Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl both feature challenging Trainer battles at their conclusion, but one is significantly more difficult than the other. Like most traditional Pokémon games, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl feature a Pokémon League challenge that forces players to defeat Gym Leaders, claim badges, and work their way up to the Elite Four. However, Pokémon Legends: Arceus has several primary objectives that players must complete, such as quieting the rages of Noble Pokémon and catching every monster in the Hisui region. Despite their differences, each game builds to a final battle: BDSP's Champion Cynthia battle and Legends: Arceus' Volo battle.
[Warning - spoilers for Pokémon Legends: Arceus follow.]
Pokémon BDSP and Pokémon Legends: Arceus take place in Sinnoh at different times, and each game utilizes different mechanics and playstyles to diversify its gameplay. Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes place in Hisui (Ancient Sinnoh) when colonists from other regions first settle the land, and while players seek to catch every Pokémon in the region to fulfill their ultimate goal, they also battle a merchant named Volo along the way periodically - until he reveals his ultimate plan.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the remakes of the original Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games and feature new ways to explore the modern Sinnoh region. Like most traditional Pokémon games, players battle Gym Leaders and the Elite Four to claim the title of Champion. Along the way, players battle Team Galactic and save the world from almost certain destruction. The player character eventually faces Cynthia, a mysterious woman who's assisted throughout the storyline until her identity as Champion is revealed.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl's Cynthia Is Competitive
Cynthia's Pokémon in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl features Spiritomb, Roserade, Gastrodon, Lucario, Milotic, and Garchomp. Not only is her team extremely diverse, but each monster utilizes a special move to counter their weaknesses. For example, while Garchomp suffers a 4x weakness to Ice-types, it knows Earthquake, which can eliminate any Ice-types players bring along to defeat it. Additionally, her Milotic knows Ice Beam that will decimate Grass and Electric-types. As Pokémon BDSP's Champion, Cynthia can only be battled after players have beaten the Elite Four. There is no opportunity for players to swap their team between battles, meaning players won't be able to prioritize a team for Cynthia without leaving themselves vulnerable to the Elite Four's teams. However, this mechanic exists throughout the Pokémon franchise, so why is Cynthia so difficult?
While the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games featured a frustrating battle against Cynthia, overall combat mechanics received significantly difficult reworks in the remakes. Pokémon BDSP's battles are much more complex than the preceding games, forcing players to adopt new strategies to defeat familiar threats. Even Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's Gym Leaders building up to the Elite Four have changed to become more difficult. Cynthia's team adapts legitimate competitive builds used by human players, outfitting her Milotic with a Flame Orb to activate its Marvel Scale. Marvel Scale increases Milotic's defense stat by 50% when the creature is afflicted with a status condition. Players can't even count on the burn status effect to deal much damage as the turns continue since Cynthia can use approximately eight full restores on her team.
Between Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Volo Uses Legendaries
Pokémon Legends: Arceus features Volo, a merchant of the Ginkgo Guild, and a frequent Trainer battle as players progress throughout the game. However, the game's finale features a fight against Volo and Giratina. Volo faces the player three times, using a Togepi, then a Togepi and a Gible, and finally a Togekiss, Spiritomb, Lucario, Roserade, Garchomp, and Hisuian Arcanine. Unlike Cynthia, players don't need to defeat an Elite Four or group of Trainers before facing Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Volo a third time. However, Volo's difficulty comes when players have to beat the powerful Trainer twice. After defeating his fully evolved (and powerful) team, Volo summons Giratina to his side. Players must defeat the Legendary Pokémon in two different forms before finally beating Volo. The length of this battle will inevitably weather down players' parties, forcing them to stock up on many healing items beforehand. While Cynthia only requires one defeat, Volo requires several before backing down.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Volo is an impressive Trainer but hides his strength until near the game's ending. The most challenging part of his boss fight is the time players need to spend defeating him. His impressively diverse team forces players to adapt during battle and may stall players from progressing quickly, but Giratina is the largest hurdle. Defeating Legends: Arceus' Legendary Pokémon can be difficult, as many possess extremely powerful moves designed to one or two-shot the most powerful monsters on a player's team. Thankfully, players have a distinct advantage over Giratina from the first Pokémon they get: Legends: Arceus' Cyndaquil and Oshawott starters each evolve into Ghost-type and Dark-type, respectively. Since Giratina is weak to Ghost, Dark, Fairy, Ice, and Dragon-type Pokémon, this ensures prepared players can breeze through the second half of the battle.
Is Pokémon Legends: Arceus’ or BDSP’s Final Battle Harder?
Between Volo and Cynthia, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl feature the more difficult boss fight. By utilizing a proper competitive team build and forcing players to develop effective strategies, Pokémon BDSP fosters an enjoyable challenge for battle-oriented players. Meanwhile, Pokémon Legends: Arceus develops new gameplay mechanics and its unique story. As a result, experienced fans are less likely to be challenged by Volo's team and Giratina's battle. There are also no held items or abilities in Pokémon Legends: Arceus and players can increase their party's EVs with Grit Dust and Pebbles. Volo's role as a boss may be a plot twist for some, but his similarity to Cynthia is an interesting misdirection.
While Pokémon Legends: Arceus and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are very different games, the emphasis on battling is much heavier in the latter pair. As a result, Cynthia is a much more difficult battle than Volo on a mechanical level. Battling is far rarer in Legends: Arceus due to the reluctance of many characters to work alongside Pokémon. Thankfully, both games are entertaining additions to the franchise that entertain different Pokémon fans. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl and Pokémon Legends: Arceus are available now for the Nintendo Switch.