New In-Game Features (SPOILERS)

[mr_pikachu]

Well, this is basically a thread for discussion about some of the new features for Diamond and Pearl (aside from the obvious addition of new Pokemon and anything that's been discussed thoroughly in other threads, like Special/Physical attacks).

• A new region, currently known as Shin'ou.
• Wi-fi capabilities for trading, battling, and communicating.
• An "underground world" for multiplayer gaming, which will feature secret bases (like in RSE) as other assorted games.
• A new criminal organization called Team Galaxy, which will be led by a woman named Mars.
• A comparison between the trainer's weight and height to each Pokemon, with the trainer's stats inputtable.
• Five different time periods: morning, daytime, afternoon, evening, and night.
• Pokemon Contests with three stages:
  - Visual Judgement round: players utilize the DS's stylus to place objects on their Pokémon in order to receive points.
  - Dance Judgement round: a player's Pokémon competes with its opponents in a test of rhythm and balance.
  - Performance Judgement, is identical to the original premise of Pokémon Contests; Pokémon use their attacks to score points.
• Pokebread, which boosts a Pokemon's contest abilities (assuming the role formerly occupied by Pokeblocks).
• Differences between the sprites of male and female Pokemon.
• Several new abilities.
• A device called the Poketchi, which will have a "time-management system," a calculator, a monitor for Pokemon in the breeding center, a type chart, and a radar.
• New Pokemon natures ("Meticulous" and "Frivolous" have already been revealed).
• Two new Pokeballs - the "Health Ball" and the "Dark Ball."
• RSE Pokemon can be transferred to DP. Only six Pokemon a day can be transferred, and they must be recaptured in a park. They cannot be sent back to RSE.
• Will have Wi-fi connectivity to the upcoming Wii game, Pokemon Battle Revolution.
• A global trading center where you can search for whatever Pokemon you want and see who's willing to trade.

(Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the info.)


So, what do you think about these new features?

Team Galaxy seems like a Pokemon version of the Sailor Scouts, what with Miss Mars... >_>;;

The time periods should be nice. It's good to see them return. The loss of the importance of times in RSE was a real letdown.

I'm looking forward to the new Contest format. It should be interesting.

I honestly don't think the male/female sprite differences were necessary, though... it may be nice aesthetically, but I think they could have used their time in a wiser manner.

And I seriously don't like the RSE/DP Pokemon transfer situation. What's up with that? Well, at least the improved trading methods should be helpful.

Anyway, what are your thoughts?

[DarkestLight]

Well, this is basically a thread for discussion about some of the new features for Diamond and Pearl (aside from the obvious addition of new Pokemon and anything that's been discussed thoroughly in other threads, like Special/Physical attacks).

• A new region, currently known as Shin'ou.

Yay!!

• Wi-fi capabilities for trading, battling, and communicating.

Yay!

• An "underground world" for multiplayer gaming, which will feature secret bases (like in RSE) as other assorted games.

Yay!!

• A new criminal organization called Team Galaxy, which will be led by a woman named Mars.

SERAAA MAAAASSSUU! MAAAAKEE UUPPPU!

• A comparison between the trainer's weight and height to each Pokemon, with the trainer's stats inputtable.

Err..yay?

• Five different time periods: morning, daytime, afternoon, evening, and night.

Yes! YES! YES!

• Pokemon Contests with three stages:
  - Visual Judgement round: players utilize the DS's stylus to place objects on their Pokémon in order to receive points.
  - Dance Judgement round: a player's Pokémon competes with its opponents in a test of rhythm and balance.
  - Performance Judgement, is identical to the original premise of Pokémon Contests; Pokémon use their attacks to score points.

>> Never really cared for that stuff. I don't do beauty, I do rib checks.

• Pokebread, which boosts a Pokemon's contest abilities (assuming the role formerly occupied by Pokeblocks).

>>Next is Pokewine...followed by a Pokemon that can create Pokewine from water in you Wailer Pail -.-

• Differences between the sprites of male and female Pokemon.

Well, it's about time that this issue has been expanded. We had it in the Classics, so why not reintroduce it finally. Change some stuff up, make some differences. shoot- we have 4 billion Spinda that look different, why not female and Male Scizors looking a little off.

• Several new abilities.

By abilities, do you mean moves?

• A device called the Poketchi, which will have a "time-management system," a calculator, a monitor for Pokemon in the breeding center, a type chart, and a radar.

YES!

• New Pokemon natures ("Meticulous" and "Frivolous" have already been revealed).

o.O Which is which? Like what do they do?

• Two new Pokeballs - the "Health Ball" and the "Dark Ball."

Err, I guess that's a yay...

• RSE Pokemon can be transferred to DP. Only six Pokemon a day can be transferred, and they must be recaptured in a park. They cannot be sent back to RSE.

HELLZ NO! I do hope the Wii allows for something like Box, mass transfer-possibly the best invention in the Pokemon series.

• Will have Wi-fi connectivity to the upcoming Wii game, Pokemon Battle Revolution.

YES!

• A global trading center where you can search for whatever Pokemon you want and see who's willing to trade.

That's cool. Real cool. I actually never really read this feature, so yeah, I'm gonna have alot of stuff to trade xD. Eevee's abound!

Hey...how come they don't have a feature where if you release say...350 EEVEE's in a game, you see them populate somewhere in your game. You know, how those frogs took over Austraila's ecosystem and are now a hazard, and you gotta hunt them all and what not? I'd like to see that.

(Thanks to Wikipedia for some of the info.)

[Dark Eevolution]

What on earth is up with this recapture traded pokemon thing? That's pushing it. What do we do with
our level 100s? Can you imagine capturing several level 100s?

And what if we accidently K.O. them? What does that mean?

this is the first time I've heard about this.

NVM

I see. So the balls have 100% capture rate.

However, I don't like the idea of my pokemon that are in cool balls having some tired ol' Park Ball.

I hope the thing doesn't look ugly...

[Poryhedron]

• A comparison between the trainer's weight and height to each Pokemon, with the trainer's stats inputtable.

Impressive. That'll up the value of the feature.

• Differences between the sprites of male and female Pokemon.

I honestly don't think the male/female sprite differences were necessary, though... it may be nice aesthetically, but I think they could have used their time in a wiser manner.

Not me! I'm one of the folks who's dying to see what a male Kirlia and a female Machoke look like. Haven't you ever wondered?

• A device called the Poketchi, which will have a "time-management system," a calculator, a monitor for Pokemon in the breeding center, a type chart, and a radar.

"Time-management system"? The heck does that mean? It had better involve a watch at least; it was kind of annoying in RSE where you had to return to the home town just to check the time. I seem to recall from screenshots that it'll also indicate which of the five divisions of daylight you're in...but that name almost makes it sound like there'll be a dial to set the current time. That'd be silly.
Built-in calculator? o_O And I wonder what the radar picks up...trainers who want to battle? Maybe the Itemfinder will now take the form of a data card that expands the radar's function, like with the GSC Map and Radio cards?

• New Pokemon natures ("Meticulous" and "Frivolous" have already been revealed).

This confuses me. We already had 25 natures; that covers every possible combination barring the introduction of another new stat. Are they allowing natures to affect the HP stat now? Or maybe they're just renaming some natures? Bear in mind, of course, that our information is based on the Japanese version, which means jack diddly squat as far as what natures might be named in the English Version. I very highly doubt the Pokétchi will still be named that in English versions.

• RSE Pokemon can be transferred to DP. Only six Pokemon a day can be transferred, and they must be recaptured in a park. They cannot be sent back to RSE.

Wwhhhyyyyyy....Nintendo!! Why do you hate us so!

• Will have Wi-fi connectivity to the upcoming Wii game, Pokemon Battle Revolution.

Oh yeah, that's right...I momentarily forgot that every connectivity to the Wii, including its own standard controller, is wireless. That'll certainly be welcome. I love my N64 Wavebird controller. ^_^

• A global trading center where you can search for whatever Pokemon you want and see who's willing to trade.

I seem to recall Japan having something like this in prior generations, since in Japan that was actually feasible with earlier tech. It'll be nice to have access to that sort of thing, especially for those of us who don't have anyone IRL to trade with.

[mr_pikachu]

I'm a little confused about the "time-management system" as well; that part came from Wiki. It's definitely at least a clock, as the Poketchi apparently takes the form of a wristwatch. I'm guessing it also allows you to change the clock, which will be very useful for people who live in countries with Daylight Savings Time. (Not to mention that a game system isn't exactly an atomic clock, if you get my drift.)

[Number1ChanseyFan]

[color=magenta]For the most part, the new features sound like they will be pretty cool, the only two things that I don't like is the R/S/E/FR/LG trading system, and this whole realignment of physical/special attacks, those two ideas seem really, REALLY bad IMO. The contests look like they will be a lot more fun and interactive and they will seem more like "real life." I am definitely looking forward to the time passage again, I thouight that was one of the best parts of G/S/C, the day/night differences. The global trading center should be a wonderful addition though, and it will be interesting to see the new moves/abilities/natures, I am especially curious to what these new natures are and how they will affect stats. Overall I am excited about these new games, there are a couple of drawbacks, but there are a lot of new things that should really add to the enjoyment of the games, I am really looking forward to them coming out. The different sprites for the male/female Pokémon are also interesting, not really important, but they still add something to the games.

I wonder if we will be able to catch the Red Gyarados that is sighted at the beginning of the game? It would be cool so that everybody could at least have one shiny Pokémon in their game.

(Off topic, but I am also looking forward to Final Fantasy VI Advance being released... I wish they would announce a US release date soon... I hope it is sometime before Christmas at least, FFVI is my absolute favorite game ever.)

[Blademaster]

Two complaints:

1. Mars, a woman, is leading Team Galaxy!? WTF? I don't care about Sailor Moon - in Greek mythology, Mars was a man, end of story! Rename her Venus or Gaia; then come back and talk to me.

2. We get afternoon AND daytime? What the Hell is that?

Otherwise, though, I only have good things to say. I'll be looking forward to Diamond and Pearl, but I'm curious as to what they'll name the third of that set...

[Phoenixsong]

@Blade: I had the same thought. However, I guess they named her Mars because the name Venus was already taken by that Cipher Admin in Colosseum. Why they couldn't have just given Venus some random jumble of consonants and vowels for a name like with everyone else I don't know... I mean, come on. Miror B.? Beluh? Gonzap? Uh... what? And then they have to use up a cool name like Venus instead of the random letters. I ish teh peeved.

@Poryhedron: They may well be talking about adding natures that affect HP, which will require 10 new natures minimum (5 new that benefit HP, five new that detract from HP, maybe one that both adds and detracts from it, giving a sixth neutral nature). Besides, I know all we have are the translations, but you have to remember that the definition of "Meticulous" isn't anything like the other 25 natures, and "Frivolous" only slightly. So unless the natures are actually being renamed, as you suggested (and they might be), they must be new.

@N1CF: *twitches at more complaints about the attack system* Urk... I'm a bit sick of hearing this, but you're entitled to your opinion and I respect it and all that. I won't start ranting again, but I'll just say that even though it'll take getting used to, it still makes more sense than Shadow Ball being a physical attack anyday. It's just that they should have had that idea from the beginning instead of springing it on the fans now that we're old and cranky and set in our ways. But whatever. I'm going to try not to start screaming about this again. I do, however, agree with you on the trading thing. I don't know whose idea one-way transfer was, but whoever it is needs a quick backhand to the face and boot to the butt. Maybe a rabid badger up the nose might drive the point home, too.

As for the capture/park thing... The Park Balls are basically Master Balls (100% capture rate, no-fail, all of that) that you can only use in that park... I assume it's a Safari-Zone-esque deal, because otherwise the people who are stupid and actually try to battle their Pokemon might accidentally knock them out or get KO'd by their L100s. I don't know what this implies for eggs... can those be transferred? I wonder.

The one thought that I just had about this (don't quote me on this, I'm only speculating) is that re-capturing the Pokemon might override the original ID number, allowing you to nickname your Pokemon and guaranteeing that they'll listen to you (even though I'm sure you've got to have beaten the E4 by this point anyway). If you want traded EXP then I guess you'll have to trade to another D/P, which is one extra step but not that big a deal. This is the only way I can think of to justify this system. If that's the case then the pro's don't outweigh the cons, but then at least I'd be able to rename the awesome Tyranitar and Flying Pikachu I got from JAA. That would be a little consolation for them never being able to go back. Only a little, but still. Don't know what to say about the Park Balls... I think there's a Sugimori pic of one somewhere, but I don't remember what it looks like. I don't recall it looking ugly.

*sees Mr. Pikachu's comment about the atomic clocks* Heh, no, video game clocks aren't like atomic clocks. They're better. I say this because all of the wall clocks in my school are atomic, and no matter how many times we push the little button to align them with the satellite they NEVER SHOW THE SAME TIME. EVER. It's 11:15 AM in one room, 12:22 PM in the room next to it and 5:07 PM in the upper building. But yes, hopefully we'll be able to use the "management whatever" to set the time properly... and cheat. It's fun for cheating, too, heheh... *remembers playing GSC and having the Bug-Catching Contest on a Monday because she couldn't wait just one more day for a Scyther*

If I may present another new feature for analysis: Pokemon location variations. For example, that sea slug Pokemon Karanakushi has two different forms depending on where you catch it (and I don't just mean Male/Female variants). Now, at first I thought that WAS what the differences were, but then I saw that that weird bagworm-evolution-thing Minomadamu has 3 total different color schemes... and Minomadamu is a strictly female Pokemon. This variation in form and color depending on location certainly is more realistic, but was it necessary? Personally I think I might have cared more if Pokemon that I actually liked had the variants, but as I don't care too much for Karanakushi or Minomadamu, I'm sorta meh about it.

Anywayz, yeah. All in all, I'm impressed. So impressed, in fact, that I've decided I can no longer wait for the English versions to come out and I'm going to order a Japanese copy of Diamond. Now, to find where I can get a trustworthy copy for less than like 70 bucks...

[The Blue Avenger]

1. Mars, a woman, is leading Team Galaxy!? WTF? I don't care about Sailor Moon - in Greek mythology, Mars was a man, end of story! Rename her Venus or Gaia; then come back and talk to me.

Small counterpoint: this sort of thing is not exactly unprecedented. Take a look at the Artemis Fowl series of books - the titular character is male, yet named after the female Artemis. The justification is that the name Artemis can be applied to any particularly exceptional hunter. We could use that logic on Admin Mars - she may be particularly warlike.

[Poryhedron]

Actually, Artemis can be a male name...but not when it's spelled like that. The male name is spelled Artemus.
...then again, if there's one thing that's subject to spelling differences on a whim it's names.

[DarkestLight]

As for Contests.. umm, Visual, Dance and regular Performance Contests..

Dance? Woooow Gamefreak, what didn't you do?

All I have to say is ..Crap, I can't play with the sound off anymore >O! Sometimes the music makes me a little crazy.

And umm....Leafia? Glacia? PorygonZ? Yeah renaming is god.

[Jeff]

I've heard PorygonZ, glad they went with something besides the predictable Porygon3.
Also, if those are the Japanese names for the eeveelutions then I guess the English ones will be Leafeon and Glaceon.

[Blademaster]

PorygonZ? Ehhhhh... in all honesty, I'd have preferred Porygon3. At least that makes sense.

Glaceon isn't too bad a name, but Leafeon? What the Hell? Where's the originality?

I was hoping for Ferneon, myself - 'fern' is less obvious than 'leaf' and it sounds kinda like 'Fenrir,' the wolf (Eeveelutions do look a little like wolves to me.).

[The Blue Avenger]

Well, keep in mind that Glacia and Leafia are the Japanese names. I mean, we didn't get Thunders or Booster for Jolteon or Flareon, did we?

I do like PorygonZ, though.

[Jeff]

Yeah, the names I gave are just speculation. I do like Glaceon, in fact it's the one name that stuck out for me when I was thinking what their English names were before the Japanese ones were known. Leafeon is lame, the name I came up with was Vegeon (from vegetation), but someone else mentioned Solareon, which I think would work quite well especially if they come to represent the warmer and colder times of the year (like how Espeon and Umbreon represent day and night).

[Chris 2.1]

I want to see more of these gender sprite differences.

SPP claims that male Kirlia evolve into a diff species (making Gardevoir female only) and female Snorunts evolve to this odd ghost ice thing that looks like a Powarun slightly. So Glalie are all male.


Intriguing. Licki-evo sucky.

Umm super contests should be good. I didnt trek through all the thread but the transferred Pokes from RSE are in a special capture park. You are given capture balls that have a 100% sucess rate. Its just a quirky way of transferring them.

[mr_pikachu]

I find the female-only Gardy theory a bit hard to believe. I mean, how are they supposed to handle male Gardevoir that get transferred from RSE?

Well, I suppose I could see this coming up in the 100% catch rate park...


You caught GARDEVOIR!
Oh no! GARDEVOIR has a STRANGE GROWTH!
GARDEVOIR had an OPERATION to remove STRANGE GROWTH.
Congratulations! The OPERATION was successful for GARDEVOIR!
STRANGE GROWTH has been placed in the BAG.


...Yeah.

[Everoy]

I find the female-only Gardy theory a bit hard to believe. I mean, how are they supposed to handle male Gardevoir that get transferred from RSE?

Well, I suppose I could see this coming up in the 100% catch rate park...


You caught GARDEVOIR!
Oh no! GARDEVOIR has a STRANGE GROWTH!
GARDEVOIR had an OPERATION to remove STRANGE GROWTH.
Congratulations! The OPERATION was successful for GARDEVOIR!
STRANGE GROWTH has been placed in the BAG.


...Yeah.

Hah. Took me a second to figure that out, now I can't stop chuckling

[Blademaster]

You caught GARDEVOIR!
Oh no! GARDEVOIR has a STRANGE GROWTH!
GARDEVOIR had an OPERATION to remove STRANGE GROWTH.
Congratulations! The OPERATION was successful for GARDEVOIR!
STRANGE GROWTH has been placed in the BAG.

I'm actually crying right now from laughing so hard. I don't even wanna know what STRANGE GROWTH could be used for later.

[Everoy]

I'm actually crying right now from laughing so hard. I don't even wanna know what STRANGE GROWTH could be used for later.

Depends on if you chose the male or female trainer...

Wow, let's end this joke now.

[Blademaster]

Depends on if you chose the male or female trainer...

(dies from laughing)

[Pokemaster Ash]

I think it's a bit too farfetched (refrain from the jokes, please) for Gardevoir and Glalie to suddenly become certain genders only. Case in point, the fact that they were of both genders in R/S/E/FR/LG. As seriously weird male Gardevoirs (and Kirlias, for that matter) and female Kadabras and Alakazams might be, we're probably used to them at this point. Why bother changing it now?

[frylock]

I think they'll either suddenly transmute to the other evolution, explode(my preferred method), but they'll probably just stay their gender and not bring it up.

[Jeff]

If these pokemon really are the male Gardevoir and female Glaile, then it's more likely that those genders of those pokemon will transform into the new ones when transferred, with the new base stats and old EVs/IVs, as with Deoxys. Still though the concept of a pokemon becoming a different species when transferred is still pretty farfetch'd (sorry couldn't resist).

[Poryhedron]

What annoys me is that Gardevoir doesn't need a gender difference as much as Kirlia does. Male Gardevoir can easily be envisioned as a bishonen, like Sephiroth or the cast of Gundam Wing. Kirlia's the one that's utterly hopeless.

[rinku]

Well, mystery is over. You can still get male Gardevoir, but male Kirlia have the ability to be evolved into Erureido with an Awakening stone.

[mr_pikachu]

Aww. And I liked my idea so much better... "Bobbittmon, I choose you!"

...Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Still, it seems to me like a waste of 'Dex space. We could use more Pokemon like that Pika-squirrel thing. Now that is cool! ^_^

[frylock]

I was checking the new moves in D/P, and almost all the new Poison-type moves, including a poison-slash(Power of 70, high critical ratio,) and a super attack(like fire blast) are physical. So your transferred poison types will be crippled, but the entire type isn't getting screwed over.

EDIT: I'm sorry, this should go in the movelist topic.

[mr_pikachu]

You know, you could always delete that post and repost the information in the appropriate topic, frylock. Just a thought.

By the way, I noticed something interesting when I was examining the link at the top of the sprite thread. I clicked on Mew's image, and found this page, which appears to be its Pokedex data. Now, correct my if I'm wrong, but doesn't this mean that there will be 92 TMs and 8 HMs (for a total of 100)? Or are they cramming all TMs and HMs from the previous games into this one guide for no apparent reason?

[Jeff]

Yeah, I heard that there will be a total of 100 TMs/HMs this time around and that the first 50 TMs are the same as the ones in G3.