Starting over your pokemon games...

Do you start over your games?

  • Yes

    Votes: 113 67.3%
  • No

    Votes: 55 32.7%

  • Total voters
    168

Choice Specs Heracross

Banned deucer.
If anything I start over too much just because I try to use as many Pokémon as possible but want to stick to a team of 6. In the past I couldn’t be bothered transferring them over to a Master file but recently I’ve made more of an effort to keep them.
 
I restarted my games quite a bit during my teenage years - I'm a chronic planner and I constantly had new ideas for teams across all my games, but I'd never finish the story! I'd get to the mid-game slog and just... restart, seemed like I got more joy out of planning than I did playing. It unfortunately led to me restarting my Pearl file which had 300+ hours in, a HeartGold file which featured my most iconic Johto team, and a White file where I cleared everything up to Alder (which also held a bunch of Pokemon I transferred from my Gen III / Gen IV games). I regret that a lot, but what's done is done.

Nowadays I'm keener on actually having my save files maintain longevity and act as foundations for future playthroughs - multiple save files on the Switch enabled that! Plus I'd like more hours on my Switch anyway so fully completing my games seems like a wise move. I'm only at the Galactic Warehouse in Brilliant Diamond but I'd like to clear that game, finish the Pokedex, clear Contests as far as I can, do the post-game and conclude all possible gym leader and Pokemon League rematches at their highest level and beat Palmer at his strongest (not so much the Battle Tower overall). When I get to SwSh I'd like to do both DLC, the Galarian Star Tournament, a full Pokedex, beating Leon at his most challenging in the Battle Tower and whatever else is possible. Things like that.
 

Choice Specs Heracross

Banned deucer.
I restarted my games quite a bit during my teenage years - I'm a chronic planner and I constantly had new ideas for teams across all my games, but I'd never finish the story! I'd get to the mid-game slog and just... restart, seemed like I got more joy out of planning than I did playing.
This is me too! I see everything as rhythm and tempo and if I don’t play a save file right it’s gonna end up in the scrap lol

One of the things I have to decide is will it be a keeper run, challenge run or theme run.
 

bdt2002

Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs superfan
is a Pre-Contributor
I started over lot of times my first pokemon game. Now I regret having done it.
I restarted my games quite a bit during my teenage years - I'm a chronic planner and I constantly had new ideas for teams across all my games, but I'd never finish the story! I'd get to the mid-game slog and just... restart, seemed like I got more joy out of planning than I did playing. It unfortunately led to me restarting my Pearl file which had 300+ hours in, a HeartGold file which featured my most iconic Johto team, and a White file where I cleared everything up to Alder (which also held a bunch of Pokemon I transferred from my Gen III / Gen IV games). I regret that a lot, but what's done is done.
Figured I'd take a moment to acknowledge posts like these (and others I've likely skimmed over) to say something that I've wanted to get off of my chest for a while now. Restarting games and gaining regrets from doing so... I've done this myself, dozens of times. But if I had the chance to go back and undo these changes... I actually wouldn't. You wanna know why? It's because there's lessons to be learned from doing so. We never truly appreciate what we have until we lose it, and being able to learn this from sources like video games can help us to appreciate the more important things later in life.
 
What will eventually become my master file :) it has to have the right texture and code…
What constitutes the right texture and code? I've found with my own "master file" so far in Brilliant Diamond (again I'm only up to the 7th gym so not anywhere near close to absolute completion) I'm using my 6 favourite Pokemon from that region no matter how difficult they were to obtain (which for Rhyperior, Togekiss and Magmortar was an absolute nightmare due to evolution items) and I want to beat all the major trainers (rivals, Gym Leaders, Palmer, Elite 4 & Cynthia) at their highest/most difficult level. I'm not super into contests or completing the Pokedex but maybe I'll go back and do these at a later date!

Figured I'd take a moment to acknowledge posts like these (and others I've likely skimmed over) to say something that I've wanted to get off of my chest for a while now. Restarting games and gaining regrets from doing so... I've done this myself, dozens of times. But if I had the chance to go back and undo these changes... I actually wouldn't. You wanna know why? It's because there's lessons to be learned from doing so. We never truly appreciate what we have until we lose it, and being able to learn this from sources like video games can help us to appreciate the more important things later in life.
I think in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter, and I don't necessarily have major regrets concerning restarting major files. It's just a reflection of what I value(d) then and now. Being a chronic restarter meant I missed out on cool events like the 20th anniversary Mythicals giveaway, either because I lacked a save file to get them on or I would've restarted and lost them anyway. Now I value them a lot more so my collection of Mythicals in Sword (which keeps me from restarting that file) and Brilliant Diamond means I'm keener to keep a save file, plus I'd like to expand my gaming repertoire especially on my Switch so Pokemon is less of a major focus for me (and therefore means I want to restart less).
 

QuentinQuonce

formerly green_typhlosion
This thread just reminded me of the time I cleared out my Pokemon Y file and started it over repeatedly during the Hoopa distribution period so I could get a box full of the things. That was a rather intense couple of days. Ah, memories.
 
I never start over the first save file I have in a generation. All subsequent versions I buy of that game I have no problems restarting. I do always trade over the teams I used in an old playthrough though, I wouldn't ever bring myself to delete those.
 
This is an interesting thread. It's nice reading all of the different viewpoints on resetting a game. I've personally never intentionally reset a game before. Though I'm going through a playthrough of FR on my GBA right now and thanks to modern technology it is possible for me to fish the sav file from there and back that up externally. I think that's what I'd do if I decide to "reset" a game later on.
 
I get too attached to restart :tymp:, the times i do start over i usually try to back up the savefiles if possible.
So like if i wanna do a nuzlocke or shiny hunt starters etc i want my original run saved somewhere safe <3
 
Even if I had good progress, I always restart in time and never grow too attached to the game. I’ve played through each pokemon game I own about 6 times before I leave it alone, I enjoy using different teams and attempting challenges like only fire types on the playthroughs.
 

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