Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are 10 years old now

[The Draco Knight]

So, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl happens to be 10 years old today. I'm feeling a bit old, even tough I shouldn't

Anyway, these games were the first of the 4th generation, which is probably one of the longest in the series, considering that It lasted from 2006 until 2010, when Black and White were released in Japan and, in 2011, in Europe.

And I'll use this opportunity to ask a question to all of you who played these games:

What do you think of them? Do you like them or not?

Edited September 28, 2016 by The Wyvern Rider

[Shuuda]

And it took two years before the generation actually started.

Happy eighth birthday to Pokemon Platinum!

Edited September 28, 2016 by Shuuda

[maybe]

i do not like them

[Shuuda]

We should celebrate by lighting two candles. Huh! Huh!

[The DanMan]

Can you stop making me feel old, please?

[Tamanoir]

...And the first Pokemon game are nearly 20 years old (18 around here, but still). That was the biggest shock for me.

As for DP. I have mixed feelings about them. I bought it because my GBA wasn't working (the left button was kaput), and I needed a game for my DS.

That may seems funny, but at the time, my first impression was how great the graphics were. Myself, I'm not sure why.

I had my first Shiney (a Wurmple > Beautifly), and my first PokéRus (I think it was a Steelix in Iron Island, but no way to be completely sure.) But it was the time when my interest started to lessen, and I found it "too childish" (I've grown since then, don't worry.)

It was also the only time where I ditched my starter (a Torterra) for the endgame. (And the National Pokédex was utterly stupid.)

I became the player I'm now with HGSS (never had Platinum).

[Water Mage]

Dammit, I was trying to ignore this. I don't want to fell old!

Can you stop making me feel old, please?

You're still 17! You still young! When you reach 20, that's when time starts going faster than you can keep up. Before you realize it you're 25! You enjoy your teen years buddy, cause they ain't coming back!

[Magical Glace]

I never finished em. But I did enjoy the games overall.

[Anacybele]

Happy tenth to the best Pokemon games in the series! ^^ Well, sorta the best. Gen 4 is my favorite gen and the best gen, imo, but I wouldn't say Diamond and Pearl by themselves were the best. The battles were too slow and the regional Pokedex was too small and didn't have enough Fire types. Platinum rectified all the problems I had with DP though, so I do consider it to be the best in the series along with XY.

I plan to replay Diamond as a remake hype playthrough, because it's practically a guarantee that Diamond and Pearl will be remade since gens 1-3 got that treatment so far.

[VeryAngryBisharp]

Eehhh DP were the ones that made me stop playing for a while. They introduced some cool Pokemon though.

HGSS were amazing.

[Tamanoir]

Eehhh DP were the ones that made me stop playing for a while. They introduced some cool Pokemon though.

HGSS were amazing.

HGSS made me come back.

BW/B2W2 made me stay.

[Nym]

Gosh already, I'm remember getting it for Christmas.

Time sure goes fast.

[VeryAngryBisharp]

HGSS made me come back.

BW/B2W2 made me stay.

Exactly.

[The Draco Knight]

And it took two years before the generation actually started.

Happy eighth birthday to Pokemon Platinum!

Happy tenth to the best Pokemon games in the series! ^^ Well, sorta the best. Gen 4 is my favorite gen and the best gen, imo, but I wouldn't say Diamond and Pearl by themselves were the best. The battles were too slow and the regional Pokedex was too small and didn't have enough Fire types. Platinum rectified all the problems I had with DP though, so I do consider it to be the best in the series along with XY.

I plan to replay Diamond as a remake hype playthrough, because it's practically a guarantee that Diamond and Pearl will be remade since gens 1-3 got that treatment so far.

I agree, Platinum really solved many of the flaws of D/P and added many awesone things as well, with the Battle frontied being the best one(I mean, it's not really new, but it was still a fantastic addition nonetheless)

Can you stop making me feel old, please?

Dammit, I was trying to ignore this. I don't want to fell old!

You're still 17! You still young! When you reach 20, that's when time starts going faster than you can keep up. Before you realize it you're 25! You enjoy your teen years buddy, cause they ain't coming back!

Hey, I too feel old knowing that these games are 10 years old, especially considering that I was just 6 years old when I bought them.

[Shinehollow]

Sinnoh is my favourite region and D/P/PT where the games that started me on the serious so I'm biased.

I'm still in denial it's been 10 years already.

[The DanMan]

You're still 17! You still young! When you reach 20, that's when time starts going faster than you can keep up. Before you realize it you're 25! You enjoy your teen years buddy, cause they ain't coming back!

Having Pokemon that are older than a lot of kids in elementary school isn't helping me here.

[Water Mage]

Hey, I too feel old knowing that these games are 10 years old, especially considering that I was just 6 years old when I bought them.

And I was 16 when Diamond and Pearl came out! Man, time flies.

Having Pokemon that are older than a lot of kids in elementary school isn't helping me here.

Try having Pokemon that are older than high school students.

Even worse, try having Pokemon that are older than college students! That's when you feel really old.

[Emerson]

Jeez, I know I'm not very old yet, but I'm feeling older.

Diamond was pretty much the second video game I remember owning, after Pokemon Emerald. I liked it a lot when I was younger, and I wouldn't say I dislike it now. I can get beyond the slow walking, although the battles and Surf speed is way too slow, even for me. A remake could make the experience a heck of a lot better, although I feel a Platinum remake would be more appropriate, since it's story is actually somewhat different (Plus I want to see the Distortion World in 3D).

I guess once Platinum has it's 10th anniversary, I can start singing my praises for Gen 4.

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

Best Gen to ever exist, outside the fact it took 10 years to finish a playthrough of it

[Samias]

I bought Pearl and my then-newly-minted-boyfriend-now-fiance bought Diamond, but it was still a budding relationship at the time. Wow...

Despite growing up with the craze of gen 1 in elementary school, gen 4 is my favourite followed by gen 2. While Pearl was certainly flawed in crucial ways, mostly to do with poor Pokedex variety and a slow game engine, Platinum fixed every problem one could have with the originals. Sinnoh's Mt Coronet is such a striking landmark and the harsh northern terrain and swampy south made the going tough. Out of all the games, DPP really felt like an arduous adventure through the harshest wilds. Then we got Heartgold/Soulsilver, which are the two best games in the entire series IMO. Really great balance of new things to do while remaining nostalgic about the old games, and it managed to integrate the Suicune storyline from Crystal while still having brand new cutscenes for the legendary birds. Plus having a Pokemon of your choice follow behind you, ANY Pokemon, nearly everywhere... really astounding how much work went into that game. I do like FRLG and ORAS but HGSS feels like a whole other level of ambition for what its respective gen had to offer.

[Shuuda]

Okay, I did actually do a playthrough of Platinum recently, so I do have some actual thoughts on the matter. After some consideration, I've conluded that D/P/Pt actually did some important things right, despite it's... very apparent faults.

The Pokemon introduced this gen have always been divisive to me. On the one hand I'm not a huge fan of many designs for the original lines brought in. Aesthically I don't like the starters or most of the legendaries. Palkia and Dialga are the ugliest mascots in my mind, and Giratina isn't much better. However playing through Pt did make me realises there were some nice designs here and there. Most notiably for me were Gastrodon and Toxicroak, which not only had appealing designs but also interesting features battle wise. Stat wise they both underwhelm, but both stack on many good points to compensation, whether it's their typings, useful abilities (Storm Drain good better in later gens at least), or interesting movepools (hey, Smogon seems to consider Nasty Plot Toxicroak a thing). They're both awesome designs in that respect.

It's a shame that for every Gastrodon or Bronzong we also have a Purugly and Wormadam.

The additions to old lines are alright. There are a few stinkers like Rhyperior and Magmortar, but most of them did their job of making old Pokemon relevant (see Weavile, Togekiss, Gliscor, Tangrowth, Mamoswine, Porygon-Z, Honchkrow, Roserade, and probably others). It's such a shame D/P didn't utilise many of them in their main game.

One final thing which I feel is important to mention is that D/P/Pt did a great job with Pokemon availability in the main game. Jokes about Fire types aside (which are well deserved) these games offered good stuff early. Not X/Y levels of availability but better than most other games.

Here are a list of the good or interesting Pokemon you can catch before the first gym in D/P:

Starly (Staraptor)

Shinx (Luxray)

Budew (Roserade)

Abra (Alakazam)

Machop (Machamp)

Zubat (Crobat)

Geodude (Golem)

Onix (Steelix)

Magikarp (Gyarados)

If you're playing Pt, you can also throw Ponyta and Psyduck on the list.

Compare that to the first Pokemon you can catch pre gym one in B/W:

Patrat (Watchog)

Purloin (Liepard)

Lillipup (Stoutland)

Monkey (Other Monkey)

In B/W the first Pokemon you'll be using are the offal that you'll be replacing as soon you can. In D/P/Pt you can find plenty of Pokemon you might actually want to use on your final team. I think this fact makes playing these games easier for me than B/W.

Sinnoh is also one of the better regions in my mind. This might not be a fair judgement, because I'm going off the improved visual in Pt, but I feel this region struck a nice balance between diverse locations while still feelings coherent. Having Mt Coronet act as the centre of everying, both geographically and storywise, brought everything together. I also enjoyed the longer routes that made cities feel further apart. Of course the big issue in this region are the HMs, which are in full force. It spoils an otherwise delightful region. It pains me to have to teach Rock Climb to Torterra and ruin a perfect moveset. Seriously, just let me keep Crunch instead of that rubbish.

And finally, the physical/special split was one of the biggest improvements ever in Pokemon. That contribution alone makes these games stand out from the previous or succeeding generations.

So yeah. D/P... aren't... half... bad.... Just... really... slow.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Shuuda

[JSND Alter Dragon Boner]

BW distribution was hilarious

Get past gym 1 and all of a sudden you have Sawk, Leavanny, and Lilligant with near perfect IV on your face

Get past that and.... you get to the infamous desert portion with Darmanitan, Krookodile and Scrafty. Before long you got Archeops. It was very lopsided

[Shuuda]

BW distribution was hilarious

Get past gym 1 and all of a sudden you have Sawk, Leavanny, and Lilligant with near perfect IV on your face

Get past that and.... you get to the infamous desert portion with Darmanitan, Krookodile and Scrafty. Before long you got Archeops. It was very lopsided

If I remember correctly the inside of Pinwheel Forest was blocked off until after the second gym, so no Leavanny or Lilligant/Whimsicott even.

[Water Mage]

Now that I think about it, BW earlygame has even worst distribution that the Gen 1 earlygame games.

[The Draco Knight]

Okay, I did actually do a playthrough of Platinum recently, so I do have some actual thoughts on the matter. After some consideration, I've conluded that D/P/Pt actually did some important things right, despite it's... very apparent faults.

The Pokemon introduced this gen have always been divisive to me. On the one hand I'm not a huge fan of many designs for the original lines brought in. Aesthically I don't like the starters or most of the legendaries. Palkia and Dialga are the ugliest mascots in my mind, and Giratina isn't much better. However playing through Pt did make me realises there were some nice designs here and there. Most notiably for me were Gastrodon and Toxicroak, which not only had appealing designs but also interesting features battle wise. Stat wise they both underwhelm, but both stack on many good points to compensation, whether it's their typings, useful abilities (Storm Drain good better in later gens at least), or interesting movepools (hey, Smogon seems to consider Nasty Plot Toxicroak a thing). They're both awesome designs in that respect.

You can shit all you want about Dialga and Palkia, but don't you dare to do so about Giratina

Sinnoh is also one of the better regions in my mind. This might not be a fair judgement, because I'm going off the improved visual in Pt, but I feel this region struck a nice balance between diverse locations while still feelings coherent. Having Mt Coronet act as the centre of everying, both geographically and storywise, brought everything together. I also enjoyed the longer routes that made cities feel further apart. Of course the big issue in this region are the HMs, which are in full force. It spoils an otherwise delightful region. It pains me to have to teach Rock Climb to Torterra and ruin a perfect moveset. Seriously, just let me keep Crunch instead of that rubbish.

Personally, I never liked Sinnoh geographycally-wise that much: I know that It wanted to have varies locations, but this didn't allow It to have a certain..."identity"(sorry for the lack of a better term) around it.

I mean, Hoenn was very nature oriented, Johto was very japanese and Unima and Kalos were the most modern regions in the series; Sinoh, instead is just...bland because of what I said and is the second most forgettable region in the series for me.

Then again, It has passed a lot of time since the last time I've played Pokemon D/P/PT so there could be some details I'm forgeting about Sinnoh.

Edited October 2, 2016 by The Wyvern Rider