Pokémon Shining Pearl From An Outside Perspective
I debated talking about this game for a while. I haven’t played a Pokémon game since I played the original Pokémon Diamond when I was much younger, so you can imagine that my bias allowed me to love this nostalgic journey far before I had my hands on it. However, it seems to me that this game is being judged by many other adults based on its features and upgrades compared to other remade Pokémon games namely the fan favorite Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver. My problem with this, is that Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were developed by a third party developer named ILCA and not Game Freak, so this was a developers first shot at a mainline first-party Nintendo game. ILCA was responsible for creating Pokémon Home before this however it was more of a service application rather than a game. Being in the position I am in, I’d like to give my thoughts on this Pokémon remake as a person who has only played this Pokémon game and the original it is based on.
An Updated Aesthetic
One of this games biggest criticism was the art style change. I had seen how Sword and Shield looks from when my girlfriend was playing it and I remember how the original Diamond looked many years ago, it is apparent that ILCA has made a compromise between the two to create a game that uses the chibi designs from the original with modern 3D models for what I can gather, is to give the game a new look without having to change too much in the way of original design and environment. I actually don’t mind that the change is not as drastic as what the expectation was, especially since this came most likely to the benefit of how good the combat system looks since it easily competes with any modern turn based RPG in terms of its attention to detail in modeling and animation.
Every Pokémon has a full 3D model and every move is given unique animations and this shines especially in the gym battles. While I believe that it wouldn’t have been a tall order to want updated gym leader intros, seeing their Pokémon use their unique move was always exciting and made me anxious to get the TM after the fight, whereas in the original game I rarely found myself being able to care about how a move looked. The only design choice that I think is a little interesting is the attachment to the grid paths after adding in multi-directional control. This not only dates the look of the game even though model depth is added but also makes some traversal frustrating, for example the use of the bike in certain places.
Routes and Exploration
The main strength of the map that ILCA has inherited is the Sinnoh regions huge amount of character and inter connectivity. The region is surrounding a large mountain and has many routes branching the cities together. The biggest benefit of this is that it makes backtracking very easy, after exploring a route in most cases you can return to many areas by only traveling through 2 or 3 routes and most of the time they give you easier ways to travel that reward the player for mental mapping and clearing trainer battles. Something I had forgotten from the original however, is the immense amount of time you spend in caves. These caves are in most cases boring and don’t respect the players time or freedom, making trips through them agonizing treks where you are forced into back to back random encounters, most of them being the same handful of rock and psychic type Pokémon.
Note that these problems are very much inherited from the original product. But because I’m me, if I make a negative comment like this I have to think of a way that I would make it better. To liven up these cave areas I would add the type of spontaneity that the other routes have implemented (where each route has a new sight or place to visit) in the cave random encounters but enabling the random encounters in the cave as a feature. You are not allowed to avoid the random encounters in the caves so maybe it would be more engaging if there was low to medium chance to see some unique Pokémon to these areas that mix up the regular Geodude encounter. I think this would dissuade the player from repel-ing their way through these areas and encourage further exploration of the mountain that serves as the focal point of the Sinnoh lore and the trainers story.
I of course appreciate the inclusion of HM’s being an application on the Poketch rather than moves you have to teach your Pokémon even though I understand that this is a standard for Pokémon games nowadays. Something that I still don’t enjoy in Pokémon in general is catching Legendaries. I think it would be much more exciting to rely on something other than random chance to catch such incredible creatures but that is so deeply seated into the series that my complaint is most likely never going to remedy so I won’t press it further.
Locking Eyes With Another Trainer
Combat, this has to be the most controversial topic when it comes to this game. The argument brought to my attention the most is whether the implementation of Pokémon friendship determining increased crit chance as well as having a chance to give a Pokémon a chance to survive a fatal blow breaks the game balance. Many players thought this game allowed cheap wins to the player when they were allowed another turn whereas they should have died playing with traditional rules. I like the friendship system, it rewards the player for avoiding fainting their Pokémon and mastering its Poffin system that can raise a Pokémon’s friendship. What I would change about this is that it should be harder to obtain this elevated status, perhaps by the time you reach the Elite 4 you could naturally have 1 Pokémon that is dealing massive damage due to friendship and maybe a few more if you invested time to mix some Poffins for your Pokémon. And explaining this in Hearthome City might give the player a bigger incentive to dive into the games fashion show mini game and cooking instead of ignore it completely like I did.
Other than this, the game introduces the new types and moves seamlessly and I hardly noticed anything was different until remembering that there was no fairy type back in the day. The type match up is a robust system that asks the player to constantly evaluate their team composition and move-set to adapt to new challenges. Unfortunately many of the trainer and wild Pokémon in this game are either rock, fighting, or psychic type so you don’t have many challenges outside of the Elite 4 once you’ve established a strategy that works. And the gym leaders don’t put up much of a fight either which makes the last fight against the Elite 4 and Cynthia come as a shock to the unprepared trainer (me). There are also huge level differences causing pacing disturbances in the normal game progression. It is possible that the gym leader could be 5–10 levels above the trainers and wild Pokémon in the route right before it. These progression inconsistencies can break a players sense of progress making them feel often over/under leveled but never “on the right path” and can cause the player to feel like they are not doing the right thing or going the right way.
Outside of these issues the game can give a new player a great understanding of the new rule-set through certain scenarios and applies what I can imagine is the (pardon the pun) evolved and tempered Pokémon battle system of modern times. I think we can safely assume that we won’t be getting a Pokémon game with every single Pokémon in it for a while but if you enjoy the Pokémon on offer in this installment than there is a lot of fun to be had in team-building and the later battles along with the end-game.
Cosmic Lore
The story of this game follows you as a young trainer learning about two Pokémon with powers of space and time that supposedly created the Sinnoh region. You clash with Team Galactic led by a man named Cyrus who believes in Pokémon as tools rather than friends and partners who would harness the power of the legendary Pokémon for a diabolical reason that I won’t spoil if you haven’t played yet. I think that the story is light and whimsical, playing into the wacky world built around it. It’s serviceable to create some urgency to the plot that will have you running around the latter half of the game stopping Team Galactic plots. I don’t think it could even touch a full RPG but that’s the charm that’s been a trademark of the series. You could even talk to many of the members of Team Galactic to find out that they have no idea why they are even working for Team Galactic and many times you enter a house an NPC is there just waiting to hand you items or tell you that the building breaks fire code so that a Pachirisu can’t fall down the stairs. There is not a lot to say about the story, it’s Pokémon and you don’t have to be a long time fan to know what to expect already, a feel-good romp through the country with your pets. That being said if you really want a game that will attach you to characters and big themes than this is not the game to scratch that itch.
The Big Dig
The largest addition to the remake of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is the expansion of the grand underground that has unique Pokémon to catch and rare items to mine for. This was mine and my girlfriends favorite part of the game. I loved the digging mini-game and thought that collecting these statues was a fun way to decorate a secret base rather than the odds and ends in the original game. At times when we were at the Elite 4 letting them kick our ass back to the lobby I would occasionally hear my girlfriend say “I’m going to the underground to chill out for a bit” and I think that says a lot about how fun and relaxing just digging underground can be.
I know that many players prefer the older secret base decoration where you used more traditional furniture rather than statues but I suppose it’s personal preference. I grew weary of catching Pokémon after a few hours as it became harder and harder to find new Pokémon in the tiny areas however I love that there were some places to grow your team with Pokémon you couldn’t find on the surface. I remember spending a few afternoons running around the underground with my girlfriend having a blast but this made me wish that there were some more ways to interact with other players other than getting together to fill the Diglet meter. Just the pure excitement of running around the area with a friend is exciting enough but it feels like a shame that there is this huge multiplayer area and little to do in that interactive space.
A Pokémon Adventure
I may have led on that I let internet comments about Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl get to me but I am glad to see these opinions as I love to express my own thoughts on the matter here in my writing in a way that isn’t online confrontation. I really enjoyed my time with Pokémon Shining Pearl, so much so that I am easing my way through some other Pokémon games to find out what I’ve been missing out on. So while there could be other Pokémon games more worthy of your time, I am happy to say that this is a very entertaining 30–40 hour RPG on the Switch that has a solid combat system and beautiful 3D aesthetic that deserves space on your switch hard drive.
