Poke-Habits

[thdhted]

After talking with some friends about ingame runs, I've realized that a bunch of people have developed habits when it comes to Pokemon. I've decided to ask you guys about some of your habits when playing Pokemon.

I'll start off:
Whenever I start a new gen of pokemon/play a Pokemon game I've never touched before, I pick the water starter, no exceptions. Don't really remember why by this point, but I do.

Whenever I'm nuzlocking, I tend to not have a dedicated HM slave, instead, I actually USE the route 1 trash I get. I guess I'm trying to redeem them somehow.

 

[HelenTheHero]

I always tell myself to keep my team at around 3 Pokemon until later on so that I can get better ones without becoming attached to the Route 1 guys. It makes a bit of a challenge sometimes but it works and I still end up having a team of around 5 until the late gyms.

 

[Pikachu315111]

I never give my Pokemon nicknames (unless I have to, looking at you Regice, or whatever I named you). Don't know why, just never wanted to. Other times when games let you name stuff I did (like the Dreameaters in Kingdom Hearts... which I named after Pokemon), but for Pokemon I think the species names are already fantastical it seems like a proper name. Also I don't think I'd create any unique names, if I did they would probably be based on an existing word which wouldn't make them any better than what their species name are now (and it may make what I name them easy to forget, as I shown with my Regice. I think I might have named it "Grebeci").

 

[Taistelu]

I have a few habits.

When a new Pokemon game comes out I nuzlocke it. Going to nuzlocke Pokemon Moon when it releases.
No HM slaves, ever. Shame that sometimes 'mons end up with 3 usable moves but I prefer a team of 6 that are actually useful.
New Pokemon game - grass starter. I just prefer them (#TeamRowlet)
I tend to pick up at least one early route Pokemon to use on my runs, unless I'm using a dedicated team or something.

 

[aVocado]

I strictly only use Pokemon I like, this could mean me only using my starter + an early Pokemon until I find ones that I like lol, I remember in SoulSilver I only used Typhlosion, Pidgeot, and Ampharos until like the 7th gym, cuz I didn't like many other Pokemon.

 

[Lady Vader]

With the exception of Ruby and Alpha Sapphire*, I always have a Grass, Water, and Fire-type on my team.
Personally, I don't have a pattern with starters:
Kanto - Bulbasaur
Johto - Totodile
Hoenn - Mudkip
Sinnoh - Chimchar
Unova - Oshawott
Kalos - I like all three, though I have yet to actually use Chespin
Alola - Rowlet**
I do have a slight tendency towards Water-type starters (I pick Bulbasaur, by Squirtle is my favorite), but that is just how things have been so far. Especially since I pick Oshawott purely since it is the only one that is worth using (I prefer Serperior design wise).
I tend to battle as many NPCs as I can, especially in Gyms.
I tend to have three 'mons on my team by Gym 1 and by the time my starter fully evolves, I almost always have a full team. The only exception was my Team Rocket playthrough of X since I was waiting to get Haunter.
I'm starting to develop a pattern of using Fighting-types that learn Fake Out. I used Hariyama in Alpha Sapphire, then I used Meinshao in X.
I always seem to buy more healing items than I ever need. Especially in Y when I ran out of things to buy.


* This is due to the poor selection of Fire-types in Hoenn. This isn't a problem for me in Sinnoh since I always pick Chimchar.
**Unless one of the other two evolve into something that replaces Rowlet as my favorite Pokémon.

 

[Billy the Uncle]

I always decide in-game teams before starting the game. However, I have no real criteria on how I pick the Pokémon, beside "it'd be cool to try it out".

Also, I want to get a full team as soon as possible; this causes me endless grinding pains since I spread the available trainers experience among 6 members most of the times.

 

[Antihaxxer]

IIRC, I always start with the Grass starters except Gen V because I know Snivy would be very bad for in game purposes (and I chose Oshawott). For Gen VII, I will of course choose the too-cute Mister Owl ! :D

 

[The Avalanches]

I normally jettison my starter by the third or fourth gym. I put some planning into my team before my games, and I'll normally shove my starter into a PC once something nicer catches my eye. I like running teams full of interesting and exotic Pokemon choices because the starters don't quite stand out enough; in Pokemon White 2, my team consisted of Scrafty, Scolipede, Jellicent, Chandelure, Braviary, and Zoroark. There are exceptions to this rule, usually when a starter is one of my favourite Pokemon of a given generation (Venusaur, Feraligatr, Mega Sceptile, Torterra). Rowlet is obviously adorable, but I'm willing to bet I'll use the absolute crap out of it in LC, so it remains to be seen whether it will see out my Alola journey with me.

 

[Thatwackycruton]

After talking with some friends about ingame runs, I've realized that a bunch of people have developed habits when it comes to Pokemon. I've decided to ask you guys about some of your habits when playing Pokemon.

I'll start off:
Whenever I start a new gen of pokemon/play a Pokemon game I've never touched before, I pick the water starter, no exceptions. Don't really remember why by this point, but I do.

Whenever I'm nuzlocking, I tend to not have a dedicated HM slave, instead, I actually USE the route 1 trash I get. I guess I'm trying to redeem them somehow.

I, too rep the water type, which means I'm stuck with poppilo...

I always decide in-game teams before starting the game. However, I have no real criteria on how I pick the Pokémon, beside "it'd be cool to try it out".

Also, I want to get a full team as soon as possible; this causes me endless grinding pains since I spread the available trainers experience among 6 members most of the times.

Okay, I'm not the only one who does this, good.

I always nickname my Pokemon. Not to do so is kinda like calling your dog "dog"

I save twice because I don't trust the games. Illogical, I know.

I almost never do ordinary journies, I almost always nuzlocke nowadays.

I tend to grind my Pokemon over the level of the gym's, even when not nuzlocking.

 

[Lady Vader]

I always save my Master Ball for one thing and one thing only: Shinies. For everything else, there's Dusk Balls.
I always buy standard Poké Balls in batches of 10 so I can get the free Premier Ball. How often do I use them? Almost never*, but it is still nice to get 11 for the price of 10.

I always nickname my Pokemon. Not to do so is kinda like calling your dog "dog"

I save twice because I don't trust the games. Illogical, I know.

Yeah, I never understand the lack of nicknames that some people do. It makes the individual Pokémon unique and allows you to express yourself. And it's a great place for puns (Ceasar the Scizor, Washington the Rotom-W, Majin Buudra the Goodra, etc.). I even nickname the random catches, though they tend to have stupid names.
And you are far from the only person who double saves. Thankfully, it doesn't take as long as it did in Generation IV. That was hell.


*I save them for when I'm out of standard Poké Balls, but that never happens. I did catch something in one once, but I can't remember what.

 

[Thatwackycruton]

In competitive play, I try to name my Pokemon something kinda applicable and clever.

In game, I just name them stuff like "Clark" and "Arnold"

 

[aybekay]

In Nuzlockes I only catch Pokemon I like. Most of the time does this habit lead of losing the Nuzlocke.

 

[HelenTheHero]

I have my own rule for Nuzlockes that starters have "two lives" and can survive fainting once.

 

[aybekay]

I have my own rule for Nuzlockes that starters have "two lives" and can survive fainting once.

I mean that kinda defeats the purpose of Nuzlockes but if you give your starter such a special position then so be it. I watch many many Poketubers and that's why I'm dedicated to play a Nuzlocke like them.

 

[HelenTheHero]

I mean that kinda defeats the purpose of Nuzlockes but if you give your starter such a special position then so be it. I watch many many Poketubers and that's why I'm dedicated to play a Nuzlocke like them.

I know. >-> But I think "I just wanna see it reach its second stage..." and then it dies. I'm getting better at Nuzlockes though, let go of my Venusaur after an accident with Olympia.

 

[WaffleTitan]

I don't really have a pattern with starter Pokemon. I don't necessarily choose a specific type always or just the coolest. In fact, most of the time my friends and I play through games together and roll dice to see in which order we get to pick our starter (there are three of us, so no repeat starters). I also only name my Pokemon if I'm doing a playthrough with friends and they are usually just random names like "Guillermo". If I play on my own it just seems weird to nickname them. As for team building, I keep my starter nearly 100% of the time. I usually plan my teams beforehand only to find out ingame that most of the Pokemon in the team suck. My breakdown for starters is as follows:

Gen 1- squirtle (I've only actually played through a gen 1 game with squirtle despite him being my least favorite of the three. Figure that one out.)

Gen 2- totadile (I've played through with all three, but prefer feraligator the best.)

Gen 3- treecko (By far my favorite starter and my favorite generation of starters. I've used all three.)

Gen 4- chimchar (The obvious choice in my opinion. I like all three starters, but have only actually completed a playthrough with chimchar.)

Gen 5- I've actually never played gen 5. It was during the time when I wasn't really interested in Pokemon. I'll get around to it someday. I'll most likely use oshawott.

Gen 6- froakie (I've only used froakie primarily because greninja is the only final evolution in gen 6 that I like at all.)

Gen 7- TBD (I'm going to holdout for final evolutions, but barring rowlet's final form being amazing or popplio's being terrible, it's going to be popplio.)

Other trends that I tend to have is not catching an early bird or mammal, with the exception of gen 3 where I've used all of them available. I also usually have a full party and only have an HM slave stored in the PC. I rarely, if ever, use repeat Pokemon from a former playthrough unless there is some compelling reason, the one exception is starters.

 

[Karxrida]

I have a very simplistic system for in-game runs.

1.) Get Starter.
2.) Overlevel Starter.
3.) Get 1-2 secondary battlers to beat whatever the Starter can't.
4.) Beat the game.

If playing BW2, replace "Starter" with Magnemite and Riolu.

The rest of my team members are usually just HM Slaves and death fodder. I usually grab the title Legendary as one of the secondaries battlers, though in X Xerneas kind of solo'd everything once I caught it.

 

[aybekay]

Greninja as a starter is so broken I played a Pokemon Y Run and with a Protean Greninja you just one shot everything. That is why I very liked it and I don't think they ever would introduce such a broken Pokemon again.

 

[Lady Vader]

Greninja as a starter is so broken I played a Pokemon Y Run and with a Protean Greninja you just one shot everything. That is why I very liked it and I don't think they ever would introduce such a broken Pokemon again.

There is a reason that Protean isn't normally available until the post game.
It's also like saying that Diamond and Pearl's lack of Fire-types isn't a problem since you can trade some over.
Also, don't forget that these are the same people who threw a Mega Lati at us in ORAS and in the same game gave us two not-Megas (but totally are) that don't use up your one Mega Evolution per battle rule and gave us a Mega that didn't need a Mega Stone, just a powerful STAB move. And all three were already powerful legendaries. And this was immediately after X and Y.

 

[aybekay]

Well the games become easier and easier, you're right on that matter.

If you want to play a game which is very challenging then you should play a Romhack of a Pokemon game or you should randomize a randomized Pokemon Run.

Also if you are aware there are some extremely hard rom Hacks
For the 6th Gen games. Granted it is hard to play but they look awesome.

 

[Thatwackycruton]

Well the games become easier and easier, you're right on that matter.

If you want to play a game which is very challenging then you should play a Romhack of a Pokemon game or you should randomize a randomized Pokemon Run.

Also if you are aware there are some extremely hard rom Hacks
For the 6th Gen games. Granted it is hard to play but they look awesome.

I don't believe that the games are getting easier, while I do belive that X and Y and ORAS were our easiest yet.

Platinum was way harder than red or blue in my opinion. Furthermore, Red or Blue simply allowed you to use one pokemon that would eventually become massively overleveled, allowing you to easily stomp through the game that way- something kinda hard to do from BW onwards. Also, if you turn off the Exp share, X and Y can be decently challenging.

 

[Reeksquad]

Every pokemon on my team has to have good type synergy and no type repetition whatsoever.

I rarely use the starters and dump them as soon as my team can support itself without them.

I don't mess with wi-fi stuff until after/near the end.

I usually like to use lower-tiered pokemon, as they seem more unique and I generally like their designs better.

Always set text speed to fast and skip through all of the dialogue, as it's usually not worth reading.

I don't like HMs and will usually skip them and the items you can get from using them (except for Leftovers, those are too valuable), except when they're actually useful for battle and you need them to progress, like Fly, Surf & Waterfall.

 

[Kurona]

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.

 

[Billy the Uncle]

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.

I used to be even more finicky than that. I had the compelling urge to keep my main battler (usually, but not always, a starter) 1-2 levels above the rest and one or two Pokés (often the flier and the Grass type) 1-3 levels below. For instance, I'd have my starter level 43, four battlers level 41, and a level 40 Normal/Flying.

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.