How do YOU play the games?

[Victoria R]

Pokemon, while straightforward at the surface and everyone knows the different mechanics, the games themselves are full of personal customizability. For example, my thing is to travel around with four different Pickup Pokemon at once so that I can save up tons of Rare Candies.

In other examples, players may try to catch them all, while other players may only choose to catch the ones they like.
Some may start the game over after beating it, others keep the same save file forever.
Some oraganize the Pokemon in their boxes by number or type, while others just let the Pokemon pile up in there.
You may choose to follow a Nuzlocke challenge, or choose not to restrict yourself.
A player may choose to battle competitively, or just try to collect Pokemon.
And those who do battle competitively have choices of different methods to get strong Pokemon.

All of these players make up important pieces of the Pokemon fanbase, so the question is this: How do you play the Pokemon games? How do you make them your very own?
:lick:

 

[Venom]

I both start the game over after beating it and keep the same save file forever my first version i.e. Red I have kept the same file since I started it but my blue has been restarted over and over so many times I couldn't keep count. same with S/G R/S etc.

 

[Pyradox]

No cheats, no hacks, no heart attacks.



Oh, and I just catch the first Pokémon of its species I find. I almost always complete the Regional Dex, but I simply can't do the National one. Too many events.

 

[yourlilemogirl]

I like how open sandbox the games are, so I just play on forever with the same save file (if I can help it).
I generally just catch those I like or know I'll need for breeding projects. I mainly only nickname my party pokemon, though I have been known to get bored and go on naming sprees lol.

My boxes used to be by type, favorites, shinnies, legendaries, etc. But Im mainly not too concerned with their order. I'm one of those people who do go and give each box a specific theme and name though (like the subway map skin for boxes with pokemon I plan to trade/was traded, or the spiky eared Pichu for shinnies, etc).

Even though I don't plan on using every pokemon, I do make sure to teach them all decent moves so I won't feel so bad about them. My party pokemon, they are the ones I feel most loyal too, and even after I beat the game and don't plan on fighting anyone else, I'll still keep them together or on me at all times lol

Aaaaaand.... Basically I just go out of my way to find new things to do. Breeding projects, raise gimmicky teams, try to complete my dex, hunt for shinnies, stuff like that. It never really gets old for me

 

[MizuTaipu]

I'm pretty much a Pokémon collector, and I use said Pokémon in the Battle Frontier/Subway.

 

[Teravolt71]

1st-2nd generation with Blue, Yellow, and Gold, I sucked at Pokemon and could never beat the games. In 3rd gen with Ruby and LeafGreen, I was the kind of player who would play the game and start it over again after beating it. Come 4th generation Diamond version, I hoarded a bunch of crappily-trained Pokemon and never restarted, playing the Battle Tower for hundreds of hours and never getting anywhere, always wondering why. Then I got HeartGold, and I learned about EV training, ditching most of my Diamond Pokes and training a new squadron of Pokemon who were actually good. This tradition continued onto the 5th generation with White version, of course, and I also learned of more advanced breeding techniques. So I guess I`m the kind of player who breeds `em, trains `em, and battles `em nowadays.

 

[The Knights of Wario Land]

With this generation, I look for good-natured Pokemon/breed for them, and try to make a balanced EV-trained team out of them.

 

[Space Opera]

I usually restart the game right after I beat the Elite 4, to keep myself entertained.

 

[chuulove]

Hmn, I had never really considered that everyone plays differently...

I like to keep the same save files forever... until I random go and erase all of them and go through from Gen I - whatever the latest is. :]

As for the Pokemon themselves, I like to catch 'em all! Although I only focus on doing that after I beat the Elite Four. Until then, I just catch 'em as I find 'em!

All through my first playthrough, if I ever find a Full Restore or an Ether, I save them in my Inbox or bag and only take them out when I fight the Elite Four, so I have some good ammunition. >D

Uhmn... my poor Pokemon pile up in my Boxes, too. D': But I have this weird habit where I catch Pokemon along the route I'm traveling, then in the next town deposit my whole party other than my starter and then collect the highest levels from the route I just traveled. That way I always have a decent-level team for catching, which is what I focus on primarily.

I always, always solo with my starter. Always.

 

[Gligar13]

The first few times, I explore around and find out stuff. Then later, I speedrun.

 

[Blue1225]

I do my best to catch them all and if I see I don't have a Pokemon and I run across it i'll catch it. After i've done just about everything in the game then i'll start hunting the last ones down.

I always get all 3 versions so I usually make 1 my ultimate version for that Gen where i'll have various teams and other stuff. A 2nd I just don't delete and constantly work to make my pokemon teams more efficient and the 3rd I'll beat, trade any pokes I wanna keep to another version and then delete it and start over whenever I want.

I usually just let pokemon pile up, though in HeartGold (Since that's my Master Version I guess, I have it organized by teams. I'm working on creating teams that Blue, Red and various other characters used in the anime/manga/games)

Never done a Nuzlocke, though I do want to try one.

Don't really care about competitive battling at all.

Along with the Nuzlocke, back in Gen 2 I basically only used my starter, the version mascot and Togetic. The rest would be HM slaves, that were usually other legendaries. I kinda wanna try doing this again and think I might do it with Black version when I get it.

I generally don't use the Master Ball on anything except a roaming legendary, but lately i've gotten to the point where I don't use it at all. I still haven't used my in White (Caught Thundrus) and I just beat LeafGreen and haven't used it either.

 

[League]

I'll spend days and hours catching Pokemon like Bronzor if I wish to use them--usually, I wish to use pokemon that don't need any egg moves or Hidden Power type/power. I'll SR for a good starter and good legendaries. For all the pokemon listed previously, I may use a method of stat/number comparison, to see if my pokemon potentially have high IVs. I'll catch one of everything regardless on my journey--I spend a good deal of my money on pokeballs. Speaking of, I like to catch everything in either a pokeball or a master ball. (I may sell all others.)

Other than that, well, I may buy a few repels. I'll also move my items around in my bag, for optimization.

Oh, I also like to EV train while I'm playing my games. I send my pokemon in, not against those who they have advantages against, but against those who will give the proper EV's. (Usually, at the head of my party, I have an EV sponge, like a mixed-Bibarel.)

Other than that, well, my starter stays in my party. Oh, I also plan my teams ahead, and I'll never use the legendaries ingame. Oh, also, I play straightforward offense while playing ingame, generally.

~

Beyond the pokemon aspect, I'll explore as much as I can as early as I can, and I'll not let any unseen item escape me.

 

[Usagi-Zakura]

I gotta catch them all.
Well all I can. I've never completed the Pokèdex in Generation II or III, but I'm quite proud that I was able to get 493 in Platinum.
But even if I know I'll probably never get every Pokèmon I catch any wild Pokèmon I don't already have.

My party is usually made up of a balanced team, I always have at least Fire, Electric, Water, Psychic, ghost/Dark, and maybe a grass-type. One of them is usually Flying too so I can get around more easily. I didn't use HM-slaves before but I've had to do it recently because of too many HMs. (Particularly yarring in Generation II, where you could end up with a water-type who knew almost nothing but HMs if you wanted to have all at once.)
Surf and Fly however have been allowed to stay in the party. Surf for being a pretty good move on its own, and Fly so...well in case I get stuck somewhere.
My main party are usually Pokèmon caught in the earlier regions, the starter is always with me(except in Black since I wanted to try a monotype run with electric types). Also every Pokèmon in my main party has to be one I like, I wouldn't care how good a Propobass is, it will never get a spot in my main party.

I don't EV-train or search out Pokemon with perfect IVs, mainly I think its too much of a pain trying to figure out what I need and its too much hazle. (No math in my leisure time. I HATE math). My strategy is typically offense is the best defense, as such my Pokèmon have few defensive or stats-reducing/increasing moves. The exceptions have been the electric-only party, as they need a bit more help.

I never cheat (Well I did as a kid with Missigno..but never since Gen I) and if you want to offer me a hacked Pokèmon it'd had to be very special. (I had a hacked Shaymin and Jirachi at one point, but got rid of them when I got legit events).

I may use legendaries, if I like them and they fit in with my current party type-wise. (Typically in my old Red game I always had Mewtwo, Zapdos and Articuno in my main party, sometimes Moltres as well. In Gold Lugia and Ho-oh were always present, though they aren't in SoulSilver since I made that party with eggs transferred from Platinum, making up a very mixed, non legendary team). At the moment two of my Plat-main party members are Legendary (Giratina and Mewtwo) and Victini is in the White main party.

If I need to train up a low-level Pokèmon after beating the Elite Four, I try to train my main party till they can easily beat the E4 with one member missing, and give the low-level and EXP-share.

 

[Oswin]

I try and play it as perfectly as I can, I always have to top up my supplies at the next Pokécentre, I always have my box as the Pokédex. I speak to everyone as well, just to be safe.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I tend to exploit everything I can while I'm in an area. I talk to all the people, walk through all the tall grass, et cetera. I try to catch all the new Pokemon that I come across, but then if I don't see any potential in it to be useful other than covering its species in the Pokedex, I release it. My box isn't very filled up at all.

I try to fight all the trainers I can. Basically it's only when 5 of my Pokemon have fainted, my last one is at the point of going into a coma, I'm being pecked at by Spearows, and all of my sandwiches are gone that I skip computer characters to fight. Then when I'm all healed up, I go back and fight them.

Then when I'm battling, I tend to put my weakest Pokemon at the front of my party, working it to the fainting point. That's basically how I train my Pokemon.

And I go on a whim a lot, just for the sake of being epic. My Pokemon could be at 5 HP, and then I would use Mega Kick because of the awesome graphics it makes when it hits, completely disregarding the fact that Mega Kick is about as accurate as a blind squirrel. All for the sake of being epic.

That's all I can really think of right now.

 

[Vayre]

Nuzlocke, all day erry day.

That being said even before I got obsessed with nuzlocke challenges I still tended to limit myself somewhat. Even when i was a small kid I saw stuff like Masterballs and actually using legendaries in a fight pretty cheap. Also just before I started doing Nuzlockes I was making a point of using weaker pokemon, including boxing my starter when i had a chance because they tend to be strong, though now with Nuzlockes I take any strong pokemon i'm lucky enough to get.

 

[Silverwynde]

I usually start with one save file, which stays pretty much permanently. I will only restart a game if I nab a female starter and decide to get the other two as females; then Prime's stuck hold onto three or more females which I'll use for breeding later. The same thing with certain early-on gift Pokemon: I have all three of the Elemental Monkeys as females so I can breed extras.

I don't often EV train. The only Pokemon I have seriously EV trained have been the same species: all have been either a Golett or a Golurk. For the others I don't feel the need to put in so much time or effort; I don't do the Battle Subway or battle competitively so to me it's not worth the effort. But for Golett and Golurk I make an exception. I want them at their very best and do everything I can to bring that out.

I catch at least one Pokemon on each Route, as to whether or not I train them it's a different story. And although I try to complete the 'Dex, I haven't come close since Gen III.

My HM "slaves" are anything but--they receive those moves because they will be staying on my team and I feel that I can count on them. In other words, it's a sign of love and respect that my dear Golurk Riser knows Fly.

If I have one Golett in my party, then I need a Golurk. Somebody has to be around to take care of "the kid", so to speak.

If I'm training a weaker Pokemon and they come close to fainting, I'll try to heal them but it's not top priority. But if that Pokemon is a Golett, it is immediately pulled from the battle and fully healed. I can risk anyone except one of them. If by some error on my part a Golett I am training faints, I will break out a level 100 and use the strongest attack possible to massacre the offending Pokemon. (I'm a little protective of "my kids", if you will.)

I don't organize my boxes except for my take-ins: my rescues are all in chronological order, all 12 boxes worth. They all have the same background: Rescues get the Machine wallpaper. Shinies get the Team Plasma wallpaper because they are special and treated like royalty.

I have a tendency to hoard Legendaries because they make great GTS trade fodder but I don't often use them.

I don't "catch 'em all" unless I'm in the Dragonspiral Tower. Every time I see a Golett, I take it home. Needless to say, I try to stay the heck outta the Tower... :sweatlol:

 

[Continent Turtle]

1st-2nd generation with Blue, Yellow, and Gold, I sucked at Pokemon and could never beat the games. In 3rd gen with Ruby and LeafGreen, I was the kind of player who would play the game and start it over again after beating it. Come 4th generation Diamond version, I hoarded a bunch of crappily-trained Pokemon and never restarted, playing the Battle Tower for hundreds of hours and never getting anywhere, always wondering why. Then I got HeartGold, and I learned about EV training, ditching most of my Diamond Pokes and training a new squadron of Pokemon who were actually good. This tradition continued onto the 5th generation with White version, of course, and I also learned of more advanced breeding techniques. So I guess I`m the kind of player who breeds `em, trains `em, and battles `em nowadays.

yes, that's how it went for me as well

 

[Lohrak]

I tend to blaze through the main part of the game in 2 days or less.
I level up so quickly and evenly, that I never have a real problem, and I save money up all the time due to not having to use it.
After beating the game, I look up all the little secret spots for items and where to catch other legendaries.
I don't do much else besides collect all possible items. Once I've squeezed out the last bit of secrets from the game, I just start using cheat codes .

 

[Garland]

Well it all started when I got back into playing Pokemon at Platinum. Before I didn't have a certain way but now...

My goal is to catch and have the final evolved form of each Pokemon and each form as well. I usually begin by catching the first evolution and evolving from there but, in a few cases I have caught a Pokemon like Snorlax and bred him to have a Munchlax. So at some point I would have had every Pokemon's evolution.

I am doing this without using the GTS or cheating (with the exception of Arceus & Darkrai, I cheated to obtain the event items to catch them but I will replace them next time there is one available, I am also working on Deoxys in Ranger by copying my game and playing through the wifi games with my girlfriend)

Besides that, I play many of the games all the way through with few exceptions. I never really use the Battle Frontier areas as they do not gain actual experience but I'm sure I'll go back and do the Battle Subway eventually.