Early previews of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have revealed a handful of new and returning mechanics, including the ability to auto-save, the return of the EXP Share, and some quality-of-life changes.
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will allow players to auto-save, according to Serebii, which collected the information from Vooks, Polygon, and Nintendo World Report. This is a relatively new feature in the Pokémon franchise, which has always encouraged manual saving. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will follow in the footsteps of Sword and Shield, which autosaved whenever the player exited a building. Players who prefer to only save manually will be able to turn auto-save off.
The Experience Share, more commonly referred to as the EXP Share, is also making a return. This polarizing feature was first introduced as an item in Generation I that, if held in the player’s inventory, would distribute the experience points gained by a Pokémon in battle to all of the Pokémon in the player’s party. From Generation II to V, it was a held item that would split experience gained between the Pokémon in battle and the Pokémon holding the item. From Generation VI to the current games, it functions as a key item that, similarly to Generation I, grants EXP to all Pokémon in the party, regardless of whether they actually participated in a battle.
In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the EXP Share is reportedly back and can’t be turned off. This is sure to be a polarizing decision since many players believe the later incarnations of the EXP Share make Pokémon games too easy.
A few quality-of-life changes that make the game a little easier will also be returning. Chief among them is the ability to see type effectiveness next to each of a Pokémon’s moves in battle, meaning players no longer have to guess at an opposing Pokémon’s type or wonder whether any of their moves will be effective. Players will also be able to shuffle Pokémon between their party and their PC boxes at any time without needing to use a PC, which are traditionally found in Pokémon Centers.
On the flip side, TMs, or technical machines, will now be single-use once again. TMs could be used multiple times in Sword and Shield, but the earliest generations of Pokémon only allowed one use per TM. Despite this, Serebii claims that there will be opportunities to get more copies of used TMs.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl launch on Nov. 19.
Published: Oct 13, 2021 10:37 am