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Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl - Release 19th Nov 2021
- Thread starter DHR-107
- Start date
It's complex, but actually possible to understand. I myself have used it to get all of the rare safari zone encounters, like riolu, beldum, bagon, gible, ect
We don't know how Hellish the new one will be.
TBH I didn't really have a problem with it once Serebii posted a guide, although it could be annoying waiting around for some of them for ages.
Either way, at the moment it just looks to me like a way to get old pokemon in a way that has been done before.
Regarding Manaphy (and legends/mythicals in general), I really hope Mints and Hyper Training will be in the games so that you don't really need to SR for good IVs/Natures. Unless you are a perfectionist or want a shiny, I guess. I think at least Manaphy will be shiny-locked, though I wouldn't mind if it wasn't.
At this point I feel like every way to have a special pokemon appearence zone would be similar to another way, so can't say I'm going to tut tut the grand underground for being vaguely similar to the HGSS safari zone, especially when its seemingly only the most basic of similarities (place objects, recieve pokemon) until shown otherwise
Yung Dramps
awesome gaming
A lot of discussion around these games is how much stuff is gonna be ported over from Platinum. That can be a tad vague other than the REALLY big-picture stuff like Distortion World and Battle Frontier, so I decided to make a checklist of the more important things.
If any of you remember my dexit checklist from back in the SWSH hype cycle (dear christ it's been 2 years) I'll be similarly updating this as more news and information comes out. If there's anything you think was big in Platinum I forgot to add here, lemme know.
Major New Stuff
The Basics
Visuals: Primarily DP-based, although on top of original flourishes by ILCA there are elements carried over from Platinum, including
Map Design
Boss Battles
Gym Leaders
Game intro (Starter selection and such): DP
Battle UI: DP
Floaroma Gracidea Girl: Yes (Platinum)
Rotom access: Unknown
Move Tutors: Unknown
Cynthia’s Gift Togepi: Unknown
Stark Mountain Story: Unknown
Wi-Fi Plaza: Unknown
Final Tally
DP: 6
Platinum: 2
Unknown: 26
Total: 34
The Basics
- Pokedex: Platinum (thank the lord)
- Player/rival designs: DP
- Looker: Unknown
- Charon: Unknown
- Distortion World: Unknown
- Battle Frontier: No (DP)
- Obtainable Regis: Unknown
- Roaming Kanto Birds: Unknown
- Battleground/Gym Leader Rematches: Unknown
- Elite Four Rematches: Unknown
Visuals: Primarily DP-based, although on top of original flourishes by ILCA there are elements carried over from Platinum, including
- Tree designs
- Oreburgh City conveyer belt coal
Map Design
- Great Marsh: DP
- Amity Square: Irrelevant, Amity Square has likely been removed and/or replaced
- Pokemon League Lobby: Unknown
- Stark Mountain Exterior: Unknown
Boss Battles
Gym Leaders
- Gym Leader Order: Unknown
- Fantina: Unknown
- Byron: Unknown
- Candice: Unknown
- Volkner: Unknown
- Saturn: Unknown
- Cyrus: Unknown
- Aaron: Unknown
- Bertha: Unknown
- Flint: Unknown
- Lucian: Unknown
- Cynthia: Unknown
Game intro (Starter selection and such): DP
Battle UI: DP
Floaroma Gracidea Girl: Yes (Platinum)
Rotom access: Unknown
Move Tutors: Unknown
Cynthia’s Gift Togepi: Unknown
Stark Mountain Story: Unknown
Wi-Fi Plaza: Unknown
Final Tally
DP: 6
Platinum: 2
Unknown: 26
Total: 34
If any of you remember my dexit checklist from back in the SWSH hype cycle (dear christ it's been 2 years) I'll be similarly updating this as more news and information comes out. If there's anything you think was big in Platinum I forgot to add here, lemme know.
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I think if Looker is coming back, these games will take place at the same time as SwSh, and that will explain why Looker was not in SwSh even though he's been in every game since Platinum except for HGSS and B2W2.
And also early Ice-types! Of course, it all depends on what statues you get...
Going to guess that's due to the dex. While it would have been nice, they're probably not going to have a "Gen IV" update for SwSh to allow Pokemon only found in the BDSP & Legends: Arceus to be transferred over. They're keeping to their word with the limited dex, so all three will probably have Pokemon only they have in them & can only be sent to HOME. Of course, I could be wrong and would glad to be, but if they want SwSh to be where Ranked Battles happen this is looking to be the case (at most BDSP and L:A may give Pokemon certain (un-Movexit) Moves they can't normally get in SwSh).
Hopefully it won't be the only Mythical giveaway... and if we're lucky maybe they'll add in one that can be caught in-game (either Shaymin or Darkrai; Arceus I imagine is being saved for Legends).
Oh good, I'm not the only one that's still on the fence. I mean, yea, what they showed us was all nice, but they're only rather small pros stapled onto the big con I have with the entire game.
Hope so, though if that was the plan I would think it would either have been mentioned on the Direct or on the websites. But another way to think about it is that after Legends: Arceus drops they'll consider Gen VIII done and move full steam ahead with Gen IX which is when they'll make sure all the Pokemon present in BDSP and L:A will be transferable to those games (which will have Ranked Battle).
Maybe I spoke too soon. Covering their bases, or do they have some DLC of its own planne... BATTLE FRONTIER (sorry, couldn't keep it in).
Like that's hard to do. The Safari Zone in Gen I beats Friend Safari.
Would be neat if it's a randomly generated Baby Pokemon (except for Riolu which Riley gives you).
That would be a neat way for the games to directly cross-communicate, like how having Let's Go saved data in your Switch unlocked the Gigantamax Pikachu & Eevee gift Pokemon in SwSh.
Weird, PS is for Italian (Punti Salute), Brazil (Pontos de Saúde), and Spain (Puntos de Salud).
Maybe finally give it more than Hidden Power. Like, if they want to stick with the "gimmick" they can give it all other "Power" moves (Ancient Power, Cosmic Power, Earth Power, Extrasensory, Nature Power, Power Split, Power Swap, Secret Power, Stored Power, & Superpower). I still say give it its own special Move that's more powerful the more Unown you have in your party but that's just me.
Maybe finally give it more than Hidden Power. Like, if they want to stick with the "gimmick" they can give it all other "Power" moves (Ancient Power, Cosmic Power, Earth Power, Extrasensory, Nature Power, Power Split, Power Swap, Secret Power, Stored Power, & Superpower). I still say give it its own special Move that's more powerful the more Unown you have in your party but that's just me.
No Villa either.
Cope harder.
Why bother? You want to know what they look like, either check their page on Bulbapedia page for a drawn version or Masters (EX) for a 3D model.
And lose money not holding GTS for ransom with the HOME app? Perish the thought.
I don't remember the exact details, but it wasn't because it was "hard", they did some kind of survey and found that most players weren't even bothering playing the Battle Frontier once they were done with the main game. If the issue was it being too had MAYBE they would have toned it down, but since no one was bothering to GF it was a waste of time & resources.
They're likely coming back because of just that. Mt. Coronet was essentially made with the idea of you constantly going back to it but able to travel through it more & to new locations once you got more and more HMs. Though who knows, maybe they'll do an Alola and bring in the PokePager & Ride Pokemon.
Right, maybe they could make Pal Park into something like the Poke Pelago, a place your box Pokemon can relax, EV train, grow Berries, and treasure hunt.
From what I've seen, while maybe that big chamber area is exclusive to their part of the map, the small rooms are directly effected by what element the statues relate to. From the trailer we've seen the orb in the Secret Base glow a color relating to the area that you'll be given access to: White/Gray for Icy (notably the statue that cause it to glow that color was the Snorlax statue and we saw Munchlax in the icy part), Red for volcanic, and blue for watery. Don't know what the other colors would be, like both meadow and swampy/marsh have a fair claim to green (maybe two different shades of green?) and rocky/desert could be tan, brown, or maybe yellow.
*Let's Go laughs*
Wha... OH, WOW, I didn't even see the Pokemon on the Grand Underground map! Good eye!
Question is, is the story and plot progression still 1:1?
Those of you that slandered BDSP will need to fill up this form.
BTW, the chibi artstyle is STILL a con, just because they improved on other features doesn't mean that problem goes away.
Actually I think they'll probably make their own new batch of stickers to better go with the new way of having the sticker effects play out. They'll likely take inspiration from the older seals, but don't be surprised if some are missing (like I'd be surprised if the letter seals make a return as stickers).
The entrances are still there. If I had to guess, Amity Square is when you gain the ability to have your Pokemon follow you, maybe having to complete a new mini-game which involves your Pokemon following you as an expansion upon that feature and give it a new purpose.
Same with Flower Paradise. They don't appear in the in-game map until you go there. On top of that they're usually excluded from official art map of the region. Like, sure, odd they did it for the remake map art but then again we don't know whether those events presented in that way are coming back. By not having them on the map they can claim it wasn't planned/didn't pan out.
Well now that we have the map we're not.
Has it? I think that would have been "major" news if we did know that and used as an example of "it's not a 1:1 remake" before this Direct.
Don't worry there's always Battleground rematches... oh, wait, those were only in Platinum... like the Hoenn Gym Leader rematches were only in Emerald thus didn't program them into ORAS because they were Ruby & Sapphire remakes...RIP Plat Fantina tho.
Actually what they don't tell you is that they can be so accurate with their assumption because, even if you get to the Daycare before 10 hours, it'll be closed and include a countdown clock when they'll be open again. Said countdown clock started counting down from 10 hours as soon as you started the game and only goes down when you're playing the game.
Masuda is in charge.
This just in, Ride Pokemon are confirmed back. They are:
Removal Bibarel: Ride on the back of this Bibarel who can use its fangs to cut down trees. Later will get a hard hat it can use to smash rocks.
Mover Bibarel: Ride on the back of this Bibarel who uses its tremendous strength to move boulders. Later will get protective pads it can use to climb up rocky cliffs.
Swimmer Bibarel: Ride on the back of this Bibarel who surfs on the water. Later will get goggles so it can protect its eyes while swimming up waterfalls.
Propeller Bibarel: Ride on the back of this Bibarel who thinks its a Floatzel and has learned to spin its tail around like a propeller to fly you around Sinnoh. Later will get a fan attachment so it can use its tail to fan away fog.
"I'm appalled!"
"They refuse to let me walk around with both my Pokemon out!"
"Oh, my poor Gyarados and Steelix!
"This is species segregation!"
About the PS thing: Pokemon has never had an official translation of a mainline game into Portugese IIRC, just English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Korean, and Simplified/Traditional Mandarin Chinese. So it would have to be Spanish or Italian if this game isn't available in Portugese either.And also early Ice-types! Of course, it all depends on what statues you get...
Going to guess that's due to the dex. While it would have been nice, they're probably not going to have a "Gen IV" update for SwSh to allow Pokemon only found in the BDSP & Legends: Arceus to be transferred over. They're keeping to their word with the limited dex, so all three will probably have Pokemon only they have in them & can only be sent to HOME. Of course, I could be wrong and would glad to be, but if they want SwSh to be where Ranked Battles happen this is looking to be the case (at most BDSP and L:A may give Pokemon certain (un-Movexit) Moves they can't normally get in SwSh).
Hopefully it won't be the only Mythical giveaway... and if we're lucky maybe they'll add in one that can be caught in-game (either Shaymin or Darkrai; Arceus I imagine is being saved for Legends).
Oh good, I'm not the only one that's still on the fence. I mean, yea, what they showed us was all nice, but they're only rather small pros stapled onto the big con I have with the entire game.
Hope so, though if that was the plan I would think it would either have been mentioned on the Direct or on the websites. But another way to think about it is that after Legends: Arceus drops they'll consider Gen VIII done and move full steam ahead with Gen IX which is when they'll make sure all the Pokemon present in BDSP and L:A will be transferable to those games (which will have Ranked Battle).
Maybe I spoke too soon. Covering their bases, or do they have some DLC of its own planne... BATTLE FRONTIER (sorry, couldn't keep it in).
Like that's hard to do. The Safari Zone in Gen I beats Friend Safari.
Would be neat if it's a randomly generated Baby Pokemon (except for Riolu which Riley gives you).
That would be a neat way for the games to directly cross-communicate, like how having Let's Go saved data in your Switch unlocked the Gigantamax Pikachu & Eevee gift Pokemon in SwSh.
Weird, PS is for Italian (Punti Salute), Brazil (Pontos de Saúde), and Spain (Puntos de Salud).
Maybe finally give it more than Hidden Power. Like, if they want to stick with the "gimmick" they can give it all other "Power" moves (Ancient Power, Cosmic Power, Earth Power, Extrasensory, Nature Power, Power Split, Power Swap, Secret Power, Stored Power, & Superpower). I still say give it its own special Move that's more powerful the more Unown you have in your party but that's just me.
Maybe finally give it more than Hidden Power. Like, if they want to stick with the "gimmick" they can give it all other "Power" moves (Ancient Power, Cosmic Power, Earth Power, Extrasensory, Nature Power, Power Split, Power Swap, Secret Power, Stored Power, & Superpower). I still say give it its own special Move that's more powerful the more Unown you have in your party but that's just me.
No Villa either.
Why bother? You want to know what they look like, either check their page on Bulbapedia page for a drawn version or Masters (EX) for a 3D model.
And lose money not holding GTS for ransom with the HOME app? Perish the thought.
I don't remember the exact details, but it wasn't because it was "hard", they did some kind of survey and found that most players weren't even bothering playing the Battle Frontier once they were done with the main game. If the issue was it being too had MAYBE they would have toned it down, but since no one was bothering to GF it was a waste of time & resources.
They're likely coming back because of just that. Mt. Coronet was essentially made with the idea of you constantly going back to it but able to travel through it more & to new locations once you got more and more HMs. Though who knows, maybe they'll do an Alola and bring in the PokePager & Ride Pokemon.
Right, maybe they could make Pal Park into something like the Poke Pelago, a place your box Pokemon can relax, EV train, grow Berries, and treasure hunt.
From what I've seen, while maybe that big chamber area is exclusive to their part of the map, the small rooms are directly effected by what element the statues relate to. From the trailer we've seen the orb in the Secret Base glow a color relating to the area that you'll be given access to: White/Gray for Icy (notably the statue that cause it to glow that color was the Snorlax statue and we saw Munchlax in the icy part), Red for volcanic, and blue for watery. Don't know what the other colors would be, like both meadow and swampy/marsh have a fair claim to green (maybe two different shades of green?) and rocky/desert could be tan, brown, or maybe yellow.
*Let's Go laughs*
Wha... OH, WOW, I didn't even see the Pokemon on the Grand Underground map! Good eye!
Question is, is the story and plot progression still 1:1?
BTW, the chibi artstyle is STILL a con, just because they improved on other features doesn't mean that problem goes away.
Actually I think they'll probably make their own new batch of stickers to better go with the new way of having the sticker effects play out. They'll likely take inspiration from the older seals, but don't be surprised if some are missing (like I'd be surprised if the letter seals make a return as stickers).
The entrances are still there. If I had to guess, Amity Square is when you gain the ability to have your Pokemon follow you, maybe having to complete a new mini-game which involves your Pokemon following you as an expansion upon that feature and give it a new purpose.
Same with Flower Paradise. They don't appear in the in-game map until you go there. On top of that they're usually excluded from official art map of the region. Like, sure, odd they did it for the remake map art but then again we don't know whether those events presented in that way are coming back. By not having them on the map they can claim it wasn't planned/didn't pan out.
Well now that we have the map we're not.
Has it? I think that would have been "major" news if we did know that and used as an example of "it's not a 1:1 remake" before this Direct.
Don't worry there's always Battleground rematches... oh, wait, those were only in Platinum... like the Hoenn Gym Leader rematches were only in Emerald thus didn't program them into ORAS because they were Ruby & Sapphire remakes...
Actually what they don't tell you is that they can be so accurate with their assumption because, even if you get to the Daycare before 10 hours, it'll be closed and include a countdown clock when they'll be open again. Said countdown clock started counting down from 10 hours as soon as you started the game and only goes down when you're playing the game.
Masuda is in charge.
This just in, Ride Pokemon are confirmed back. They are:
Removal Bibarel: Ride on the back of this Bibarel who can use its fangs to cut down trees. Later will get a hard hat it can use to smash rocks.
Mover Bibarel: Ride on the back of this Bibarel who uses its tremendous strength to move boulders. Later will get protective pads it can use to climb up rocky cliffs.
Swimmer Bibarel: Ride on the back of this Bibarel who surfs on the water. Later will get goggles so it can protect its eyes while swimming up waterfalls.
Propeller Bibarel: Ride on the back of this Bibarel who thinks its a Floatzel and has learned to spin its tail around like a propeller to fly you around Sinnoh. Later will get a fan attachment so it can use its tail to fan away fog.
"I'm appalled!"
"They refuse to let me walk around with both my Pokemon out!"
"Oh, my poor Gyarados and Steelix!
"This is species segregation!"
Yung Dramps
awesome gaming
I've thought about this too, however the issue is that this is something that only makes sense in English. Same reason why giving each form moves/abilities that start with their respective letter wouldn't work either.
ORAS had Elite Four rematches which weren't a thing in either original Gen 3 game so I don't get your point here. It's also worth noting LGPE had Gym Leader rematches that you accessed by directly revisiting them at their gym. If the Battleground itself doesn't come back I could see BDSP doing the same thing
pain and misery everytime i think of how pokémon is never getting a portuguese translation
Yung Dramps
awesome gaming
Something I just thought of: If Megas return, new ones may be more likely. I say this because the fact that we got character customization as well as new Contest costumes shows me that ILCA absolutely has some artists on deck whether internally or at Game Freak's behest that can make some heavy duty new designs that aren't relatively minor environmental refinements
Chimchar probably has Power-Up Punch in its early learnset based on this trailer clip. The only clip I could find of actual Power-Up Punch is from Gen 6, but it does look similar to that and the current Bulbapedia screenshot.
While looking at learnsets, I noticed that Prinplup and Empoleon have had Tackle at level 1 instead of Pound for some reason, so I expect that to be corrected while they're revamping things. In general I feel like they could easily follow the SWSH style of having moves be learned earlier and sorted by power order, though I'm not sure how Dialga/Palkia's learnsets will be handled. The original DP had the legendary battle at level 47 which gave them their signature moves, but SWSH puts them at the end of the list at level 88. There isn't really much to base theories on though and ILCA could handle this however they want, so I'll leave this train of thought for now and see what happens.
I looked into the game text shown in the trailer and compared them to the original games. For the most part, this will just show some slight differences that mainly point to DP being used as a base for the translation and not Platinum. I'm not sure if the original Japanese text was changed between DP and Platinum, but I assume it's just different translations in most cases. Shoutouts to various random youtube videos and also these text dumps organized by Abcboy on Bulbapedia.
This is a one word change in Platinum. Also barely anyone talks to this NPC after getting the pokedex.
This is actually a screenshot from Serebii. Here you can see that in BDSP/DP the player is already next to the grunts (with one facing the wrong direction) and they say this after you approach, while in Platinum the grunts are talking before you walk up.
I'll link both versions because this scene is very different in Platinum and Rowan is a lot more savage, so it'll be a shame if they don't keep that in. Also "professor of Pokemon" sounds better than "Professor Pokemon".
DP version
Platinum version
This line from Rowan after the multi battle in Jubilife is slightly changed from original DP (harness), and was different in Platinum as well.
This line is the same as DP and was reworded in Platinum.
Not a big difference here, but Mt. Coronet has been renamed to Mount Coronet. (Route 211 Hiker) There are some other simple ones as well, like Stickers to Seals and Pokemon Contests to Super Contest Shows.
This is another line that seems the same as what we can see in DP (though all on one line), and was reworded in Platinum because the conversation mentions multiple beings. However, the colour of the rock (faithfully above the textbox) looks closer to Platinum.
I don't think this exact line exists in the original, but this is probably just standard help text. Based on the floor this is probably in the Center rather than the room itself, which could mean Teala could return to explain this. It would be nice if you could just access the Union Room from anywhere, but as long as it's reliable it should be fine.
For a last note, this is showing the multi battle in Veilstone City. In the originals the partner leads with Clefairy, but both enemy leads are still alive and Luxio and Grotle are out, with Lucas probably being the AI partner here. This could just be set up for the trailer though, and Grotle wouldn't be great here anyway.
EDIT:
While looking at learnsets, I noticed that Prinplup and Empoleon have had Tackle at level 1 instead of Pound for some reason, so I expect that to be corrected while they're revamping things. In general I feel like they could easily follow the SWSH style of having moves be learned earlier and sorted by power order, though I'm not sure how Dialga/Palkia's learnsets will be handled. The original DP had the legendary battle at level 47 which gave them their signature moves, but SWSH puts them at the end of the list at level 88. There isn't really much to base theories on though and ILCA could handle this however they want, so I'll leave this train of thought for now and see what happens.
I looked into the game text shown in the trailer and compared them to the original games. For the most part, this will just show some slight differences that mainly point to DP being used as a base for the translation and not Platinum. I'm not sure if the original Japanese text was changed between DP and Platinum, but I assume it's just different translations in most cases. Shoutouts to various random youtube videos and also these text dumps organized by Abcboy on Bulbapedia.
This is a one word change in Platinum. Also barely anyone talks to this NPC after getting the pokedex.
This is actually a screenshot from Serebii. Here you can see that in BDSP/DP the player is already next to the grunts (with one facing the wrong direction) and they say this after you approach, while in Platinum the grunts are talking before you walk up.
I'll link both versions because this scene is very different in Platinum and Rowan is a lot more savage, so it'll be a shame if they don't keep that in. Also "professor of Pokemon" sounds better than "Professor Pokemon".
DP version
Platinum version
This line from Rowan after the multi battle in Jubilife is slightly changed from original DP (harness), and was different in Platinum as well.
This line is the same as DP and was reworded in Platinum.
Not a big difference here, but Mt. Coronet has been renamed to Mount Coronet. (Route 211 Hiker) There are some other simple ones as well, like Stickers to Seals and Pokemon Contests to Super Contest Shows.
This is another line that seems the same as what we can see in DP (though all on one line), and was reworded in Platinum because the conversation mentions multiple beings. However, the colour of the rock (faithfully above the textbox) looks closer to Platinum.
I don't think this exact line exists in the original, but this is probably just standard help text. Based on the floor this is probably in the Center rather than the room itself, which could mean Teala could return to explain this. It would be nice if you could just access the Union Room from anywhere, but as long as it's reliable it should be fine.
For a last note, this is showing the multi battle in Veilstone City. In the originals the partner leads with Clefairy, but both enemy leads are still alive and Luxio and Grotle are out, with Lucas probably being the AI partner here. This could just be set up for the trailer though, and Grotle wouldn't be great here anyway.
EDIT:
I think megas would be hard to fit in because there are so many aces without megas. Either you give Flint a Mega Lopunny or Steelix or Houndoom or invent a Mega Magmortar.
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For the record even between the same generation of games level up movesets can very much change between the base games and third versions/remakes. Many Pokemon had their level up learnsets altered between DP and Platinum/HGSS or DPP and HGSS, not necessarily in terms of what moves they learn, but also the distribution of levels of when they learn certain moves. Same with XY and ORAS. Like in Gen 6, for example, in XY Gardevoir doesn't learn Moonblast until Level 85, and its moves are very spread out over those levels, but in ORAS it learns several moves much earlier like Psychic at around 31 instead of 40-ish and it learns Moonblast at 62 instead of 85.
So they could very well do the same with BDSP compared to SwSh. Chimchar learning Power-Up Punch is in itself an addition, and so is Turtwig learning Growth, and adding new moves to a Pokemon's level up pool mid-generation is not unprecedented: BW2 Beartic for example learns Aqua Jet via relearner whereas it doesn't in BW1. Decidueye learns Shadow Sneak in USUM whereas it doesn't in SM, and Kommo-o with Close Combat as well. Likewise, Dialga and Palkia's level up learnsets will very likely tweak what levels they learn certain moves at so that they learn Roar of Time and Spacial Rend earlier and before Level 47, if they remain at that level in this game, or vice versa. It's not unprecedented for these kinds of changes to happen: if anything, it's a regular occurrence for remakes, third versions, and whatnot to tweak level up learnsets for many Pokemon mid-generation from what said level up learnsets were in the base games of that generation. So even Pokemon who were in SwSh may have different level-up distribution of moves in BDSP, if not possibly new moves as well.
Yung Dramps
awesome gaming
That's what I'm saying! The fact ILCA has the means to make major new art assets may mean new Megas are a possibility.
What I’d do is have Unown start with Hidden Power, and then have amove tutor near the ruins that teaches moves to Unown based on how many types you have, such as:
-Psywave (probs the first move you get, and a development gag since this was Unown’s sole move in SW97
-Confusion, Psybeam, and Psychic (duh), and maybe Extrasensory
-Zen Headbutt (to actually make use of its Attack stat)
-Aura Sphere (it seems ‘special enough’ to be able to learn it)
Though I’d also have a hold item that boosts an Unown’s stats by x1.1 for every five forms after the first captured, so 6 would give 1.1, 11 1.2, etc.
...buuuut I think I’m wishlisting so I’ll stop here.
Who says they have to be aces?
Which BTW is something that irks me about Megas in-game, being how they’re usually shoehorned into being the ace on a trainer’s team. I mean, do they really have to do that? There could be a lot more interesting strategies in-game from not having the Mega be the ace.
OK, so, you're not wrong that there could be Megas if they wanted and also yes that could mean new megas to go with
but
making entirely new Pokemon designs, complete with all the many many many interlocking parts involved with that, is in an entirely different wheel house than "they got to make new clothing options".
I want to better outline this out, so bear with me.
To make new outfits, they just have to draft the design, finalize it, then implement it. Dawn & Lucas' models are already locked in: the new outfits just map to them. Not to downplay the work involved in making anything in a game, but in the there's really nothing special here, in the grand scheme. And outside of the game, we'll probably never see anything about it. No new renders or merch or anything.
To make new Megas they're making entirely new forms of Pokemon that can & often will vary much more. They'll have to make new models. New animations.
These things will be expected to be on call for possible appearences in:
-Merchandise of all sorts
-the TCG
-Anime
-Mangas
-Future pokemon games that might have megas
-Future pokemon spinoff games
Not to mention the entire, like, gameplay component. Abilities, stats, possible move pool changes to accommodate the Mega's gimmick.
And, again, perhaps they could* happen! Maybe megas will be revealed next month and there will be no ones to go with them and that'll be varying levels of neat. But I'm not looking at new clothes and going "this could mean something big" any more than looking at the Grand Underground or new Battle backgrounds. These are so far apart from each other in terms of work that goes into them and expectations for them that you cannot just use "they got to make new art assets" as possible evidence towards megas. This isn't a leap it's a chartered helicopter between them.
*Incidentally the fact that none of the designs have had a mega ring added to them feels....telling. Like yeah I guess they could all just be "hidden" like how the ORAS E4 all have mega items but don't actually show them but...
Also feels like it'd be a bit weird to make a batch of new designs and have them locked to just this game so far as competitive goes. It's easy to think the Hisui stuff will make it over to SWSH but I don't see them patching in megas
To make new outfits, they just have to draft the design, finalize it, then implement it. Dawn & Lucas' models are already locked in: the new outfits just map to them. Not to downplay the work involved in making anything in a game, but in the there's really nothing special here, in the grand scheme. And outside of the game, we'll probably never see anything about it. No new renders or merch or anything.
To make new Megas they're making entirely new forms of Pokemon that can & often will vary much more. They'll have to make new models. New animations.
These things will be expected to be on call for possible appearences in:
-Merchandise of all sorts
-the TCG
-Anime
-Mangas
-Future pokemon games that might have megas
-Future pokemon spinoff games
Not to mention the entire, like, gameplay component. Abilities, stats, possible move pool changes to accommodate the Mega's gimmick.
And, again, perhaps they could* happen! Maybe megas will be revealed next month and there will be no ones to go with them and that'll be varying levels of neat. But I'm not looking at new clothes and going "this could mean something big" any more than looking at the Grand Underground or new Battle backgrounds. These are so far apart from each other in terms of work that goes into them and expectations for them that you cannot just use "they got to make new art assets" as possible evidence towards megas. This isn't a leap it's a chartered helicopter between them.
*Incidentally the fact that none of the designs have had a mega ring added to them feels....telling. Like yeah I guess they could all just be "hidden" like how the ORAS E4 all have mega items but don't actually show them but...
Also feels like it'd be a bit weird to make a batch of new designs and have them locked to just this game so far as competitive goes. It's easy to think the Hisui stuff will make it over to SWSH but I don't see them patching in megas
It occurred to me last night that I probably won't be getting this due to two factors that I could deal with individually.
Without the battle frontier to sink 200 hours into, the game's value hinges on how enjoyable the maingame playthroughs are. Nearly all of my recent playthroughs have involved some restrictions on which mons I can take. This means that the standard answer to forced Exp. Share, rotating through a large pool of mons, would not be practical and would likely require catching duplicates just to keep the Exp down. In other words, I can't enjoy the postgame as much because no battle frontier, and can't enjoy the maingame as much because of the forced Exp. share. I'm not sure then what section would be worth it, since they've made it clear that this isn't the desired place for online battles.
Without the battle frontier to sink 200 hours into, the game's value hinges on how enjoyable the maingame playthroughs are. Nearly all of my recent playthroughs have involved some restrictions on which mons I can take. This means that the standard answer to forced Exp. Share, rotating through a large pool of mons, would not be practical and would likely require catching duplicates just to keep the Exp down. In other words, I can't enjoy the postgame as much because no battle frontier, and can't enjoy the maingame as much because of the forced Exp. share. I'm not sure then what section would be worth it, since they've made it clear that this isn't the desired place for online battles.
Or, if PC on the fly is present, you could do the approach I'm intending to use: go all-out and make a rotating party of every single Pokémon I like from the regional dex - I might end up needing more than a single Box for the entire party :P
I don't see it as impossible *in the next generation(s)* but if they wanted to reintroduce them with BDSP they'd definitely have already mentioned it considering how big of a selling point would be.
Firstly, that would only be effective for one playthrough. What am I supposed to do after that besides going to the non-existant battle frontier?
Secondly, let's count this out, using the current platinum regional dex:
Full count: 16 lines (heatran is not in the regional dex)
Requires item trade, which I have no way of guaranteeing effectively: 3 lines (Scizor, Porygon-Z, Rhyperior)
Cannot be obtained early enough to meaningfully affect Exp. routing: 1 line (Octillery)
An absolute pain to get: 4 lines (Spiritomb, Vespiquen, Yanmega, Heracross)
Remainder: 8 lines (Roserade, Gallade, Rotom, Magnezone, hippowdon, bronzong, gastrodon-east, luxray).
Even assuming that there is a good replacement for the safari zone and honey trees, I'm not convinced 12 is enough. There is a good chance that I would need there to be maingame access for mons that were still postgame-only in platinum to have one good run (and as mentioned, I want more than one good run if I'm not going to be seriously using the postgame).
I feel like being a time wasting try hard and actually doing EV training grinding in my run tbh
Like, I can grind Shinxs and Starlys to EV train Chimchar, Starly, and Magikarp, wait till Veilstone to EV train Manaphy...
Look I just want to OHKO like 80% of the game with Close Combat OK?
And on the plus side if people actually end up playing on Union Rooms, I could have some novelty in cart battles! Granted, I think I'll mostly stick to Showdown for serious competitive BDSP, since the lack of a ranked ladder is a real bummer.
Like, I can grind Shinxs and Starlys to EV train Chimchar, Starly, and Magikarp, wait till Veilstone to EV train Manaphy...
Look I just want to OHKO like 80% of the game with Close Combat OK?
And on the plus side if people actually end up playing on Union Rooms, I could have some novelty in cart battles! Granted, I think I'll mostly stick to Showdown for serious competitive BDSP, since the lack of a ranked ladder is a real bummer.