Do you use your starter?

[Mawa]

Do you use your starter, or do you store it in the PC?

I tried to not use my Pikachu in Yellow but I feel bad. I never did a game without the starter.

What about you?

 

[Flowerchild]

I've never not used the starter. Is there ever a reason to give it up? They're typically quite powerful.
The only time I might stop using it is postgame when I'm just trying to level up other Pokémon.

 

[drfaustfaustus]

I try to, usually, but it only works out in Gen 2, since I don't find any Pokemon besides my starter that interest me until the point where it's too strong to not use.

In Gen 1, for example, my entire team is almost always overshadowed by one Pokemon I took a liking to that became extremely overleveled, typically a Nidoking, Gyarados, or if I can get one, a Thick Club Marowak.

 

[Imperator161]

Unless it's a challenge run, I always use my starter. I grow too attached to them to put them in the PC, at least for a while. In the most recent games, I actually did put my starter in the PC for a bit because it was getting way too overleveled from Exp Share as I tried to train up other Pokemon, but aside from that, my starter is always an integral part of my team. Actually, back in Red, if my starter wasn't in the first slot in my party, it had to be in the second slot, or else I was concerned it would be unhappy (even though happiness wasn't actually a mechanic back then, and when it became a mechanic, it had nothing to do with party slots). I would go through multiple party-juggling steps to move my Blastoise from the first to second slot and then move whatever Pokemon I wanted to use to the front, rather than just switching Blastoise with the target Pokemon directly.

 

[CJoE]

Honestly, I feel uncomplete without my starter in my team even if its hard to level and easily die but after all that hard-leveling I made, it finally become the strongest pokemon in my team ●ω●

so yeah, I never gonna leave my starter behind ☆☆☆

 

[AliceBlaze]

Unless I plan to play through the game with certain Pokemon only (i.e. a monotype challenge that isn't grass, fire or water), I always use my starter. I also tend to get emotionally attached to my first Pokemon, so I feel bad ditching it in the main story.

 

[Hikamaru]

I tend to always use my starter, but I may box it if I am rotating my team around.

 

[Drayton]

After post-game, I don't tend to use starters and begin rotating teams consistently

 

[Fannie]

I'm not a fan of the starter designs in gen V and VI so I got rid of them at the first opportunity. Fennekin and Oshawott are cute as hell but I hate their final evolutions.

 

[Sirfetch’d]

I do on my first 3 play throughs of a new game and then after that I tend to box them. Starters tend to make the game really easy, especially early, and I like to experiment playing the game with different types of Pokemon.

 

[LexAnarchy]

I hardly ever use starters. Sure, they can be handy for defeating the first two gyms, but as soon as I catch two or three other Pokemon, I place them in my PC and never touch them again until the metagame. I don't know, they just seem boring to me. Like everybody uses them. And they're mostly pretty damn powerful, which takes away the challenge from the game (if there even is such a thing) really. Even if I like them, I actually like a lot of the starters like Treecko, Cyndaquil, Turtwig, Totodile and so on, I somehow always end up having them in my PC box.

 

[EC]

I always use my starter throughout the whole game. And it's usually one of the few Pokemon I keep around for the post-game.

Fennekin and Oshawott are cute as hell but I hate their final evolutions.

Yeah, Samurott is a horrible design. Probably why I only did one run with him and then did other runs with the other two starters.

 

[PageEmp]

Only time I didn't use my starter was in my 1st Black nuzrun as I'm not the biggest fan of the gwn5 starters. Otherwise I always use 'em.

 

[Hiatus]

I did not use my starter in my third run of Pokemon Ruby; my cousin had wanted it, and she gave me a Gyarados in exchange, which was more than enough powerful for beginning parts of the game.

 

[Fannie]

I always use my starter throughout the whole game. And it's usually one of the few Pokemon I keep around for the post-game.



Yeah, Samurott is a horrible design. Probably why I only did one run with him and then did other runs with the other two starters.

I look at it and all I see is an old man.

 

[Crin]

On my first playthrough of a game, I always use my starter, but after that I almost never do. Probably because I'm most likley doing a challenge or I don't feel compelled to use it.

 

[Bellsprout]

I used to always use the starter, but then I got bored of trying to form a team around the same three pokemon every couple of years loool... so I started ditching the starter. At first it was weird to me, but honestly it's made for such better game play. keeps it interesting ya know?

 

[Bobby_the_potato]

I almost always use my starter, they are designed to help you trough the post-game and are relatively powerful. I only put my starter in the pc when I train other Pokemons. The only time I never used my starter was during my bug catcher play trough when I considered a random Weedle to be my new starter, while I released my normal starter.

 

[Yuutsa]

It really depends for me. In Johto, I almost always do, but that's just because I love the cyndaquil line. In Hoenn, I kept Mudkip the first time around, but now I usually trade it out for something that I'm more interested in. Unova I kept my Pignite in the party the whole game, but I didn't really use it because I hated the design of the line after Tepig.

I like Charizard a lot too, but I only play Kanto games once in a blue moon, and it's usually for a challenge play through, thus Charizard isn't usually an option.

 

[Bay]

I tend to always keep my starter all the way in my playthoughs (even Pikachu in Yellow). Yeah, like a few others if my starter was with me for a bit already I would feel bad if I boxed them. I don't mind if they're already powerful as I tend to train my team around the same levels anyways.

(To those that didn't like Samurott, aw I like its design haha).