How do you play Pokemon in-game?

[ShadowR]

Hey there,
I like to explore everything and take my time to "complete" the game.
Well at the begining I don't care about natures or EV's but I catch many pokemon and specially Dittos with different natures then after defeating E4 I start breeding and looking for good IV's to go trough the Battle Tower or whatever.

 

[Lady Umbreon]

I always have to talk to everyone and try to find all the hidden items. And I don't worry about Pokedex completion until after I've beaten the Champion.

 

[Aqueos]

When I play through a game first I capture whatever I want and then I get serious. For Heartgold I got Chikorita, then pidgey, then dunsparce (with serene grace that took awhile, but headbutt hax or too important), and then I decided that ampharos, slowking, and Arcanine went well with it. Though for diamond I was so excited about the release I spent 2 months planning and pretty much annihilated the game. (My team killed Cynthia) Unfortunately I had to spend time grinding because I trained a snover into an abomasnow, and a gible into a garchomp. My pokemon beat here at around level 48 when I got to Cynthia.

 

[bombiron]

also, i always nickname my pokemon

 

[Luree]

I can't help myself, I just have to get through everything especially if it's my first time playing a different version or region. I have to advance and know what's going to happen next or I'll be left with a feeling of incompleteness.

On my second playthroughs, I generally go at a moderate pace since I know what's going to happen and all.

 

[min min]

I like to choose the grass starter except when it comes to Mudkipz (everyone lieks them). I used to spam catches and have a few HM slaves on my first cartridge but it turned out that I always ended up pathetically underleveled. Now I like to implement HMs into my movesets (Strength and Waterfall on Azumarill to complete unresisted combo) and catch specific pokes along the way so they were all more or less equally trained.
Recently I started worrying about natures too (Brave Swellow on my Nuzlocke FTW!).

 

[ArizonaKnight]

My way of playing the games has changed a lot between the first three generations and the fourth one. Most of this is due to more access to the internet for information, like how I never knew about IVs and EVs in Ruby and Sapphire. Then the addition of wifi to the gaming device changed everything.

With the first three generations the biggest thing that I liked to do was....replay the games. I would start a new game when I was on vacation or going on the trip for something to do, especially if I had forgotten what I was doing. I figured it wasn't that important/impressive if I couldn't remember, so why not just start over. Every time I would play I would try out different teams. It's not fun to replay the game if you use the same team, and it let me see new Pokemon in a new light. Never used Crobat for the longest time back in the original Gold and Silver because I didn't it much better than Golbat, but there was a difference. Sometimes I would find an unlikely Pokemon that would be awesome, like that in-game trade for Mr. Mime in my Yellow, then other teams really struggled but at least it made it challenging.

When training my team I am usually really obsessive at keeping everything even and planned ahead. I still do this today in my DS games, too. I plan ahead for my team and plan out what they're final move set will be, when they learn everything, and how to speed it up. When I trained a Kingdra on HeartGold I didn't let my Horsea evolve so it would learn Dragon Pulse several levels earlier. Made it a little harder for it to battle being un-evolved, but it paid off. I also try and keep the levels of all my Pokemon even. I will train them two levels at a time. When one guy goes from lvl 40 to lvl 42, I move it to the back of the party. Then when everyone is lvl 42, I arrange them in order of how much experience they need to level up again, with the ones that will level first in the front positions. The only time I ever divert from this for major battles (gyms/rivals/E4) and on a route that is heavy on one type, like a water route. If I know I'm coming to a water route, I'll make sure to level my Fire and Rock types a little bit ahead so I don't have to worry about them.

Sadly, I don't replay my DS games anymore. There's a simple reason for this: wifi and EV training. With wifi I have gained access to event Pokemon I could/would not ever get before because you would have to physically travel to the event. Now that I can download that Jirachi, I can't bear to restart the game knowing I would lose it. Before everything I had in the game I knew that I could get it again when I replayed it. On top of that, now I am aware of natures and breeding and EV training so I have Pokemon that are actually valuable to me. These two kinds of Pokemon mean I won't restart my Platinum and HeartGold games, which makes me sad because I always loved the stories and trying out new Pokemon. At least on the plus side with me not restarting, I am becoming more focused on the after game.

 

[Nida]

These two kinds of Pokemon mean I won't restart my Platinum and HeartGold games, which makes me sad because I always loved the stories and trying out new Pokemon.

I usually have a single "permanent" game - usually the most recent game, as that's the one with the most versatility in breeding, TM mining, BP accrual, and so on (e.g. Platinum). If I acquire a new game which has more utility than my current primary (e.g. SoulSilver), I complete the new game, then begin the long process of moving all the important critters and items from one game to the other. Eventually, my former primary is prime for restarting, and my new primary has everything I want to keep.

I'm a hoarder, so this process helps me weed out stuff I'm never actually going to use, like that double-flawless Zubat which I may someday breed for a good Crobat when I might someday start doing UU competition, or a Snorlax from my sixth run of FireRed, or so on. They're nice to have in the boxes, but when I'm looking at eight boxes full of critters to trade, six at a time, in painfully slow batches, the decision to release them becomes a little easier to make. (Especially when I made the move from LeafGreen to Pearl - with ten full boxes on LG, six at a time via Pal Park, and the difficulties in rolling the DS clock for another Pal Park session, I spent over a month getting it all done.)

I always keep every critter who was on my E4 team in the first playthrough of a game - sometimes on my second or third playthroughs, too, since I build different teams for different starters - as well as iconic critters, like the aforementioned Kanto Snorlaxes, Togepi eggs, gifted Eevees, and so on. In the end, even the ones I'll never use are still worth keeping, since I'll always need something to hold all the TMs and items I need to move to a new primary game.

 

[Seabass]

I tend to start out strong with team planning, catch planning using internet sites like Smogon, Psypokes, and Gamespot, and lots of SR for my starter. I always hope for a shiny starter with a great nature and a female gender but I always settle for a good nature.
After that I often play in short bursts, whether I am waiting for something or someone, sitting on the porcelain throne, lamenting about my wife using both the Television and my PC at the same time, and long and short car rides. So it starts out very OCD for me but then often gets rushed from one gym to the next.
I remember the days of RBY and GSC when I used to stay up till the wee hours of the morning in my bed with my GBA with the little led light attachment and the game cheat/walkthrough books laid out on my knees...good times :)
Lately though its just been a lot of grinding to squeeze those last few Pokemon out of my emerald cartridge to finish my diamond Pokedex until i get either HG or SS. When I do get those though I want to play them slow and methodically and enjoy all the new mechanics of the next gen.

 

[min min]

@Nida: Crobat is BL now.

This thread seems like a string of monologues after another.

 

[Phadunk]

i don't. thanks to hg/ss being horrible.. and diamond/pearl feeling outdated.

 

[Rival Silver]

I catch Pokemon to counter all eight gyms and train the specific "hate" for that gym a lot of training right before I fight that gym. Since I never grind, I buy a lot of potions and revives. I also pick the coolest looking starter no matter how bad it is.

 

[black.arwing]

I simply cannot understand how you think HG/SS are horrible, Gold and Silver were the best pokemon games, and HeartGold and SoulSilver updated to them positions Im afraid future pokemon games wouldn't be able to touch. Its the only game I played in a long time where I felt sad when it came to a close... Of course its a matter of opinion I suppose. Also, Nuzlocke run anyone? :P

I think that's for the Nuzlocke Challenge thread. :P

 

[Wishy]

Sometimes I like to plan out what Pokemon I would like to use, so I can look them up and find where they are found in game, and get a vague moveset. Nothing is really planned, I usually go with the flow. ie, I used Chingling/Chimecho on my team until I finally got a Cherubi to take place as the cute Pokemon lol. I try to spread out where my final team was all capture, so it's not all early or late game Pokemon or something. I don't care about how good the Pokemon is competitively, anything can work ingame and if it doesn't I will make it work. Ingame, I can't be assed to get good IVs or EVs so having a good nature and ability is good enough for me! I like to vary the Pokemon I use :3. To this day, FR is the only game that I've reset (like 5+ times). I don't want to reset Sapphire because I have a couple hundred hours clocked in catching and evolving Pokemon to complete my Pokedex and making competent wireless teams (Back in the day when nobody I played with new about IVs or EVs, so I didn't bother with that ingame). I like to keep them all balanced, and try to have relative balance type wise and stat wise etc. It's fun playing with a team of 6 I make little anime doodles about them :p also I love to Nickname my ingame pokemon!

My Teams (From games I still play):
Sapphire: Swampert Blaziken Flygon Wailord Roselia
FireRed: Blastoise Clefable Crobat Khangaskan Arcanine Magneton
Diamond: [I'm drawing a blank, I have no idea what my ingame team was >_>]
Platinum: Empoleon Luxray Cherrim Umbreon Mamoswine Magmortar

I love ingame LOL. Have yet to get HG, I've been on a tight budget -_-

 

[Ford]

also, i always nickname my pokemon

I catch Pokemon to counter all eight gyms and train the specific "hate" for that gym a lot of training right before I fight that gym. Since I never grind, I buy a lot of potions and revives. I also pick the coolest looking starter no matter how bad it is.

When I was going through Diamond, I forbade myself from knowing ahead of time what each gym leader was going to use, and I tried to trump them using pokemon at lower levels than theirs without the use of revives.

So when I went up against that electric gym leader in Diamond, I had no idea what his team was gonna consist of; I just assumed all electric.

I was a little surprised when he cracked out Ambipom and Octillery. I had, in fact, taken mostly ground types into his gym to exploit the electric weakness to ground and the ground immunity to electric.

I had also taken an electric type and grass type with me, never dreaming that both would lord yet another advantage over another one of his types! Hell, I just took 'em 'cause they RESISTED electric. Luck of the devil, I guess.

And, of course, Empoleon, 'cause he's my starter. I knew the risks involved.

 

[Little Battler]

since I started nuzlockeing, I have forgotten how to do a normal run. :P

 

[Maestrol55]

I usually just take my time, talk to everyone, just use random crappy pokes and put off the major storyline plots of the game until later when I feel like it. But in SS, I rushed so I could try RNG for the first time for something (not gonna say it :X).

 

[G-Ratt]

If I'm playing the new game when it comes out I usually end up racing through (at least the first half) to beat my brother. He usually gives up around badge 4. I plan my teams to a degree, but everytime I come up with a full plan I end up losing interest around badge 6 because I litterally streamroll over everyone with EV's and good movesets. My last platinum run I did with Gyarados (<3, always my waterfall user now), Espeon and Crobat, Crobat became my fly-slave later due to Espeon and Gyarados's rediculous power. By the time I hit the elite four I had Gyara around 72 and Espeon around 70. I led with gyarados and never had to switch. I never went through the battle frontier though.

I recently acquired an AR though, so my teams can be speed-raised. I almost want it to break, because as much as I love it I don't want to use it to beat the game. My friend once said "AR's are like STD's; once they go in they don't come out".

I also play with battle animations off, because it makes training that much faster and I get tired of seeing the same moves used over and over again.

I'm planning on re-beating my Gen IV games this summer. I'm going a mono Ice (eggs) team on my Platinum and all NU on my SoulSilver.

 

[V3gas]

I always take my time, doing sidequests and stuff. I.e. in HG, I spent a lot of hours playing Voltorb Flip.
I get together a team of 5 or 6 pokemon (the last one being an HM mule), catching what I feel like. I do soft reset for a good natured starter, though.
I make sure to visit every house, talk to every person and every trashcan. It's been like that since I borrowed a Gameboy with Blue from a buddy when I was a kid. Although, back then, I just rushed it through, only using Blastoise.

 

[Corrupted]

Use a few of my favorite pokemon (normally with evos or exclusive) hacked with max IV and with EVs arranged legit with legal egg moves or tms if needed. Then avoid all wild battles, always run, avoid trainers if possible. Stay underleveld the whole game long and keep those pokemon around the same level. Beat the elite four with pokemon 20 levels lower.

 

[Baztard]

I'm usually underleveled against Gym Leaders and the E4. In Diamond I beat the E4 with 6 level 40's.

 

[Treadshot A1]

If i haven't played that generation before, i'll take my time to find everything.

I always only bother with 3 or so pokemon, and keep them over-levelled. Don't care about natures, IV's and EV's, at least not until the main storyline is done.

My only stipulation is that i try not to use not-easily-replenishable TM's, which basically means i never have Ice Beam, unless i really need to.

 

[Lyrix]

Allways choose the Starter I like the most first,then get a well balanced Team,If its the first time I ever play the Game,I talk to every Person in the game.Also I allways get 5 Pokemon so I can get a Team full of Pokemons I like,and use an HM Slave.Also its mostlikely that I restart the Game about 2 or 3 Times,and pick another Starter,playing with no starter respectively.

I do care about the Nature,but not of the IV,and I do low EV Training,like using a specialy based poke,in Mortys Gym for example.

 

[Trent]

I played the games pretty normally. Just choose a starter, choose a Water-type (unless I started with a Water-type) and Flying type, and choose a creative team of assorted types from that. Through this, my recent plays went something like this (by the time I got to the E4s):

Firered: Venasaur, Golduck, Fearow, Kangaskahn, Electabuzz, Arcanine
HeartGold: Meganium, Noctowl, Tentacruel, Machamp, Gengar, Tauros
Emerald: Sceptile, Gardevoir, Dodrio, Heracross, Azumarill, Ninetales
Pearl: Torterra, Floatzel, Mismagius, Staraptor, Lucario, Garchomp

And yes, I'm usually loving the Grass-type starters.

 

[Cipher Admin Lovrina]

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!