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Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl - Release 19th Nov 2021

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oh right berries

I just...completely forgot about berry trees being a thing. Been a while
Wish we could go back to HGSS berry farm, but the classic RSE/DPP system is still much better than SWSH rng trees.
 
Wish we could go back to HGSS berry farm, but the classic RSE/DPP system is still much better than SWSH rng trees.
I think I kind of come on the side of the rng. Yeah a pokemon can swoop down but they only steal one type of berry and also there's a ton of trees and you can shake them daily.
the berry bushes are extremely cute though so that's a positive


Apricorns being rare and tied to them, however, was less great but that's a separate issue.
 

Another commercial with an extra few shots. The strangest one was these screens of fighting a Weepinbell in the overworld:

I did some digging and found that you can encounter Weepinbell at this level in DP's Route 230. As far as I know, this makes this the first glimpse of BDSP's postgame assuming that is what is being displayed here. What a random thing to just throw into a bog-standard commercial...

This was a pretty cool and random promo video. The old Dialga and Palkia screenshots seem to be of their battle transitions as shown here where they're probably rotating to face you as they slide into the screen. I like how they showed both legendaries in the live action part and with the whole hybrid statue thing I wonder if the other legendary will actually show up, probably not though.

At first I thought the X-Scissored female Abomasnow being level 40 could've been a nerf to Candice's original level 42 one which would've been disappointing, but apparently you can find wild Abomasnow at only Level 40 so it doesn't necessarily mean that. We'll see in a few weeks either way.

That Psyduck got blasted by Hyper Beam, seems like the animation is slightly longer than the original trailer's version. HP bar drain is fast again here, Psyduck dies in 8 frames from when HP starts counting down and Weepinbell loses less than half its HP at the same rate that Psyduck does (3 frames), so it's probably not tied to raw HP as it was in the earlier games which was pretty safe to guess.
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Pretty good shot of a battle on the water, using Thunder in the rain.
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Also a pretty nice shot of what's probably the water underground.
 
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In game related discussion, does anybody here try to have their starter be the Pokemon that faces the Champions ace?
As Siggu mentioned I threw a Shuca Berry and Ice Beam onto my Empoleon for That Garchomp(TM). For other games I remember at least using Greninja against Diantha’s Gardevoir (had to act fast that time).
 

Another commercial with an extra few shots. The strangest one was these screens of fighting a Weepinbell in the overworld:
View attachment 382097View attachment 382098
I did some digging and found that you can encounter Weepinbell at this level in DP's Route 230. As far as I know, this makes this the first glimpse of BDSP's postgame assuming that is what is being displayed here. What a random thing to just throw into a bog-standard commercial...
Not gonna lie, that unexpected Weepinbell is what got me most excited in that ad. Sadly not a trainer encounter or wild encounter from the main game as I first thought.
 
We all know how this usually rolls, but let's all just chill out a bit. Last few pages have been a bit frantic.
I probably needed the reminder to calm down... My posts came out as way angrier than I really was. My mindset is more like, "If this sucks, let it suck so I can laugh at how much it sucks!" I stand by not getting Brilliant Diamond if they bring back Flint's Diamond/Pearl team though. Fixing teams is the only thing I've wanted and I decided that not fixing them would be the deal breaker from the moment the remakes were anounced.

For the sake of positivity, I do like one thing about the Diamond/Pearl Elite Four more than Platinum's. The Ground Elite Four has Sudowoodo. It's a weird choice, especially because there's enough Ground types for a team of 5 Ground types, but Rock is close enough to Ground that I can't complain about the difference... I'm starting to feel like I have some massive double standards... Maybe because Flint and Volkner make me feel like they didn't try? At least I know I'm a hypocrite.

Another commercial with an extra few shots. The strangest one was these screens of fighting a Weepinbell in the overworld:
View attachment 382097View attachment 382098
I did some digging and found that you can encounter Weepinbell at this level in DP's Route 230. As far as I know, this makes this the first glimpse of BDSP's postgame assuming that is what is being displayed here. What a random thing to just throw into a bog-standard commercial...
This got my hopes up until I got to the reminder of Route 230... -_-
The Ice Gym's Snover says to expect Diamond/Pearl teams, but between this and the Switch carrying case with Cynthia's Platinum team, are they trying to add fuel to the fire? They're not making giving calm reactions easy.
 
Idk, I like that Flint's team is "heat / hot" themed instead of just being Fire. Means I might actually have to switch Pokémon instead of bulldozing his entire party with Surf like I would Blaine. Also Lopunny being "hot" is hilarious and I can't imagine that not being an intentional choice.

I wish we had more themed trainers that weren't locked into a single type. Give me a horse trainer, status spammer, maybe even a champion who only uses Pseudo Legends.

But yeah, I like Flint's stupid "hot" team. At least it's different.
 
I didn't do it in Pokemon Shield because I was bad and dumb and Cinderace kept dying to anything Leon's Charizard did, so I gave him a panic attack with Eternatus.

I try to avoid using Legendaries at all costs in game, particularly before the post game, kinda cheapens the experience for me fsr.
 
Idk, I like that Flint's team is "heat / hot" themed instead of just being Fire. Means I might actually have to switch Pokémon instead of bulldozing his entire party with Surf like I would Blaine. Also Lopunny being "hot" is hilarious and I can't imagine that not being an intentional choice.

I wish we had more themed trainers that weren't locked into a single type. Give me a horse trainer, status spammer, maybe even a champion who only uses Pseudo Legends.

But yeah, I like Flint's stupid "hot" team. At least it's different.
I think it'd be cool if more trainers reached outside their specialty type too, like Champions Steven and Iris or SwSh's Weather Dragon Gym, but they have Pokemon that fit with their themes. Diamond and Pearl's teams feel like they did it because the Dex didn't have enough Pokemon, except for the Ground Elite Four's Sudowoodo.

I could see Lopunny being a pun (even though I think it was just the newest Pokemon that learned Fire Punch) and Drifblim being because it's a hot air balloon, but Steelix is just something that learns Fire Fang. I'd say they chose Steelix because every other Pokemon in the DP Dex that can learn Fire Fang is used by someone else, but the Steel Gym also uses Steelix. Wow, the Sinnoh Dex is small... What really makes me feel like they were just slapping on anything that learned Fire attacks was the Electric Gym's team having even less of a theme. Ambipom might be excused by the ability Technician, but Octillery feels so wrong to me. Even if it's because the Gym is in a coastal city, Octillery's only Electric moves are Thunder Wave and the Gym's TM, Charge Beam. It doesn't help that Platinum made it so everyone has teams just their types.


Maybe I'm just having irrational double standards or being stubborn for no good reason, but maybe Diamond and Pearl remakes just aren't for me.
 
I could see Lopunny being a pun (even though I think it was just the newest Pokemon that learned Fire Punch) and Drifblim being because it's a hot air balloon, but Steelix is just something that learns Fire Fang. I'd say they chose Steelix because every other Pokemon in the DP Dex that can learn Fire Fang is used by someone else, but the Steel Gym also uses Steelix.
To be fair, Steelix actually DOES have a connection to fire via its Pokedex entry:

"Tempered underground under high pressure and heat, its body is harder than any metal."

While the part about heat was admittedly added in DP, it was mentioned as far back as GSC that its body was compressed underground, so it's not a total asspull.
 
As we're nearing release, do we still have any idea what Pokemon will be returning to Gen 8 and how they will handle this? Are we going to get all the Pokemon currently missing in Sword/Shield? I've read rumors that only Pokemon up to Gen 4 will be included, which will be a real letdown to not include all Pokemon 2+ years after the start of generation 8.

And do we have any confirmation that returning Pokemon will be able to be traded to Sword and Shield? If they do will it be at release, or will they get patched in at a later date after well after Brilliant Diamond/ Shining Pearl release? I'm hoping they release a Sword and Shield patch on release day or before release so we can keep the battling community together.

I'm assuming this won't happen, but getting the Hisuian forms in added in an update for Sword/Shield and Brilliant Diamond/Pearl in mid 2022 would be wonderful.

I wish we had more themed trainers that weren't locked into a single type. Give me a horse trainer, status spammer, maybe even a champion who only uses Pseudo Legends.

There are more than enough Pokemon to do this now. With the first game it made sense. Now we have many horse Pokemon of various types. Or bird Pokemon, or whatever. Gyms being left to a single type just makes it too easy and has gotten stale.
 
As we're nearing release, do we still have any idea what Pokemon will be returning to Gen 8 and how they will handle this? Are we going to get all the Pokemon currently missing in Sword/Shield? I've read rumors that only Pokemon up to Gen 4 will be included, which will be a real letdown to not include all Pokemon 2+ years after the start of generation 8.
BDSP will likely only have up to gen 4. We've seen no indication of Pokemon after that at this juncture. Considering Legends Arceus is poised to have Pokemon from post gen 4, however...the assumption is that LA will allow the remainder.
And do we have any confirmation that returning Pokemon will be able to be traded to Sword and Shield? If they do will it be at release, or will they get patched in at a later date after well after Brilliant Diamond/ Shining Pearl release? I'm hoping they release a Sword and Shield patch on release day or before release so we can keep the battling community together.
They have confirmed that after an update several months into 2022, both BDSP & Legends Arceus will be able to transfer Pokemon to Home. The exact date is unknown.
Strictly speaking we do not know if there will be an additional update to SWSH to allow these Pokemon to be transferred to those titles from Home, but I'd say the chances are fair. After all, it's an extra incentive to buy one or both of the titles (both for collectors, people who like generally battling with new toys, the competitive scene, etc) and they did kind of conspiciously leave certain pokemon out of the DLC and LA in particular will have new Pokemon and new Forms.
 
BDSP will likely only have up to gen 4. We've seen no indication of Pokemon after that at this juncture. Considering Legends Arceus is poised to have Pokemon from post gen 4, however...the assumption is that LA will allow the remainder.

I’m thinking/hoping that and Gen 5+ Pokémon still missing will be post-game, probably either in the Battle Zone or the Grand Underground underneath.
 
BDSP will likely only have up to gen 4. We've seen no indication of Pokemon after that at this juncture. Considering Legends Arceus is poised to have Pokemon from post gen 4, however...the assumption is that LA will allow the remainder.

Fingers crossed then!

They have confirmed that after an update several months into 2022, both BDSP & Legends Arceus will be able to transfer Pokemon to Home. The exact date is unknown.

That is some good news. What about trading directly? I'd assume you can trade from Sword or Shield to Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl through the trade function? Like X and Y to Omega Ruby or Sapphire?
 
She's meant to be mysterious, and thus her status as Champion is a secret until the very end. Far different from the likes of Leon whose Champion title is shown off to the masses, Cynthia prefers to keep her own Champion status a secret from the public masses mostly.

Plus, gotta make sure the new kids keep that sense of mystery of finding out for themselves that she's in fact the Champion before they kneel before her mighty Garchomp. Throughout the whole game, you're supposed to be wondering just who the hell she is to begin with.

Yes. It's the new kids turn to get mad at the game at how a mere mortal shark completely dumpsters on the gods, Dialga and Palkia lmao

In game related discussion, does anybody here try to have their starter be the Pokemon that faces the Champions ace?

And I plan on doing the same with Torterra destroying Cynthia's Garchomp. I'm going to use Weavile in my run, who could easily drop Chomp in one hit, but where's the fun in that?

Now...does Torterra learn any Ice moves?

ETA: No ice moves but it can learn Outrage. Your days are numbered Cynthia

Not me. All the starters get mindfucked by Garchomp. If not Garchomp, then by her Milotic who just ice beams Torterra to death and forces Empoleon into a stalemate

I don't think Weavile would be of much help. The problem is how move tutors are handled. In pt, Weavile can only get ice punch thru move tutors or egg moves. If the rainy route move tutor is absent like it was in dp, Weavile is just completely worthless. Ice shard does not come close to kill Garchomp, like, at all and you're not gonna be breeding for a regular playthru, most of the time anyway. Icicle crash is also an egg move so unless they add in the tutors, I wouldn't really recommend using Weavile, at least until the updated movesets for the pokemon in the game are released

Oh and don't use Torterra outrage against Garchomp. That shit only does a little over half. Garchomp is ridiculously bulky that non stab dragon or fairy types just bounce off. Even if you have an adamant nature with max evs and perfect ivs, it's not guaranteed to kill unless Garchomp really has no defense ivs with a -def nature
 
Yes. It's the new kids turn to get mad at the game at how a mere mortal shark completely dumpsters on the gods, Dialga and Palkia lmao



Not me. All the starters get mindfucked by Garchomp. If not Garchomp, then by her Milotic who just ice beams Torterra to death and forces Empoleon into a stalemate

I don't think Weavile would be of much help. The problem is how move tutors are handled. In pt, Weavile can only get ice punch thru move tutors or egg moves. If the rainy route move tutor is absent like it was in dp, Weavile is just completely worthless. Ice shard does not come close to kill Garchomp, like, at all and you're not gonna be breeding for a regular playthru, most of the time anyway. Icicle crash is also an egg move so unless they add in the tutors, I wouldn't really recommend using Weavile, at least until the updated movesets for the pokemon in the game are released

Oh and don't use Torterra outrage against Garchomp. That shit only does a little over half. Garchomp is ridiculously bulky that non stab dragon or fairy types just bounce off. Even if you have an adamant nature with max evs and perfect ivs, it's not guaranteed to kill unless Garchomp really has no defense ivs with a -def nature
I will simply just carry an Electivire to deal with Milotic. Here's hoping it actually gets a good STAB move in BDSP (please give it Volt Tackle)

I never realized how bad Weavile's level up movepool is in terms of stab though. Ice Shard is good but like you said, you need an actual, powerful Ice stab to go with it. The other move it gets via level up is Icy Wind lol. Although I think it might be easier to get some TMs due to the Underground, but I'm not too sure. If trading between BDSP and SwSh is available I'll just bring it to SwSh and give it Triple Axel.

And I mostly meant the Outrage thing as a joke. I already hate using Outrage on Dragon types, no way I'm giving it to Torterra
 
Although I think it might be easier to get some TMs due to the Underground

And I mostly meant the Outrage thing as a joke. I already hate using Outrage on Dragon types, no way I'm giving it to Torterra

Wait, is there a physical ice type tm?

Oh. In all honesty though, I don't think outrage is all that bad. If you play the game on switch mode, then outrage is like the best move ever. You kill one pokemon and the game asks if you wanna switch and it completely bypasses the need to lock into it
 
Idk, I like that Flint's team is "heat / hot" themed instead of just being Fire. Means I might actually have to switch Pokémon instead of bulldozing his entire party with Surf like I would Blaine. Also Lopunny being "hot" is hilarious and I can't imagine that not being an intentional choice.

I wish we had more themed trainers that weren't locked into a single type. Give me a horse trainer, status spammer, maybe even a champion who only uses Pseudo Legends.

But yeah, I like Flint's stupid "hot" team. At least it's different.

Yeah. I do think boss trainers having pure type teams a bit boring, so teams built around themes (whether it's something silly or based around a strategy or aesthetic) is welcome. Raihan and Steven have been the best examples of this.

Also Volkner's team is more egregious to me than Flint's. Ambipom and Octillery... What am I missing? I would love to know the thought process behind creating evolutions for Magmar and Electabuzz, and then not using those evolutions as aces for the Fire and Electric type bosses. Why does Volkner even get a new cross gen evolution on his team if it's not Electivire lmfao.

This one gets a lot of shit too but I think Candice having Medicham is a cute reference to her friendship with Maylene. They should have given Maylene a Sneasel to tie it together.
 
Wait, is there a physical ice type tm?

Oh. In all honesty though, I don't think outrage is all that bad. If you play the game on switch mode, then outrage is like the best move ever. You kill one pokemon and the game asks if you wanna switch and it completely bypasses the need to lock into it
Wait, switch mode does that? That sounds cheesey as hell, and that's why I play set mode now.

It looks like, as of Gen 8, Ice Punch is a TM, along with Icicle Spear and Avalanche (but the last one is useless on a Weavile.) I have no idea if they'll actually be in the game, I'm just assuming they might be a part of the underground system since Pokemon that aren't in the Sinnoh dex are available there.
 
No trading directly. Only Home.

Wow, that is kind of disappointing. So essentially they will be treated like two separate generations? We can't trade or battle between the two? I knew Ranked battles were not in, but I assumed you could just trade to Sword and Shield and use everything together there. Would be kind of lame to play online and be limited to just Gen 4 Pokemon and have to keep teams separate from your Sword and Shield teams. Even without Ranked, most people play on Battlespot or against friends.

Maybe with the Home update in 2022 they will update Sword and Shield to be able to transfer in all of those Pokemon reintroduced in the remakes, either from them or past generation games. Essentially what they did when the DLC/Home updates came out if I recall where you could transfer things like Luxray in and then breed for Gen 8 versions.

But is it confirmed that we'll never be able to trade between Sword/Shield and the remakes? Meaning even if Sword/Shield is updated, it will get the reintroduced Pokemon but will still be separate for trade and battle purposes? I'm wondering if it is currently a situation where they might update it later or if they firmly said that they'll forever keep the online ecosystems separated.
 
Wow, that is kind of disappointing. So essentially they will be treated like two separate generations? We can't trade or battle between the two? I knew Ranked battles were not in, but I assumed you could just trade to Sword and Shield and use everything together there. Would be kind of lame to play online and be limited to just Gen 4 Pokemon and have to keep teams separate from your Sword and Shield teams. Even without Ranked, most people play on Battlespot or against friends.

Maybe with the Home update in 2022 they will update Sword and Shield to be able to transfer in all of those Pokemon reintroduced in the remakes, either from them or past generation games. Essentially what they did when the DLC/Home updates came out if I recall where you could transfer things like Luxray in and then breed for Gen 8 versions.

But is it confirmed that we'll never be able to trade between Sword/Shield and the remakes? Meaning even if Sword/Shield is updated, it will get the reintroduced Pokemon but will still be separate for trade and battle purposes? I'm wondering if it is currently a situation where they might update it later or if they firmly said that they'll forever keep the online ecosystems separated.
Strictly speaking no, they have not come out and said that BDSP will never ever be able to trade with SWSH
But if BDSP doesn't have gen 5+ Pokemon it is proabbly significantly easier on both parties to keep it separate. The online in BDSP will absolutely be a separate instance that never touches SWSH just out of convenience anyway.
 
But if BDSP doesn't have gen 5+ Pokemon it is proabbly significantly easier on both parties to keep it separate. The online in BDSP will absolutely be a separate instance that never touches SWSH just out of convenience anyway.

I don't know how it would be more convenient though. Unless people only want to be limited to gen 4 in online battles or trades. I'd think it would be better if they could trade and battle between all four of the games. Not everyone has or keeps all their games. I know back in Gen 6 I would play against people who didn't own X/Y, or didn't own Omega Ruby/Sapphire. I don't like it when online communities are split, even if it is technically a different game.

Well, unless a miracle happens, seems like for a number of months Diamond and Pearl are their own thing. If we get lucky maybe everyone can play together in the future.

If Sword and Shield get updates with the new Pokemon that would be great though. Remakes would just be for the story, Sword and Shield for the online experience.
 
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