The Postgame

[-Cygnus-]

We've all been there... After the many long, ardous, and fun-filled hours spent going through a Pokemon game, you finally reach the final test- The Elite Four. You're confident that your team is the best that it can be. No expense was spared in perfecting your battling Poke's for the upcoming challenge. And when you finally crush the elite four and escape with a dramatic victory against the game's champion, you find yourself where you started the game, and with that one burning question... Now What? All of us have faced this situation at one time or another, and we conjure up a goal to keep us occupied (for a day or for a year) now that our favorite game is once again finished.

So my question to you all is what do you do after you've "beaten" the game? Do you make it your goal to complete the nation's Pokedex? Or do you do a quick cleanup and hit all the dungeons you may have missed along the way? Do you train a second team? Or do you make your team of champions the best it can be? Describe what you do, and list some srategies for how you go about this. Talk about a day in the life of the champion, and why you do what you do. And feel free to give some advice to those who are struggling with what to do now that the game is over :)


TL;DR: What do you do after the game is "over"?


---

I just recently finished a Sapphire challenge (the Ones that Got Away), and am currently tending to my secret base, and formulating a second team. I was lucky enough to capture an adamant Panphy in the safari zone, so I plan on using that one to its full potential :) I was considereing going through the contest circuit, but in the meantime, I'm going to take my team through the E4 again. I would like some ideas from my fellow Hoenn masters, if it's not too much to ask.

 

[Mr Cat Dog]

Currently, I'm facing this very issue in Black: I've beaten the Elite Four for the first time, but feel no desire to do anything else. I know there's still a third of Unova to explore, as well as loads of trainers, new National PokeDex Pokemon to encounter and even Alder to defeat, but I really don't care about any of that. I'm just stuck in a rut at the moment and am not sure how to get myself out of it. My original plan was to try and build up a super-team composed of my favourite Pokemon, but apathy has reared its head for the considerable future: well, that and revision! The two heads are fighting it out Hydra-style for which one ultimately prevails.

In previous games, I think I've done similar things. Maybe try and get a super-team to Level 100 and related stuff like that. Things I don't do are: complete the PokeDex, breed like rabbits - the Pokemon, obviously! - do all those Contest thingies. None of that stuff has ever appealed to me. Maybe, if I'm bored of the current situation but still want to keep playing, I'll restart and do it all again... maybe.

 

[Oryx]

I alternate what I do to stave off boredom in the game. I've been at times breeding Pokemon, training for the second round on the Elite Four, and catching/evolving Pokemon for my Pokedex. When I get bored with one, I switch to the other. By the time I'm done with the circuit, the first one will feel new and fresh again.

I also had a stint the other night where I spent hours just doing Musicals so I could get all the props, and now the only one I'm missing is the one that you get from doing a wi-fi Musical with a friend. I don't even like Musicals, lol. I just saw somewhere online that it's something you can do to change the trainer card and get yourself one step closer to "completing" the game, so I decided to do it.

 

[Rionix]

After I've beaten the story, usually I re-start to choose a different starter until I'm satisfied with it. Then after that, I will first breed for decent IV'ed pokemons then EV train them, then level them up by spamming the trainers in the Big and Small stadium in Nimbasa City.

Then while doing all those things, I slowly fill up my pokedex pages.

 

[BenjiTheKid]

I am... the only person who voted "Restart". *bows head in shame*

Thing is, after beating the champion (or Red), I get SO bored. On SoulSilver right now, I'm trying to prepare my team to take on Red so I can beat the game... but it's getting boring because I feel like there's nothing to do. I've tried doing all those things a lot of people do after beating the game. I've traded to fill pages of my dex (even managed to get all the starter Pokemon available Gen 4), I've bred, I've done the Battle thing... I'm just bored. I can only play a game for up to a week after beating it and I always end up restarting. I always tell myself "I'm not restarting this time. I'm going to fill the pages of my PokeDex. I'm going to try to catch some shinies. I'm going to breed Pokemon." But I always restart. I honestly have a lot of respect for people who never restart because of how boring it gets. The LeafGreen I bought today... I checked out the saved file that was on it. The person put almost 200 hours into it. After wondering why she'd give it up (and give up all the awesome Pokemon she had), I wondered how she played for so long without getting bored. D:

I am ashamed to admit, I am a restarter.

 

[PlatinumDude]

When I'm done with the game, I explore the rest of the region, do any post-story related things and breed while training my Pokemon in the process

 

[Oryx]

I am... the only person who voted "Restart". *bows head in shame*

Thing is, after beating the champion (or Red), I get SO bored. On SoulSilver right now, I'm trying to prepare my team to take on Red so I can beat the game... but it's getting boring because I feel like there's nothing to do. I've tried doing all those things a lot of people do after beating the game. I've traded to fill pages of my dex (even managed to get all the starter Pokemon available Gen 4), I've bred, I've done the Battle thing... I'm just bored. I can only play a game for up to a week after beating it and I always end up restarting. I always tell myself "I'm not restarting this time. I'm going to fill the pages of my PokeDex. I'm going to try to catch some shinies. I'm going to breed Pokemon." But I always restart. I honestly have a lot of respect for people who never restart because of how boring it gets. The LeafGreen I bought today... I checked out the saved file that was on it. The person put almost 200 hours into it. After wondering why she'd give it up (and give up all the awesome Pokemon she had), I wondered how she played for so long without getting bored. D:

I am ashamed to admit, I am a restarter.

I'm the opposite, I could never restart a game and I have the utmost respect for people that restart their game because I would never have the patience to start over again and again. :3

 

[Roughsponge]

I am... the only person who voted "Restart". *bows head in shame*

Thing is, after beating the champion (or Red), I get SO bored. On SoulSilver right now, I'm trying to prepare my team to take on Red so I can beat the game... but it's getting boring because I feel like there's nothing to do. I've tried doing all those things a lot of people do after beating the game. I've traded to fill pages of my dex (even managed to get all the starter Pokemon available Gen 4), I've bred, I've done the Battle thing... I'm just bored. I can only play a game for up to a week after beating it and I always end up restarting. I always tell myself "I'm not restarting this time. I'm going to fill the pages of my PokeDex. I'm going to try to catch some shinies. I'm going to breed Pokemon." But I always restart. I honestly have a lot of respect for people who never restart because of how boring it gets. The LeafGreen I bought today... I checked out the saved file that was on it. The person put almost 200 hours into it. After wondering why she'd give it up (and give up all the awesome Pokemon she had), I wondered how she played for so long without getting bored. D:

I am ashamed to admit, I am a restarter.

Haha I'm the exact same! Once I'm finished with the main story, I always tell myself that I'll give training up my Pokemon a shot.. but needless to say it never happens :)

But restarting the story is always fun, gives you a chance to use a new set of Pokemon :D

 

[Sydian]

I usually restart. I hate post game on almost all Pokemon games. I mean, I really had to persevere through the HeartGold post game. I could have trained more, but I didn't. I just breezed through it without really caring too much. -shrug- Black and White post game really calls for grinding and...yeah, I've grinded through all of the game. :(

So yeah, most of the time, I stop there and I'm ready to restart, ololol.

 

[Dave_]

On my first ever playthrough of Blue after I beat the elite 4 I caught the Mewtwo and raised my Party all to Level 100 then filled the pokedex
The rest of the games it was put down and go outside after the E4 / Red were beat

The original series and Fire red are the only ones i've restarted with the latter being played through every so often

 

[JRoe]

Generally after beating the game, I complete the next chapter or try to and then end up restarting anyway, though I promised myself I wouldn't.

However on my White Version Post-E4 I have two goals in mind; 1-Complete the Pokedex with at least one of each species in the box (I order my boxes according to the national dex) through catching/trading/transfering/breeding, and 2-Raise all Pokemon to Lv 100. The only ones I've raised to 100 so far on White are a Torterra (Transferred Lv 89) and Togekiss (Transferred Lv 78). I've put over 50 hours in so far, and I'm aiming for my Chandelure to become my next (It's level 67).

 

[Westie7]

For a while, I restarted all the time. I still do, if I want to play Gen I. However, Gen IV and beyond, I couldn't abandon my main file. I used to be like that for Gen III as well, but I recently restarted all three of my Gen III games after migrating the good team members to Gen IV.

 

[-Cygnus-]

Haha I'm the exact same! Once I'm finished with the main story, I always tell myself that I'll give training up my Pokemon a shot.. but needless to say it never happens :)

But restarting the story is always fun, gives you a chance to use a new set of Pokemon :D

Same for me. For some reason, I went psycho on myself and restarted the only game I had shinies on -_- And I usually do that "I'll try and do something more!" and always fail, like some above posters. But this time, I'm going to even if it kills me haha.

Maybe a tip for all you restarters that may want to keep a file: After you've played post E4 for a while and feel like you need to restart, just start a new game on a fresh cartridge. I currently have my silver version waiting in the wings if I suddenly want to erase my sapphire and redo it all again. Just take a break from whatever game you want to restart and play another... Come back to it in a month or two, and I bet you could find things to do :)

 

[The_Noob]

I just do all the good **** until I get bored, and restart when I'm sure all my guys are migrated.

In Platinum, for example, I played for 7 months on end, 5 of which were in the postgame.

Black and White's postgame seriously reeked of suck at first when I fought a Schoolboy with Level 65 Linoones with my mostly level 49 team. But now that I'm leveling up, I find it much more fun. It's especially good since I can train the **** out of whatever I want with the Lucky Egg and some good ol' fashion perserverance.

Maybe a tip for all you restarters that may want to keep a file: After you've played post E4 for a while and feel like you need to restart, just start a new game on a fresh cartridge. I currently have my silver version waiting in the wings if I suddenly want to erase my sapphire and redo it all again. Just take a break from whatever game you want to restart and play another... Come back to it in a month or two, and I bet you could find things to do :)

I do that all the time with my Emerald game once I Pal Park whatever's on there.

Noob out.

 

[Clairissa]

Typically for the first few weeks/months of the game, I restart a few times, to get a knowledge of the new pokemon and areas.
Then I sorta breed every now and then, sometimes wander around for something interesting, even tried getting shinies, not that I care much.

I mostly just kill time until the next game comes out, and regardless of a remake or a third game, I'll probably get one or both.

 

[ISA56 2.0]

Normally, if it's not a newer Pokemon game, I'll restart. If it is a newer Pokemon game, however, I'll go around and see what I missed in the region, breed my Pokemon like rabbits to get good IVs, catch Pokemon I already have to get better IVs and get the ones I don't already have, beat the stuffing out of the Elite Four again, migrate all my Pokemon from my old games, mess with everything else I can, and create new competive teams to battle my friends with.

Hopefully once I'm done with all this a new Pokemon game will be out:laugh:

 

[Tyranitar042]

Well, I feel lonely. I usually buy both premiered games like black & white or HGSS.
I go through one game and do what i want and do any and all exploring that is there to do. Then, I go through my second with breeding and getting the best pokemon that can coast through the game no problem then trade everything from the 1st gae then restart it to fill the pokedex. Kinda wierd but thats what i do.

Ohh and i do monotype challenges and then when im done i trade those to my 1st game for data and memories. lol

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

I usually do all the postgame stuff (though if I ever play B/W through again I probably won't bother with its postgame) and I like to get my in-game team to Lv100 even if they do have crap natures/IV's (Again, White's been the exception; I've only got them up to 75 right now).

I don't start over unless I have multiple copies of a game or I can use my brother's (I have two Leaf Greens (so I can play as the super-cute Leaf-chan as often as I want) and I can start new games on my brother's Platinum.) I usually end up capturing way too many Pokemon during my first play-through to even consider trying to start over on that same cartridge.

 

[XtinaIsMeLuvinWWE]

I sort of just do bits and pieces, like training up, catching pokémon, battling here and there and of course, "wandering aimlessly" :D

Usually after a suitable amount of time I restart :)

 

[Hikamaru]

I would never restart my game. I'm always happy with Pokemon I obtain with the National Pokedex.