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How do YOU play the games?

I go through the game (usually always take my time) beat the elite 4 and always do any post game stuff available. When I get tired of it I start a new game. I usually always try to have a different team each time I play except I will always have a starter on my team. I don't think I will ever try a nuzlocke challenge since it does not seem that fun to me personally.
 
I normally complete the story keeping at least 10 Poké Balls with at a time catching new or shiny Pokémon if I see them an after defeating the Elite Four or finishing the story beyond them like in generations II-V I try to complete the Regional then National Pokédex and, quoting from the thread How Often Have You Completed the National Pokedex?
Water Max said:
I've done it once in generation IV in which I have a complete national Pokédex in Pearl version with all 493 Pokémon and I didn't ever cheat, transfer legendary Pokémon, or Pokémon which I got in Colosseum or XD or Pokémon from my main parties in generation III by the Park Pal instead I went to the events, used mystery gift online or downloaded event Ranger missions for all the event Pokémon after the Almia Darkrai, Manaphy and Rilou, I caught the remaining legendary Pokémon in Platinum and Soul Silver and traded with someone my Platinum Cresselia for an Embedded Tower Kyogre in a trade shop on a forum and bred my Pokémon from generation III.

I'm also going to try it with Black version using similar methods by breeding then transfering Pokémon from generation IV and waiting for all the event pokémon to be given out.
Click to expand...
After completing the Regional, National Pokédex or obtaining the maximum possible amount of Pokémon I can get at that moment I try doing the Battle Frontiers, Towers or Subway. In Hoenn I did also do the contests a lot.

I also never select new game when I can see the continue selection because I do obtain event Pokémon and I think that time of finding out how or where to get them would be wasted if I deleted the load which they are on and I don't like the idea of using Pokémon from one of my other or, if I ever restart, previous save files.
 
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I just play whatever way I want. I don't ev train or anything. I try to visit every house I can and talk to everyone possible.

I usually keep the save file and beat the elite four over and over to my heart's desire XDD especially when I want to level up a certain pokemon afterwards.
 
alright I sell all rare candies I get, they pay you 4,900 and a pokemon is better if leveled than just given a rare candy.
I try to catch them all except if it is an evolution or pre of a guy then I will evolve or make an egg of it
I can't re-start a game to many memories
I don't organize box leave them in the order they were caught
I don't nuzlocke or anything although I might sometime
competively I don't participate in but it is something that I am gaining interest in
 
How do I play? HOW DO I PLAY!!? YOU WANNA KNOW HOW I PLAY? Ok

First of all, I go through and talk to every…single….person…twice. I like to see what they have to say and imagine what stories they have to get them there, like the old couple in the battle frontier in platinum. I also go into every building, and basically if I can see an item or a different route, I try to get to it. That constant curiosity might be why I love explorers of sky so much….moving on.

I catch pokémon if I don’t have them yet ONLY if they are the lowest evolution or if I’ve gone far enough that I forget that was my plan and end up catching it. I find the masterball to be a neat looking thingamabob and thus never use it, instead keep it with me just to look at it. My team is either made as I go or predetermined. If I predetermine my team, then I refuse to move past where they can be found until I get one, which can clearly be seen in my spending days getting a male ralts and running around wayward cave blindly. Other times I’ll simply move forwards, using my first six pokémon unless I reach a gym where I am at an awful type disadvantage, in which case I check my box, pick something which will help it and replace the one I’m least attached to. I tend to only do this early in the game though, as later my team becomes diverse enough to beat any trainer that comes my way. Did I mention I don’t avoid npc trainers? I always battle them unless five of my pokémon fainted, in which case I dash to the nearest pokémon center. My training is simple, I keep the strongest in the back and weakest in front, that way they get a chance to get strong and earn their vacation on the back of the team. I don’t IV, EV or breed for training, its mostly just battle random people to get stronger.

Battle strategy wise, I tend to just change my strategy to match the moves and style of each one of my pokémon. I tend to want to hit fast and strong, but other times I adapt to the moves my pokémon knows, such as using hypnosis then spamming nasty plot before attacking with spiritomb. Post elite four I of course continue to travel and battle in the new areas, but once every bit of the story has been drained, I tend to goof off by training my boxed(and unorganized) pokémon manually by battling. I like to try to complete the pokedex, but never have. Currently I am trying to get a shiny pokémon seeing as I have NEVER seen one in game asides from those programed to be shiny. Competitive wise I just battle for fun, not really super breeding/training them to be unbeatable, instead focus on random neat combos I like. I have never hacked a game, or abused glitches, and I will erase a file only AFTER I transfer all of the pokémon which were either close to me or legendary/rare, seeing as I might never see em again.

Well that’s a bungled up, and jibberished version of what I was thinking, I probably forgot something but oh well.
 
I play it slowly. I like to take the time to enjoy and explore everything. I'm just here to enjoy my game, and I'm not in a rush. I do EV train, but I don't do much of it - only for main ones. I'll just let the game progress as normal as time goes on.
 
I always used to just follow the stereotypical storyline and game play, however once my friends and I beat the game we would make a point of grinding our favorite six pokemon to level 100 as fast as possible. Then we would get together and just battle against each other like crazy so that we could have bragging rights in our group of friends.

Now however, with the playing of White version, I have taught myself everything I need to know about basic competitive play and proper IV and EV raising. So now I just run to build the best battling team I can make, beat my friends into submission, and also play the best I can online as well.
 
- I always choose the default names for the protagonists and rivals because I can never think of anything else.
- I usually create a team of anywhere between 2-6 Pokémon (my most recent save files have six)
- I try to not to go through the game too quickly but not ridiculously slowly either.
- I use HM slaves
- I catch whatever Pokémon I can but am not really concerned about filling up the Pokédex
- I usually obtain the badges in order
- I don't EV train until post-game
- I restart if I feel like it, but trade/transfer my main Pokémon to another game first :)

That's all I can think of for now.
 
Personally for me, I tend to treat each gym like a challenge in it's own right and I make sure to evolve my starter to it's first evolution before I take on the first gym and try to catch as many different pokemon along my journey through the game. Preferring to attempt to complete the national dex after beating the elite four.. I am currently working on completing the national dex on my copy of platinum currently.

Like some others have said I don't like to use the legendaries in game.. I used to but I've since found it's alot more fun not to do so. I am also not afraid to just camp out in an area of the map to try and find a pokemon that is rare in the game.. the best example being spending two hours hunting for seviper on emerald lol I was so proud of myself when I got one too it was really silly. EV training I have never used, I don't do breeding projects but I will breed a pokemon for somebody if they need it like the aforementioned seviper on emerald I bred it for somebody who wanted it and then let them pal park it onto their copy of SS, I am still pal parking all my pokes over to platinum from emerald and really should finish that off. Completing the national dex is a silly little ambition of mine for gen IV.

Nicknames I only really give to pokemon I am very fond of, or if I feel inspired to give them a name which suits them but I always give names based on the final evolutions so that it will still suit later on. As for the event pokemon.. I do have an R4 card but I use it to create save files which I can store all my event pokemon so if I wanted to start the game over then I could do so without losing them.
 
I catch them all, putting Ash to shame in the process. What did he get, like 30 per generation? What a loser.
 
I typically run through the game quickly, beat the Elite Four, then spend the rest of my time filling my Pokedex and fine-tuning my team. I just beat the E4 in Black (after playing through White and finding myself a really bored), and right now I'm wandering around, grinding my Vullaby and Axew before I face Alder. When I beat the E4 in SoulSilver and had nothing left to do but catch Pokemon, I cut my team down to five and started training a different Pokemon every day. That's probably why I count that game as my favorite.

It took me aaages to complete the National Dex in SoulSilver, though -- well over a year. I haven't had much time lately to play Black or White, but I'm hoping to do the same at some point in one of those games. I'd like to do Nuzlocke at some point, but I hate the fact you can't restart your game in the fifth generation. I'll probably do it on Platinum someday.
 
Analytically.

I observe what needs to be done to succeed in the game and I don't go above and beyond I merely just do what I laid out in my head.
 
I like to play through the games by just battling and raising my Pokemon; not really a big fan of the metagame (IVs, EV, etc.) or competitive battling. If I have both versions, I tend to go quickly through the first one and take more time with the second one.

I tend to be nostalgic towards my game files and I'd rather not restart them. I did it once or twice on Blue but since I managed to complete that Pokedex, it's never been touched. The only ones I really restarted several times were Sapphire/Ruby, though I always traded the strongest/rarest Pokemon away to the other version (hence the reason I have several high leveled Swampert and multiple Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza and Jirachi in those two games). If I do restart, it tends to be the secondary version; I just can't seem to make myself restart my primary one. I don't think I'll EVER restart my Diamond because it has too many memories and too many Events for me to justify doing so.

I do like trying to "catch 'em all" (though I only managed to do this in Blue and only completed the regional dex in Black), but I do make teams of my favorites, though the teams do tend to be balanced (my Black/White games tend to get excepted since I love Dragon Pokemon and tend to want to keep both Hydreigon and Haxorus on my team).

My preferred team tends to change from game to game even within the same generation since I'll catch and train up different Pokemon in the different games (again, Black/White are exceptions since I don't have too many different favorites so my team members are repeated in both games). I'll generally just catch and train up the first Pokemon of each type I find (unless it's a particular favorite like Axew and Deino for Gen V) so I have a balanced team. I broke this rule a bit for White since I decided I would make it a female-only team to start off with and have only been catching males (particularly in the high-level Eastern half of Unova) to breed and fill up my Pokedex.

I also don't really like catching evolved forms of Pokemon if I can find their pre-evolved forms in the wild. I only do so if they are unobtainable in the wild and I need to breed them. I have also started holding off on evolving my Pokemon (after beating the E4) to fill up the Pokedex until they learn their last moves.

I started to organize my boxes/Pokemon in Sapphire/Ruby (by type or location) and it worked pretty well. Later on, it got kind of cumbersome, so I don't do it too much any more, though I do tend to group my legendaries/powerhouses/main team together in the same box and have seperate boxes for eggs or trading/traded monsters. I also started to organize FireRed according to number, but never finished it.

I am an offensive battler and do not really like defensive/stat changing moves, though I have started to be more versatile and do try to not count those moves out. I still only use them in wild Pokemon battles for the most part.

I do not like using my Master Balls, Ethers, PP Ups or HP Ups and tend to save them with no real intent to use them. I'd rather not waste disposable items to evolve Pokemon (like Stones, Razor Fang, UpGrade, etc.), especially if they are hard to obtain. This explains why I've never had a Steelix I never caught (Gen IV) or traded for and certain other evolutions. Never really use Rare Candies either, though I used them non-stop in Blue with the glitch. This makes me proud to say that my strongest non-Rare Candied Pokemon (leveled up by battle and experience alone) are my Staraptor and Luxray in Diamond that are currently hovering around the low to mid 90's.

I collect legendaries and don't like using them (though I did use Arceus in Diamond to test it out). I also don't really nickname my Pokemon, unless I have a sudden burst of inspiration after catching them a la Starla my Staraptor in Diamond or Sandy my Krookodile in Black.

I think that's it...for now.
 
I catch the ones I like and build up a team of awesome that doesn't change unless there's a certain type I need to use in order to beat a gym or something. That's the way it is for the rest of the game.
 
I always keep my first play through of the game. It has too many memories for me to let go of! But I always buy the opposite version and the third version and restart those to my heart's content.

I always take the game slowly so that I can enjoy the storyline because I'm not a fan of competitive battling. And after completing both pokedexes on Emerald, I haven't attempted to catch all the pokemon for a while.
 
I usually have a full party including my starter, and I always keep them all at the same level. And I never have more than one of the same type.
 
I like to get two copies of a given generation. That way I can play through one and then use that one for breeding and training. The second game will receive a custom team, bred on game 1, to play through with. Once game 2 is beaten with the given team the team is sent back over to game 1 and game 2 is restarted. Then I use game 1 to make another team and send over to game 2 to play through with again.
As for the pokemon themselves. I catch everything, but don't always train or evolve them. If I would just bother to evolve everything I have I would have almost a complete national dex, minus legendaries, in the 5th gen. I train up specific pokemon as part of Teams. I've become fond of making typed teams, like the gym leaders always have. Though I generally put in hours planning out which select set of pokemon to put into a team so that I have a good spread of types without too many weaknesses to any given type. Then I plan out their moves so that I have advantages against everything.
 
I always nickname my Pokemon. I dunno, it somehow makes them feel more like they're mine.

I don't really care about stats, I just train what I catch and hope for the best.
 
I take my time and play through the games slowly.

Before I even begin playing I plan out my team using the Pokédex in the back of the game guides. I always have a water, a grass and a fire type as well as another three that will be useful for beating the Elite 4/Champion. I pick which Pokémon those will be based on moveset/appearance - eg: I like the cutesy types rather than those that look particularly powerful. I'm not interested in complicated breeding or online battling - my aim is simply to beat the game. I always make an attempt at completing the dex after but by the time that happens they're onto the next generation. xP . I play for the story more than anything.
 
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