Pickup lines

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

OK, so I like the ability Pickup. Use it a fair amount; not so much in Emerald since it's dependant on level, but in LeafGreen and Sapphire.

Well, I was reading a walkthrough and it said Pickup got items after battles. I told the person who gave me the link that that was wrong, and she said no it wasn't, that you only get items after battles.

Well...I get items just walking around. It's always been that way, battle or not. I find items after battles, I find items in cities, I find items watering berries...

So what gives?

 

[Jukain]

I can't get Pickup to work in FR, either. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.

 

[Murgatroyd]

I'd say that whoever wrote the walkthrough is probably wrong. In Sapphire, with my Linoone-and-five-Zigzagoons team, I remember getting large numbers of items even without many battles.

 

[Silktree]

Pickup is indeed only activated at the end of battle, whether against a wild Pokémon or a trainer. This was researched in the early days of Ruby/Sapphire.

I can see how you were misled to think that Pickup was also activated at other instances--a Pokémon acquiring the ability can obtain an item regardless of whether or not it has participated in the preceding battle. You could have very well battled a wild Pokémon, if not a trainer, using another Pokémon; you had not checked if the Pickup Pokémon had obtained an item, and when you later checked the status screen, were made to believe that Pickup must have been activated due to some other action (such as watering berries).

In Sapphire, with my Linoone-and-five-Zigzagoons team, I remember getting large numbers of items even without many battles.

It seems to me that you were only surprised at the amount of items for thinking you only had a 10% chance of finding one after battle. In truth, the probability was approximately 46.9%, as there were six Pickup Pokémon in your party.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

So how come I get items if I walk down a road with no encounters? Or when I water my berries? There's no wild pokemon and no trainers in the Berry Master's garden.

 

[KoalaDevourer]

Do this.

Find an area with no Grass, no Wild Pokemon, no Battles. Like... middle of Slateport.

Make sure your Pokemon have no Items attached. Now run around for like half an hour.

You won't find any items attached.

What most likely happens is you go into battle and continue with your business and never check for new items. You never get items picked up without KOing something. You can't run away and hope for Pick Up. You can't just run around. You need to finish a battle.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

But I just said I HAVE found items just walking around with no battles. When I have something in my party with Pickup, I check it every minute or so.

 

[Silktree]

Did you know that Pickup can be activated even if the Pokémon does not participate in battle? The Berry Master's House is situated between Routes 118 and 123, both of which have their share of grass patches and trainers. Again, you could have easily not checked the status screen until watering berries, since you did not expect an item to be found (presumably not using the Pickup Pokémon in battle). The flaw in your experiments lies in that you only checked the status screen periodically, rather than immediately after battle.

If you are still convinced that you are correct, I can only recommend that you repeat the process. Keep track by checking the status screen immediately after each battle (running away does not account for a battle victory). In this way, if you find an item in middle of non-battle activities, you will know for sure that Pickup was not activated due to winning a battle. I cannot trust any of your current reports, as you do not seem to have known the exact mechanics, which happens to be important.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

*sigh* How many times do I have to tell you? I'll be IN THE GARDEN, not walking around outside of it.

 

[Silktree]

*sigh* How many times do I have to tell you? I'll be IN THE GARDEN, not walking around outside of it.

Obviously, you would have needed to pass through one of the routes beforehand, as the location cannot be accessed with Fly. Why is it so hard to understand that you could have easily found an item right before entering the garden, only to check the status screen while in there? Your first instinct was that Pickup must have been activated due to watering the berries, since you had not used the Pickup Pokémon in battle, and did not know that was actually irrelevant.

You are only using your past experiences as proof, which leaves room for error. As you can see, the majority of players have never run into such an experience, and some have even researched the data and concluded that Pickup is only activated after battle. You will have to be more detailed if you wish to prove that so many people have been deluded for nearly three years.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

Because like I said, I'll check it every minute or so. When watering berries, that amounts to every couple of steps.

 

[Transfinite]

Unown Lord, I think you're misunderstanding what Blackjack is saying. If I'm reading right, she's saying that she enters the garden with no item attached, and checks it to make sure; she goes around watering berries without leaving the garden, and voila, an item is suddenly attached.

I believe I've had my Pokemon pick up items without my being in battles as well, though I don't recall it happening when watering berries.

 

[nYoo]

Unown Lord, I think you're misunderstanding what Blackjack is saying. If I'm reading right, she's saying that she enters the garden with no item attached, and checks it to make sure; she goes around watering berries without leaving the garden, and voila, an item is suddenly attached.

Well, how could Unown Lord know, if she doesn't write that. Unown Lord asked for more details and all Blackjack Gabbiani does is repeating the same things over and over again without adding any details (Well atleast until her last post about checking every minute). o.o"

 

[Silktree]

If I'm reading right, she's saying that she enters the garden with no item attached, and checks it to make sure; she goes around watering berries without leaving the garden, and voila, an item is suddenly attached.

Notice that she did not explicitly note she had checked the status screen upon entering the garden. It is a plausible scenario for her to pass through the route, battle once using another Pokémon and move onto watering berries. Since she did not know that Pickup can be activated even if the respective Pokémon is not used in battle, she had no reason to suspect that the Pokémon might have already found an item by the time she entered the garden. From that point on, it does not matter how frequently she checked the status screen, as there was already an item attached.

I do not see why we have to analyze Blackjack Gabbiani's state of mind. She is more than welcome to run an additional experiment to see if she still reaches the same results now that she has been made aware of the facts.

 

[Blackjack Gabbiani]

But you guys keep telling me to check things and I've already known that they aren't so.

 

[nYoo]

Well I'm trying the same thing as Blackjack Gabbini now. I started in Mauville with a Linoone and a Zigzagoon in the team. My first pokemon is a Metagross. Both Linoone and Zigzagoon have no item attached when I start. I surf (with Tentacool) over the water, run through the grass and battle two Pokémon. I check after every battle and after the first there is no item attached to either Linoone or Zigzagoon. After the second battle I check again immediately after the battle and find my Linoone carrying a Super Potion. I put the Super Potion in my bag and continue to the Berry Guy's house. I run around, plant berries, water them and talk to the woman standing around. After every couple steps and after every action I check the status of my Pokémon. I'm doing this for 10 minutes now and I still haven't found an item. So I think Unown Lord is right about what he says. I'll continue the experiment for a little more while.

 

[The Big Al]

Pickup is activated by anything. Battles, walking, talking, watering etc. It's random but the more picker uppers the more likely. I haven't used the pick up ability that much but my sister has and she finds items everywhere.

However, I've heard battles are more likely to activate the ability than over world activities.

 

[Silktree]

You have yet to comment on whether or not you checked the status screen when you entered the garden; this suggests to me that you simply do not remember and did not find it necessary. If you are reluctant to repeat the experiment, at the very least refer to my previous posts and add in the missing details.

Please show more respect; you are suggesting the contrary to all the findings made since the games were released. You may be convinced that you are correct, but are not helping anyone by stating more of the same.

 

[nYoo]

Unown Lord, Do you mean me? o.o If yes: I did remove the item before I entered the garden and I checked again right after I entered the garden. There was no item. In fact I still didn't get an item, now trying this for over 20 minutes. And again, I believe you and what you say that it is it happens after battle with 10% chance. I'm just trying this to get Blackjack to also believe it.

 

[Misty]

The simple way to solve this is to have someone use a pickup Pokemon and just walk around and do pretty much everything except get into a battle.