Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Review Impressions

In the past few years, Pokemon has made some interesting detours. We have seen this series of experiments get rid of the traditional gym battle structure, adopt an open world design, and discard some older Pokemon from the currently playable Pokedex. Some of these changes are liked by fans, some are understood by them, and some are criticized by them. The latest small adjustment to the tradition of the series comes from its latest remake-this is slightly different from our past remakes.

The concept behind Pokemon Remake, established by the first couple in 2004, was to modernize the old Pokemon game to the standards of the “current” generation. So FireRed and LeafGreen share the visual appearance and feature set with Pokemon games in the GBA era, while HeartGold and SoulSilver did the same for the DS era. Pokemon Brilliant Diamonds and Sparkling Pearls To a certain extent, break this tradition. It is not a new version of Diamond and Pearl designed to match the style and performance of Pokemon Sword & Shield, but a more craftsman-like, simpler remake. This is the same game, painted with beautiful new paint.

To view this content, please enable targeting cookies.
iGamesNews

This glow is not for everyone. The chibi style of the characters in the main world is a bit reminiscent of the fantastic toy style in the Switch remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. Not everyone likes this style. But I do think it is appropriate, and it shows well how the fuzzy and stubby sprites used on the Nintendo DS might look if rendered relatively faithfully using modern 3D graphics. When you enter the battle, the game will transform the artistic style into a more modern Pokemon appearance, which is basically similar to anime. This may sound harsh, but it is not the case-Japanese RPGs have been using different artistic styles for combat and the main world for a long time. Things that are good enough for Final Fantasy 7 are of course also for Pokemon. enough.

Beyond the visual effects, you will find…very much like the 2006 Pokemon game. I want to say that diamonds and pearls are arguably the last of the early and most determined traditional Pokemon games. If the first three generations loosely form a trilogy, at least in terms of design, then the fourth generation is like the epilogue. The next generation is where the series begins to become more and more chaotic, and will culminate in the shocking series of “Sword and Shield” and next year’s legend: Al Zeus.

In fact, this is a more traditional Pokemon game, which is really great at this time-it forms a lovely contrast with the development direction of the rest of the series, especially in the new year, history The most different Pokemon ever appeared. This is an opportunity for a young child to triumph in a basic and arguably eternal structure, enter an RPG world, from town to town, and solve their gymnasium without other interference- In any case, except for the criminal team. Pokemon is now more mechanically richer, but BDSP provides a glimpse of the series when it was just more naive and simple at the time.

This fact makes this remake work, although as I said, it is very much like a craftsman. I haven’t arrived after the game with more supplements, which is why these are impressions rather than ratings, but its loyalty is a bit surprising. Let me give you a very simple early game example. In “Diamonds and Pearls”, the player character was very slow at first, but eventually got running shoes. This happened about 10 minutes after the start of the game, but the first short game was very slow. You move like molasses-the acquisition of the shoe has nothing to do with any major story event that moves it to cause problems.

If I were in charge of this remake, I would let the protagonist act quickly from the beginning because the quality of life has changed. I think that people can handle their little chibi doll-like protagonist moving faster than a snail. But here, it is the same. The original game is like this, and this is also the case. It doesn’t matter, the later game gave you shoes from the beginning, understanding how painful slow movement is; this is a faithful remake, a mistake.

This also makes this game difficult to write, especially in an unfinished review written before I fully explore the content of the game, which also happens to be the area with the most BDSP features. I mean, how much do you like Pokemon Diamonds and Pearls? If this is one of your favorite generations of Pokemon, or even your favorite, then you now have lovely 3D visual versions of these games, carefully crafted for Nintendo Switch.

Regarding the quality of this 3D game, there are many problems with music and some visual aspects-I can only say that in the finished game, patched to version 1.1.0, these things seem basically no problem. This is a seemingly popular Game-but the finished product does not seem to be damaged in any way. If you agree with all its aesthetic choices, of course it is another question.

However, I also understand why some fans feel that they have been temporarily changed because of this version. On the one hand, if this is the most beloved generation you have been looking forward to remakes, it may be disappointing to “only” get faithful entertainment instead of seeing the diamonds and pearls of the Shinno area reproduce with fidelity. With shield. In addition, one of the biggest attractions of the Pokemon remake is the ability to bring new Pokemon into the old area-which is impossible here. There is not even an updated version of Pokemon Evolution (for example, Sylveon or Mr. Rime) available in the game-and, this is different from past remakes, as you learn more, it will start to open up.

In many ways, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl feel like belt development. I know very well that the title Game Freak wants to make is Pokemon Legends: Arceus, which will be launched in a few months. BDSP feels like an obligation to jointly develop with a new external company in the franchise; a remake of Shenao created in the simplest form, because fans are looking forward to the remake of Shenao.

That’s it-as a stopgap on the way to Arceus, as a way to step on the water before a newer, brighter, and more exciting game-it doesn’t matter. Generally speaking, I don’t think it is as rich and exciting as the previous Pokemon remakes-but leave everything about the original diamond and pearl beloved intact.