So me and my friends have continued playing through Diamond and Pearl, and hopefully by now will have completed all the routes between Veilstone and Pastoria, and Pastoria and Hearthome. Since I last posted we defeated Mars and Jupiter, obtained our second badges and bulked up our teams quite significantly, with me adding Roselia and my friends adding pretty much the entirety of their teams by this point (I have to wait a while before I can get a Gible, my chosen 6th member). Some minor annoyances about team overlaps, but we're playing for nostalgia reasons so it doesn't matter an awful lot.
Nobody was that difficult to beat, say compared to USUM wrecking my team in anything resembling an important battle (and even some unimportant ones). Could be because of our well-built teams, or being over-levelled given the size of our teams, but generally we've experienced little loss outside of the odd critical hit. In regards to our teams, it seems pretty solid! Shinx not having Spark before Level 18 was annoying as ****, but now it's a Luxray and super strong. Staravia and Monferno have been super reliable, and Floatzel feels weaker than expected due to terrible STAB options (Surf will be a godsend). Roselia is the newest member and largely untested, but I'm liking using it. Hidden Power Fire is super neat for the odd Bronzor you fight. My friends are all also enjoying their own teams, at least there's been no major complaints as of yet (except maybe for Bronzor, but it's pulling its weight apparently). So all is good!
Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Teams:
My team:
Monferno, Level 30 [Grass Knot, Mach Punch, Flame Wheel, Taunt]
Staravia, Level 30 [Steel Wing, Return, Thief, Aerial Ace]
Luxray, Level 30 [Strength, Spark, Charge, Bite]
Floatzel, Level 30 [Crunch, Swift, Water Gun, Aqua Jet]
Roselia, Level 30 [Giga Drain, Leech Seed, Hidden Power (Fire), Magical Leaf]
Friend #01 Team:
Prinplup, Level 30
Staravia, Level 30
Roselia, Level 30
Misdreavous, Level 30
Bronzor, Level 30
Skorupi, Level 30
Friend #02 Team:
Grotle, Level 30
Gyarados, Level 30
Noctowl, Level 30
Ponyta, Level 30
Gengar, Level 30
Pikachu, Level 30
General note about the teams: I assume my friends will have reached Level 30 by now, we did agree to manage that before tomorrow. I also assume my friend is keeping her Pikachu unevolved, but it could just as easily be a Raichu at this point (she has a Thunder Stone). I also assume my friends caught their Skorupi and Pikachu at all, since again we agreed to have it done by tomorrow.