How do you play Pokemon in-game?

[Newby]

Amen.

I always just play through making sure to do the following:
-Examine every house
-Talk to every person
-Catch as many Pokemon as possible
-Raise a full team of Pokemon (screw that 1-3 bullshit. I play like a fucking man!)
-Don't give a shit about natures

That's how I played as a kid, and as they say, "Kids do the damned best things".

This all the way + I only train Pokemon seriously that are not in Great/Ultra/Masterball ect, just because.

 

[Chou Toshio]

I transfer my favorite ev-trained pokemon from the region over, although to be fair, I have to keep them at a low level, so that they obey me!

Really? I just chillax with them until they start attacking. If they're strong enough and at a high enough level, the opponent can take all the free turns they want-- we'll just chillax over here until we feel like attacking.

 

[kokoloko]

Recently, at the ery beginning of the game, I started pokesav'ing teams of 4 level 2 pokemon I like, already EVd and with movesets I want + Tropius and Bibarel (for HMs). Sometimes I'll even make illegal pokemon like Aura Sphere / Dark Void Gengar just because I'm bad-ass like that. Its actually really fun.

 

[Cricketpar]

Unless I have a particular reason to want to finish the game quickly, I usually take it nice and slow, although I try to use different pokemon each re-run. I usually just catch my team in-game, but for Platinum I did try transferring. Catching is more fun, IMO.

And I don't worry about Natures/EVs/IVs in my play-throughs, they don't really matter in-game.

 

[Killernoob]

first of all I really tend to not pay attention to natures IVs or EVs. but sometimes I will kinda ev train but I wont count them or anything and same w natures but it wont make or break me on a pokemon I want in my team. I tend to not trade over pokemon. I like using around 4 pokemon or so. always keep the starter at a higher lvl as the others try to keep them in a 5 lvl difference or so. like starter 45 rest in the 40s.

during my 1st run through of SS i started with cyndaquil picked up a mareep, then got a sycther, and a skarmory then went all the way back and grabed a slowpoke and trained it for the 8th badge and E4. it was tedious but so worth it.

On my next run Im thinking Im going to do a mono poison run with a team of 6, which is something I haven't done since i played r/b/y.

Bulbasaur (starter traded over at lvl 5)
Nidoran (f)
Zubat
Venonat
Tentacool
Koffing

And maybe a few others in the PC. My name will be Koga I always liked him in r/b/y but i love bulba to much not to get have him on my team. I just noticed that all these pokemon are 1st gen.

 

[VaporeonIce]

I try to use different Pokemon every time I play, for the most part, but I try to stick to ones that are pretty respectable without a ton of egg moves or TMs that you only get once/are hard to reobtain (I'm not going to play Voltorb Flip a million times to get a Clefable with Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower). I try to fill up the Pokedex as much as possible pre-Elite Four, but I don't level up anything I'm not using in game. I never transfer from other games prior to beating the game.

I pretty much always think about EVs until I get the Effort Ribbon on my Pokemon, but I never keep track of them. For instance, if I'm using Slowbro, I'll focus on the fact that I'm using it for its bulk and its special attacks, and I let it get HP/Def/SpDef/SpAtk EVs, while avoiding Speed and Attack EVs (whenever possible). I have Pokemon that are extremely good in one defensive stat (like Weezing) focus on the other two, though. Fast sweepers a little bit more restricted in the Pokemon I let them fight, since I only let them get Atk/SpAtk (or both if they're mixed) + Speed EVs, but Pokemon that give Speed EVs are EVERYWHERE, so it evens out pretty well. Depending on the team, it can make the game more challenging; Slowbro is great at countering Machoke/Machamp, but since it doesn't want Attack EVs, I have to switch to something that's a more vulnerable.

 

[TyKexBK]

I remember as a young kid it was important to me to beat the game without dying or getting "owned" by any trainers, thus forcing me to make my starter into a tank and not use anybody but him. I would end the game with a level ~70 Swampert, Infernape, you name it.

Now that I'm a bit, what you would say, smarter, I really like focusing on building cool teams and taking the game nice and slow. I've always hated training more than one Pokemon in my party, because it just took too long. I suppose my attention span has gone up a little since then, considering now it seems like it takes no time at all to train up a just-caught Pokemon.

People don't realize it's so much more fun to build a cool team that you will have until the day you stop playing Pokemon then beating the game as fast as possible, with a super high leveled starter. That requires 0 skill, and is, IMO, pretty lame.

 

[Senfroz]

When I was a kid, I typically only used one Pokémon throughout the whole game. Usually, this was my starter. However, sometimes it would be a different Pokémon. For example, one time, in Crystal, I caught an Abra, taught it the elemental punches, and only used it for the rest of the game. It was ridiculously over-leveled when I got to the Elite 4 (somewhere in the 60s range), so they were no problem for me (not even Karen). When I got to the part in Crystal where you had to get back the Machine Part for the Power Plant, I had no idea what to do (I was around 7 or 8 years old, so finding a hidden item in the water of a Gym wasn't something I knew how to do), so I decided to train my Kadabra and make it stronger. Eventually, I restarted Crystal because I thought I was stuck and that I did something wrong in the game. When I restarted, my Kadabra was level 82. It never did evolve, though, because I had no way to trade back then. Ah, good times.

Now, however, I'm 13 years old, and, as a result, a lot smarter when it comes to Pokémon. I typically have a full team of 6 by the end of the game, but I don't get my team members all at the same time, to avoid being under-leveled. I always completely plan out my team in a Word document before playing a Pokémon game now. Moves, abilities, etc., I plan it all out before I start the game.

 

[jujuomi]

I figure this is the only time to play without caring about EVs, IVs, Natures and the rest of the fudge. I play with the movesets alotted and use no TMs only HMs if necessary. Sometimes I switch between 4 pokemon + 2 HM slaves to a full team with HMs evenly distributed. This is how I played when I was younger, and is how I play most happily. I hate bringing in higher level pokemon because their ignoring me is extremely irritating and time-consuming. And EVing ruins the fun out of it. Although sometimes I do take advantage of places with only one pokemon/only one EV (like some of the seas), but in no way counting the evs.

 

[Marionic]

While playing through, I try to catch every single new pokemon I could (and maybe order them in numerical order). Also, when I'm looking for new members to add to my team, I actually do watch for their natures; in other words, if their nature isn't what I want, then I restart, because I don't wanna spend so much on Pokeballs.

I also have a really strict type rule (The team must have a grass, fire, water, electric, rock, and psychic, and at least one must be able to know fly; anything extra slots can go to whatever.), which, at first, stemed into competitive battling. You could see that with my first "competitive" team, which consisted of a...hmm...Starmie, Tyranitar (I think), Charizard, Magnezone, Breloom, and Shuckle. I have recently abandoned this on competitive battling, but it still lives on in my play-throughs in the regular games.

EDIT: The WHOLE post only applies to 3rd--gen games. For 4th gen, I still keep the type rule as well as look for natures, but whenever I do a new pokemon game for the first time (just got Soulsilver), I get a little more lienent in natures, although not much. Also, the "catching every new pokemon" concept isn't exactly enforced...*cough*PalPark*cough*

 

[SigmaEpsilon]

What I did for Soul Silver was trade in a bunch of Pokemon that were either shiny with bad IVs, UT clones of great Pokemon I had, and I'd use my starter so that I could have a team that represented me:
Completely random yet everyone around me wanted to have one like it.

 

[november1093]

I love trying to beat the game with things that are considered weak. For Example in emerald I got: Sceptile (I always keep the starter) Spinda, Sableye, Swellow, Maskerain, and Seaking. It was a blast, and really challenging too. For HG/SS I planned a team. It wasn't so fun in my opinion. I then restarted. I now have a cyndaquil (because normally I'll get the other two) hoothoot, and polywag. I don't know or care what polywag will evolve into, and I have no clue what I'm getting next. Maybe an ekans, maybe a stantler, I don't know.

For the new Gen V, I plan on not going to serebii at all so I don't know what the pokemon are. I wan't to go through the game like when I was a kid, not knowing whats gunna pop out of the grass next! If it looks cool, I'll catch it. If it looks fun, I'll catch it.

 

[Bane]

I always use all six slots with very strict rules. I will always have Fire, Water, Grass and Flying on my team. In the beginning, I use an HM slave just because not all of my team is assembled yet. I don't care about natures or anything, but I will use a shiny if I have one.

 

[TubaKing]

I haven't played a cartridge game since GSC, but when I did play, I took the time to train my Pokemon as long as possible before facing Gym Leaders and make sure that I capture as many Pokemon as possible before moving on to the next town.

 

[clarinetist87]

I usually go through the game with a preplanned team of six including a fire, water, electric, ground, flying, and psychic type.

My current HeartGold play through, however, I changed it up a little bit. My current team is Gengar, Drapion, Steelix, Dragonair, Heracross, and Feraligator, none of whom I've ever used in-game or otherwise. Its rather interesting going through the game without the standard elemental pokes, and its probably what I'll do from now on.

 

[Ultima]

What I do is usually do to start is do the dailies/weeklies on HG. Then I do some pokemon leveling to up my Pokemon count (I'm trying to get the Nat Dex. Halfway there!) using the Elite Four. Every once in a while, when I get the chance, I breed pokemon to use for my teams, and then EV train them. After I finish all that, I usually finish off by connecting my Pokewalker and gaining pokemon that way.

 

[Ihs]

I usually just make a challenge for myself. Like in RBY days I'd challenge myself to play through the game without catching an Abra.

My first play through I pick the starter that appeals to me, (Bulbasaur, Cyndaquil, Mudkip, Turtwig, and probably Pokabu for BW). Then round out my team with a Fire, Electric, Water and Ground type as well as whatever I might like along the way.

 

[Tyranitar.armaldo]

I normally pick beforehand 6 species I like, try to make sure I dont get two of the same type (not everytime though, as when I first got diamond I had Torterra,Gastrodon and Garchomp). Then go and catch them when I first see them.

Only looking for vaguly good natures, anything really counter-productive I skip and catch another.

 

[Darth Kaiser]

I mostly transfer a team of high IV valued shiny pokes or just pokes I want to train and never had the opportunity to do. After I have my team early in game I mostly clear the game with all of those pokemon with the addition of a HM slave. I try to catch as many pokemon as possible while it's still fun late in the gameplay time it gets tedious to look back for this or that pokemon so I'd rather do it now.

 

[greg3064]

I'm usually pretty patient going through the games. I like to take my time and battle all the trainers and explore and such, but I usually limit myself to around 3 Pokemon with a couple HMs on those, and then use an HM slave or 2 for the rest (never like to waste time finding a good one... I carried around a Graveller for no reason other than Rock Climb).

In Pearl I stuck mostly to Empoleon and Staraptor. I picked up a Gabite at some point because I was worried about facing the 8th gym with Empoleon and Staraptor, but it wasn't a problem. I was also worried about facing the Ice gym because Empoleon couldn't touch them and Staraptor was Ice-weak, but I think I just used Close Combat and 1-hit everything lol. Garchomp for the E4 was very nice too. :P I also used a Misdreavous a bit lol with Pain Split and Confuse Ray in a sort of stallish way, but I ditched it eventually because it lagged behind in levels due to lack of usage.

I don't really try to make anything competitive before the E4, and I rarely trade anything over until after the E4 too.

 

[sharkz]

I used to only train my starter when i first started playing cartridge games. That was back in RSE and I remember my Sceptile rampaging through most of my ruby until i met drake and steven.
Still now I will try to train a few other Pokes to compliment my starter however i rarely use more than 4 pokes on my main team. The other slots usually just go to an HM Slave that takes up the crap HMs like cut. I also prefer pokes that can learn moves of different types by level up since I don't like to use TMs on them(HMs are fine).
Don't like to trade over pokes since it makes it too easy.

 

[Killernoob]

I was shocked at all the people who just soloed with there starter as I only had one friend that would do that and then he would get stuck and get all pissed.

 

[Im new here]

I tend to rush through the game as fast as possible, would never think about making a proper competative team since i think it would take forever, i do, however try and make a team strong enough to take on the E4 when i'm 10-15 levels lower than all the E4 pokemon. Keeping my starter often depends on if it fits into a team that's able to take on the E4, but sadly in my experiance starters tend nto to be good enough to be in a team thats able to take on the E4

 

[Smith]

I have very high standards for in-game. I don't mean that I care about evs, ivs or natures, because I don't, but I only use what I think are really, really cool Pokemon or starters. I can't just slap onto my team whatever Pokemon I stumble upon, and have to plan out the team in advance. I do however use some basic competitive strategies, like actually using set-up moves, etc. I used to be a real nazi about covering every type in game, but ever since my standards tightened up, I tend to drop this. I never, ever use legendaries but always catch them, never in master balls, because of the fun and excitement. My nicknames also have to sound cool, I cant just call my cyndaquil "Cyndy". In my last run through, my typholsion was Tyberius, and my Dragonite Caesar. I always use 6 Pokemon and carry around hm slaves, replacing members of my party temporarily. My basic goal in the in-game is to be able to play a scrub at school and make him say, "Wow, what an awesome team of all entirely cool Pokemon". I always try to use grass type starter (Typholsion was an exception, my more recent run through has a meganium).

 

[Red G]

I starter solo'ed up until pearl, in which I had luxray and infernape at 50's, and staraptor in 40's. Once I got HG, I trained a full team equally of Typhlosion, Graveler, Magneton, Red Gyarados and 2 others I currently can't remember. Made the E4 actually hard, which was much more fun. I then replayed emerald to get the legends and made a 6 poke team. However a level 70 rayquaza they basically give you sort of makes it unfair. (all my team was under level 50, then a lvl 70 Ray!?)

For BW I plan on building a 4/5 poke team, of whatever I come across. I plan in picking the grass one, it looks so fast and awesome.