For me, I like to use tanky, medium fast pokemon that let me coast through the game. While Blissey may seem to shrug off everything and dish out much more damage than it takes, I'd like to use an Empoleon instead since Empoleon can actually OHKO.
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What makes a Pokémon fun to use in-game?
- Thread starter Codraroll
- Start date
flargananddingle
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For a while I was farming vivillon patterns on my X version. To speed up the process of getting to daycare, I would breed a flawless mon on my Y version, hatch it on X, then trade it back to Y to ev train it and level it up and use TMs or what have you.
The most fun was definitely using Pokémon with a "broken" type. I sailed through with a Haxorus that was a lot of fun. But hands down the best were a Starmie and Gengar. There is nothing in the first 2 hours of the game that can do anything to overleveled Gengar.
Once I'd earned all the badges in ORAS I traded over a battle ready self bred shiny team made up of all the new megas (and medicham..I love mega medicham). Obviously there was no challenge
( I think it was Mega-Cham/Lop/Mence/Gross/Beedril/Slowbro) but it was a lot of fun
The most fun was definitely using Pokémon with a "broken" type. I sailed through with a Haxorus that was a lot of fun. But hands down the best were a Starmie and Gengar. There is nothing in the first 2 hours of the game that can do anything to overleveled Gengar.
Once I'd earned all the badges in ORAS I traded over a battle ready self bred shiny team made up of all the new megas (and medicham..I love mega medicham). Obviously there was no challenge
( I think it was Mega-Cham/Lop/Mence/Gross/Beedril/Slowbro) but it was a lot of fun
One thing I think sounds like fun (and I have plans on fixing it up soon, but it requires me to reset X and I have a lot of stuff to do before then) is going through a game with nothing but a Clefable with Metronome, Mimic, Copycat, and Present*. It just sounds silly and makes battles more risky.
*and HM slaves, of course.
*and HM slaves, of course.
It sounds like something that would be a funny gimmick at first; but after 20 minutes you'd come to hate life.
You are probably right.
...I'm still going to breed it for fun, even if I don't use it in a playthrough.
After using Self Destruct/Explosion for the umteenth time it will really get on your nerves. I used a Granbull that had metronome throughout a game once, it killed itself at least 20 times if not more through metronome.
It'll make for one great playthrough story though. :P Of course you'll probably have to stay dedicated through the tougher battles (and keep count how many times you tried).
This topic is great. :)
While I have many exceptions and on repeat playthroughs I tend go out of my way to choose pokemon I've never really used (like Grumpig, Granbull, etc), I use the following criteria in team-building:
1. Wide movesets. I love pokemon that can do everything, even if they don't excel at everything. Jack of all trades to the max! So Clefable, Nidoking/queen, Starmie, Exploud, Ludicolo, and all the others of this archetype are fun for in-game.
2. Coming early. If you're not available until post Gym 5 then I generally won't use it. I want the time to explore a pokemon's strengths and flaws and actually use it! Basically, I rate Power scientifically: Work/Time. If you've got no time to do any work then you're pretty powerless even if your name is Salamance.
3. Being a water type. Mostly for HM duties, I find myself needing a true water-type on my team everytime. Helps that the type has few weaknesses and the game practically gift-wraps them all the moves they need to excel. It is a double edged sword though, since there are so many water types and for type balance I usually only pick one. This means there are a ton of water types I haven't used, even though they're pretty good, just because there's so many to choose from.
4. Being an Eevee. I'm biased: it's my favorite pokemon. Having 8 different evolutions also means it fits into party dynamics pretty easily, usually to fill a hole. Plus it's soooo cute.
5. Having paralyzing moves or a decent sleep move (Yawn, Sleep Powder, or Spore) in your level-up movepool. I never use legendaries in-game, but I always catch all of them. So having somebody on utility duty is a boon, especially if they are bulky and a decent fighter too. So I sneak the Magnemite line in a lot, also Bulbasaur too.
6. Being speedy. While it's not as bad in-game since you can overcome being slower through level advantage, speed is still the one stat to rule them all in my book. So Crobat and Swellow get put in the game while Slowpoke gets benched a lot. This is especially true in earlier generations where escaping wild pokemon is speed-based, but it got better due to repel mechanic tweaks and the ghost-type bonus in Gen6. Still, my speed cut-off is better than most, anything above 80 is okay in my book for in-game.
7. The Sinnoh Clause: Bidoof. I hate the darn nutria but D/P/Pt is so annoying without him and about another two HM slaves. Thank goodness this trend was reversed post Gen 4.
While I have many exceptions and on repeat playthroughs I tend go out of my way to choose pokemon I've never really used (like Grumpig, Granbull, etc), I use the following criteria in team-building:
1. Wide movesets. I love pokemon that can do everything, even if they don't excel at everything. Jack of all trades to the max! So Clefable, Nidoking/queen, Starmie, Exploud, Ludicolo, and all the others of this archetype are fun for in-game.
2. Coming early. If you're not available until post Gym 5 then I generally won't use it. I want the time to explore a pokemon's strengths and flaws and actually use it! Basically, I rate Power scientifically: Work/Time. If you've got no time to do any work then you're pretty powerless even if your name is Salamance.
3. Being a water type. Mostly for HM duties, I find myself needing a true water-type on my team everytime. Helps that the type has few weaknesses and the game practically gift-wraps them all the moves they need to excel. It is a double edged sword though, since there are so many water types and for type balance I usually only pick one. This means there are a ton of water types I haven't used, even though they're pretty good, just because there's so many to choose from.
4. Being an Eevee. I'm biased: it's my favorite pokemon. Having 8 different evolutions also means it fits into party dynamics pretty easily, usually to fill a hole. Plus it's soooo cute.
5. Having paralyzing moves or a decent sleep move (Yawn, Sleep Powder, or Spore) in your level-up movepool. I never use legendaries in-game, but I always catch all of them. So having somebody on utility duty is a boon, especially if they are bulky and a decent fighter too. So I sneak the Magnemite line in a lot, also Bulbasaur too.
6. Being speedy. While it's not as bad in-game since you can overcome being slower through level advantage, speed is still the one stat to rule them all in my book. So Crobat and Swellow get put in the game while Slowpoke gets benched a lot. This is especially true in earlier generations where escaping wild pokemon is speed-based, but it got better due to repel mechanic tweaks and the ghost-type bonus in Gen6. Still, my speed cut-off is better than most, anything above 80 is okay in my book for in-game.
7. The Sinnoh Clause: Bidoof. I hate the darn nutria but D/P/Pt is so annoying without him and about another two HM slaves. Thank goodness this trend was reversed post Gen 4.
Which Gen was it? If I do this, it will be through X, which has a much lower chance of getting Self Destruct or Explosion (or Healing Wish) than if it was Silver.
How's that so? More moves to for Metronome to choose between? Keep in mind there are five self-KO moves now; Self-Destruct, Explosion, Memento, Healing Wish and Lunar Dance, compared to the two of Gen II. The chance of a self-KO move to be picked today is 5/581 = 0.86 %, versus 2/240 = 0.833 % in Gen II. This is counting the number of moves that Metronome will not pick (accurate as of Gen V), none of which are self-KO moves. The difference is small, but nevertheless it's actually more likely that you'll get a self-KO move now than back then.
There is one thing that helps out: Healing Wish and (most likely) Lunar Dance can fail if there are no more Pokémon to send out. If you have no Pokémon (or the rest are fainted) in your team besides the Metronome user, the odds of getting a self-KO move become 3/581 = 0.516%.
EDIT: You actually forgot a self-KO move: Final Gambit. Like Healing Wish and Lunar Dance, it can fail, but it depends on your opponent (if it misses due to evasion/accuracy alterations, the opponent uses Protect or a variant, or is a Ghost-type, it fails).
New Calcs:
6/581 = 1.033%
4/581 = 0.688%
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Yay I found this thread. I like to use pokemon if they have a fun gimmick or they ARE the gimmick: Fardfetch'd, Deliberd, Ditto, Casform, not to mention Malamar.
Also pokemon which are rare in the game even if they are considered bad. I also like pokemon with megas.
Also pokemon which are rare in the game even if they are considered bad. I also like pokemon with megas.
Let's not forget the moves assist and pay day!
I remember farming with Pay Day when I was younger. EZ MONEY 4 LYFE
I was about to say that I don't really have a set algorithm for picking an in-game team, but then I realized that isn't true.
I'll usually pick out a starter well in advance of beginning the run, and brainstorm a few Pokémon that I'd want to use along with that starter. That's a soft list, though because I always end up succumbing to curiosity about one or two others during the playthrough. In general, I'll fill up my team pretty early even if I don't want to use the early derpmons in the long run, because I am always looking to be pleasantly surprised! I've also dropped Pokémon from my plans when they didn't quite live up to my hopes. Golduck in Black 2 was a prominent example; it was just leveling up too slowly for me at the time.
My brainstorms are usually comprised of Pokémon whose designs I like and/or that I haven't used yet, like Exeggutor before my most recent run of Leaf Green. Then there are the ones that grow on me enough to make me change my plans, like Raichu, and the ones that captivate me when they appear, like Pawniard.
I'll usually pick out a starter well in advance of beginning the run, and brainstorm a few Pokémon that I'd want to use along with that starter. That's a soft list, though because I always end up succumbing to curiosity about one or two others during the playthrough. In general, I'll fill up my team pretty early even if I don't want to use the early derpmons in the long run, because I am always looking to be pleasantly surprised! I've also dropped Pokémon from my plans when they didn't quite live up to my hopes. Golduck in Black 2 was a prominent example; it was just leveling up too slowly for me at the time.
My brainstorms are usually comprised of Pokémon whose designs I like and/or that I haven't used yet, like Exeggutor before my most recent run of Leaf Green. Then there are the ones that grow on me enough to make me change my plans, like Raichu, and the ones that captivate me when they appear, like Pawniard.
I've always found Nuzlocking to be one of the most fun ways of exploring a Pokemon's potential. Every time I do a run, the ending team is different in some way and sometimes, you find that you can polish a turd. When you're almost forced to use something, you can appreciate what strengths it does have, while figuring out how to mitigate its weaknesses. Trying to get something interesting onto a team(and then keeping it alive)is always fun, and I'll always remember chucing my last ball at that Drifloon and catching it. Of course, it died later to bs hax, but using it was definitely unique. I've learned that its a lot harder to judge something when you've used it through the Elite Four-even if it's a Liepard.
I've found that it's a lot more fun to use a randomly generated team, which can force you to spend long stretches of time trying to find really rare Pokemon (Chansey;;;;;;) that you really wouldn't use otherwise. You can run into problems if your entire team is after Gym 1 (just reroll) or if your only members prior to the first gym can't beat it (I remember soloing Brock with a Pidgey...fun times). It's also much more enlightening as to which types of mons are prone to fainting (generally it's the really slow ones like Slugma and Geodude), etc. I remember being forced to use mons like Aron (which was actually the single best mon I've used in Emerald because everything does 1 damage to it) and Spoink, things that even in a Nuzlocke you'd typically just box because "oh it dies to any Water-type move" or whatever.
I usually use pokemon with three stages (= two evolutions) because their transformation is a good part of what makes them interesting all the way long, from the start to the end. For this reason I like pokemon slow to level up i.e. Pupitar line and I prefer bulky monsters to glass cannons. P.S. I dislike pokemon with a third stage unobtainable in-game (i.e. Gengar, which I love competively). Obviously with 6 slots available I have to choose 6 with decent type sinergy.
I also really like pokemons with good stats to work with despite the many weaknesses (i.e. Exeggutor) or low base-power moves.
I also really like pokemons with good stats to work with despite the many weaknesses (i.e. Exeggutor) or low base-power moves.
It really depends. Normally, I go for Pokemon that have good design concepts and then work well for the kind of team I want to build throughout the game. There are some Pokemon that have good designs but never really performed how I watned them to. Luxray, for example, is a Pokemon whose design I loved, but when I got to the Elite Four in Platinum, it didn't do very well. Normally, when I play through a new generation, I try to only use Pokemon from that generation, so I get to see what kind of newer stuff the game has to offer. This allowed me to find favorites in the newer generations, like Excadrill and Aegislash, that I didn't think I would like if I had stuck to older favorites.
Being Quacklin'.
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In the games, I completely neglect stats and solely focus on movepool, typing, and looks. I can actually get away with having a shit moveset and shit stats because the pokemon in the game aren't at their full potential. (I won't run something like physical blissey tho, that's just dumb) I also like to go into the game with some prior knowledge of the gym leaders/elite four typing, so I can base my team off of that.
Since all pokemon are on a level playing field in the games, I can use what I want and level it up so I can succeed with it, moreso than the tiers we use (However those are pretty good too)
Since all pokemon are on a level playing field in the games, I can use what I want and level it up so I can succeed with it, moreso than the tiers we use (However those are pretty good too)
Nuzlockes are awesome for making you use awkward Pokemon. I just like using new pokemon.
I thematically like a team that I collected throughout a region. The starter, one guy caught around the first gym, one guy caught around the third gym, one guy caught before the fifth gym, one gift pokemon, and maybe a pseudo legendary.