Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl & Legends: Arceus

[NegaMix]

6 hours ago, Zaysho said:

I also don't think it helps that Zoroark just... kinda sucks gameplay wise? Its move pool is shallow and predictable and its defenses are paper thin with common weaknesses especially to fighting types. It doesn't have it as bad as some Eeveelutions though. It's at least quick and can U-Turn from threats usually but I can see why it fell off once the mystique of it being hard to obtain wore off in subsequent generations.

It's a shame because I do like it but I have never had much incentive to use it (though I want to start trying one in Gen 7 just to see if I can build something around it).

It's a shame that it came out in the same generation that introduced team previews in online play, meaning the opponnent would always know that one of your Pokemon is a Zoroark in disguise. That, coupled with its frailty, means it barely gets to do much in battles beyond maybe making the opponent go "Oh, that wasn't a Gengar? Oops" before it falls.

[Sonictrainer]

We got 2 short trailers today

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Description: Your journey through Sinnoh in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl begins soon, Trainers! But be on your guard—the nefarious Team Galactic is waiting to make trouble for you at every turn...

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Thanks to you, Trainers, we’ve discovered two more Hisuian Pokémon—Zorua and Zoroark!

Prepare to meet them in Pokémon Legends: Arceus!

 

BD/SP - Mystery Gift: Platinum Version Outfits

Spoiler

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A gift of the Platinum Style in-game outfit will be given as a perk for early purchase of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond or Pokémon Shining Pearl.

You can receive your outfit by choosing Get via Internet from the Mystery Gift function in game through Monday, February 21, 2022.

You can change your outfit at Metronome Style Shop in Veilstone City.

 

Legends: Arceus - Hisuian Zorua

Spoiler

• Hisuian Zorua
• Category: Spiteful Fox Pokémon
• Type: Normal/Ghost
• Height: 2'4"
• Weight: 27.6 lbs.

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These Zorua migrated to the Hisui region after being driven from other lands by humans, who shunned the Pokémon for manifesting uncanny illusions. But the Zorua perished, unable to survive the harsh Hisuian environment and strife with other Pokémon. Their lingering souls were reborn in this Ghost-type form through the power of their malice toward humans and Pokémon.

If Hisuian Zorua spot a lone person or Pokémon, the Zorua may appear before them in a guise mimicking the target’s appearance. Unlike the illusions of the previously discovered form of Zorua, these ghostly mimicries are created using spiteful power emitted from the long fur on Hisuian Zorua’s head, around its neck, and on its tail. It appears that Hisuian Zorua absorb and draw strength from the terror of those who witness their illusions.

 

 

Legends: Arceus - Hisuian Zoroark

Spoiler

• Hisuian Zoroark
• Category: Baneful Fox Pokémon
• Type: Normal/Ghost
• Height: 5'"3
• Weight: 160.9 lbs

Quote

The spiteful power emitted from Hisuian Zoroark’s long, writhing fur projects terrifying illusions—and it can also inflict physical harm upon foes, damaging their bodies from both inside and out. And the illusions that Baneful Fox Pokémon projects have expressions of such utter malice toward every last thing upon this world that those who see them are said to be driven mad by the terror.

Hisuian Zoroark is ferociously hostile and aggressive toward people and other Pokémon. But it appears to have a compassionate streak for those it considers close or like family. It has been seen to protect Hisuian Zorua, for example. Anyone able to establish trust with a Hisuian Zoroark would likely find it an invaluable ally.

 

Legends: Arceus - Mystery Gift: Baneful Fox Mask

Spoiler

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As an early-purchase bonus, those who pre-order #PokemonLegendsArceus will receive the Baneful Fox Mask. Redeem it through the Mystery Gifts function in the game and don the unique Zoroark-themed mask as you begin your research!

Also, this shop owner looks like a descendant of Darach.

 

[Blue Blood]

Wow, okay, Hisuian Zoroark looks much better in the 2D art where looks more untamed and flowy than the massive blob it is in the 3D model. The visuals in the snowy area look downright awful as well. Game Freak need a new environmental art direction and possibly engine, because their output across SwSh and PLA is pretty poor. 

The BDSP trailer looks fairly naff also, no surprise there. And the music is all just about adequate remasters or really MIDI sounding, with nothing standing out as impressive at all. 

[Sonictrainer]

Just a heads up that BD/SP are currently being leaked.

[Salamander]

Yeah, I've been following along.  It's not a pretty sight.

But there's a shed with its Platinum roof colour!

[Blue Blood]

Is there really much to leak here? These are 1:1 remakes to an incredible fault. Just how bad is it?

[Nix]

4 minutes ago, Blue Blood said:

Is there really much to leak here? These are 1:1 remakes to an incredible fault. Just how bad is it?

Really not much to spoil, but,

Spoiler

It looks like there's some potentially interesting move set changes for some trainers, but the game isn't balanced around the EXP Share again so you'll just steamroll everything unless you're constantly switching out your team. Unless the post game is radically different (not looking likely), it's just D/P again. I think the worst part about it, other than it being a barebones remake all around, is how bad some of the music sounds.

 

[Blue Blood]

The EXP share thing really irritates me. It's such a pointless change to the entire game set up. Urgh. 

The rest of it though... Yeah, it's pretty much what we were expecting, right? Literally just DP again with the fewest changes and enhancements possible. It's a real shame that we got such lazy remakes, and nothing of ORAS quality.

[Soniman]

Yeah I canceled my pre-order. Not really interested in playing this anymore, at least not right now, they pretty much done everything to kill my interest in something I was so excited for. Will probably get it next year in a sale or something 

[Zaysho]

I'm pretty disappointed by what appears to be the end result; I was kind of skeptical at first because of ILCA but lightened up right up until the last couple official updates before the leaks happened. I wanted to play this but I might as well just give Renegade Platinum another whirl. It has just about everything I'd want out of an updated gen 4 and then some.

[Kuzu]

Yea, I got no interest in these. I can just play Platinum and get the same experience. Shame its the bare minimum of effort, but I'm sure it's still gonna be a best-seller cuz of course it is. Hope the people who are excited for it enjoy it tho.

[Salamander]

9 hours ago, Kuzu said:

Hope the people who are excited for it enjoy it tho.

Indeed; much though I don't care to admit it, for anyone new to Gen IV, this is probably the best way to play it, with the modernised type chart and QOL (like, er, TMs being single-use again but being given 99 of them to compensate).  For anyone who played it the first time around, though, or who got used to the elevated standards of previous remakes, I can only recommend getting their hands on Platinum.  It's simply baffling that Diamond and Pearl's problems were fixed a decade ago but ILCA are obliged to preserve them.

It's pretty obvious at this point that Legends: Arceus is the real Sinnoh remake, it was just so divergent (not even Sinnoh in name only!) that GameFreak had a quick and dirty graphics swap of the original churned out from whoever was available.

[Mega]

Heads up about the remakes.

 

Spoiler

Gym Leaders and Elite Four have rematches with significantly harder teams, including EVs, held items, etc. Cynthia's second rematch has teams in the high 80's.

 

[Salamander]

2 hours ago, Mega said:

Heads up about the remakes.

 

  Hide contents

Gym Leaders and Elite Four have rematches with significantly harder teams, including EVs, held items, etc. Cynthia's second rematch has teams in the high 80's.

 

Aye, stuff like this is actually starting to bring people around on the remakes, as it makes the single-player campaign look more interesting than previously thought.  It's not enough to outweigh for me the neglect of all the improvements which were thought necessary when Platinum was developed a decade ago, but I guess it is nice to have people be exposed again to a vision of the series which actually had things like dungeons and level design.

[Kuzu]

If nothing else, those give me a slightly better impression than initially. 

[Sonictrainer]

Today we got new information on Freebies for players with data from other Pokémon Games plus what's going to happen to Pal Park in BD/SP.

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Your Sinnoh adventure is about to get Legendary, Trainers.

Introducing Ramanas Park, an expansive new facility where you can encounter a variety of Legendary Pokémon!

But this is no ordinary challenge—you’ll not only need to enter the Hall of Fame, you’ll also have to explore the entire region to find slates that correspond to each Legendary Pokémon.

Think you can handle it? Your search begins when the Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl games arrive on November 19!

 

BD/SP New Feature - Ranamas Park

Spoiler

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New to this release, Ramanas Park is a facility you can visit after entering the Hall of Fame where you’ll be able to encounter Legendary Pokémon.

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Inside the rooms of Ramanas Park are pedestals, and it’s said that if you insert the corresponding slate into a pedestal, a Legendary Pokémon will appear.

It’s unclear exactly how these slates can be obtained, so you’ll have to do some research as you explore the Sinnoh region.

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The Genome Slate corresponds to the Genome Room.

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It seems there are other, different slates as well.

Version Exclusives

• BD - Raikou, Suicune, Entei, & Ho-oh
• SP - Articuno, Moltres, Zapdos, & Lugia

 

BD/SP - Save Data Jirachi Event

Spoiler

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If you have game save records on your Nintendo Switch system from the Pokémon Sword game or the Pokémon Shield game, you can get the Mythical Pokémon Jirachi as a companion.

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Speak to a gentleman in the flower field located on the southwest end of Floaroma Town to add Jirachi to your team.

 

BD/SP - Save Data Mew Event

Spoiler

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If you have game save records on your Nintendo Switch system from the Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! game or the Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! game, you can get the Mythical Pokémon Mew as a companion.

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Speak to a madame in the flower field located on the southwest end of Floaroma Town to add Mew to your team.

 

Legends: Arceus - Save Data Shaymin Event

Spoiler

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f you have play records from the Pokémon Sword or Pokémon Shield game, you’ll be able to take on a research request in Pokémon Legends: Arceus in which you’ll have a chance to add the Mythical Pokémon Shaymin (Land Forme) to your team.

This research request will be available for you to accept in Jubilife Village after viewing the game’s end credits.

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You’ll also be able to claim the Shaymin Kimono Set. You can claim this in-game outfit by speaking to the clothier after joining the Galaxy Expedition Team. (It takes approximately one hour of play time to reach the point where this option is available.)

 

 

Legends: Arceus - Pikachu & Eevee Masks

Spoiler

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If you have play records from either the Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! or Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! game, you’ll be able to claim both the Pikachu Mask and the Eevee Mask in Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

You can claim these masks by speaking to the clothier after joining the Galaxy Expedition Team. (It takes approximately one hour of play time to reach the point where this option is available.)

 

[SenEDDtor Missile]

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum fans really got the short end of the stick when it comes to their Game Remake didn't they?

Gen 1 got two remakes with FireRed/LeafGreen and the Let's Go games.

Gen 2 got the best deal with HeartGold/SoulSilver.

Gen 3 got ORAS, which while flawed at least was still decently meaty and solidly used Generation 6's elements in movement and other aspects to benefit the game, even if it did have its shortcomings in regards to the Battle Frontier.

All of the above also got updated OSTs that used their respective updated systems to enhance their soundtracks.

Gen 4 gets a seemingly half-baked remake that's basically the same game except with chibi models, and with chunks of their content completely removed, while Legends: Arceus is it's own separate thing.

[Salamander]

It's such a shame.  BDSP are faithful returns to the era where Pokemon was most attuned to what I wanted out of it, but I just can't justify getting them without the polish and fixes which already exist (and certainly not with such a hokey art style).  I was even genuinely excited by the prospect of seeing what Diamond and Pearl would look like when updated to the standards of modern Pokemon.  Turns out GameFreak doesn't have the capacity to update Diamond and Pearl to the standards of modern Pokemon (judging by the fact that they couldn't even finish the latest modern Pokemon game), so they're making something completely different instead.

Still, at least I have Platinum in my loft.  Though I'm more interested in rebuying a couple of the GBC games on the 3DS eShop, honestly.  I've been on a bit of a nostalgia kick for the abstraction of classic pixel art recently.

[Blue Blood]

I had every intention of getting one of these games, but it looks like I never actually got around to pre-ordering a copy. The My Nintendo Store in the UK is a streaming hot piece of shit right now, and they messed up three separate orders of mine for Metroid Dread, Legends Arceus and this game, so I cancelled the lot of them when they didn't deliver Dread. And then I went I pre-ordered Legends elsewhere, but apparently I just forgot about BD/SP. No sign of it in any of my inboxes. 

And I'm not cut up about it. BDSP are fine enough games entirely in a vacuum of their own (ignoring Pokémon staple that it's one game for the price of two). For most people, that's going to be fine. They're virtually 1:1 remakes of very good games. So if you're not a huge Pokémon fan that gets into the nitty-gritty, if you're new to the series, if you've played some games but not DPPt, then BDSP will probably be fairly solid entries. But if you've been following the series closely for a while and take issue with the direction of the series in recent years, then it'll be a very different story. 

It pains me that whilst the other remakes have been more creative and a bigger deviations from the originals, progressively expanding upon gameplay innovations of later generations, these games are almost entirely vanilla. ORAS in particular are bursting with new content, and weren't afraid to tweak parts of the original game that didn't hold up. BDSP though? It over fixes the HM problems and forces a new EXP system that doesn't take into consideration balancing. It's funny to look at the reviews on Metacritic. Some fairly banal reviews are giving it top marks, and the ones that are clearly from more jaded fans are giving it much more tepid 6s and 7s. I'm not saying that either side is right or wrong, but rather that it's just obvious what kind of a state Pokémon is in. 

Pokémon is kind of too big to fail. Not that any of the games are bad per se. It's just that they're riddled with problems that will never get addressed as long as the games continue to print money. PLA looks like it might be an earnest attempt to subvert that, but I'm wary of the fact that TPC and Game Freak are too obsessed with "creating Pokémon games that everyone will enjoy" when they could be creating Pokémon games that are as good as possible. 

[Sonicka]

I think I'm going to wait for the inevitable "Pokemon Polished Platinum" next year.

I've never really played these entries anyway, and the way these remakes have been tackled as direct 1:1 rather than treated like previous remakes (which usually have been a culmination of all 3 games + other original improvements) instead of have me convinced that either a third entry is coming next year, or they'll release a "Platinum DLC" to bolt on top of the experience. The fact that I am aware that the games are fine, but that the original Platinum is the definitive way to play the game is what makes me very hesitant. 

But it's no big deal. Besides, I've just ordered Pokemon Let's Go Eevee for my daughter for Christmas, so I'm sure we'll get some milage out of that one together until then, or the Arceus release - but even then I'm still very "meh" feeling about this game too.

[NegaMix]

I wouldn't even count on Platinum getting any kind of remake or recognition, outside of these games' early purchase bonus. Once Legends: Arceus is out, I'm almost certain that Game Freak will be focused solely on either DLC for that game and/or getting set for Gen 9. And if ILCA are working on anything, it's more likely to be unnecessary Black/White remakes than Platinum, I feel.

At best, Legends might get some Giritina-focused content, but I sincerely don't see them doing much more than that.

[Blue Blood]

I doubt that a Platinum remake is on the cards. It strikes me that BDSP and PLA are kind of intended to be a complete package that revisits Gen 4; the former by being accurate-to-a-fault remakes and the latter by being an entirely new spin on the region. 

[Kuzu]

Tbh, I do think Game Freak are trying to please anyone. They've more or less been consistent with the direct of Pokemon for years now, particularly since Black and White ten years ago.

 

It is what it is at this point.

[SenEDDtor Missile]

4 hours ago, Son-icka said:

"Pokemon Polished Platinum"

As everyone else said, the likelihood of them remaking Platinum is pretty much zilch.

That being said, I think Phantom Platinum would be a better name, since it fits Giratina, and apparently there are gems with Phantom in their names, like Phantom Quartz.

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

4 hours ago, Son-icka said:

I think I'm going to wait for the inevitable "Pokemon Polished Platinum" next year.

Given the lack of an Emerald remake for, I'd certainly wouldn't hold my breath on that chief.