Poke-Habits

Also, I'd use the weakest battlers to fight things I can easily OHKO with my flagship, just for the sake of using them. Sure, my Alakazam can rape Bruno, but I still fight his Hitmonchan with Pidgeot. Like, everyone deserves its own moment of glory.
Talking of that, in the final champion battle; I try to have each member of my team take down one of the champion's; almost creating a rival situation. Just to give everyone a bit of glory. So while my Choice Specs Thunderbolt Gardevoir - because you can get Choice Specs in Celestic town and omg it is so broken - was far and away the best choice to take down Cynthia's Togekiss out of my team; I already had him dealing with Milotic, so I had my Vaporeon take Togekiss on iirc.
 
in gens prior to Gen 6, I tend to be very anal about keeping the levels of my Pokémon the same.
Like, I have a team of five level 43s, for instance. One reaches Level 44. Switch to train another of my Level 43s to Level 44 and don't use that Level 44 until all of them are Level 44.
There's a few exceptions to this; like if it's very close to an evolution or significant move level, I'll totally break my rule for a bit - but it'll mean I won't use it for a bit after that due to my rules. Like, I have a team of Level 34s - I get my Monferno to Level 35, then keep training it to Level 36 for Infernape. I won't use it again unless I need to for a bit because I need to train the others to 36, so even though that evolution or new move is really cool, I don't allow myself to use it right away because of my stupid rules lol.
I've been trying to break the habit recently but it's a bit difficult. Gen 6's (and likely Gen 7's) Exp Share negates this completely though due to everyone levelling and getting exp at the same time and I'm so overlevelled it doesn't matter.
Same by me. At the sixth generation games though the Exp. Share messes the EVs of the Pokemon up because all yout Party Pokemon get the same EVs and it kinda bothered me. At the same time it is such a temptation. It makes things so quicker.
 
I know but in my opinion a Pokemon should get the experience points it has deserved. And the Exp. Share messed that up because all your mons get Exp which kinda defeats the purpose.
 
I don't have a pattern with starters.

Gen 1: Charmander

Gen 2: Cyndaquil

Gen 3: Mudkip

Gen 4: Turtwig

Gen 5: Tepig

Gen 6: Chespin

Gen 7: Litten

I don't do it nearly as often now, but I used to keep my starter five levels higher than everything on my team (they would all be the same level).

I also like to make sure that Pokemon that appear blatantly feminine like Gardevoir or Roserade are female, and that Pokemon that have any hint of masculinity like Aegislash (King's Shield) are male. Mons like Azumarill, Weavile, Pikachu, Salamence, or Garchomp etc. are fine with any gender. Exceptions include nicknamed Pokemon like Toph (Excadrill), Suki (Breloom), Manny (Mamoswine), Cruz (Tailow), Rigby (Linoone) Eleanor (Numel) which I prefer to match the gender of the character or person it's named after.

I always grind in between gyms because I don't want to lose to any NPCs.

Type coverage is the deciding factor for new members on my in-game team (I wanted to use Butterfree in Fire Red, but decided against it because its movepool is extremely limited).

I need to have a bulky Pokemon (Water, Grass or Fighting) to take on the trainers in caves, and compensate for choosing Fire starters.

I only use Pokeballs, and toss my Masterball (in the beginning of X/Y I held onto it so I could trade it for a Hitmonchan that would help me breed Vacuum Wave on my Lucario in the postgame)

My in-game teams usually sit in Box 1 after I beat the Champion. Any competitive teams I construct for Wifi usually sit in the two boxes left of the Battle Box, while the team I plan to use sits in the Battle Box. I also have a box for recently banned Pokemon or miscellaneous ubers.
 
The PC for the first "main game" of the current generation (currently Platinum, Black, and Y, soon to be Moon) is usually overcroweded while the second "main game" (SoulSilver, Black 2, and Alpha Sapphire) aren't. It isn't as bad as it was before thanks to the Bank.
 
The PC for the first "main game" of the current generation (currently Platinum, Black, and Y, soon to be Moon) is usually overcroweded while the second "main game" (SoulSilver, Black 2, and Alpha Sapphire) aren't. It isn't as bad as it was before thanks to the Bank.
Yeah, I tend to go ham and put a ton of hours and work into my first playthrough of a generation and then for subsequent games that come out I replay them over and over, transferring Pokemon to my main file before I restart each time. Since I don't have a game boy advance link cable, I just transfer all my Pokemon up to my fourth gen main game. I have nearly a box full of rayquaza on my platinum now. I don't know why...
 

Xen

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-I usually don't pre-plan my team before playing a new game, or replaying it later down the line; I'll just catch and use Pokemon that I like or would be cool to try out. Usually I try to have a full team by the 4th-5th gyms in their respective games since I don't particularly like catching Pokemon super-late in the game. There have been exceptions, such as me pre-planning my team before playing White for the first time, or cutting through parts of the game to catch a Pokemon (such as Remoraid from Gold), while skipping possible trainers until when I "naturally" reach that route. I also do try to have a Grass, Fire, and Water member on my team when possible. Also, if I encounter a shiny Pokemon while playing through the story, I always add it to my team.

-Adding on to my first point, I don't usually favor certain starter Pokemon types; I just pick starters I think would be cool to use. If I'm replaying a game, I will usually pick a starter I haven't used before or haven't used as much however, unless it's a starter that I really like.

-I don't dedicate team members as HM slaves; I catch a full party of Pokemon that all battle evenly, and distribute HMs evenly among them. Once I reach the Pokemon League, I'll fly to the move deleter, delete the HM moves (except the good ones like Surf), and teach better moves to them for the Elite 4 gauntlet.

-I avoid trading until post-game, unless it's to evolve a trade-evolution Pokemon like Kadabra.

-Mirroring what Kurona said, I always try to keep my Pokemon's levels even. If one of my Pokemon hits lv 40, for example, I'll switch him out and let other members battle until the whole party hits lv 40.

-I never use my Master Ball in-game. I don't bother battling/catching legendaries until post-game unless you are forced to during the story (which I really hate btw). If I have to catch them to advance the story, I catch them the old-fashioned way of lowering their HP, inflicting status, and chucking as many Ultra/Dusk/whatever balls as possible until it's caught.

-I always keep the Pokemon I use in my in-game team, as well as any random shinies I catch. If, by some RNG miracle, they have good IV's & Nature, then I'll even wipe and properly train EVs to them and use them post-game in battle facilities such as the Maison.

-When I buy a new game and beat it for the first time, I never restart it; instead it becomes my main game for things such as WiFi trading/battling, and storing Pokemon. I usually will buy the opposite version later on for casual plays, that I can restart whenever I want.

-I'm the minority here, but I actually never do nuzlocke runs. To me, nuzlockes go against the very nature of the game, and there are better ways to increase difficulty in a Pokemon game (use lesser-used Pokemon, no Exp Share, minimize grinding, etc.). If I really want to play a game where permadeath is possible and resources are limited, I'd rather just play a Fire Emblem game.
 
To me, nuzlockes go against the very nature of the game...
I don't understand that statement at all. Especially since I find that there is an element that does tie into the game: caring about others. To quote a comic from the official Nuzlocke website:
"...for the friends you'll make. Friends you didn't choose or want. Friends you'll cherish that much more knowing you could lose them at any moment."
 

Xen

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I don't understand that statement at all. Especially since I find that there is an element that does tie into the game: caring about others. To quote a comic from the official Nuzlocke website:
"...for the friends you'll make. Friends you didn't choose or want. Friends you'll cherish that much more knowing you could lose them at any moment."
Pokemon battles are seen as a way to strengthen Pokemon, and the bonds trainers share with their Pokemon. Sure this would be even more true in nuzlockes, but Pokemon battles aren't bloody fights to the death either, unless we're talking about the Pokemon Adventures manga; in the games, shit hax happens, and it's perfectly okay to lose a battle or two. I could go into further detail, but it's off-topic and more suited to the unpopular opinions thread anyway.

I've done a few nuzlocke runs before, but I just find it more comfortable to play through the game casually. I spout enough grey hairs worrying about character death in the FE games. lol
 
Pokemon battles are seen as a way to strengthen Pokemon, and the bonds trainers share with their Pokemon. Sure this would be even more true in nuzlockes, but Pokemon battles aren't bloody fights to the death either, unless we're talking about the Pokemon Adventures manga; in the games, shit hax happens, and it's perfectly okay to lose a battle or two. I could go into further detail, but it's off-topic and more suited to the unpopular opinions thread anyway.

I've done a few nuzlocke runs before, but I just find it more comfortable to just play through the game casually. I spout enough grey hairs worrying about character death in the FE games. lol
I like the traditional way of just playing pokemon with the rules in place, however I have to say, occasionally doing a nuzlocke with some friends is a lot of fun and more intense and unpredictable than a normal playthrough.
 
Pokemon battles are seen as a way to strengthen Pokemon, and the bonds trainers share with their Pokemon. Sure this would be even more true in nuzlockes, but Pokemon battles aren't bloody fights to the death either, unless we're talking about the Pokemon Adventures manga; in the games, shit hax happens, and it's perfectly okay to lose a battle or two. I could go into further detail, but it's off-topic and more suited to the unpopular opinions thread anyway.

I've done a few nuzlocke runs before, but I just find it more comfortable to play through the game casually. I spout enough grey hairs worrying about character death in the FE games. lol
Okay, that makes sense.
Personally, I've tried Nuzlockes, but I don't really enjoy them since I don't like worrying about losing a Pokémon. Also, I think Unova is cursed for me as my very first Nuzlocke was White and it was the first time I lost the first battle ever, making it an instant loss and my second was quickly ended thanks to the first N battle in an randomizer of Black.
 
I generally have a good idea of what my final team will consist of when I start playing. I usually plan the final parts of the team early on in the game. I try to have a balanced team, avoiding overlapping types as far as it is possible and I try to keep some kind of balance between special and physical too. I always have a flyer and a surfer on my team, then I use HM slaves for the other HMs.

I never nickname the Pokemon I use for in-game teams anymore. The main reason for this is that when I play through a new generation for the first time, I want to learn all the names of the new Pokemon, and using nicknames on them would not help with this. However, when it comes to teams I use for battle facilities, online teams, post-game teams or anything else that is serious, I always nickname them.

I try to catch every new Pokemon I encounter while playing through a game since I will complete the Pokedex later on anyway and might as well start on it while playing through the game. This just makes it easier for me later on.

I always get both versions of every paired version. In almost every situation, I play as the Male character in the game I get first and as the Female character in the second one. I give a different name to every character so I can keep track of which game every Pokemon is from, and it feels more individual this way.

Starting with X/Y, I always have a Fairy-type on my in-game, online and post-game teams.
 
Habits? Hmm...

I like to think that I just go for whichever starter is coolest, but looking back I tend to pick Grass types first and Fire types if I don't like the Grass. I've done replays with Oshawott, Piplup and Mudkip, but other than that I stay away from Water types. Grass types seem to cover weaknesses in my team better than the others because...

I train all the Rock types. It's my favourite type, with Fire and Ground close behind. Maybe this is why I'm so averse to Water types? I don't know :D

Other than that, I just choose what looks cool. As I progress I get to know what works and what is lacking, and my team changes as a result. I can remember Archeops and Darmanitan working so well in Black and White that they essentially just became my team. Until I caught Terrakion, at least.
 
After I pick my Water starter for the initial run, I'll generally just randomly choose another starter.

I tend to try and plan out teams, but I'm usually nuzlocking, so it depends on what I'm getting, and whether or not the encounter is guaranteed/near guaranteed(ex: Gift Pokemon, or things like BW2 Eevee with Repels)

Also, this one's a bit odd:
I don't use the Master Ball. Period. End of Discussion. Not on legends, not on shinies, not even shiny legends.
I think this habit started back in gen 4, when you could transfer items through Pal Park. I would keep the Master Ball in a gen 3 game, transfer it to a gen 4 game, and then use it on whatever. I'm not kidding when I say my Diamond Version(that I maxed out the clock on) had about 30 Master Balls in it at one time. Then comes Gen 5, and you can't use that trick anymore. But did I stop keeping that Purple-Red Ball? No. By this point the Master Ball is a trophy. A very nice one, but a trophy all the same.
 
After I pick my Water starter for the initial run, I'll generally just randomly choose another starter.

I tend to try and plan out teams, but I'm usually nuzlocking, so it depends on what I'm getting, and whether or not the encounter is guaranteed/near guaranteed(ex: Gift Pokemon, or things like BW2 Eevee with Repels)

Also, this one's a bit odd:
I don't use the Master Ball. Period. End of Discussion. Not on legends, not on shinies, not even shiny legends.
I think this habit started back in gen 4, when you could transfer items through Pal Park. I would keep the Master Ball in a gen 3 game, transfer it to a gen 4 game, and then use it on whatever. I'm not kidding when I say my Diamond Version(that I maxed out the clock on) had about 30 Master Balls in it at one time. Then comes Gen 5, and you can't use that trick anymore. But did I stop keeping that Purple-Red Ball? No. By this point the Master Ball is a trophy. A very nice one, but a trophy all the same.
I did the exact same thing with masterballs, and rayquazas. I have long surpassed the maximum amount of masterballs/rayquazas that could possibly be needed on my Pokemon platinum version. If there comes a day where 33 rayquazas can be used at once, that day will be a victory.
 
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Habits? Let's see... I take real-life logic into account when playing the game.

But seriously, I tend to choose and catch Pokémon that have interesting designs, unless they really suck. I just try to catch whatever is available in the game in order to fill up the Dex.
 
Whenever I play Gen 5 or Gen 6, I tend to have this arguably wasteful habit of EV-training random Pokemon, meaning ones without proper egg moves, IVS, whatever. Its just so satisfying to be able to EV train lickity split after having to struggle to even understand that it existed at all back in 3rd gen!!
 
I try to only use new Pokémon in new games (not remakes obviously). I'm an old man so there's no worrying about budget, I preorder and buy both games at once (so I don't miss out on any release events). Whichever version appeals to me more becomes my main, and I don't touch the other version until it's complete (again unless that will cause me to miss an event).

I never restart my main game. If there's anything that needs resetting (like vivillon forms, or to have access to different legendary birds in xy) I do it on the second game, and I breed something flawless on the main game, send the egg to the new game to hatch, then trade it back to the main game and ev train and level it. Lvl 50 competitive Gengar, Haxorus, Starmie etc wreck everything fast enough for me to get to whatever my goal is.
 
Dunno about you guys, but I just cannot pass by a town without talking to every single NPC or visiting all buildings. I wouldn't possibly be able to tell you how much time I spent on Lumiose ( both, exploring and getting lost ) if you asked me, but atleast now I know that city like the back of my hand, so there's that.
 
I have these weird rules when choosing movesets for in-game team members. If the Pokemon has one type, it must have 1 STAB, 1 Coverage, 1 non-damaging move of its type, and either a 2nd coverage move or a 2nd utility move. If it's dual-typed, the same rules apply except that the 4th move is the 2nd STAB. For example, if I were using Gardevoir I might give it Psychic (STAB), CM (Non-damaging move of its type), Thunderbolt (Coverage), and Moonblast (Second STAB). My Vivillon in X has Bug Buzz, Quiver Dance, Hurricane, and Psychic. It's weird, and I don't know why I do this, but somehow it's oddly satisfying to see 2 moves of the same type and then 2 of different types. Sometimes it even gets to the point where I do this in VGC as well, except having Protect in the 4th slot.

Incidentally, I also care a lot about the order that moves are in in VGC. I always do: Main attack in the 1st slot, Coverage/2nd STAB for dual-typed mons in the 2nd slot, Setup/Utility/Tech/Non-STAB coverage in the 3rd slot, and Protect in the 4th.
 
I have these weird rules when choosing movesets for in-game team members. If the Pokemon has one type, it must have 1 STAB, 1 Coverage, 1 non-damaging move of its type, and either a 2nd coverage move or a 2nd utility move. If it's dual-typed, the same rules apply except that the 4th move is the 2nd STAB. For example, if I were using Gardevoir I might give it Psychic (STAB), CM (Non-damaging move of its type), Thunderbolt (Coverage), and Moonblast (Second STAB). My Vivillon in X has Bug Buzz, Quiver Dance, Hurricane, and Psychic. It's weird, and I don't know why I do this, but somehow it's oddly satisfying to see 2 moves of the same type and then 2 of different types. Sometimes it even gets to the point where I do this in VGC as well, except having Protect in the 4th slot.

Incidentally, I also care a lot about the order that moves are in in VGC. I always do: Main attack in the 1st slot, Coverage/2nd STAB for dual-typed mons in the 2nd slot, Setup/Utility/Tech/Non-STAB coverage in the 3rd slot, and Protect in the 4th.
I actually try to do the latter, but it can still vary. For instance, my Goodra has Dragon Pulse first, my Excadrill has Earthquake, then Rock Slide, then Iron Head, and my Gliscor has Protect, then Toxic, THEN Earthquake. And my Sylveon? Well, it technically only has Normal-type attacks, but it goes Wish, Protect, Heal Bell, then it's attacking move (Hyper Voice, obviously).
 
Other than perhaps "double saving" at times, and bonding with my Pokémon in Amie (which has really be reduced to scratches behind the ears and treats, due to time constraints), not much.

Well, that and I try to make sure that unless I have no plans to get into any serious battles, none of my Pokémon will share the same type.
 
Well, that and I try to make sure that unless I have no plans to get into any serious battles, none of my Pokémon will share the same type.
I don't mind sharing types amongst team members as long as their weaknesses are covered. The basic rule? No more than two of one weakness and for each weakness, there must be an equal or greater number of resistances. Take a look at my current main team:
Goodra (Sap Sipper) / Excadrill / Rotom-Wash / Scizor / Gliscor / Sylveon
I might have two Ice weaknesses (Goodra, Gliscor), but I also have two resistances (Rotom, Scizor). I may have two Ground-types, but they only share a Water weakness, both of which are covered by Goodra and Rotom. And so on and so forth.
 
I have my fair share of habits:

1. All my teams must have the famous FGW combination, along with at least an Electric-type or a Flying-type.
2. During the first playthrough of a new game, I always get new Pokemon in my team, while during the second and successive playthroughs I always get different Pokemon and import Eggs, in order to get a more "exotic" and competitive team.
3. All my Pokemon must have a nickname, excluding for Pokemon caught just for collection, and all their moves are ordered from the weakest to the strongest, with status moves being on the first slot. However, when I was younger, I used to keep the strongest and most used move on the first slot.
4. I often use Poke Balls related to the "theme" of the Pokemon. For example, I use Fast Ball and Quick Ball to catch fast Pokemon, regardless of the turns spent.
5. I never use rare or unique items, like the Master Ball and the unique TMs in the pre-Unova games. I prefer to keep them for my collection.

I may add additional habits in the future.
 

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