How serious are you?

[Drago]

I'm sitting here playing Black 2 at the moment, levelling up my second team. I'm only fighting similarly levelled mobs in order to make sure I don't miss out on too many EV points. And it got me to thinking... how much do other people bother when training their Pokemon?

Back in gen 1, it was easy for me. I chose what Pokemon I liked, I went out and caught it. Preferably at a lower level in order to make it stronger in the long run. And that was it. With each generation making things more and more complicated, adding genders and natures and the like, I must confess, Pokemon training has become more of a chore. I hate sitting here hatching eggs until I finally get the right nature and ability, it's downright infuriating.

That being said, I've never properly EV trained a Pokemon, nor do I intend to. I'm not wasting my time seeking out particular enemies in order to boost a single stat, and I'm amazed anyone can be bothered.

So yeah. How thorough and meticulous are you?

[Emerald_Gen.3]

Well my team for B2 is pretty basic, all dual types, and I think they're all pretty high level, maybe around 60, but anyway I'm pretty serious when it comes to training. Sometimes I'll take out one of my Lvl 100's and go destroy the E4 but will always lose to Iris. I find the best place to train is Route 1 right next to Nuvema. Well that's my input...

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I haven't even bought Black 2 or White 2, and I stopped playing White shortly after seeing the end credits. My current project is to see the end credits of Sapphire and then Diamond, preferably before Pokemon X and Y come out.

If I want, I can run around in the grass for hours training Pokemon. Listening to different kinds of music while doing this helps me a lot. I even tried to train every single Pokemon I caught when I was younger. Now I do own two PokeDex books and internet connections, of course, so I can look at the levels when they learn the moves and whether or not it's worth to evolve a Pokemon in any level.

But I have to add that Pokemon means a lot more to my life than just the games. The idea of Pokemon has evolved inside my head during the years, it's anime, manga, my own drawings, fanfics, TPM membership, friends, what got me into Japanese culture, what saved me from trying suicide, what maybe extended the times I spent in hospital. You could say I take Pokemon seriously, but not the games alone.

[Magmar]

I'm not very thorough/perfectionist at Pokemon games. I usually stick with the first 6 Pokemon I like for the remainder of the game, which means most of my "team" are usually Pokemon that you can catch at the beginning of the game.

I'm one of those hardcore Mario gamers who has to get EVERYTHING, though. "Can I get every coin in Lethal Lava Hell or whatever it was"??

[Lady Vulpix]

I EV-train semi-thoroughly. That is, I don't really count how many EVs of each kind my Pokemon are getting, but I like to make sure they only get useful ones. For instance, I usually boost one attack stat and not the other (depending on the Pokemon's strongest points), and try to make up for any defensive stat that's especially low and may become a liability in battle (like Unfezant's special defense). I give Speed a little boost if I think it can give me an edge, but not if it's already very fast (like Alakazam) or hopelessly slow (like Snorlax). When training a Pokemon like Snorlax, I focus on dealing damage and enduring blows rather than trying to attack first.

So... I'm rather thorough, but not obsessively so. I don't count EVs and I've never even tried to "Catch'em all". I just try to exploit the potential of the Pokemon I like, and make the best of them.

[DarkestLight]

If I am making a competitive team, then yes, I am meticulous about EV training. Pen and paper, counting how many kills, attaining all the items to make EV training easier, all that good stuff. Once you gathered all the necessary items though, EV training goes by real smooth.

The pain is the nature breeding, that is aggravating. But then again, I harvest Ditto's too, so I really don't have a hard time with it all :/ Prolly takes about 2 hours per Pokemon if yer diligent to get a good squad up and ready. I don't try for IV's though, that's absurd.

[Lady Vulpix]

I do try for IVs when catching Dream World Pokemon or getting Pokemon from in-game events (like the Eevee and shiny Dratini they give you in W2). Not for max IVs, but at least for IVs that are good enough for battle.

[classy_cat18]

I'm kinda serious. I tend to train Pokemon who don't do very well competitively, since I don't bother entering tournaments. I tend to play mainly to get through the story. My seriousness drops once I've beaten the Elite 4. But I do occasionally breed for egg moves, and try to catch Pokemon that have beneficial natures and traits. I also like training Pokemon from level 1.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Before Black and White were released I trained 60+ Pokémon that were hand selected and underwent careful training in every regard to be the best they could be. But in the past few years I kind of lost my dedication and even though I played through Black and Black 2 my interest hasn't fully returned. So, I used to be serious but now I'm just along for a fun ride.

[DivineAll]

I usually play semi-seriously. In my White 2 game, I did take note of which EVs would benefit my Pokémon best and/or in general, depending on their Nature, but I usually tended to focus on battling Audinos if I wanted to speed up the training process. Otherwise when I'm playing the game for the first time around, I focus more on Natures for breeding later and leveling up from Level 1 for really good EV gains.

[Oslo]

Not serious at all. Forget EV training, just plain old grinding is a pain. Emulation has spoiled me. Being able to play at a gajillion times the speed is wonderful and I doubt I could go back to handheld Pogeymon games.

Also I'm on a Nuzlocke kick right now. Those things are fun!

[kainashi]

i stopped playing pokemon seriously after g/s/c. all the ev training and crap got boring.

[Fett One]

Usually, I pick which 6 pokemon I want before I start playing and then I catch the first one I can find of each and just stick with that one. I don't bother with nature/EV/ability. Taking that stuff into account just makes things more frustrating in my opinion.

[CaptainJigglypuff]

Don't care about EVs or Natures to be honest. I just battle wild Pokemon to level up my Pokemon and once I have an Exp. Share I give it to a weaker Pokemon and let a stronger one do all the work. Usually its the Electro Ball Mewtwo which I got to level 100 that does all the work and I destroy hoards of wild Pokemon with it.

[Magmar]

Usually, I pick which 6 pokemon I want before I start playing and then I catch the first one I can find of each and just stick with that one. I don't bother with nature/EV/ability. Taking that stuff into account just makes things more frustrating in my opinion.

That's pretty much how I roll, but if I get attached to one early on, I'll keep it around. That's how I ended up with Simisear, even though I couldn't care less about raising Fire-types otherwise (no offense, Lady Vulpix!)


Don't care about EVs or Natures to be honest. I just battle wild Pokemon to level up my Pokemon and once I have an Exp. Share I give it to a weaker Pokemon and let a stronger one do all the work. Usually its the Electro Ball Mewtwo which I got to level 100 that does all the work and I destroy hoards of wild Pokemon with it.

Yeah! That's what I did with the Pansear/Simisear. I wanted it to learn Flamethrower because you don't get the TM until late in the game and the fire-type moves it learns otherwise are kind of lame until Flamethrower (at level 40-something). I stuck the Experience Boost item on the Pansear until it learned Flamethrower, then oh hi, fire stone.

Does anyone else delay evolution so it can learn the better moves more quickly, or do you evolve them early for the minor boost in stats they get?

I've always found that I can give well-rounded TMs to a diverse set so that way I could cover any weakness in the party. <3

[Fett One]

Yeah! That's what I did with the Pansear/Simisear. I wanted it to learn Flamethrower because you don't get the TM until late in the game and the fire-type moves it learns otherwise are kind of lame until Flamethrower (at level 40-something). I stuck the Experience Boost item on the Pansear until it learned Flamethrower, then oh hi, fire stone.

Does anyone else delay evolution so it can learn the better moves more quickly, or do you evolve them early for the minor boost in stats they get?

I've always found that I can give well-rounded TMs to a diverse set so that way I could cover any weakness in the party. <3

It depends on the pokemon. If a pokemon can only learn certain attacks that I want in it's pre-evolved form than I hold off on evolving it. If it will learn an attack in 1 or 2 levels, while evolving would cause it to learn those moves in 5-10 levels, then I will hold off as well. Otherwise, I just evolve them and wait for them to learn the attacks.

[ChobiChibi]

I only started EV training in Gen 5, and even then I went back to Soul Silver to do it ^^; I'm still working on a Slowpoke, just got busy so haven't had the chance to finish. I've done the extra Def, I think, working on Sp. Atk and have a lot of HP left to go. Need to find somewhere with an overabundance of Noctowl... My Slowpoke's annoying though, his best IV (I didn't calculate it, it's just that obvious) is in Attack :/ I bred it for the right Nature and Ability though, so I was like "Meh, you be awesome at attack, whatever".

A lot of my friends back home do competitive battling (they're heading up to Birmingham tomorrow for the Championships), so I feel like I need to catch up... Once Slowpoke is done, I'm gonna start breeding myself some Slakoths. Woop.

[Blademaster]

Serious enough. I find who I want to train, I have them fight every Trainer I can find, I give them good movesets, and I feed them Vitamins that will boost their highest respective stats.

It works.

[CaptainJigglypuff]

Does anyone else delay evolution so it can learn the better moves more quickly, or do you evolve them early for the minor boost in stats they get?

I've always found that I can give well-rounded TMs to a diverse set so that way I could cover any weakness in the party. <3


I do either or depending on what level the Pokemon is at. If it's something like a Nuzleaf from the Nature Sactuary, I'll go to the Move Rememberer to make it remember certain moves that I want it to know and then use a Leaf Stone on it. If it is at level 20 or below, I train it for awhile.

[DarkestLight]

>.> I need to access this Nature preserve, and get my Gible...

[CaptainJigglypuff]

>.> I need to access this Nature preserve, and get my Gible...

I only got to the Preserve on my Black 2 game and am still working on getting to it on my White 2. I also have to finish both the Hollow and Tower

to get the Shiny Dratini and Gible.

[DarkestLight]

I don't know how to get there....actually. :/ If I need to do the Pokedex thing, that's...not gonna happen. Can't do towers and stuff cause I don't have my 40 key Pokemon from Black that I raised since Emerald/Platinum.

[Emerald_Gen.3]

Forget EV training

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdwd9a27EL1rkx6k1o1_500.jpg

[DarkestLight]

funnyjunk said no image for you, buddy.

[Emerald_Gen.3]

It's fixed

[MeLoVeGhOsTs]

Not serious at all. Forget EV training, just plain old grinding is a pain. Emulation has spoiled me. Being able to play at a gajillion times the speed is wonderful and I doubt I could go back to handheld Pogeymon games.

Also I'm on a Nuzlocke kick right now. Those things are fun!

This. Forever. As soon as I finish the game I start again though, with all new pokemon. I can't ever train the same pokemon twice. Also, I tend to go for underused pokemon cuz it increases the challenge (and I always tend to like those pokemon more, dunno why).

Grabbed my brother's handheld the other day, I just wanted to check his pokemon and my fucking god: sloooow. I'll never be able to play a normal game anymore.

[ChobiChibi]

I like finding the quirky ones to battle with too :) I went to a Nintendo event many years ago and played Battle Revolution, the host said they'd never seen some of the Pokemon I used before XD

I'm currently training Audino in White 2. Get. One. Now. I'm waiting til my team is a little more final before I attack her with TMs, but they're tanks. Tanks with a sexy Attract wiggle.

[Lady Vulpix]

I like finding the quirky ones to battle with too :) I went to a Nintendo event many years ago and played Battle Revolution, the host said they'd never seen some of the Pokemon I used before XDWhat Pokemon did you use?

[ChobiChibi]

This was Gen 4, so... I think it was my Weavile, Medicham and Chimecho that she'd never seen. I also had Luxray (she said lots of people used that lol), Empoleon and... I think Rapidash was in that team, but this was doubles, so it was the first 4 that I mentioned :)

I mean, Medicham was a pretty standard choice in Gen 3, so maybe that's why she hadn't seen it. Weavile was introduced in Gen 4, so I'm surprised no one else was using one ^^;

[Emerald_Gen.3]

I'm doing a fighting monotype in pearl with a Infernape, Medicham, Machoke and I'm waiting for my goddamn Riolu egg to hatch and then my team will be perfect. They're all named after DBZ characters and I've gotten Vegeta and Bulma but I need to get Goku and my Infernape will finally have a man. But what I'm trying to say is that Medicham is probably the best pokemon I have

[Startacker]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdwd9a27EL1rkx6k1o1_500.jpg

"Breed this pokemon 700 times"

WELP

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mdwd9a27EL1rkx6k1o1_500.jpg

There's too much truth in that image.

[Katie]

Given that I don't know half the abbreviations, concepts, or even Pokemon yall are talking about... not serious at all! I played through the end of the game for RBY and GSC (More accurately, R/Y & G/S/C), and I think I got halfway through Ruby. I'm not even sure what handheld systems Nintendo has released in the last 10 years :( Sometimes I'll find a ROM or something to play Red again, but only get halfway through before I lose interest.

Man, my inner 12 year old is so pissed at me right now.

[Oslo]

Given that I don't know half the abbreviations, concepts, or even Pokemon yall are talking about... not serious at all! I played through the end of the game for RBY and GSC (More accurately, R/Y & G/S/C), and I think I got halfway through Ruby. I'm not even sure what handheld systems Nintendo has released in the last 10 years :( Sometimes I'll find a ROM or something to play Red again, but only get halfway through before I lose interest.

Man, my inner 12 year old is so pissed at me right now.

What you missed:

http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/thumb/a/a6/476Probopass.png/200px-476Probopass.png

k you're caught up now.