How do you play Pokemon in-game?

[Latitude]

For SS I decided I wanted to be a pokemon master

And my brother challenged me to start with Chikorita (I've never liked grass-starters)

So, amidst all my friends going wtf, you're still early enough to reset for fire, I managed to keep it with me for a while, dropped it after elite four though :D

I'm going for a complete dex (kanto and johto at least) can't really be assed to trade for hoenn/sinnoh, but I'm not catching any evolved forms, always found it weird to have the unevolved form and evolved form simultaneously. Also, trying to avoid having more than one of any pokemon, oh, and I nickname my party pokemans! :D

 

[Cipher Admin Lovrina]

I swap my starter for an egg of my choice--Feebas run-throughs are hard until you get to Veilstone in Platinum!

 

[Baztard]

Did you start with Totodile or catch the red Gyarados? They make excellent waterfall users. Not to mention Feraligatr can use Rock Climb if you want to make your way to Red.

I used the Red Gyarados. I started with Chikorita, a Modest one so it has pretty decent Special Attack. I had to use Ho-Oh to fly, poor guy had to delete Sunny Day. I'm wondering whether to switch Ho-Oh onto my team in exchange for someone else (They are all level 40, I trashed the e4 until Lance who raped me with a Level 50 Dragonite).

 

[Airfoil]

Lance is really annoying, and abuses Outrage/Dragon Rush too much (his Dragon Rush hit me more than my Thunder hit him. I think the AI has a grip on hax or something).

I like all of the grass starters accept Venusaur (Charmander is my favorite starter out of all of them, Magainium is second, torterra, sceptile, etc.). I turned my Lugia into an HM Slave when I found out his IVs were horrible (I already 5 good Pokemon).

 

[Mulligan]

Wow. I almost went a totally different route for HG than anticipated. I actually planned my team of Scyther/Scizor, Alakazam, Pichu(from Gamestop), Feraligatr, Hitmontop and filler. I SR'd for an Adamant Totodile with an Attack IV of 28(might be 29 I forget, but it took me 10 minutes too!!), then the rest I traded from Platinum, all EV trained. The only one I'm sad about is Scizor. I was planning for a CB Scizor. It evolved w/Metal Coat...but it ended up having Swarm :(. After E4 Round 1 my team was:

Lv. 42 Scizor(Metal Claw, Pursuit, U-Turn, Aerial Ace - I dunno what I'll do w/him yet)
Lv. 43 Alakazam(TrickScarf w/Inner Focus)
Lv. 44 Pikachu(GameStop - SubEndeavor)
Lv. 50 Feraligatr(Slash, Waterfall, Crunch, Ice Fang)
Lv. 42 Weepinbell(Acid, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder - he was my Cutter then I deleted the move when I finally decided to evolve Sentret and make her my HM slave)
Lv. 43 Hitmontop(SubEndeavor)

Now, I'm gonna do what either cantab or Haunter suggested(I forget which). Box all the pokes and take my starter with me to Kanto, but I'm also taking Jirachi(GameStop) and the HM slave w/me. I also plan on taking 4 more pokes w/me(Dusknoir, Electivire, Golem/Torterra, the last slot I'm not sure on yet) but I'll only put one on my team for every 2 badges I get in Kanto. That way I won't have all the pokes at once and I'll still have to catch and train in-game ones(also did this for the first 8 badges in Johto)in order to beat the Gyms. Makes it a bit more of a challenge.

 

[Airfoil]

Choice Band and Choice Specs are so much easier to use in game because of the "shift" option. lol

I guess that's why getting specs and band is so annoying (your mom gets you scarf in HG/SS, as well as it being found on one of the earlier PokeWalker courses).

 

[Oberon]

I usually trade over some Pokemon from my other games (one or two of them) and use those to raise a team at first. That usually let's me get a good job done.

 

[Ballad]

Choice Band and Choice Specs are so much easier to use in game because of the "shift" option. lol

I guess that's why getting specs and band is so annoying (your mom gets you scarf in HG/SS, as well as it being found on one of the earlier PokeWalker courses).

How is getting Specs annoying? You can get it right after the fourth gym at the Lake of Rage without doing anything at all :s

 

[Nuke144]

If I start a new pokemon game I always have the fire starter pokemon, i'd love to be able to make a purely fire team at somepoint that could be reasonably strong but I don't have the patience for the grinding and breeding side of pokemon.
Other than that I just try and use pokemon i've never used before to complete the game. I balance a team of different types around that theory. For HG currently I've got quilava, elekid, tentacool, kadabra and scyther (want to make it scizor) and then i'll add number six when i find something interesting.

 

[Airfoil]

How is getting Specs annoying? You can get it right after the fourth gym at the Lake of Rage without doing anything at all :s

How do you do that? I thought you could only get one of those via Battle Frontier (or I'm pretty sure there is a PokeWalker course that has them).

If I start a new pokemon game I always have the fire starter pokemon, i'd love to be able to make a purely fire team at somepoint that could be reasonably strong but I don't have the patience for the grinding and breeding side of pokemon.

I don't recommend breeding/IVing/EVing until after beat the game (get Blue's badge), because that's when you will have more areas for Eving and more items at your disposal (as well as the Power Items, unless you trade them from D/P/PL). Besides, when you focus on all that, then you get side-tracked and won't stop to enjoy the game. It's not like the NPCs are that powerful, anyway.

 

[AnimeAlex]

I usually pick a team of 4 and then have 2 HM slaves. For example my current team in HG is:

At Goldenrod City

Growlithe(Lv 16) - Ember, Bite, Roar, Leer
Croconaw(Lv21) - Headbutt, Water Gun, Bite, Ice Fang
Fearow(Lv 21) - Aerial Ace, Fury Attack, U-Turn, Roost
Flaafy(Lv 21) - Thundershock, Headbutt, Thunder Wave, Flash
Sentret(SLAVE) - Cut (will have Surf and Whirlpool)
Geodude(SLAVE) - Rock Smash (will have Strength and Rock Climb)

and my team will eventually be:

Feraligatr - Waterfall, Crunch, Ice Fang/Punch, Superpower
Fearow - Drill Peck, Return, U-Turn, Roost
Ampharos - Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, Signal Beam, Power Gem
Ho-Oh - Sacred Fire, Fly, Earthquake, Punishment
Slaves

In-game, I don't usually bother with natures, evs or ivs. I did one playthrough of Leaf Green where I got correct natures for each Pokemons moveset, but it took about 2 hours to get an Adamant Spearow >_< So I don't bother anymore. And I've always managed to get through without before

 

[Airfoil]

I'm just curious, but how many people here have beat their HG/SS (beaten blue or farther)?

 

[AnimeAlex]

I only got it yesterday, and haven't even been to Goldenrod gym yet. Levelling atm

 

[alexix]

I beat the SS Pokémon league today with my 4 Pokémon levelled 38-46. (Two of them levelled up to 49 mid way, Forretress doesn't tend to gain a lot of levels being an Exploder).
Technically I never battled Lance so I wouldn't know how annoying he is, one Dragon Dance from my Gyarados and 3 Ice Fangs later all his Dragonites were toast.

The one thing that annoyed me about this game was not being able to get the Pokémon I want. I started wanting a Crobat (I had one in the original 10 years ago). So I check it's movelist and Nasty Plot is an egg move. Okay I'll wait until Goldenrod to get my Crobat. Nope, it learns Nasty Plot from Honchkrow. More time wasted trying to find a way to get Honchkrow before the National Dex. Nope. Shit. Okay I'll get a Togekiss. Nope, can't get the right stone until after the National Dex. Fuck, well, okay, I'll get an Umbreon. Nope, Curse is an egg move that can only be learned from Torkoal. Okay, I'll migrate one from my Sapphire. Nope, Pal Park is in Kanto. FUCK OKAY I'LL GET A SMEARGLE AND TEACH IT LIKE THAT. Nope, Fisherman Tilly won't give me a Water Stone to unlock that area.

Ragin pretty hard

Also after 2 days of Soft Resetting my shiny Lugia turned out to be Brave even though I had a Synchroniser. I'm really not that lucky when it comes to games.

So I think if I ever do get HeartGold I will do what a lot of people did and plan their team out in advance. Maybe SR for a shiny to trade over and when I'm able to trade trade over the eggs of all the Pokémon I want (with egg moves already taught etc). Then I can just run through the game without screaming because everything is going wrong all the time >/

 

[Chasethebase]

Typically on the first play through I choose the water starter. Then I'll catch a flyer as soon as possible (Pidgey, Taillow or Starly), get myself an Electric type, Fire type and then fill the last slots with stuff I like.

Currently on SS I have Croconaw, Flaaffy, Pidgeotto and Vulpix.

 

[Jonathan]

The one thing that annoyed me about this game was not being able to get the Pokémon I want. I started wanting a Crobat (I had one in the original 10 years ago). So I check it's movelist and Nasty Plot is an egg move. Okay I'll wait until Goldenrod to get my Crobat. Nope, it learns Nasty Plot from Honchkrow. More time wasted trying to find a way to get Honchkrow before the National Dex. Nope. Shit. Okay I'll get a Togekiss. Nope, can't get the right stone until after the National Dex. Fuck, well, okay, I'll get an Umbreon. Nope, Curse is an egg move that can only be learned from Torkoal. Okay, I'll migrate one from my Sapphire. Nope, Pal Park is in Kanto. FUCK OKAY I'LL GET A SMEARGLE AND TEACH IT LIKE THAT. Nope, Fisherman Tilly won't give me a Water Stone to unlock that area.

Ragin pretty hard

Also after 2 days of Soft Resetting my shiny Lugia turned out to be Brave even though I had a Synchroniser. I'm really not that lucky when it comes to games.

So I think if I ever do get HeartGold I will do what a lot of people did and plan their team out in advance. Maybe SR for a shiny to trade over and when I'm able to trade trade over the eggs of all the Pokémon I want (with egg moves already taught etc). Then I can just run through the game without screaming because everything is going wrong all the time >/

You can get a Murkrow in the Safari Zone, which opens after you cure Ampharos. Depending on the order you do certain in-game events, that could be before you get your 5th badge even. I guess you'd have to raise it to Lv. 35 and evolve it (which you can't do till after the National Dex) to get NP, so I guess you're better off using a different set for Crobat if you don't want to trade.

Well sure you can't get Togekiss until you get a National Dex. But it'll take you a while to raise Togepi's happiness anyway, and honestly the game isn't as fun if all your Pokemon are fully evolved and have their final moves by the time you beat the E4; don't forget you've still got like 40% of the game left afterwards. And you can get a Shiny Stone before even boarding the S.S. Anne: spend 30 minutes at the Pokeathlon (which is actually quite fun) and you should rack up enough points to buy a Shiny Stone.

Not sure what you mean by giving you a Water Stone to "unlock the area." All you need to catch Smeargle is Surf and Strength. Slowpoke learns Curse at Lvl. 0 so just catch a low leveled one in Slowpoke Well; you don't even need a Heart Scale. You can have your Eevee with Curse as soon as you beat Morty.

I understand your frustration though; all of these are longwinded solutions; I just find it fun to prove that something's possible :P

 

[PinkBlur]

Well said Johnathan... Well said. < Nods in approval. >

 

[Galactic Boss Cyrus]

How come so many noobs love grinding with their 6-Pokemon teams?

 

[Baztard]

6 Pokemon teams aren't hard at all. I didn't battle a wild pokemon after the 3rd badge, I trained a team of 6 to level 40 by trainers alone (Maybe I did a bit of wild training in Victory Road and I trained my Scyther up to level 30 in Mt Mortar). Its not hard. And HM slaves just take up an extra slot, just spread the HMs around (Strength/Waterfall/Surf are brilliant in-game).

 

[DDRMaster]

I'm just curious, but how many people here have beat their HG/SS (beaten blue or farther)?

I've beaten Blue and my this is my team:

Typhlosion Lv. 53: Flamethrower/Focus Blast/Double-Edge/Cut
Yanmega Lv. 53: Silver Wind/U-turn/Ancient Power/Giga Drain
Lanturn Lv. 53: Surf/Waterfall/Discharge/Ice Beam
Girafarig Lv. 54: Psychic/Strength/Crunch/Rock Smash
Crobat Lv. 54: Fly/Wing Attack/Bite/Confuse Ray
Golem Lv. 54: Earthquake/Stone Edge/Double-Edge/Rock Climb

The only times I had to grind were right before Clair and right before Blue and those were against trainers. Edit: Actually, come to think of it, I might have needed to train Griafarig and Chinchou against wild Pokemon to get them up to the levels of my other Pokemon, but that was it. I couldn't beat Sabrina when I first got to Saffaron, since Girafarig is my only Psychic resist, but I just came back when I had the other 6 badges and beat her fairly easily. I'm going to have to grind a ton to beat Red but since I doubt anyone could get a Lv. 80 Pokemon even just training one or two Pokemon against all of the trainers so I assume everyone has to grind (unless you plan to use a ton of X items to set up Pikachu but I find that extremely boring).

I'm sure a ton of other people have beaten the game by now since I've already got over 100 hours by doing things like the Pokeathlon and catching legendaries.

 

[Airfoil]

I still prefer to have near level 50/55 when I reach the elite 4 (well...on D/P/PL and HG/SS at least....). That's easiest to do w/ about 4 Pokemon. I sometimes give my main Pokemon a bad move (i.e. my Politoad had Double Slap until I reached the e4, but I would have kept it if I didn't needed the extra move slot for Hyper Voice) so I can catch lower-leveled Pokemon w/ more ease.

How come so many noobs love grinding with their 6-Pokemon teams?

Keep in mind competitive battlers like us are the only ones who have a different team for each tier (or even know what IVs do). Noobs + casual players beat the game, and use their in-game teams to battle other players. There are probably casual players who know about this stuff, but they play "casually", and don't care about winning, losing, or taking the battle seriously to begin with.


I like how playing in-game lets us run whatever Pokemon we want. Charizard, Torterra, Sceptile, Megainium.....They are some of my favorite Pokemon, but I can't use them in competitive battling much....



I was just curious about how many people beat the game. I was looking around on the internet for good EVing locations in HG/SS, and apparently, not too many people have beaten the game yet (I was expecting people to rush through it so they can unlock everything).

I beat the game w/ Ursaring, Magainium, Politoad, and Electrode (I also used a Physical Magmar for a while....but stopped using him right after beating the e4. The minute after I beat Lance, him and Lugia went straight in the CPU).

I had trouble w/ Lance and Clair (both were before I taught Politoad Blizzard). I still think the AI has a grip on Hax. My Thunder and Charge Beam attacks from Electrode constantly missed, while Clair/Lance had no trouble with Dragon Rush.

I try to avoid using good TMs (SR and Return before HG/SS, EQ, Ice Beam) on my In-Game Pokemon because I needed them for my competitive teams. I don't battle other players w/ my in-game team, so it's only against the AI (and w/ Hyper Potion and higher leveled, albeit un-EVed, Pokemon, as well as the fact regular NPCs can make a good number of mistakes....).

 

[Jonathan]

I didn't have to grind at all, I battled wild Pokemon that I came across till around Ecruteak but since then I just use Repels.

Apart from her Gyarados, I took down all of Clair's Pokemon with a Lvl. 35 (38 by the time I finished) Horsea. I didn't use any X items either. I taught my Horsea Outrage from the Platinum move tutor before trading it over though. I'll also admit I had to use about 2-3 revives but still it was incredibly fun to beat her Kingdra and two Dragonairs (all at a higher level, not to mention better stats) with a 1st stage Pokemon.

 

[alexix]

You can get a Murkrow in the Safari Zone, which opens after you cure Ampharos. Depending on the order you do certain in-game events, that could be before you get your 5th badge even. I guess you'd have to raise it to Lv. 35 and evolve it (which you can't do till after the National Dex) to get NP, so I guess you're better off using a different set for Crobat if you don't want to trade.

Well sure you can't get Togekiss until you get a National Dex. But it'll take you a while to raise Togepi's happiness anyway, and honestly the game isn't as fun if all your Pokemon are fully evolved and have their final moves by the time you beat the E4; don't forget you've still got like 40% of the game left afterwards. And you can get a Shiny Stone before even boarding the S.S. Anne: spend 30 minutes at the Pokeathlon (which is actually quite fun) and you should rack up enough points to buy a Shiny Stone.

Not sure what you mean by giving you a Water Stone to "unlock the area." All you need to catch Smeargle is Surf and Strength. Slowpoke learns Curse at Lvl. 0 so just catch a low leveled one in Slowpoke Well; you don't even need a Heart Scale. You can have your Eevee with Curse as soon as you beat Morty.

I understand your frustration though; all of these are longwinded solutions; I just find it fun to prove that something's possible :P

In hindsight I don't even know why I wanted a Special Crobat. I was thinking of raising Togetic and evolving it after the Elite Four but it would have been totally useless so I didn't in the end. The Water Stone thing, there's an area of Ruins of Alph you need a Water Stone for, I assumed it was for catching a Smeargle but it wasn't; and for the whole day today I was drumming with my Pokéwalker (works so well) trying (and failing) to catch a Gastly with Curse at Dim Cave. I was waiting for night to catch one at Sprout Tower until I read your post and now I feel pretty retarded (again) and just caught a Slowpoke so I will have my Umbreon in about an hour thank you 8)

I so wish Curse wasn't an egg move cause Umbreon is one of my favourite shinys and I have a shiny Eevee in my Platinum I haven't used :/

Oh and I beat Clair's Kingdra with my Level 33 Jumpluff. Probably the best part of the game so far.

 

[Jonathan]

^ By the way I hope I'm not too late with this: if you want you can easily pass both Curse AND Yawn to Eevee; just Sketch both moves with Smeargle from Slowpoke. Then you'll have a truly awesome Umbreon :)

EDIT: And in hindsight if you HAD raised a Togetic, you could have sketched Wish also :P

 

[SkullCandy]

Usually I try and catch my favourite pokemon and train them endlessly until I can completely destroy the Gym Leaders and the League. However... I feel kind of bad admitting this but to complete Platinum I asked my friend to PokeSav some pokemon for me (along with their at the time illegal movesets), no items though to make it a little 'fairer'.
My team at the moment is:

Togekiss
Air Slash
Shadow Ball
Aura Sphere
Roost

Gabite
Outrage
Earthquake
Fire Fang
Stone Edge

Pupitar
Fire Punch
Stone Edge
Crunch
Aqua Tail

Scizor
Bullet Punch
Superpower
Pursuit
U-turn

Gyarados
Earthquake
Ice Fang
Waterfall
Dragon Dance

and the HM slave...

Bibarel
Surf
Strength
Rock Climb
Cut/Rock Smash (I alternate)

I feel sort of bad for doing that but... what the hell! It was fun!!