The physical/special split and WiFi features were a godsend, but nearly everything else was unremarkable. The gameplay was SO DAMN SLOW, new evolutions to old Pokémon were ugly, the spread of Pokémon across the region was bizarre (almost zero fire types), HM's still terrible, etc. Ruby and Sapphire, while having their own issues, felt fresh and the gameplay was fast. DP just didn't impress enough for being a new gen on new hardware. Maybe Platinum fixed some things but I wasn't willing to bother by that point. Gamefreak often does the whole 2 steps forward 1 step back and this was the perfect example. Luckily gen 5 came and fixed almost all the issues I had.
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It's been ten years since Pokemon Diamond and Pearl was released in Japan...
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For some reason, the one thing I remember the best about Gen IV is running around in the snowy mountains while everything else is a blur. Even though I like a lot of what it did like the physical-special split and the new evos for older Pokemon, I just don't have a particular fondness for the rest of it, just kinda thinking it's okay.
A Sentient Keyboard
Member
Let's get some of D/P/Pt's great chill music in here.
Lake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOmznKTv74M&list=RDUhmygATFpLI&index=3
Route 209 (day): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krGXMh6qaxA&list=RDUhmygATFpLI&index=9
I also enjoyed the physical/special split (to make some unfortunately statted mons like gyarados and arcanine viable) and the wifi battles (even though I moved to online simulators pretty quickly after release).
Platinum is probably my favorite pokemon game, even though Yellow has the advantage of nostalgia and being charmingly busted.
Lake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOmznKTv74M&list=RDUhmygATFpLI&index=3
Route 209 (day): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krGXMh6qaxA&list=RDUhmygATFpLI&index=9
I also enjoyed the physical/special split (to make some unfortunately statted mons like gyarados and arcanine viable) and the wifi battles (even though I moved to online simulators pretty quickly after release).
Platinum is probably my favorite pokemon game, even though Yellow has the advantage of nostalgia and being charmingly busted.
Neoleo2143
Member
I'm not terribly fond of DP, I enjoy the layout of the world but it's really slow overall. Plus the Elite 4 Difficulty Spike is total Bullshit and they knew it.
I'm much more Fond of Platinum which rectified most of these issues.
I'm much more Fond of Platinum which rectified most of these issues.
elkniwcire
Member
Over the last 2 months I've played through Gens II through VI for the first time and I'll have to respectfully disagree with you about D/P/Plat. It was my least favorite Gen. It had a ridiculous reliance on HMs. The battling was really slow. The characters lacked the personality of some of the other games (Barry, wtf?). Team Galactic's Pokemon were a pain to battle (Stunky/Golbat poisoning every single time). Overall Gen IV just wasn't a fun experience in my opinion.
Pretty much sums up my experience as well. Gen 3 wasn't perfect but it had a distinct personality. Gen 4 didn't really have an identity of its own.
Pretty much sums up my experience as well. Gen 3 wasn't perfect but it had a distinct personality. Gen 4 didn't really have an identity of its own.
dreamlongdead
Member
I never actually played the original Diamond and Pearl. I jumped in with Platinum and HeartGold, and they were great experiences.
I like Gen 4 more than 3 and 6, but it does have some big flaws that prevent it from being near the top.
I like Gen 4 more than 3 and 6, but it does have some big flaws that prevent it from being near the top.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
DPPt did so much right, and so much wrong. On the good side: the physical/special split was perhaps the best major overhaul made in the franchise to date. DPPt's overworld is probably the best - it's content-dense, it weaves and winds and isn't as linear as BW or the awful Kalos, there's a good variety of locations. The difficulty is good - ignoring the E4 difficult spike, it's well-paced throughout and not the yawnfest of later titles. OST is great.
The bad: EVERYTHING IS SO SLOW JESUS CHRIST. Running is slow. Surfing is slow. Battles are slow. Text is slow. Platinum fixed some of this, but it didn't go anywhere near fast enough. This games just takes too long to happen, at every step. The evolutions of prior lines are near universally awful; Magmortar is a sin against humanity. The distribution of Pokemon was baffling - what on earth was up with Fire types?
4th gen was probably the best gen, but it wasn't DPPt themselves - it was HGSS, which they set the groundwork for. So I appreciate them for that.
The bad: EVERYTHING IS SO SLOW JESUS CHRIST. Running is slow. Surfing is slow. Battles are slow. Text is slow. Platinum fixed some of this, but it didn't go anywhere near fast enough. This games just takes too long to happen, at every step. The evolutions of prior lines are near universally awful; Magmortar is a sin against humanity. The distribution of Pokemon was baffling - what on earth was up with Fire types?
4th gen was probably the best gen, but it wasn't DPPt themselves - it was HGSS, which they set the groundwork for. So I appreciate them for that.
balladofwindfishes
Member
The hype for Gen IV was out of this world. It felt like a long, agonizing couple years waiting for them to release.
Gen IV also "cleaned up" a lot of issues of past games. The special/physical split, along with new evolutions for Pokemon that desperately needed them, helped refresh the series a bit. It was also the first game with WiFi, although it was more limited (no random battles!)
DP also have fantastic route music. Probably the best route music in the series.
Oddly enough, despite all of that, all of the hype, the improvements, and so on, I really do have a hard time remembering much from DP other than some vague locations and a bit of the story. I can't really even recall what the map looked like, which I can easily do for Gen's 1-3 and 5 (not 6, that has the same issue as 4 for me).
Gen IV also has my favorite graphic style of the series. Large, bright, colorful sprites in a 3D world that emulated the old sprite style of the series.
Gen IV also "cleaned up" a lot of issues of past games. The special/physical split, along with new evolutions for Pokemon that desperately needed them, helped refresh the series a bit. It was also the first game with WiFi, although it was more limited (no random battles!)
DP also have fantastic route music. Probably the best route music in the series.
Oddly enough, despite all of that, all of the hype, the improvements, and so on, I really do have a hard time remembering much from DP other than some vague locations and a bit of the story. I can't really even recall what the map looked like, which I can easily do for Gen's 1-3 and 5 (not 6, that has the same issue as 4 for me).
Gen IV also has my favorite graphic style of the series. Large, bright, colorful sprites in a 3D world that emulated the old sprite style of the series.
AnathemicOne
Banned
Gen 3 was best Pokemon gen, Gen 4 I didn't touch
Salty Rice
Member
Now i feel old.
peanutbutterlatte
Member
Outside of the GTS, which quickly became a legendary filled joke, these were pretty unremarkable, and the first to make me feel like Game Freak could have done better.
I love most of the Unova/Kalos Pokemon, but man did some of the Sinnoh additions suck. I mean really just a lack of Pokemon you'd think "I want them on my team".
And then you had a really useful addition (the Poketch) which was unceremoniously ripped from the series thereafter.
I love most of the Unova/Kalos Pokemon, but man did some of the Sinnoh additions suck. I mean really just a lack of Pokemon you'd think "I want them on my team".
And then you had a really useful addition (the Poketch) which was unceremoniously ripped from the series thereafter.
If you ever thought the single player content was difficult, maybe it's not that it's gotten easier, but you've gotten older
Except thats not true. I literally stuck to my starter and lucario in X and cakewalked through the entire game. It's ridiculous how ez pz Pokémon games are now
Im very found of This gen, it was the first gen I bougth the games by buying Pearl in June 2007, the gen that made me look into internet forums in Pokemex, the gen that made my username, the gen I played the most, the gen that have me my favorite pokemon and pokemon game (Lucario and Platinum), the Best side content(Underground), This gen made me buy older games like leaf green and emerald and made my Love for pokemon eternal <3
While I do think the gen 6 was pretty bad for difficulty, being able to just stick to your starter and overpower everything in your way is something you can do in every pokemon game.
WrenchNinja
Member
When you have to go through thousands of battles? Fucking yes the speed is important
Typical platinum battle with battle animations off
Wait for battle transition animation
Wait for Wild/trained pokemon animation
Wait for your Pokemon's animation
Wait for invisible attacks from both Pokemon that shouldn't be taking a lot of time
Wait for health bar to slowly go down
Wait for wild/trained pokemon to faint and disappear
Wait for experience bar to slowly go up
Wait a second to go back to the overworld
This gen needs a redo badly, cause the act of actually playing these game is frustrating
Like even sifting through the Pokedex or your bag is a slog!
billy beane
Banned
Gen IV was great because it was the first game in the series that made multiplayer really easy. Before you needed a link cable, which really no one had because only Pokémon used it. With the DS it was easy. And a blast.
Phazon_Chaos
Neo Member
I'm looking forward to Gen 4 remakes, because it's been the longest time since I've been back in Sinnoh. Haven't played the games since Diamond and Pearl came out. I have a lot of nostalgia for the games though, since they marked a big renewed interest in Pokémon in my friend group. I think it was the first time I both had the system for a Pokémon game when it came out, and friends who wanted the games too, so I actually got it at/near launch, along with a few other friends, so we played the crap out of those games together.
Glass Shark
Banned
I missed out on a few generations of Pokémon, including Diamond and Pearl, due to falling away from games for a while.
I have a 3DS now and I'd love to go back and make my way through every generation again, and the ones I missed. Is there some way to carry my creatures all the way through from Gen I to current day?
I have a 3DS now and I'd love to go back and make my way through every generation again, and the ones I missed. Is there some way to carry my creatures all the way through from Gen I to current day?
Congratulations. You just described Pokemon where 99% of battles are filler.
It didn't help that the main game was the most iterative and dreadfully dull main entry outside of the physical/special split. I say this as someone who poured over 1,000 hours into a single playthrough of the game (me and my friends would host tournaments together in Battle Revolution and keep score during "seasons", which meant a lot of training and swapping team members, plus getting points for the right TMs): This is the one entry in the series where a remake has to do some serious work to justify revisiting it after a decade because there was so little in terms of substance compared to generations prior to and after, especially given how botched the online portion of the game was among other "advancements". Had it not been for Black & White shaking things up (and one of said friends convincing me to give it a try), I don't think i'd be playing these games, let alone looking forward to Sun/Moon.
And no: Platinum doesn't fix most of its problems aside from the native Dex (the soundtrack was still terrible aside from one or two standouts) and HeartGold/SoulSilver were held back by the fourth generation's faults.
As for the inevitable generational rankings (for the main games only): Gen II>Gen V=III>Gen VI>Gen I>Gen I>Gen IV
EDIT: Oh and the Pulseman references, while cute, just remind me of how much more i'd rather be playing that game than Diamond/Pearl.
You what.
No argument there.
Phazon_Chaos
Neo Member
The furthest back you can carry them forward from is Gen 3, and for that you'd need a DS for the GBA slot, plus access to two systems simultaneously to transfer from Gen 4 to 5. That said, with the release of Gen 1 on Virtual Console, you will be able to bring Pokémon from those versions of the games forward to Sun and Moon via Pokémon Bank.
WrenchNinja
Member
Nice try, but none of the other games are this slow. Platinum for example, is the kind of game where turning off battle animations doesn't include the tedious intro animations pokemon do at the start of battles
astrogamer
Member
Starters are designed to powerful regardless of game. If I wanted to, I could probably do it for every entry. For instance, I beat the entirety of Crystal with a Dunsparce and aside from the elite four and red, it wasn't really a challenge
Even ignoring the slowness, it was the gen with legendaries that jumped the shark, with the worst male character design, and with the worst villains (at the time, Flare is awful).
I'd rather not even get a remake for it, but I know many enjoyed it so more power to them. Not to say that I didn't enjoy my time with it, but it was definitely the least enjoyable region of all. However, I did like the fact that it seemed to be the last gen that seemed a little challenging at least. So thanks for that, the phys/spec split, and Cynthia I guess?
I'd rather not even get a remake for it, but I know many enjoyed it so more power to them. Not to say that I didn't enjoy my time with it, but it was definitely the least enjoyable region of all. However, I did like the fact that it seemed to be the last gen that seemed a little challenging at least. So thanks for that, the phys/spec split, and Cynthia I guess?
Oh, I love Generation 4 and the D/P/Pt games. Platinum still remains my favorite Pokemon game, and it basically fixed all the issues from D/P, with great post-game content, an improved story-line with an amazing climax with the Distortion World, a heavily improved PokeDex, and so on. There are so many Pokemon in this generation that I could point and say: "This Pokemon is in my Top 5 favorites." Giving older Pokemon an evolution was an amazing idea, and it is a damn shame they've stopped doing that. Another great thing about these games, is Sinnoh as a region. Sinnoh also gave you that excellent feeling of actually going on an adventure. You don't get that feeling in Unova and Kalos, both regions that felt very restrictive and much more "kid-friendly". And by that I mean, the region layout being circles and extremely linear.
How GameFreak went from creating the best Pokemon game in Platinum to making the absolute worst in the series in Black/White, I will never understand. There is such a gap in quality between the two games, it's kind of insane. Just about everything about Black/White took a massive dive in quality, and it almost killed my interest in the franchise.
How GameFreak went from creating the best Pokemon game in Platinum to making the absolute worst in the series in Black/White, I will never understand. There is such a gap in quality between the two games, it's kind of insane. Just about everything about Black/White took a massive dive in quality, and it almost killed my interest in the franchise.
And the pacing and Pokemon availability in G/S and R/S are awful what's your point?
WrenchNinja
Member
What does that have to do with anything? Im talking about the speed of the battle system. Which is factually slower.
And anyone can say a gen's pacing is bad. See watch me do Sinnoh. How fun is it to trek back and forth through Mt Coronet with a slow ass battle system? Oh boy, done with Eterna? Gotta go to Solacean! Woops some Psyduck are blocking the way. Wow Hearthome sure seems nice, too bad you have to buy the third version if you want to fight the gym leader right away and not go round and round in circles. Gotta get to Veilstone, better go to Canalave on the other side of the region, got to go to the Iron Island, got to head north to Snowpoint, now got to head all the way down to Sunyshore.
And Pokemon availability? We talkING about the same d/p with only five available fire types, three of which are the starter and the other two being fucking Ponyta and Rapidash? Cmon really?
Now see, I dont think traveling all over the place in Sinnoh is all that bad, it's really quite adventurous but that pacing comment is meaningless
How are the pixies in any way worse than the genies and whatever the hell that other trio is supposed to be?
I mean what the hell
Those were awful too, the MLP one being one of the worst gen 5 offenders. But no, the pixies were actually fine; I meant the designers feeling the need to outdo each gen beforehand culminating in the "god" of Pokemon (fucking lol), the "devil" counterpart, and Pokemon that control space and time (we already had Celebi too).
We didn't need all that creation shit explained. Having legendaries that were powerful but were only masters of specific aspects of life and nature was fine as it was.
We didn't need all that creation shit explained. Having legendaries that were powerful but were only masters of specific aspects of life and nature was fine as it was.
Baron von Loathsome
Member
It's my second favorite set of new Pokemon after Gen II. Great soundtrack, too.
NHarmonic.
Member
Probably the game i played the most, and the one with the most features and content and fun.
Eyeshield1625
Member
Took me this long to get the flash reference. I feel dumb
But Celebi was never the one to control time, he is simply a time traveler by the Grace of Dialga and our God and creator Arceus
Gen 4 is my favorite generation as I just love the Sinnoh region, it's rich lore, the NPC, the new Pokémon, the new evolution for old Pokémon, improvement to the battle mechanic, bringing all Pokémon fans closer together with the advent of Wi-Fi.
Love it or hate you can't deny that Gen 4 also brought about the renaissance of the Pokémon series.
They still don't as they only did it once and decided "Nope we aren't doing that again."
Nah, Barry was the last true rival who had a full team that grew along side yours and all rivals that proceeded after him didn't match up to him.
Plus he's miles better than the group of friends in X and Y, now they were pointless as the did nothing what soever in the story, with Shauna being shoehorned into the Team Flare plot.
What devil counterpart?
Celebi is a time traveler and doesn't control Time or space.
Love it or hate you can't deny that Gen 4 also brought about the renaissance of the Pokémon series.
They still don't as they only did it once and decided "Nope we aren't doing that again."
Seriously though
Such a pointless waste of a character.
Nah, Barry was the last true rival who had a full team that grew along side yours and all rivals that proceeded after him didn't match up to him.
Plus he's miles better than the group of friends in X and Y, now they were pointless as the did nothing what soever in the story, with Shauna being shoehorned into the Team Flare plot.
What devil counterpart?
Celebi is a time traveler and doesn't control Time or space.
AnathemicOne
Banned
To further elaborate on my point from earlier, one of the main criticisms I have for Diamond/Pearl is that it took the Pokemon mythos too far whereas Gen 3 was an introduction to it. Like did we really need Supreme God Pokemon Arceus and Time/Space Pokemon of Dialga and Palkia? Compared to Gen 3 and upcoming Sun/Moon the Legendaries, while powerful in their own right, are more grounded to (Pokemon) Earth as they represent common mythological aspects such as Earth, Sea, the Sun, the Moon, etc.
It seems a bit narrow-minded to focus on how much time battles take. I get that people get annoyed by it by modern standards but at the time of release? Really? That's what truly bothers you?
I'd much rather talk about the actual content, which was a breath of fresh air because of the physical/special split. Battles felt new, which is more than can be said about X/Y's Megas. You can catch cool Pokemon relatively early. Gible can be caught as early as after the sixth gym. Larvitar is only available after you beat the sixteen gyms in G/S. Bagon is only available after the eight gym. Beldum only after you beat Steven. Deino only in Victory Road. You get the idea.
Level-up moves aren't as barren as in G/S or as late as in B/W. The B/W starters learn their most powerful STAB moves at lvl. 62. That's stupid. Compare that to D/P where Torterra learns Earthquake immediately after he evolves. Infernape learns Close Combat at lvl. 41. Emboar doesn't even learn a Fighting move naturally.
I could name more examples. My point is complaining about battle speed shouldn't be the factor that makes or breaks a game. That's like saying previou games don't have a mach bike. It's silly.