Well, I'm just before the E4, and I'm level grinding Girantia to level 55 (everyone else is at least level 60, so after that I should be fine).
But my god the coders are just insane for Platinum...
First off, compared to every pokemon game I've ever played, I'm getting significantly less critical hits, while the computers also seem to be getting double criticals than what they usually get. god darn.
Also, did anyone else see the distorted world as a pointless gameplay lengthening ball push puzzle like I did? I mean really, that was just annoying...
FINALLY, who else thinks mandatory trainer battles (non-gym related) are complete BS? Not like "you must do this to move on", but "I'm just gonna stand here and you HAVE to fight me for pointlessly arbitrary reasons because you're in my line of sight". I just think that's a little archiac nowadays, but then again we still use random battles (ugh...thank god for the black flute)
I haven't noticed the Critical hit thing...except in terms of foes getting a few more. I'm fine with still having to face many trainers...it's just part of the game. You don't have to battle them all, so it isn't a concern.
And the Distortion World was meant to be just another puzzle. I enjoyed it as that.
Eh. I never really noticed the Critical Hit thing, although I did find it oddly suspicious that wild Pokémon managed to land several Criticals in a row. The trainers standing there never really bothered me. Like Layton said, it's just part of the game.
The Distortion World was really just a large marketing ploy for the game. It's really one of the only new things it offers. Frankly, I would've enjoyed it more if they'd kept it out of the spotlight, so that there'd actually be some surprise when I got to it. That, and the whole Formes thing for Giratina and Shaymin were, in my eyes, extra things offered by Nintendo to convince people that Platinum really is something more than a slightly revamped Diamond/Pearl.
I get critical hits just like I did in previous game, I notice not a single change to it. Distortion World was quite enjoyable, and if it's newer features(Walking sideways among paths, upside waterfalls, moving paths) used in next generations(That is if there is another) it would be fun. As for facing other trainers, quite a few are avoidable if you move correctly, but I fight every one I see just so I can get them out of the way, thus making it so I don't have to fight them next time around.
I noticed that the opponent gets WAY more critical hits, while I still get pretty much the same as in the other games. That's pretty irritating.
But a lot of trainers are fine, I have a lot of Pokemon that need training. But it does get irritating after a while (Like the path to Snowpoint, ugh...)