Topic: Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

How are people feeling about the game now that it's been out a week?

I'd say I generally have quite mixed feelings. That said, I've only just obtained the 7th badge so I haven't yet experienced everything this game has to offer.

Positives:

• I think the overworld and chibi style looks gorgeous, especially in certain areas like the water routes and snow routes
• Having access to some of the Platinum dex is nice
• A few QoL features here and there, which are welcome having just played Gen 3
• It's Sinnoh - I'm always going to have fun with this region

Negatives:

• I really don't like the look of the battles, and actually prefer the sprite-based battles of the original
• The Grand Underground is underwhelming. As for digging: the core gameplay isn't really enhanced from the originals, worthwhile items seem rarer and I couldn't care less about the statues. As for the wild Pokemon: this feels out of place, and 90% of the Pokemon in there are of no interest. It's nice to have some of the Platinum Pokemon here but why not just include them in the routes to create a more organic experience? Moreover, many of these Pokemon evolve via items which seem very difficult (or impossible) to get in the main game.
• Level curve is broken so far. I think DP always had slightly odd pacing, but I've spent most of the game now around 10+ levels higher than the gym leaders, and sometimes 20+ levels higher than regular trainers. Before Gen 6 I would be underleveled for most gyms. It must be clear to the developers that people would be overlevelled considering the levels of Pokemon in the Grand Underground, which are much higher than wild Pokemon on the surface
• Navigating the tile-for-tile overworld can feel awkward with free movement. I constantly find myself bumping into things and struggling to interact with things

All-in-all, I'm enjoying my time reliving Pokemon Diamond...but this could have been so much more. Nothing yet has really convinced me that this is the definitive version of Diamond/Pearl, and I think that once I'm finished with the post-game, Platinum will continue to be my go-to game for the Sinnoh experience.

Anyone has a dratini egg they could trade me? My Brother wants one but I’m still pre-national dex.

I can’t trade much in return though, besides a few early version exclusives.

Does anyone have a meowth (or Persian) they’d be willing to trade? Pickup would be preferable but isn’t necessary

I don’t have anything to crazy to trade, but I could get pearl exclusives. I also managed to snag a carnivine and a charmander

Phew I almost forget about Drifloon. I managed to catch it.

@Screen Hey look, If I get one I will just trade it to you, Just trade any pokemon.

@Eel Same to you, if I get one I will breed one to give to you.

@Snatcher thanks!

@Eel NP, I never needed crazy pokemon for trades like that.

Beat the Elite 4 yesterday. Damn, that was a step up in difficulty. Still not a struggle, but I had to think about some of the battles - especially the champion battle.

Now in the post-game looking to get the National Dex. Unfortunately my Sinnoh Dex is at 149 and I need to get Drifloon to finish it...oops! Looks like I'll be waiting a few days before I pick this game up again.

@Buizel If you when't to the ghost gym, you can lose one of the Math test, and one of them has a drilfoon.

@Snatcher I wish I'd known that originally! I don't typically skip trainers (I battled every trainer in every other gym), but at that point I was ridiculously overlevelled so thought I'd just skip straight to the leader. Ah well.

@Buizel Maybe you can go back?

I suppose one of us could also trade you a Drifloon

Unfortunately the one I have is male though. So I can’t breed it yet.

@Snatcher I think typically you can't rebattle gym trainers after you've beaten the leader!

@Eel Thanks for the suggestion! I think I'll just wait it out TBH, I'm tempted to pick up Ruby or Shield again anyway.

I remember now 1 of the reasons why I dislike Sinnoh, the pacing between the 2nd and 3rd gym is so extremely slow that your Pokemon start ignoring you because they're over level 30.

Wasn't that only a problem with traded pokemon?

For the most part I'm newer to the series. And this is my first time with this game or the originals. What is meant by "ignoring" you?

@NintendoByNature Some gym badges allow your Pokemon to obey you up to a certain level. If your Pokemon are a higher level you pick a move for them to use and sometimes instead of using that move they do nothing.

None of my Pokemon are traded so it applies to all Pokemon, not just traded.

When a Pokémon is too strong and you don’t have enough badges to prove your worth, it becomes rebellious, and will stop listening to your orders in battle.

I am under the impression that this only happens to traded Pokémon though. Edit: ah so that's different now!

I’ve been rotating my Pokémon team to prevent over leveling though. So maybe I’ve been preventing it?

@DarthNocturnal @Grumblevolcano that's interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out I suppose. Once I notice it, is it better to catch a new one and start leveling them up?

@NintendoByNature They will return to obeying you once you get the right gym badge so best approach seems to be @Eel's suggestion about rotating your team every so often.