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How do you play Pokemon in-game?
- Thread starter Jonathan
- Start date
I like to use Pokemon I would otherwise never use competitively. I also like to use Pokemon I've never used before or never trained before. I sometimes find new favorites like this haha. I haven't decided on what to use for Soul Silver when I get it this summer though.
I usually try to build a balanced team and keep their levels even. I generally don't catch pokemon I don't intend to use on my team until after I've beat the game. As far as legendaries go I usually use them when they fit on my team. Sure it makes it a little easier than usual, but I just like having an uber anchoring my team and just mowing stuff down. I didn't use Ho-oh in my HG run though because I already had typhlosion and I wasn't really feeling another fire type. Also me and my friend were having some casual battles (in-game teams no ev-training or anything) so I wanted to keep using the team I would battle him with.
I finally got to the E4 in my Plat version with an Infernape with Flamethrower/ Thunderpunch/ Grass Knot/ Close Combat, a Floatzel with Waterfall/ Ice Punch/ Crunch/ Dig, a Staraptor with Fly/ Return/ Steel Wing/ Close Combat, and a Roserade with Petal Dance/ Sludge Bomb/ Shadow Ball/ Aromatherapy, all at level 50, only to be swept by an Alakazam. I had priority on three of them and I got rid of it because I thought I outsped everything.
I'm kind of obsessive-compulsive in that I try to keep my pokemon team at the same level, all the time, so whenever one pokemon levels up I then immediately grind until all the others are that level as well. This usually means I'm under-levelled when I take on gyms, but I like the challenge of building a strategy using the pokemon I have to defeat the leader's pokemon (which have, on occasion, been as many as six levels higher). Eventually, I invariably have to spend a couple hours grinding to get my pokemon up to level 50-60 to take on the Elite Four. Thankfully, I have a high grinding tolerance.
I usually like to get a good type spread for my in-game team, along with an HM slave. I also tend to use pokemon that I think are cool (which is why I use noob mons like Mightyena and Pidgeot), along with my starter. I finally throw in a legendary or two to steamroll pokemon I'm having problems with.
I took on the SS E4 with this team:
Typhlosion (Lv. 50): Cut / Blast Burn / Fire Blast / Flamethrower
Pidgeot (Level 50): Fly / Quick Attack / Wing Attack / Roost
Dragonite (Level 50): Wing Attack / Dragon Dance / Dragon Pulse / Draco Meteor
Kangaskhan (Level 50): Cut / Surf / Strength / Rock Smash
Gyarados (Level 50): Bite / Whirlpool / Waterfall / Blizzard
Lugia (Level 50): Extrasensory / Charge Beam / Hydro Pump / Aeroblast
I am currently working on the Kanto gyms with this team, and so far I've had no trouble.
I usually like to get a good type spread for my in-game team, along with an HM slave. I also tend to use pokemon that I think are cool (which is why I use noob mons like Mightyena and Pidgeot), along with my starter. I finally throw in a legendary or two to steamroll pokemon I'm having problems with.
I took on the SS E4 with this team:
Typhlosion (Lv. 50): Cut / Blast Burn / Fire Blast / Flamethrower
Pidgeot (Level 50): Fly / Quick Attack / Wing Attack / Roost
Dragonite (Level 50): Wing Attack / Dragon Dance / Dragon Pulse / Draco Meteor
Kangaskhan (Level 50): Cut / Surf / Strength / Rock Smash
Gyarados (Level 50): Bite / Whirlpool / Waterfall / Blizzard
Lugia (Level 50): Extrasensory / Charge Beam / Hydro Pump / Aeroblast
I am currently working on the Kanto gyms with this team, and so far I've had no trouble.
Lol, I just made my Lugia my SS HM slave. The only reason was because it's the only 'mon (besides Smeargle but I'm too lazy to get one) that can learn both Fly and Surf, I think. I'm feeling a little ashamed but hey.
Poor Peliper says hi.... but I get your point (Per' is not available at the begining)
Let's see...
Well, prior to a "fresh" game coming out, I always plan out who I want to use beforehand. There are a couple of things that I always do that hasn't changed since the original Red/Blue.
1) Start with the fire starter.
2) Get the starting bird
3) If the electric type in the region is not to my liking, trade over a pikachu/jolteon.
However, once Diamond/Pearl rolled around, I changed it to me Soft resetting for good natures/iv's on my starter (I wouldn't start the adventure until this was set in stone).
Months before HG/SS came out in the US, I actually prepared a team of pokemon in Platinum that I would send over (literally half of my team the first part of the game was traded over from Platinum). I breeded/Pal parked the pokemon that I knew I wanted to use, then ev trained them, so that once they were sent over to HG, I could enjoy the game like it was meant to "without" worrying about evs,ivs. I play to have fun first, but I also want to stand a fighting chance and have pokemon ready for wifi, so I take the little extra effort for the much bigger payoff.
Whenever a rare pokemon/legend shows up, I have my abra with the right nature in my party so that I can get the same nature and good stats.
Now that I've beaten HG, I'm going to prepare some different pokemon and then send them over to SS and repeat the process.
Well, prior to a "fresh" game coming out, I always plan out who I want to use beforehand. There are a couple of things that I always do that hasn't changed since the original Red/Blue.
1) Start with the fire starter.
2) Get the starting bird
3) If the electric type in the region is not to my liking, trade over a pikachu/jolteon.
However, once Diamond/Pearl rolled around, I changed it to me Soft resetting for good natures/iv's on my starter (I wouldn't start the adventure until this was set in stone).
Months before HG/SS came out in the US, I actually prepared a team of pokemon in Platinum that I would send over (literally half of my team the first part of the game was traded over from Platinum). I breeded/Pal parked the pokemon that I knew I wanted to use, then ev trained them, so that once they were sent over to HG, I could enjoy the game like it was meant to "without" worrying about evs,ivs. I play to have fun first, but I also want to stand a fighting chance and have pokemon ready for wifi, so I take the little extra effort for the much bigger payoff.
Whenever a rare pokemon/legend shows up, I have my abra with the right nature in my party so that I can get the same nature and good stats.
Now that I've beaten HG, I'm going to prepare some different pokemon and then send them over to SS and repeat the process.
For giggles I've been playing through with a glitched ditto.
Spore coming off of doubled speed is just immoral.
Then baton-passing a belly drum for literal sweep-in-a-can.
The thing is a monster, and in the extremely unlikely scenario that Ditto is allowed to use his new toys competitively, it's merit in OU and beyond goes without saying.
(You can tell it's an obvious glitch when I'm able to find it accidentally during my first playthrough. I'm under the impression that the Japanese purposefully slipped it in there as a gift to ditto; which Ditto undoubtedly deserves after more than a decade of uselessness. But I digress.)
The rest of my team consists of roughly EVtrained G/S pokemon, but the ditto makes almost every battle a cake-walk.
Spore coming off of doubled speed is just immoral.
Then baton-passing a belly drum for literal sweep-in-a-can.
The thing is a monster, and in the extremely unlikely scenario that Ditto is allowed to use his new toys competitively, it's merit in OU and beyond goes without saying.
(You can tell it's an obvious glitch when I'm able to find it accidentally during my first playthrough. I'm under the impression that the Japanese purposefully slipped it in there as a gift to ditto; which Ditto undoubtedly deserves after more than a decade of uselessness. But I digress.)
The rest of my team consists of roughly EVtrained G/S pokemon, but the ditto makes almost every battle a cake-walk.
They grow up so fast these days...
There was a Toys R Us event that had a Level 50 Dragonite. Lance hacks his Dragonites, too.
Falkner hacks his Pidgeotto. Get a life Falkner.
Am I the only one who doesn't use the starting flyer? Am I also the only one who goes with a team of 6 Pokemon I actually use?
Am I the only one who doesn't use the starting flyer? Am I also the only one who goes with a team of 6 Pokemon I actually use?
I'm pretty anal about my team. Usually I plan out at least 4 of the pokemon I will use. When I'm raising them, the lowest level goes to the front of the team. If there is a tie for lowest level, lowest hp goes up front. Keeps it organized and balanced, and I don't have to do much grinding for the elite four (if at all).
Heh, I checked XD to see what level it's Dragonite was. Still lv 55.
It's not unusual for the game to include several underleveled fully evolved pokemon (Raticate, Bibarel, etc), but the lack of wild Dragonites made it admittedly odd.
For me, this is the first play through that I've consciously attempted to EV my in-game starters. I level grinded a little once I found an area with appropriate pokemon, but I didn't let my totodile fight, say, geodudes, etc. I'm interested to see how my half-assed EV training works out.
It's not unusual for the game to include several underleveled fully evolved pokemon (Raticate, Bibarel, etc), but the lack of wild Dragonites made it admittedly odd.
For me, this is the first play through that I've consciously attempted to EV my in-game starters. I level grinded a little once I found an area with appropriate pokemon, but I didn't let my totodile fight, say, geodudes, etc. I'm interested to see how my half-assed EV training works out.
I never rush through the game. And I don't over level a certain pokemon over others. I also EV train somewhat in the sense that I wouldn't let something like a hitmonlee fight a espeon or gangar (since they give SpAtk eves).
I usually rush through the first half of the game with my starter. Once my starter is about level 30 or 40, I start actively looking for other team members.
I TOTALLY agree with you about the no HM Slave thing. I played emerald, diamond, and platinum with two HM Slaves. Finally, with SoulSilver I decided to just let my 6 pokemon share hms equally. :)
I TOTALLY agree with you about the no HM Slave thing. I played emerald, diamond, and platinum with two HM Slaves. Finally, with SoulSilver I decided to just let my 6 pokemon share hms equally. :)
In my eventual (*cries* It'll never happen) Platinum playthrough I fully intend on having Waterfall, Surf (Floatsel), Rock Smash (Scyther), and Strength or Rock Climb (Weavile) stuck on my team.
For SS I researched the kind of team I wanted and set up move sets and natures and EV spreads, then I bred them in Platinum. I wanted to use only gen 2 pokemon until I got the National Dex though. I traded them over to Silver once I got it and played through the game without an HM slave. I made sure and spent time in each route during the 3 different time periods while I was playing through to make sure that I caught every pokemon that was available at the time. Its a lot more enjoyable to me to take your time when playing the game. There is just so much to do.
Personally I never send Pokemon over from other games... I like using the Pokemon native to the region I'm playing in. For example I only used Johto Pokemon in Johto. It makes sense to me and it's a bit of a challenge.
