The original Pearl was the first video game I ever completed, so this remake holds a special significance for me. As a veteran of the original and DS games in general, I found this remake to be a fairly commendable proposition for those who want to experience a traditional, old-school Pokemon experience. The DS games hold a special place in my heart, so I believe my opinion carries some weight.

Firstly, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl are remakes of the original Diamond & Pearl, not Platinum, which is one of the best Pokemon games in the franchise's history. Platinum enriched the DP games with various enhancements, expanding the postgame and adding significant story elements for both the villains and the lore of the Sinnoh region. Unfortunately, all these additions and improvements brought by Platinum are absent from these remakes, as the creators describe them as "faithful" remakes of Diamond & Pearl. However, the word "faithful" only applies where it suits them, as the game has things that did not exist in the originals, both positive and negative.

Two negatives, which I consider by far the biggest drawbacks of the game, are the mandatory exp share and the broken affection system. The exp share means that all the Pokemon in your team level up regardless of whether they participate in battles or not. This results in all your Pokemon being at a higher level than the opponents, significantly reducing the difficulty of the game. The only way to combat this is to constantly rotate your team members, keeping at most 3 Pokemon out of the 6 in your team at a time, so they don't gain any exp points. You have to constantly juggle the members of your team to prevent them from leveling up excessively. I honestly can't understand why they did this. There is no option to turn it on or off, nothing. You are forced to make the game more difficult for yourself by removing members from your team. It's a very bad mechanic and a very poor game design. The second negative is the affection system. As your Pokemon level up, a bond develops between you and them, which translates into advantages in battles. Pokemon with high affection levels will make battles noticeably easier, either by surviving with just 1HP from a move that would have knocked them out, automatically healing from status ailments (sleep, paralysis, etc.), or having double the chances of landing a critical hit on the opponent. This means that a difficult battle becomes easy due to these advantages, and it's quite annoying when this happens. It's like the game doesn't let you lose and think for yourself. Ridiculous. All these could have been included in an easy mode, but for some reason, in 2021, they still refuse to add difficulty options.

There are a few more negatives, but I don't give them much importance. The following Pokemon feature is excessively underdeveloped, with poor coding for the Pokemon that follows you, resulting in it constantly getting stuck on obstacles and spawning next to you. Additionally, the scale of the larger Pokemon in battles is not faithful to their actual size. You see Pokemon that are supposed to be huge shrinking as soon as they enter battle.

Apart from these negatives, the game is quite entertaining and is indeed faithful to the originals. The locations are faithful up to the last tile on the ground, they are 1 to 1 identical to the old ones. The music is quite good, not in all pieces, but in most of them, a good job was done. The representation of battles is by far the best that has ever been in a mainline 3D Pokemon game. The backgrounds are wonderful and the animations are mostly beautiful. The models of trainers and Pokemon are also very detailed. As for the graphics, for the chibi style they chose, they made them very beautiful. Lighting, glossy surfaces, and nice shadows. The Sinnoh region is more beautiful than ever. In short, whatever positive existed in the originals exists here as well, just with better graphics and animations.

Compared to the other three remakes in the series (FireRed & LeafGreen, HeartGold & SoulSilver, OmegaRuby & AlphaSapphire), Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl take the 4th place. They are not bad remakes, they just could have done more. All the elements of Platinum, at least most of them, should have been here as well. This lack, combined with the game's conveniences (exp share, affection), left me with a sour taste that I did not expect to happen.

Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, despite their problems, are aimed at those who want to play a traditional Pokemon game in 2021. And especially to those who grew up with the originals back in the now distant 2006-2007. Since the release of OmegaRuby & AlphaSapphire 7 years ago, I hadn't enjoyed a Pokemon game so much, and that says a lot.

I am reviewing this after playing for 20+ hours, and it is the fourth Pokemon game I have played after Pokemon yellow/gold/ruby on their respective consoles.

The positives are:
The graphics during battles are quite nice, with detailed movements and at least 20 different backgrounds. The characters also have nice graphics.

The outfits and PokeBall stickers allow you to personalize your style.

The music is good, although not everywhere, but at least it is good where it should be.

There are several quality of life changes, especially regarding the menu and battles, for faster execution of move commands. For example, there is a separate button to directly throw a PokeBall, it tells you which moves are effective, super effective, etc. after you have battled that Pokemon at least once, quick access to the PC to change Pokemon, and many more.

HM moves have been replaced with TM moves, but now you don't need to have a Pokemon that knows them to use them outside of battles because you have the Poke Etch to do it all. In other words, the "HM slave" is no longer necessary.

The underground is an area where Pokemon walk freely and you can see them before entering a battle. The levels correspond to how far you have progressed in the story, so it is a good place for experience points. However, you can also find good Pokemon there if you spend enough time exploring it, but I emphasize that you need to dedicate a lot of time and progress far in the story.

It doesn't drain your battery.

In the menu and map, it always tells you what you need to do and where to go, so you don't have those moments of getting lost or forgetting what you need to do. This is very good for those who haven't played the previous version.

The mini games it has are okay (Pokemon contest, puffin, and mining).

The negatives are:
Walking with the dpad is terrible, there is a tremendous input delay and you take more steps than you should. In other words, it is very inaccurate. Apart from that, you often accidentally run into walls with the analog stick and constantly stop walking.

There are moments when the chibi graphics are okay, and other times they are not. There are moments in the story or dialogues where the situation should be serious, but with the characters laughing half the time with a smiley face, you can't take them seriously, especially Cyrus (supposedly a villainous character).

There are very few Pokemon to catch, especially in the beginning until the 7th badge, and most of them are found underground. There is also a lack of fire and dragon types, and overall, I didn't feel like I saw many Pokemon, especially ones that I liked. As a result, my team, after reaching the Pokemon league at 20 hours, only consisted of 4 Pokemon. And I say this as a new player who is not familiar with the Pokemon 4th gen. In other words, if you don't play online or trade with another Pokemon game or player, it will be difficult to create a team that covers all types.

To be able to create a base but not decorate it like in the 3rd gen Pokemon games was a total disappointment.

I rate the difficulty level as moderate. The main problems were that I was always at a higher level, opponents constantly had the same Pokemon in their unevolved forms, and the love system, which often helped with crits and dodges if your Pokemon had it. I noticed this issue until I reached the Elite 4, where their Pokemon had significantly better IV/EV than usual.

The game's performance dropped in some areas, and I didn't feel the 60 fps that some claimed, for example in the underground area that was like a swamp, I experienced stutters.

Conclusion:

It has its good and bad points. It's not like the 3rd gen Pokemon where you have a lot to do without needing to play online. Unfortunately, I feel that Nintendo dedicates too much time to the online aspect, resulting in the offline mode not offering much. Yes, I know it's a remaster and it wants to mimic the old game, but it wouldn't hurt to add additional content.

I will say that the positives outweigh the negatives, especially if you also play online, where the experience becomes even better.

Apart from that, if you are new to this generation, you will have at least 20+ hours until you reach the Elite 4. Additionally, there are other things to do that will offer even more hours of gameplay, and there will also be events and possibly content updates like in Sword and Shield.

Overall, I am satisfied and do not regret paying 60 euros (digital) for a Pokemon game on the Switch that reminds me more of the old generations because Sword and Shield do not interest me at all.

Update: After finishing the Poke League once, I can say that the post-game compared to previous Pokemon versions is significantly improved. I don't want to mention what is available and what you can do afterwards to not spoil the surprise.

The only thing I insist on is that I would like the love/affection system in your Pokemon to be removed or have a way to disable it because many times you win battles with NPCs because of it.

I changed my rating from 4 to 5 solely for the post-game, as for some others, it is the best Pokemon game due to all the glitches it has. Regardless, I loved the game.