Anyone that gives it more than 3 stars is blinded by nostalgia. Sure you can like gen 4 for the many great things it introduced to the franchise, the number 1 for me being the special/physical split, but this is also the games where wifi connectivity was introduced, including the GTS. You can also like the new pokemon (most of them are great additions), the new region, the new characters and (the best part of the games) the amazing ost, including eterna forest one of the best songs of the whole franchise.
I like gen 4, a lot... but why the hell would you go back and play diamond/pearl????? Everyone talks about the sloooow gameplay (it's present in every gen 4 game in some way) but it's more than that.
How can a 2d game lag? Why does it take so long to save? Why does the hp bar deplete so slowly? Why does the game need to think and breathe after every action? Yeah the game is slow. Slower than every other gen 4 game. Surfing in this game is painful. So is the snow route. There are some things that platinum just doesn't fix completely and are part of Sinnoh as a region. The marsh, the snow, the honey trees, having to use defog, the amount of hms... Sinnoh is designed to be slow. It works sometimes... the vives are just great in some areas like eterna forest or outside the pokemon league.
The new pokemon are great but have you seen the og Sinnoh pokedex? Why doesn't it include every new mon added in gen 4? Why is magmortar not available in the standard playthrough? Why is ponyta the only fire type you can catch? The lack of fire types is a common complaint but variety is not a thing in this game: there's only 2 ice type lines (mamoswine, glaceon and froslass are not available lmao) and if you want an electric type you'll probably use shinx, because your only other options are either pachirisu or pikachu (sorry no rotom, magnezone or electivire for you until you beat the game).
The progression in this game is so weird. There are some big gaps between some gym leaders then at the end it's mostly rapid fire. It feels rushed and unfinished, and the last gym, the "electric" gym leader only using 2 electric types is great isn't it? After that there's a big jump in the level of the pokemon of the elite 4, but there's only 1 route and the victory road between the last gym and the last 5 fights. Cynthia's pokemon are around level 61-63 (with garchomp at level 66!) but the last gym leader's best pokemon is level 49?
Platinum fixes almost every issue in diamond and pearl. It makes the vanilla games look unfinished in comparison, like it was a beta. It changes the order of the gym leaders, adds several new areas, changes the team composition of enemy trainers and the best of all: fixes most of the technical aspects of dp (surfing is not that painful!) It's still a Sinnoh game though... you'll still need a bidoof and another mon to use every hm and the marsh, snow and foggy routes still exist.
Just play platinum... unless you want a glameow idk
I like gen 4, a lot... but why the hell would you go back and play diamond/pearl????? Everyone talks about the sloooow gameplay (it's present in every gen 4 game in some way) but it's more than that.
How can a 2d game lag? Why does it take so long to save? Why does the hp bar deplete so slowly? Why does the game need to think and breathe after every action? Yeah the game is slow. Slower than every other gen 4 game. Surfing in this game is painful. So is the snow route. There are some things that platinum just doesn't fix completely and are part of Sinnoh as a region. The marsh, the snow, the honey trees, having to use defog, the amount of hms... Sinnoh is designed to be slow. It works sometimes... the vives are just great in some areas like eterna forest or outside the pokemon league.
The new pokemon are great but have you seen the og Sinnoh pokedex? Why doesn't it include every new mon added in gen 4? Why is magmortar not available in the standard playthrough? Why is ponyta the only fire type you can catch? The lack of fire types is a common complaint but variety is not a thing in this game: there's only 2 ice type lines (mamoswine, glaceon and froslass are not available lmao) and if you want an electric type you'll probably use shinx, because your only other options are either pachirisu or pikachu (sorry no rotom, magnezone or electivire for you until you beat the game).
The progression in this game is so weird. There are some big gaps between some gym leaders then at the end it's mostly rapid fire. It feels rushed and unfinished, and the last gym, the "electric" gym leader only using 2 electric types is great isn't it? After that there's a big jump in the level of the pokemon of the elite 4, but there's only 1 route and the victory road between the last gym and the last 5 fights. Cynthia's pokemon are around level 61-63 (with garchomp at level 66!) but the last gym leader's best pokemon is level 49?
Platinum fixes almost every issue in diamond and pearl. It makes the vanilla games look unfinished in comparison, like it was a beta. It changes the order of the gym leaders, adds several new areas, changes the team composition of enemy trainers and the best of all: fixes most of the technical aspects of dp (surfing is not that painful!) It's still a Sinnoh game though... you'll still need a bidoof and another mon to use every hm and the marsh, snow and foggy routes still exist.
Just play platinum... unless you want a glameow idk