What's Your Playthrough Style?

[farewell friend]

I won't comment on the first three generation of games, because I played them oh so long ago. On Platinum, I kept my starter (Chimchar). I can't remember how many additional Pokémon I trained, though. I'm sure I trained a few.

However, I think my style on Platinum was similar to my style on Black. On Black, I kept my starter for about the first city and then dumped him (it might have been even earlier xD), and I just put all my effort into my Lillipup, because that line is beast. During the middle of the game, I decided I wanted a Sigilyph and Maractus, and I trained the Sigilipyh a bit. However, I grew bored of them and dumped them. Finally, I decided to train up a Klink- and what a decision! An amazing Pokémon, seriously. Now I have just my Stoutland and Klank as my two strong Pokémon. I do carry other Pokémon with me, just in case of hax and for the HM's; however, I do not train them any. This strategy of mine will probably backfire when I get to the E4 (I defeated Brycen yesterday), so we'll see. I may train an additional Pokémon, but I'm not sure.

I don't know, I get lazy to train too many Pokémon. Another issue I have, possibly, is that I get excited for different Pokémon, and this makes me indecisive as to who to keep and who to dump.

 

[smalllady]

I always make sure I have a team of Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic, and Flying. And I always plan my team long before I begin, so I know exactly which Pokemon to get. I don't mind having my Fly-slave in my team...each generation's bird aren't so bad anyways. And each Pokemon is always around the same level as the others (give or take a couple levels). I do try to catch all the Pokemon in each area...but sometimes I end up rushing through areas. I usually save Pokedex completion for post-Elite 4. Oh and I like talking to all the NPCs and finding as many items as I can in each area, as well.

EDIT: Oh and I guess this is exclusive to B/W, but I always lead with my Psychic-type Pokemon in the last battle against N. I never use Reshiram/Zekrom against him, either.

 

[Alex800]

Before I get a pokemon game I get so excited I plan what 6 pokemon are gonna be on my team :|
Then I train them as evenly as possible and catch everything I haven't already caught

Except of course when I was younger, then I just caught everything I saw and only trained my starter...

 

[Ferbgor]

For me, I go by a first come, first serve basis. I don't care about natures (for my storyline team). Train the first one I find of every specie I planned on having on my team. I also talk to every person I see, and I take my time. Speedruns ruin game experiences, for me at least.

 

[Pingouin7]

I pick the fire-type starter at the start, no matter what.
I defeat every single Trainer I can see, and after beating the Elite Four, I go back to previous routes to fight trainers that were hidden.
I usually attempt to get a Fire-, Water-, Grass-, Flying- and Electric-type Pokémon onto my team, and have a strong Pokémon as the sixth.
(Dragonite, in FR/LG, Rhyperior in HG/SS, Flygon in R/S/E, Garchomp in D/P/Pt and Haxorus in B/W.)

I catch every Pokémon with regular Pokéballs, with the exception of legendary Pokémon, who I capture using Ultra Balls, while I use my Master Balls on the roaming legendaries.

When capturing Legendary Pokémon, I never put them to sleep or anything. I only use Paralysis, and it worked for me each time (And adds some challenge.)

 

[jokool]

I train the starter (one rare exception on my old Gold version, I started with Totodile that I eventually evolved into a Feraligatr. But for some reason, I didn't use him later on in that game), and usually use the Pokemon that I caught early on. In Black, however, I went a different road. I trained the starter like normal (Oshawott), but instead of just using Pokemon from early on, I had others from later routes, and would rotate them with my other Pokemon after a few battles. So I had multiple combinations of Pokemon teams.

 

[ravenclaw1991]

As someone mentioned before, I usually get the strategy guide also.. then I get my starter, I usually catch at least one Pokemon on the first route in the game to use.. except in BW because its all just Patrat and Lilipup. I train it up so I beat the first gym.. normally after that I get the Pokemon I actually like.. such as in BW, I got Pidove.. normally most of my Pokemon come from early in the game.. I don't really balance my team well, so when I get to a gym where I have nothing good to use there, I train a Pokemon up just enough to beat the gym then never use it again. Most of the time I use the mascot legendary of the game, but in Black I didn't. I just put Reshiram in the box.

 

[Silverwynde]

I get my guide, pick my starter, and start grabbing Pokemon from the get go. I try to work with all of them so I can figure out which is best for my team and those that don't work out get boxed. If I really don't like them, I won't evolve them; I'll just grab their secondary forms on later routes. I battle every Trainer I can see for both the experience and the cash. In the previous Gens, I had a full team of six by the time I hit the first gym. That didn't happen on Black.

I kept one slot permanently opened. That space was reserved for my Golett. If I caught something and ended up with a group of six, then the sixth 'Mon would be boxed and I'd head out with five again. I did that until I hit the Dragonspiral Tower. Once I had "my" Golett (Brave Natured with a good Attack) I considered my team complete and started training like mad.

I Master Ball only roaming Legendaries now. If I can get that mascot Legendary (or any other Legend, for that matter) in something other than a Master Ball, I'll go for it.

I haven't trained Reshiram at all. She's still in my box. (Don't ask; I see Reshi as a bit more female than Zeki. But that's just me.) The only Pokemon that I've seriously trained in any real way (as in EV training) have been my Golurks. And the EV training is my "bonding time" with them.

 

[Pashalik]

I pick my starter and I also select a full team of 6(including the starter) to shoot for by the time I reach the Pokemon League. However, often as not, some of these cannot be obtained until later, so I grab whatever is useful/grabs my eye until I can get them. This team is subject to possible changes as I discover the various ways I didn't think it though. Previously I have not been overly concerned with natures or abilities, though this time around I find myself being somewhat picky about them.

As for exploration, I'm not really done until I've been everywhere and spoken to everyone, and filled as many pages of the pokedex as I reasonably can.

As far as money goes, I use the Amulet Coin to ensure that I always have enough for everything, ever. Then I go into the shop and buy 30-50 each of every type of status heal and revives. This being done, I buy all my HP restoratives from the vending machines and run back to the pokemon center when any team member gets hurt, because money doesn't grow on trees and I didn't buy all this stuff just to waste it on its intended purpose.

 

[CorpseFlower]

I'm pretty hardcore "catch 'em all," as I will patrol for hours to find those 1% appearance pokemon. Well, my exception is the evolutionary lines of pokemon I've already caught. Like, if I catch a Pidgey, I won't catch a Pidgeotto. I evolve these pokemon after I beat the storyline.

I usually have a full, viable team, no slaves.

 

[Almonds]

1. Raise my starter as much as I can (in the case of GSC and HGSS, I solo the region)
2. Catch the regional bird
3. Catch any pokemon based on looks, raise it, and box those that are weak - REPEAT
4. Go with the flow.
- I don't really keep my pokemon overleveled unless I'm solo-ing.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

I capture as much Pokemon as I can, use a balanced team of my favorites, not use Ubers, and EV Train pre-E4 and post-E4.

 

[xxemerald45xx]

I typically use five or six Pokemon, depending on whether or not I use a HM slave. I keep my starter two levels above the other four or five, the rest of whom are all the same level (usually). I try to use different types, but every now and then I'll do a monotype challenge. My game time when I enter the HOF is usually around 20 hours; I try to get through fairly quickly, but waste a lot of time training because I suck at getting by underleveled.

I don't try to use ubers (or any legendaries in general). I don't really use pseudo-legendaries either, just because they usually take forever to evolve, and I don't have the patience (at least during the main part of the game).

 

[Noah Ridgewood]

I focus on one Pokémon at a time, and try to keep the levels of my Pokémon reasonably near each other, with my starter being the highest level. I only catch additional Pokémon when I need them, so I hardly ever have a full team until after I face the Elite Four. I battle every trainer, and make a point to go in each grass and face a Pokémon there. Each group of grass patch means that I have to stay there until I gain a level. That's just something I make a point to do. I also always face the first gym leader with my starter alone. If I lose, I train and I go back. If I lose, I train and I go back again. I also always make sure that when I catch a new Pokémon, I spend all my time leveling it up to match my lowest-level Pokémon until I move onto other things.

 

[Pikalution]

I always have a team of 6 pokemon, all varying types. I like to train all 6 evenly, because I dont think its fair when one pokemon is stronger than all the rest. to me, starters really arent that special. I dont like legendaries. yes, their stats are amazing, but I never use them, so theyre not that special to me. I use HM slaves because I dont like teaching HMs to my 6-pokemon team. Also, I always have a water, grass, and fire-type pokemon on my team. the other ones vary, but i usually add in a flying or electric type.

 

[AlexTheRose]

I usually keep my starter and catch five Pokémon all early in the game (most preferably all under level 10). But, I have a catch: All of the Pokémon in a team of mine must be caught in a Poké ball, or sometimes all in a sentimental ball like a Premier ball or a Luxury ball, but never strategical balls like Dive balls or Fast balls. Sometimes though, in HeartGold or SoulSilver, I'll make an exception to allow one team member to be caught in a Fast ball because of the Pokémon Takeshi caught in one, I guess. That's it I guess for my personal team rules. Also, I like to fill up my Pokédex by first catching needed Pokémon, and evolving them later, and I don't just let my 'Dex fill up by seeing them in Gen IV/V, I always catch them regardless of whether I'll see a Pokémon's evolution later in the game.

 

[Pashalik]

Also, I don't keep HM Slaves, but I do keep a Chaperone. This is generally a Dragonite with Strength, Cut, Surf and Fly. The difference between this and a slave is that the Chaperone is thought of with the utmost respect.

 

[xanderthevampire]

I always take the water starter, purely for tradition since the first starter I had was a water type. I then go on my journey until I come across the 1st poison type I can catch. Using my starter as backup, I train my poison type up to match the starter in level then box the starter and never use it again, except maybe for HMs. (I prefer using my own, caught, pokemon over something that was just handed to me from a choice of 3. Plus I always use poison) I then build my party with poison types, keeping their levels constantly the same (as best I can) and not challenging the next gym until I have gone up at least 5 levels from the last gym with all my pokemon. (Starting with level 10 at the 1st gym) I do try to catch at least one of every pokemon I can- for breeding and dex purposes and when I CAN walk or cycle, I DO. Flying is a waste when you can go by foot and collect exp in battles along the way. Lastly, I don't like replacing pokemon. I only ever do it very briefly for an HM then switch back. What's the point of training a pokemon you're going to replace later? Waste of time and exp, I only use a pokemon if I'm willing to use it for the rest of the game. Sure, it means I take awhile to get a party of 6 but no exp or time has been wasted.