyle, Pokemon selection, and new forms, they're still lacking.
The other problem is that Game Freak seems to be less willing to make the remakes definitive experiences. HGSS included almost everything from Crystal (the only content missing was the Odd Egg). ORAS and BDSP largely ignore their third version content, only really including small Easter Eggs at best. The reason this is important is because the whole point of a remake is because the originals and the hardware they were on has long been discontinued and rendered largely inaccessible, so if you want to experience that content, then you're either forced to dig out your old third version if you have one, or shell out hundreds of dollars on Ebay if you don't. This can almost defeat the point of a remake since they're meant to replace the originals.
For me to be satisfied with these games as remakes I wanted to see more along the lines of the following:
- Full Platinum Dex (not just shoving them into Hideaways) with the added Pokemon being fully accessible through conventional means and showing up in main game trainer rosters (no using DP's in the main game and Platinum's in the post game)
- Platinum story elements such as Looker and Charon, Giratina and the Distortion World playing some role in the story (either by integrating it into the main story or having a Platinum episode of some sort)
- New forms of some Sinnoh Pokemon, especially Dialga/Palkia
- Alola/Galar variants
- Sylveon and possibly Mr. Rime added to the Sinnoh Dex and a selection of 5th-8th gen Pokemon added to the post game.
- Fully functional Contests that include actual battling, not just a dumb rhythm minigame
- Fully functional Secret Bases in the Grand Underground that allow you to decorate with more than just statues.
- An even larger expansion from the Platinum Dex to even further balance the Dex (they could've just thrown in a few more 1st-3rd gen Pokemon and this would be fine)
- New Sinnohan variants of non-native Pokemon
- Mega evolutions
- Dexnav functionality for the Pokeradar (as in the ability to search for HAs, IVs, natures, etc. instead of having to catch them and check).
I think there's a difference between preferring something (which is personal opinion of course) and saying out right something is an improvement.
An improvement implies something objective.
Someone can say they prefer the old style nostalgia graphics of Gen 1 for sure, but they can't really say the graphics in RBY VC were an improvement on FRLG, for example, as that's demonstrably untrue.
No, an improvement implies that there's a positive comparison in some aspect. It can be subjective if you like or don't like the aspect they've improved. It especially becomes subjective if they improve one aspect and regress another, as is the case with the Underground for example (do you like the decoration of the originals or the Pokemon encounters of BDSP? Different people might have different answers to that question and they're all equally right).
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