Disobedience

[Sheep]

In the main series games, traded Pokémon will only obey you up to a certain level if you have the right gym badges. If they choose not to obey, they can do a multitude of other things like falling asleep, using different moves, or outright ignoring orders. Sometimes this diobedience can last for many turns and be a big nuisance in battle.

Have you ever been affected by disobedience? Additionally, have you ever traded a high-level Pokémon (either from yourself or someone else) to try and get through a game quickly?

 

[Roni]

I discovered this feature when I traded over a Lvl 50 Hippowdon to a new Platinum save file, expecting to body everyone. Suffice to say I had trouble with the first trainer's Starly lmao. Gave up on that real quick.

 

[Fairy]

Lol yup, this definitely happened to me in the good 'ol days haha.

 

[RadEmpoleon]

The only time this ever happened to me was when I was trying to use that Onix you get from an early in-game trade in Gold. It was at the same level as the rest of my team but sometimes it didn't listen.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

Yes, lol it happened several times. The first time was back in gen 4, when I didn't even know this was a thing. I tried to help a friend, sending him a level 100 pokemon but he couldn't use it. Then, I used high levelled pokemon to complete the games quickly. The first time it was my run in Black 2. I had already played White 2, so in order not to waste time I used some high level Pokemon. It wasn't a big help because disobedience is quite punishing. The pokemon will very very very rarely attack and they will often fall asleep, which is really annoying. Also, this obviously makes battles quite long. At a certain point I decided to go back to using normal pokemon because it felt faster and it kinda did. The second time I used a high level Pokemon was in UM. I decided to try wonder trade and the first pokemon I got was a level 40+ Golbat and secondly a level 60+ Pheromosa. I wasn't much into rushing the game since it was my first run, but i also wanted to try these pokemon as soon as possible. I decided to carry on my adventure with them but it was a nightmare because of the same problems mentioned before. That Golbat must love naps, i guess lol. Anyway, i remember that I got that Golbat and even Pheromosa to the League lol. My first run was quite messed up, but the second one was meant to be more serious, so I played with normal pokemon.

 

[ReKoil]

Yeah I tried to use a legendary at some point to power through one of the 3DS Pokemon games.... things did not really go as intended xD
They disobeyed me or loafed around so dang much fights were unwinnable instead xD

 

[Lucky1Yena]

I've been fully aware of and affected by this in every generation.

I'll tell you though, what's very confusing is why a disobedient Pokemon will sometimes hurt itself in confusion.

Like, what the heck is even going on in that case? What's it confused about?

 

[Devalue]

Hm. Cannot remember any instances from youth.

Experienced it once during a Sword/Shield egg-based challenge. Prevents you from transferring eggs via Home. Sent Pokemon over to the new file to breed.

Meant breeding in the Wild Area. Grabbed a Chandelure both for protection and Flame Body. Served one additional purpose: cash. Costs 500 Pokedollars to deposit a Pokemon. Adds up with 38 eggs, especially on a new file. Smashed a few raid dens (and maybe a money trainer) for funds. Ran into disobedience issues there, but not severe.

 

[Duck]

Only when hacking in mythicals like Mew or Deoxys.

Never with an actual Pokémon, mostly because I never really did trades.

 

[Lysander]

It affected me once before when I tried to use an in-game trade early on and got it over Level 10. Nowadays though, I only ever use Pokémon I caught on my current save file during the main game, so disobedience usually isn't an issue for me.

 

[Corveone]

I don't remember seeing this happening except with the NPC traded Makuhita I had as placeholder in my Omega Ruby team. That guy was levelling up insanely fast.

Other than that, never tried using high levelled traded Pokémon in my teams. Actually I don't like using traded Pokémon period because of the nicknaming restriction and because they level up too quick for my taste, which is kinda annoying especially in games with permanent exp. share.

 

[Amore]

I'll tell you though, what's very confusing is why a disobedient Pokemon will sometimes hurt itself in confusion.

Like, what the heck is even going on in that case? What's it confused about?

Yeah, I could understand it with Bonemerang perhaps, but what is Bulbasaur doing to injure itself with Sleep Powder?

I encountered this pretty soon on in Pokémon, using the traded Seedot in Emerald to beat the first gym leader then finding it useless battling May on the way out of Rustboro.

I've generally not struggled with it much though, even if I trade in a Pokémon to a new save in the early stages its usually been lv. 1 fresh from an egg, and I'm careful not to over-train it. But on my most recent Platinum save I went completely OTT - bred an entire team in HeartGold, all with 2-3 perfect IVs, natures, egg moves, and then EV-trained them with the Little Cup method so they didn't get over lv. 5. This then meant that before I even got to Roark my Piplup was disobeying me, something I had to then struggle with all the way through to Gardenia, then again for a short while until I got my 4th badge. It was great!
Clarification - even in my previous saves where I haven't traded in borderline competition-ready Pokémon, I find the games rather easy. I find myself using the Togepi in HeartGold every time just to enjoy the randomness from Metronome (as opposed to making the game deliberately hard by chosing Chikorita, as Meganium sucks), so this was like that approach on steroids - we had the capability to obliterate half the region with barely any damage in return, but then Piplup would choose Bubblebeam against Roserade instead of Peck and suddenly we're on the back foot, with Shinx (Thunder Fang / Ice Fang / Fire Fang / Bite) choosing his non-effective STAB to boot. Actual tension in battles!

 

[Sheep]

I've been fully aware of and affected by this in every generation.

I'll tell you though, what's very confusing is why a disobedient Pokemon will sometimes hurt itself in confusion.

Like, what the heck is even going on in that case? What's it confused about?

Valid question lol. What I assumed is being captured in a ball automatically makes them feel a bit more tame/calm, so they do want to obey sometimes since they're captured, but it clashes with their disobedience and makes them confused... if that makes any sense. You can say the same thing about why they have turns where they actually listen to you sometimes, why would they obey for even a single turn to begin with if you don't have enough badges and they are generally disobedient? Probably because of the Poké Ball effect makes them feel inclined to listen sometimes.

 

[Palamon]

Yes, I have had Pokemon disobey me. Traded over some Pokemon a few times, and they leveled up past obedience level. But, I rarely play games with traded Pokemon, so it doesn't happen often.

However...

I recently experienced disobedience in Legends Arceus since your own Pokemon can disobey you in these games if your star level isn't high enough. :x That wasn't fun.