After beating Cynthia and unlocking the National Pokedex, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl players will gain access to a new area known as Ramanas Park. Here, they'll be able to find and catch some of the series' most popular Legendaries, though will first need to get their hands on some special slates before they can do so. The good news is that these slates are all available for trade within the park itself. The bad news, however, is that the Mystic Shards needed to get them are incredibly hard to come by.
Those who've already been digging for fossils in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl may have already encountered these elusive items. They come in two varieties, with the larger Mysterious Shards being considerably rarer than the small ones. As with many of the Pokemon from the national dex, players will need to make their way down to the Grand Underground to find them, but should be prepared for a long and arduous struggle before they do.
How to Find Mysterious Shards in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
After using the Explorer Kit to head underground, players should look for small gold markers on the mini-map while in any of the corridors that connect the main chambers. Pressing the R button while near one of these will trigger a sonar pulse, which in turn will cause any potential dig spots to sparkle for a few seconds. If players press the A button while standing next to one of these spots, they'll be able to start a special excavation mini-game in which they can uncover a wide variety of items, including Mysterious Shards.
To find items, players will need to slowly chip away at a section of the wall and can use either a pickaxe or a sledgehammer to do this. They'll be able to switch between the two tools by pressing the R button at any time, but should keep in mind that while the latter does clear out much more debris with each hit, it also increases the chances of the wall collapsing. Players will be able to tell how much more digging they can do before a cave-in occurs by looking at the meter at the top of the screen. Every hit will cause it to move further to the left, as too will hitting any of the metal bars that are buried deep within the wall's foundations.
When players first begin the mini-game, they'll be told how many items are hidden in the wall. As well as Mysterious Shards, which are pink with gold sparkles in the middle, players will also be able to find boxes containing special statues that can be displayed in secret bases. There are evolution stones, fossils, tradable gems, and holdable and healing items available too, all of which are a lot more common than Mysterious Shards. In fact, players can dig for hours at a time without ever finding a Mysterious Shard L.
In terms of strategy, players should aim to work in three-by-three grids to cover as much of the wall as possible. Using the hammer is rarely worthwhile, with the pickaxe typically doing a much better job in terms of efficiency. Players should also make use of cracked squares, which will break if players hit one of the tiles next to them; providing, that is, that the tile that they hit does not uncover a metal bar. Players will need to completely uncover an item in order to receive it, but, once they do, they won't need to worry about losing it in the event of a cave-in.
It typically takes about twenty minutes of digging to find a Mysterious Shard S, though players can speed up the process a little by getting better at the excavation mini-game. It's also possible to make more mining points appear by entering one of the Pokemon-filled rooms and then leaving again straight away. Sadly, however, there's not much more that players can do to expedite the process, so they're either going to need an awful lot of time or a whole lot of luck to get the Mysterious Shards needed for all 13 Slates.