Well folks, I've done it - I've beaten Brilliant Diamond! It's not a 100% perfect file since I've ignored Contests, the Battle Tower, rematches with Barry, the battle(s) against Dawn and my Pokedex is not fully complete, but it will do.
I worked my way through the Battle Zone, which was surprisingly windy! I haven't done the Sinnoh post-game since I was a kid back in the mid-late 2000s and trying to get to Stark Mountain was a chore. I met up with Buck and was able to capture Heatran with little issue, and continued my Legendary captures with Giratina, Cresselia, Darkrai and Shaymin. With this completed, it was Pokedex time! I decided early on I was going to leave Ramanas Park - farming the Underground for the rare items to access the Legendaries sounded awful since I'm really not that invested in BDSP anymore - so I just worked on the non-Legendary Pokemon, since having all of them on one file means I can breed teams for future playthroughs if I want to. Took about 15 hours or so? Lots of breeding, lots of Pokemon Go transfers, some Sword transfers and the odd foray into the Grand Underground but now all I'm missing is some trade evolutions (which my friend will help me with), Stantler and Gulpin / Swalot!
So if anyone has those Pokemon, I'd love to grab one of your spares?
In-between training up Pokemon for the Pokedex I took on the Gym Leader rematches - nothing to report there, my team was in the mid-70s at this stage and crushed them without major hassle. Same with the first Elite 4 and Cynthia rematch, which I took on at level 80. The second Elite 4 + Cynthia rematch? Absolutely killer, my non-EV'd team was crushed from Bertha onwards (look at my team and find the Earthquake resist). Lucian in particular was a real pain and I actually struggled with him more than Cynthia? Alakazam is nuts I swear. Honestly most of the issues stemmed from my team just not being super duper strong, but I liked them all the same! Was nice to use my favourites for once, and in the end I came out on top with less item usage than my opponents.
Where to from here? I don't know. Maybe Let's Go Eevee, maybe Legends: Arceus, maybe not Pokemon at all. Guess we'll see! Would like the Gulpin and Stantler at least to call it a proper day though.
Brilliant Diamond Team:
Royal the Empoleon
♂
Level 85 | Hardy Nature | Torrent
Surf / Ice Beam / Grass Knot / Flash Cannon
My trusty starter, and honestly one of the weaker members of the team. Empoleon just didn't seem to hit that hard with any of its moves even with solid coverage, and the Steel typing is a double edged sword in this game. Turns out a Water type weak to Ground and Fighting moves that is also neutral to Fire isn't too amazing, but I can't say there are many better choices out there. I still had fun using it, and I do love the Piplup line, so happy times all the same!
Bandit the Roserade
♀
Level 85 | Lonely Nature | Natural Cure
Giga Drain / Shadow Ball / Dazzling Gleam / Sludge Bomb
Roserade was actually pretty good! Budew was not, but I needed a trusty partner for my starter for levelling balance and it served its role perfectly. Once Bandit became Roselia it was actually decently usable, and Roserade really picked up once it got Sludge Bomb. Grass STAB wasn't overly useful since my team has Electric and Grass coverage galore, but Poison STAB was fantastic! It was relatively speedy, reasonably bulky and it did exactly what I needed it to do. Awesome team member.
Amaterasu the Magmortar
♂
Level 86 | Calm Nature | Flame Body
Flamethrower / Psychic / Mach Punch / Thunderbolt
This guy is the definition of hassle - a Shining Pearl exclusive (I'm playing Brilliant Diamond) who needs an item to evolve... which you can't get in Brilliant Diamond. Not a great start, but Magmortar was honestly incredible! Fire types do so well in Sinnoh it seems, especially ones with decent coverage - this guy had priority (albeit from an egg move) with Psychic + Electric coverage, which it turns out is an amazing combo across the game. It's not super fast, but Magmortar hit ridiculously hard and especially in the late-game and post-game it might have made MVP status. It was really good.
Titan the Rhyperior
♀
Level 85 | Brave Nature | Solid Rock
Earthquake / Megahorn / Avalanche / Rock Slide
I was wary using Rhyperior, because like Magmortar it needs a post-game item to evolve and it has the Slow experience group meaning it might hog exp. from the rest of the team. It never actually happened though, and I had way more fun using the line in BDSP than I did in Let's Go! It was still slow, and got nailed by moves I didn't expect it to, but once we had Earthquake going this gal just took off and destroyed. I could always rely on Rhyperior to tank a hit and KO back even against some terrifying opponents, and for that I think it rocks (pun intended).
Virtue the Togekiss
♂
Level 86 | Gentle Nature | Serene Grace
Dazzling Gleam / Grass Knot / Flamethrower / Air Slash
Togekiss... is a weird one. I loved using it because it's cute and a Fairy type and that's a killer combo! It has solid coverage, I got it early enough and Togepi + Togetic weren't too horrible to keep around either. It just didn't seem to hit particularly hard, and the Pokemon you'd want a Fairy type to counter had coverage for it which kind-of made it irrelevant. It was tanky and Fairy is an amazing typing to possess, but Togekiss did end up a little bit underwhelming. Was still my go-to Garchomp counter, which they succeeded at for the most part.
Raijin the Electivire
♂
Level 86 | Rash Nature | Motor Drive
Thunderbolt / Ice Punch / Earthquake / Psychic
Electivire is my favourite Pokemon, and Electric types are always good in any Pokemon game because they zap all the common Water and Flying types. This time was no different! Thunderbolt go brrr, and when it didn't... Earthquake and Psychic covered things. Ice Punch wasn't used much at all but I like BoltBeam coverage for the aesthetic, so that was nice. Electivire wishes it had a good Physical Electric STAB since Thunderbolt did miss vital KOs sometimes, but I won't hold it against them too much. Was amazing for the Elite 4 and Champion, can't recommend it enough!
Total Play Time: 65hrs 27mins