Pokémon Brilliant Diamond’s Affection System Is Broken, Player Claims
A player has claimed that the affection system in the new Pokémon BDSP not only ruins the fun but takes the challenge out of important gym battles.
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A player has claimed that the affection system present in the new Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl games is not only broken but actually takes the fun out of the remakes. Affection was a mechanic introduced in Pokémon X and Y with the Pokémon-Amie feature and continued into Sword and Shield through Pokémon Camp. These two features allow a trainer to interact directly with their team of Pokémon, and the more interaction a player has, the more affection a Pokémon gains towards that trainer, with powerful results. With enough affection, a Pokémon can begin to perform incredible feats in battle, such as spontaneously living an attack on 1 HP that would have knocked them out, or miraculously scoring a critical hit out of nowhere.
Affection shouldn’t be confused with the “friendship” mechanic, a mechanic that has been a part of the Pokémon games since Pokémon Silver and Gold in 1999, Pokémon games that could be the next remakes. A Pokémon can increase its friendship through success in battle as well as by simply being in the party while the trainer walks around. High levels of friendship allow certain Pokémon species to evolve and power up certain moves like Return, a move that has notably been removed from the games. Pokémon Sword and Shield were also the first games to tie friendship and affection together, and this combination continued into the most recent Pokémon title.
In a Reddit post on the Pokémon subreddit, user ShoarmaKarma explained how Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s affection system breaks the game and takes much of the fun and challenge out of battles. ShoarmaKarma’s post detailed that around the time of the sixth gym they began noticing that their Pokémon’s affection levels were affecting battles. By the time ShoarmaKarma reached the final gym, what should be a challenging Pokémon battle practically played itself. The gym leader’s first three Pokémon were wiped out by ShoarmaKarma’s team as they remarkably dodged moves and landed critical hits, even shrugging off Paralyzation at one point. ShoarmaKarma said that despite obtaining the final gym badge, it did not feel like a win.
While there is an argument to be made for how a strong connection with a Pokémon is well represented by it standing strong against powerful attacks and hitting harder, it shouldn’t come at the cost of removing any sense of challenge from the game. ShoarmaKarma calls for Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s developer, ILCA to include an option to toggle these battle features on and off so that certain players can have a more challenging experience if they so desire.
It’s a shame that of all the additions that could have been brought into Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl it is this overpowered affection feature that makes the cut, rather than many of the changes Pokémon Platinum introduced to the original Diamond and Pearl games. There are ways to lower affection, such as using herbal medicine and allowing Pokémon to faint, but players shouldn’t have to simply be mean to their Pokémon for these games to be challenging. Traditionally, Nintendo and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl’s original developer Gamefreak are not the most reliable in making changes based on fan feedback, but with ILCA behind the wheel this time, perhaps there is a chance for some changes to be implemented.
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