Tag Archives: shining

Technology

Pokémon Type Chart For Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl Remakes

Leave a comment

Image: Nintendo / Kotaku

A new Pokémon is out in the wild. Well, an old Pokémon is out in the wild, resprayed to look and feel like a new Pokémon. Yes, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, released for the Switch on November 19, are by all accounts faithful but unimaginative remakes of the 2006 generation-IV DS games. That means they operate by the same playbook, including the Pokémon type chart, which is really just series scripture by now.

Since its very first iteration, Pokémon has been governed by a set of rules akin to rock-paper-scissors. Except, rather than just three elements, it’s contingent on more than a dozen, each of which is strong (super effective) or weak (not very effective) against others. For instance, attack a Charmander (fire-type) with the Water Gun move (water-type), and you’ll deal double damage. But try the Razor Leaf attack (grass-type), and your damage will be slashed in half.

The weakness often cuts both ways: A grass-type Pokémon is similarly open to double damage from Charmander’s fire-type moves. But sometimes it’s a one-way street: Fighting-type moves are super effective against normal-type Pokémon but normal-type moves don’t deal reduced damage against fighting-type Pokémon. It can get complicated.

To that end, it’s essential to commit the Pokémon type chart to memory. Or you could just bookmark this resource: a definitive rundown of Pokémon strengths and weaknesses in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Pokémon Attack Chart

  • Bug beats grass, dark, psychic but is weak against fairy, fire, fighting, flying, poison, steel, fairy
  • Dark beats ghost, psychic but is weak against dark, fairy, fighting
  • Dragon beats dragon but is weak against steel and doesn’t affect fairy
  • Electric beats flying, water but is weak against electric, grass, dragon and doesn’t affect ground
  • Fairy beats fighting, dark, dragon but is weak against fire, poison, steel
  • Fighting beats dark, ice, normal, rock, steel but is weak against bug, fairy, flying, psychic and doesn’t affect ghost
  • Fire beats bug, grass, ice, steel but is weak against dragon, fire, rock, water
  • Flying beats bug, fighting, grass but is weak against electric, rock, steel
  • Ghost beats ghost, psychic but is weak against dark and doesn’t affect normal
  • Grass beats water, ground, rock but is weak against bug, dragon, fire, flying, grass, poison, steel
  • Ground beats electric, fire, poison, rock, steel but is weak against grass, bug and doesn’t affect flying at all
  • Normal beats absolutely nothing, doesn’t affect ghost at all, and is weak against rock, steel
  • Poison beats fairy, grass but is weak against ghost, ground, rock, poison and doesn’t affect steel at all
  • Psychic beats fighting, poison but is weak against bug, steel and doesn’t affect dark at all
  • Rock beats bug, fire, flying, ice but is weak against fighting, ground, steel
  • Steel beats fairy, ice, rock but is weak against electic, fire, steel, water
  • Water beats fire, ground, rock but is weak against dragon, grass, water

Pokémon Defense Chart

  • Bug loses to fire, flying, rock but is tough against fighting, grass, ground
  • Dark loses to bug, fighting but is tough against dark, ghost and isn’t affected at all by psychic
  • Dragon loses to dragon, fairy, ice but is tough against electric, fire, grass, water
  • Electric loses to ground but is tough against electric, flying, steel
  • Fairy loses to poison, steel but is tough against bug, dark, fighting and isn’t affected at all by dragon
  • Fighting loses to fairy, flying, psychic but is tough against bug, dark, rock
  • Fire loses to ground, rock, water but is tough against bug, fairy, fire, grass, ice, steel
  • Flying loses to electric, ice, rock but is tough against bug, grass, fighting and isn’t affected at all by ground
  • Ghost loses to dark, ghost but is tough against bug, poison and isn’t affected at all by fighting, normal
  • Grass loses to bug, fire, flying, ice, poison but is tough against electric, grass, ground, water
  • Ground loses to grass, ice, water but is tough against against poison, rock and isn’t affected at all by electric
  • Normal loses to fighting but isn’t affected at all by ghost
  • Poison loses to ground, psychic but is tough against bug, fairy, grass, poison
  • Psychic loses to bug, dark, ghost but is tough against fighting, psychic
  • Rock loses to grass, ground, fighting, steel, water but is tough against fire, flying, normal, poison
  • Steel loses to fire, fighting, ground but is tough against (deep breath) bug, dragon, fairy, flying, grass, ice, normal, psychic, rock, steel and isn’t affected at all by poison

At the end of the day, you could likely brute-force your way through most of the story battles with a high-leveled team and a healthy supply of healing items. (EV training can help a ton, too.) But the game is just more fun when you adhere to the type chart to fight most efficiently. Pokémon zips by when you’re taking out every member of an opposing team in one super-effective hit. And knowing the chart like the back of your hand is essential for the post-game multiplayer battles that so widely define the Pokémon community. After all, your opponent probably does.

 

Read original article here

Technology

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s 6 quality-of-life changes

Leave a comment

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl bring a fresh coat of chibi paint to two beloved Pokémon games from the Nintendo DS era. While much has stayed the same — many sections boast a one-to-one recreation of the earlier games, and minigames like the beauty contests will return — the game will bring plenty of gameplay changes. And lots of these updates are quality-of-life improvements.

These changes, although minor, can seriously influence the way people will play the games. These include details like whether or not the entire team gets experience from battling, which can make a difference in the overall difficulty of the game. So here’s a round up of these quality-of-life improvements, along with a few features that didn’t get modernized.

Auto-save

This game has an auto-save feature. Now, each time you enter or leave a route or building, the game will automatically save and show a “Now saving …” message in the upper-right corner. You can still manually save in the menu and if you’d like, and you can turn auto saving off in case you’re worried about saving where you don’t intend to. (Like after accidentally killing a legendary Pokémon.)

Battles now show type differences

After you beat a Pokémon for the first time, the attack menu screen will show how effective each type is on it. So if you’re picking an attack it’ll say if it’s “effective,” “super effective,” and so on.

Image: The Pokémon Company/ILCA Inc via Polygon

Access to Pokémon PC anywhere

Now, like in more recent games, you can swap your Pokémon in and out of your PC at any point. There’s no need to go all the way to a Pokémon Center to change who’s in your party.

Using Hidden Moves (HMs) on Pokétch

In this and other mainline Pokémon games, you’ll run into obstacles like trees or rocks that require a Pokémon knowing a special move, called a Hidden Move, to remove the barrier. (For example, Rock Smash will destroy a boulder blocking a path.) It’s a clever way to guide the player along a specific path and keep certain content locked until the trainer is ready.

In the originals, you needed to keep a Pokémon that knows that move in your party at all times. Meaning, if you ran into a specific obstacle, but didn’t have a Pokémon who knew how to remove it, you’d be out of luck. In the remakes, you now no longer need to bring Pokémon with HMs along. There’s a new Pokétch application that allows you to use unlocked HMs whenever, regardless of which moves your in-party Pokémon know.

All Pokémon in your party get experience points (EXP), regardless of whether they battled or not.

The pause screen tells you where to go next

Your map now has a flag showing you where your next destination is, as well as clear, written directions like “Travel South on Cycling Road” when you pause your game. The written directions are helpful, especially when you need to look for someone specific within a town.

Image: The Pokémon Company/ILCA Inc via Polygon

What’s not there

There are some notable gaps in which features were updated for the Switch, and which features stayed true to the original Diamond and Pearl. For starters, the Technical Machines (TMs) that teach your Pokémon attacks are single-use again. This is in line with the original Diamond and Pearl, but not with more recent games on the Switch.

In addition to this, the remakes don’t add any additional non-playable characters that heal your Pokémon. Many more recent games often includes characters outside the Pokémon Center that can heal your Pokémon, but in these games, they didn’t add any. So depending on how prepared you are to take on a cave, route, or building full of Team Galactic grunts, you might find yourself running back and forth from the Pokémon Center to keep your Pokémon in good shape.

Read original article here

Technology

Round Up: The Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Reviews Are In

Leave a comment

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are just two days away from launching on Nintendo Switch and as is the case with any Pokémon release, they’re sure to be put under the highest scrutiny from fans all around the world.

Reviews for the games have started flooding in today, including our very own, so we’ve gone ahead and rounded up a selection of quotes and review scores from a number of different outlets. Below, you’ll see just how well they’ve gone down with the media ahead of this Friday’s launch.

Before we dive in, we’d naturally like to encourage you to check out our very own review:

Right, now you’ve read through our final verdict, let’s see what other critics had to say.

We’ll kick things off with Game Informer, who awarded the titles a score of 8.5:

“While Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl don’t move the needle in terms of what Pokémon games will look and play like moving forward, they mostly hit the mark in being faithful to the originals. I’ve really enjoyed my time re-exploring Sinnoh, despite my qualms with the lack of critical path difficulty.”

VGC opted for a 4/5 score:

“The original DS Diamond and Pearl were great back in the day, and 15 years later this new coat of paint makes them just as entertaining. The improvements may not be as drastic as some may have hoped, but what’s here is a solid Pokémon adventure regardless.”

The Gamer were slightly less impressed, saying that Platinum is still the definitive Gen 4 game and offering up a 3.5/5:

“…These are very good remakes of Diamond & Pearl and excellent games in and of themselves – they’re just nowhere near the best Gen 4 remake. Given that Platinum is still superior to Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl in almost every conceivable way, it’s difficult to comprehend why these games even exist aside from making them available on a modern console, in which case… just port Platinum.

Godisageek went with a mighty 9/10 score:

“When it comes to Pokemon, you’re either a fan or you aren’t. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond isn’t going to change minds, nor is it intended to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the series. What it does, however, is remind us of one of the best adventures in the series while bringing it right up to date with gorgeous visuals, quality of life updates, and performance that I didn’t spot a single frame drop during.”

And finally, GameSpot described the games as a “comfy nostalgia trip”, giving them 7/10:

So far, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl keep enough classic elements to feel like a comfy nostalgia trip, while smoothing over enough of the rough edges that they feel relatively contemporary with other recent Pokemon games. It can’t be easy for a storied franchise to pay homage to its legacy while also modernizing in this way, but in my experience so far, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl strike the right balance.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl launch on 19th November, available to buy either digitally from the Switch eShop or physically at retail. Will you be playing them this Friday? Let us know in the comments.

Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.



Read original article here

Technology

Looks Like Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Are The Exact Same ROM

Leave a comment

Image: The Pokémon Company

Spoiler warning: While we’ll avoid displaying any information here that might be considered ‘spoilerific’, we recommend exercising caution when clicking a link that takes you away from the site.

Since the dawn of the Pokémon series, the mainline games have been neatly divided into two versions, and while they’re usually the same basic game, there are differences to note – such as the Pokémon you start with or the monsters you can encounter along the way. The system was established to encourage players to trade with each other, and thereby obtain monsters not included in the version they own.

This has previously been done by creating two different ROMs of the game, but with Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl, it would seem that the process has been streamlined, because unscrupulous types who have gotten access to the game early are reporting that you can flip between the two versions from the same ROM.

On the surface, this makes a lot of sense. The base game is pretty much identical across the two variants, so why not consolidate that data and simply have a ‘flag’ which decides the version you play? It’s worth noting that unless you’re running the game illegally on a hacked console, you won’t be able to toggle between Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, so this news will be largely irrelevant to the millions of people who intend to purchase the game via legitimate means.

Of course, it does mean that if you buy the double-pack bundle, you’re technically buying the exact same game twice – even if there’s no way to actually toggle between them on an unhacked Switch.

Does this news bother you? Or could you not care less? Let us know with a comment.



Read original article here

Technology

Looks Like Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Are Unity Engine Games

Leave a comment

Image: The Pokémon Company / The Pokémon Company / Baccarat

Spoiler warning: While we’ll avoid displaying any information here that might be considered ‘spoilerific’, we recommend exercising caution when clicking a link that takes you away from the site.

As is common these days, the next big release on many a gamer’s calendar, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, has reportedly leaked ahead of time, with some people having already captured the game’s legendary Pocket Monsters. For spoiler-sensitive players looking forward to these DS remakes, it’s a dangerous time on the internet, but rest assured we’ll be avoiding any gameplay spoilers around these parts.

One interesting tidbit that has emerged early, though, is the suggestion from various parties on social media that this pair of games has been built using Unity rather than building off the game engine used for Sword and Shield.

Switch’s support of Unity — a commonly used engine that powers a great many games across all platforms — has been a factor in the huge library of titles the console has accrued since 2017, a great many of which may not have come to Nintendo’s platform had the engine not been supported.

What does Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s use of Unity mean for the games? Well, for the vast majority of players, very little — you may notice a logo in the credits, but otherwise you likely wouldn’t know what engine the game was built in. For people who like to tinker with code behind-the-scenes, though, the use of this engine apparently makes ROM edits and tweaks to text and other elements much easier than they might otherwise have been.

While Unity has its critics (as any game engine does), it is a versatile and powerful tool with a proven track record on Switch — that developer ILCA chose Unity makes a lot of sense.

Let us know below if you’re avoiding spoilers like Neo dodging bullets or if you’re diving head-first into the pool of Brilliant and Shining spoilers doing the rounds on the web.



Read original article here

Technology

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond Shining Pearl Leaks Early On Switch

Leave a comment

Image: The Pokémon Company

Game Freak’s Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remasters aren’t officially out for another two weeks, but some copies of the upcoming Nintendo Switch games have already started appearing out into the wild. Now fans are combing through apparent leaked screenshots and videos for signs of previously unannounced Gen 4 content, including the Battle Frontier and Distortion World areas.

As first reported by VGC, a user claiming to have an early copy of the game posted about it on the PokeLeaks subreddit. While that user quickly deleted the post, more images and footage have started pouring out online in the 24 hours since. Earlier today, for example, a YouTube account called Pokey Masta uploaded a two-minute video showing off Brilliant Diamond’s town map and Pokédex.

Another YouTube account, Poiter’s basket, has been uploading footage from the the first few gym battles, as well as Team Galactic fights. One thing players have noticed is midi-sounding music that differs from what’s been shown in official trailers. It’s unclear if that’s an optional setting or placeholder music that will be swapped out in a day-one patch.

Leaked footage has also revealed new models, poses, and animations for some Pokémon like Bidoof and Murkrow.

G/O Media may get a commission

While players already largely know what’s in the games since they’ve been pitched as faithful remakes of the originals, some also suspect they’ll contain bonus content that Nintendo hasn’t yet revealed in the recent marketing. The potential biggest surprises would be the inclusion of the Battle Frontier and Distortion World from Pokémon Platinum.

The Battle Frontier is a post-game area that takes the place of Diamond and Pearl’s Battle Tower where players go up against even tougher trainers to earn special points that can be exchanged for items. Distortion World, meanwhile, is a creepy extra dungeon that defies the laws of physics. Both only appeared in Platinum, the third Gen 4 game released two years after Diamond and Pearl. Since Platinum isn’t getting remastered, players are hopeful both areas will be added to these new versions.

The games leaking early has thus created a perfect environment for any random person online to get Pokémon fans hopes up, but so far there hasn’t been any hard proof that either area has been added. As a result, some desperate players have begun analyzing textures in towns like Sandgem to see whether they match the appearance of Diamond and Pearl or Platinum.

Screenshot: Nintendo / Lord_Bitter

“Odd,” wrote on fan on Reddit. “Seems to be a mixture. Eterna Forest incorporated [Platinum] shadows but has [Diamond and Pearl] trees for example.

Some footage has already been removed from YouTube, as Nintendo has in the past been aggressive at trying to stamp out leaks, especially when it comes to Pokémon. Back in 2019, Nintendo hired an outside firm specializing in forensics to track down the source of Pokémon Sword and Shield leaks. The leakers were eventually tracked down, taken to court, and forced by Nintendo’s lawyers to pay a $150,000 settlement as well as legal fees.

Regardless, it’s likely that more from the games will continue to leak out in the coming days, but everyone will know for sure what’s in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl when they officially come out on November 19.



Read original article here

Technology

PSA: Watch Out! Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Leaks Are All Over The Internet

Leave a comment

Image: Nintendo

As reported yesterday, it seems some Switch owners have already got hold of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Since our initial post, the floodgates have now well and truly opened – and there’s quite a lot of previously unseen footage of the remakes circulating across sites like YouTube and Twitter. You can see new model poses, animations, listen to the in-game music, and even see full shots of the game’s town maps. There’s battle footage, too.

Certain Twitter accounts have also been retweeting quite a lot of this footage, and over on YouTube – some simple Pokémon word searches will lead to even more video footage. A popular Pokémon leaks subreddit has shared new footage as well, and you can even see the game’s Switch cartridge.

Of course, we won’t be featuring any of the videos or photos here on Nintendo Life – but now you at least know that footage of the upcoming release is out in the wild. So tread carefully online if you don’t want to find out too much about these remakes ahead of release.



Read original article here

World

Shining Path’s brutal messianic leader is dead. What to do with the body? | Peru

Leave a comment

Nearly a week after the death of Abimael Guzmán, the messianic leader of Peru’s Shining Path insurgency which killed tens of thousands of people in the 1980s and 90s, the country remains gripped by the debate over what to do with his remains.

At least one local media outlet reported that the cabinet voted on Wednesday 13 to 5 to reject a proposal for a supreme decree that would lay the legal framework to cremate the remains of the former guerrilla leader, who died on Saturday in a maximum-security prison aged 86.

Guido Bellido, the cabinet chief, denied the report, saying on Thursday that the justice ministry’s proposal to cremate the body “had not been addressed”.

But the absence of a firm decision by Peru’s new leftist government has sown doubts about the cabinet’s willingness to act, aggravated by the presence of at least two ministers who are alleged to have sympathies, or direct links to, the terror group that Guzmán founded.

Bellido himself has been accused of defending the Shining Path and is being investigated for alleged “apology for terrorism”, while the labour minister, Íber Maraví, allegedly formed part of the terror group in its beginnings in Ayacucho, where Guzmán was a university professor.

By law, the authorities should hand over Guzmán’s body to direct relatives, the public prosecutor’s office said earlier this week. But in this case, that is Elena Iparraguirre, Guzmán’s widow and second-in-command in the Maoist movement – who is herself serving a life sentence in prison.

Public officials and rights groups are afraid that giving the remains to Iparraguire would lead to a burial site that could become a shrine for the terror group’s sympathisers, whose factions continue to carry out deadly attacks on Peruvians.

Guzmán, a former philosophy professor, wielded a powerful personality cult over fanatical followers who unleashed a savage civil conflict in May 1980 marked by massacres, bombings, kidnappings and assassinations, and killed tens of thousands of Peruvians.

On Wednesday, a prosecutor denied Iparaguirre’s request for her husband’s remains, leaving them in the custody of the public prosecutor’s office.

“In another government, this wouldn’t even be discussed,” said José Pérez Guadalupe, a former interior minister and criminologist.

“There is the law which states the families can recover the body of an inmate but there is also the right of the victims – thousands of victims in Peru – not to be revictimized.

“Elena [Iparraguirre] is not just the widow, she’s an accomplice in the genocide, who is also condemned to life imprisonment,” he said.

“Bad people, cruel people should not be remembered,” said Lurgio Gavilán, 48, speaking by telephone from Huamanga, the regional capital of Ayacucho. The city was where Guzmán founded the Sendero Luminoso or Shining Path, and it became the centre of the bloodshed, which killed more than 69,000 Peruvians, according to a truth and reconciliation commission. The brunt of the savagery from both sides was born by the Quechua-speaking peasant population.

Gavilán was a witness to the violence unleashed by the terror group and the vicious response of the state security forces: at 13, he was recruited as a Shining Path fighter, but later became a soldier and is now an anthropology professor at Ayacucho’s San Cristóbal University – where Guzmán once taught philosophy.

“No one can deny Sendero acted with so much cruelty. There was so much suffering and the trauma of what happened continues still,” he said.

“Who would go there to pay homage,” he asked in disbelief when asked about the possibility of a tomb for the terror leader. “Abimael Guzmán was repudiated a long time ago.”

But he added: “We, Peruvians are responsible, we created him. Now we understand we can never, ever return to violence.”

Lidia Flores in Quechua, president of the Ayacucho-based National Association of Families of the Kidnapped, Detained and Disappeared of Peru, known as Anfasep, was incredulous at the idea that Guzmán’s remains might be buried.

“We should all agree to burn [the remains] and throw [them] away,” she said.



Read original article here

Technology

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Adding New Pokemon Type

Leave a comment

A lot has changed since Pokemon Diamond and Pearl first released in 2006, including the addition of Fairy-type Pokemon. There are still a lot of questions about Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, but we now know that Fairy-type Pokemon will be represented in the remake when it releases this fall! The discovery was made by @eclipse_tt on Twitter, who shared an image showing that the move “Charm” will be Fairy-type in the game (in the original Diamond and Pearl, it was Normal-type). Notably, two Pokemon that first appeared in Sinnoh have retroactively been made Fairy-types: Togekiss and Mime Jr. Presumably, this means that change will also be preserved in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

The original Tweet from @eclipse_tt can be found embedded below.

Most Pokemon fans probably won’t be too surprised to find out that these altered Pokemon types will be incorporated in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Typically, Pokemon remakes have incorporated these types of changes, rather than switching back. When Pokemon: Let’s Go released on Nintendo Switch in 2018, the Gen I remake similarly kept Clefairy and Jigglypuff’s Fairy-type designations, despite the fact that Fairy-type Pokemon were not added until Pokemon X and Y.

It will be interesting to see if the addition of Fairy-type Pokemon leads to new Sinnoh region strategies! Fairy-type Pokemon have an advantage over Dragon-types, but there aren’t any Dragon-type gyms in Sinnoh. However, a strong Togekiss or Mr. Mime could be helpful against the Pokemon League Champion Cynthia and her Garchomp.

Fans still have a few months to think about their team and how they want to play, however! Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will release exclusively on Nintendo Switch on November 19th. In the meantime, you can check out our previous coverage of the game right here.

Are you happy that Fairy-type Pokemon will appear in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl? Will this have an impact on your strategy in the game? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!



Read original article here

Technology

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl’s New ‘Grand Underground’ Map Looks Epic

Leave a comment

We knew that the Underground from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl would be returning in the upcoming remakes, but now we know that it’s also getting spruced up a fair amount, with an expanded map, “Pokémon Hideaways” that contain Pokémon which can only be found in that area, and a new mechanic that means the statues you place in your Secret Base can affect things in the real world.

Take a look at the new Grand Underground map from Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which features hints at some of those Pokémon Hideaways, as well as showing where each section of the Underground can be accessed from Sinnoh’s island:

You can even see a few of the Pokémon in the Hideaways, like Psyduck, Swinub, and Slugma, although our eyesight isn’t quite good enough to make out what some of the blob-shapes are supposed to be.

Compare that with the original game’s map:

Doesn’t that just look like a pile of terrible worms in comparison? Well… no, but it’s certainly not nearly as cute.

Are you hyped for the new Grand Underground? Can you recognise any of the other Pokémon displayed in the image? Let us know in the comments!



Read original article here