[Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl] So how do you feel this holds up to Platinum?

[HeroLinik]

With these games being a remake of the Sinnoh-based titles, it's clear that comparisons to Platinum have been abound, and plenty of it. While some have argued that these games would offer a good enough experience on the level of Platinum, others have taken a more extreme view, including the likes of claiming this game does not hold up, or is even better than Platinum.

Based on your personal thoughts and feelings of BDSP compared to Platinum, by virtue of features such as QoL changes, new changes and otherwise removed features, how do you feel this game holds compared to Platinum?

 

[kabutoDX]

Platinum is way better and far more content rich. It's sad that this game can't compete with the features of a game from 2008.

The Distortion World and Battle Frontier were excellent additions that I wish were included this time around.

 

[ReKoil]

Although it could've been better, BDSP is still better.
Battle Frontier is something I never cared about and can stay gone.
Which sort of makes it Distortion World vs Grand Underground and I like the latter more.

 

[kabutoDX]

@ReKoil - Just because you don't care about the Frontier on a personal level it doesn't mean it should stay gone and it doesn't make BDSP the objectively better game.

 

[Sheep]

Platinum was a wonderful game, and I loved it a lot - massively wish the QoL features introduced in it made it over to BDSP. But the updated Underground and actually having proper WiFi this time around to explore it makes BDSP the more enjoyable game for me in the end despite the lack of features brought over from Pt. I've found a lot of love in digging for items with others so far. Can only hope we will eventually get Battle Frontier, even if it's via DLC, since I would love to see that too.

 

[Sweet Serenity]

I think that, based on what I remember playing, this game is a lot better than Pokémon Platinum, mainly because of the updated graphics, better music, expanded Grand Underground, the ability to walk with your Pokémon, no HM slavery (the best part, as the originals had way too many HMs), and the ability to change Pokémon in your party without needing a Pokémon Center PC. I still was rather disappointed by what seems to be a lack of a good post-game. I mean, the Ruby and Sapphire remakes added a great post-game, so I was kind of expecting the same thing from these games. Hopefully, they include some DLC or whatnot in the future.

 

[JDragon921]

Because of the QOL changes and modernity BDSP has over Platinum, I find them to be... almost equals? Even with the stuff BDSP had to fix (HMs, speed, etc.), Platinum is still better. The change in how some locations look (or a straight up change in the location, like how the Eterna Galactic Building in Pt is way more interesting), expanded dex, removal of some Postgame/National Dex requirements (like Rotom and Eevee), and better level curve just beats BDSP into the ground. Despite that, I'll always recommend that people play both Platinum and BDSP to get 2 slightly different experiences that are still very fun in their own ways.

So tbh, Plat is a little bit better than BDSP, but people should still play both. Extremely fun and fulfilling while being flawed as hell, just like how my Sinnoh always is. Plat has those "old pokemon" problems, and BDSP just has too many "new pokemon" problems. I can 100% say that if all the Platinum content was in the game, it'd just be better Platinum in modern Pokemon with some glitches.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

Platinum has the edge for me. I appreciated the additions Platinum made to the storyline - namely the Distortion World and Cyrus' speech during the Galactic HQ infiltration. Underground is a toss-up - while the Pokemon dens were appreciated, the lack of furniture for the Secret Bases turned the Underground into basically a spot for level grinding and Pokedex completion - not quite as "grand" as the name would suggest.

Platinum also has one QoL improvement lacking in BD/SP - up AND down buttons for the Poketch (and that device worked better on two screens as opposed to one anyway.)

BD/SP is still worth playing though - it's not quite as good as Platinum, but Platinum set a high bar that no Pokemon game since has been able to reach - and there are certainly far worse games than BD/SP.

 

[FeraligatrMaster]

BDSP don't hold a candle to Pokemon Platinum. They NEEDED the Platinum dex. Aside from that, I would've liked to see the Distortion World and a way to turn off the Exp. Share, like in Gens 6 and 7.

 

[Corveone]

I'm surprised to see nobody here mentioned the Affection bonusses, I've seen quite a few players complaining about that in other places. I don't want to win battles because my Pokémon are dodging/surviving hits when they technically shouldn't, shaking off status conditions, or landing more criticals with the power of love, because this isn't the F-ing anime, it's a game and I want battles to be as fair and consistent as possible. It's just sad to see they gave important trainers more competitive move sets, IVs, and even held items, but then they ruin it with forced Affection bonusses.

(And no, repeatedly letting your Pokémon faint or constantly feeding them herbs so they hate you is not a solution, it's just a tedious workaround and waste of in-game currency for a mechanic that should have been optional just like in XY, SM/USUM and SwSh)

And speaking about things that should have been optional, we have the forced Exp. Share again. Just like it happened to me in SwSh, I have to dodge trainers at certain points to prevent overlevelling, or temporarily swap team members out and put them in the box so they stop gaining exp.

Yes, obviously I do welcome the better graphics, the faster battle engine, the expanded Underground, the Fairy type, the updated move pools and Abilities. But with the forced Affection, Exp. Share, and the game using DP's Dex instead of Platinum's, it's hard to say BDSP is the better game in this case. It's not like HGSS or FRLG which (at least for me) effectively outclassed their original counterparts so I had no reason to replay RB or GSC anymore.

 

[gunofason]

One fact that I don't often see mentioned when it comes to BDSP is the difficulty level. I absolutely love that most of the gym leaders and elite four members have competitive movesets/items/strategies. Platinum was already hard if you were slightly underleveled, but BDSP is outright impossible if you're not at least on the same level as them imo.

 

[Corveone]

So I did an experiment last week:
-Started a Shining Pearl playthrough.
-Battle style: Set
-No items during battle (held items only)
-Affection mechanics disabled using a cheat code I've found.
-Skipped a lot of trainers to prevent my team from overlevelling (seriously, what the heck with the level curve, I had to skip pretty much every skippable trainer in the late game)
-Got to the E4 with everyone at level 55 (starts with Aaron at 53-57)
-After Lucian, used the Rare Candies I've found to raise everyone at level 60 for Cynthia.

My veredict:
BDSP has the best Elite Four in the entire franchise. The game is just designed to not let it shine, and you have to mess with the game's "rules" and mechanics to truly appreciate it.

It made me rethink my strategies, tweak my move sets, and retry several times to succeed (Flint and Cynthia were my main problems). Flint was surprisingly scary for my team, considering how luck-based his strategies are and how things can easily go wrong if you get bad luck. His Minimize+Baton Pass Drifblim can be a nightmare if you don't defeat it quickly. And there were quite a few moments in which a critical at the wrong time could have easily ruined my plans.

 

[ソラ]

I love original Diamond and Pearl (though that game is the reason I came to this site in the first place and started trading with ppl on here, anyways) Platinum is far better IMO; But Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is fun IMO, and its the game that my 7 year old daughter found out she loves pokemon games and can play without needing me to help her, and I have wonderful memories with her on it, Platinum was much better, I wish it had Platinum content, But it didn't turn me off to the game, I loved it and I still plan to try to complete the dex and having fun when I can.

 

[Kieran]

Even with the modern technology, I do not think these games are better than Platinum. Platinum was the reason I joined PC, it holds so much more nostalgias to me. I would say BDSP is better than DP, but definitely still do not hold a candle to Pt especially contents-wise and choices of Pokémon available (Even if they added the Underground, as I tend to ONLY use Pokémon introduced within that generation itself, so in BD I was only limited to using either Infernape and Magmortar which both I absolutely detested so I ended up playing through without any Fire types. Granted, it was the same in Platinum for me, but I didn't have to only limit myself to ONLY Infernape only until post-game because I could still get by using Magmortar despite disliking them, I just don't like monkeys.

Also anyone who knew me from way back would remember that my trading thread was named "Distortion World"-something! I love Giratina and the Distortion World so much and the Distortion Dimension added in Ramanas Park just is not on par to the original.

 

[badbunny]

I haven't played through Platinum endgame content, so I don't know if I can pass a verdict on endgame content, but it scratches my nostalgia itch and the QoL updates do it for me, so overall I'm happy with the game. I don't think I'm at a place to pass judgment on endgame content for BDSP, but I will say I enjoy the game as much as I enjoyed Platinum, save for the snow on the ground. I quite loved how snowy Platinum was, and I miss that. It's small, but, that's one of the things I do miss from Platinum.

 

[Fairy]

I kinda think it's a buggy mess compared to Platinum, if I'm being honest. :/

 

[Kim-desu]

Remembering the Snowpoint Gym Puzzle

 

[Pokemunk Presto]

Platinum is far better! They didn't even add the back button to the Poketch...

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Always said it: the worst part of this game is that Platinum offers a better experience and it's a way older game. The choice of making a game exactly as it was can be appreciated, but then they should rather just release a remastered than a "remastered++". Because if you present people the same game, people will know exactly what the game is about and don't expect anything new. Instead, they just changed some things to adapt an older game to the style of newer games, ignoring the changes that had been done in that same generation. I wasn't expecting to have the pokemon Platinum story, but they could have done some sort of Delta Episode, like in ORAS. I also think the graphics didn't help, because the graphic style of pokemon platinum is more coherent with the console it was released on, so it just feels more right and immersive.