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Do you use your starter?

Lysander

girl power ftw
2,191
Posts
7
Years
Or do you tend to put it in the PC and use other Pokémon instead? I do both sometimes, although more often than not I do use my starter for the whole game.

I sometimes don't use them so that I can try playing through a game using a Pokémon that I have never really used previously, rather than going for the same ones over and over again.
 
3,044
Posts
9
Years
i've never put away my starter, never. since they, almost always, will be one of the stars of the team. and starters are really special they shouldn't be left alone
 
105
Posts
8
Years
I too have done both, but usually I do keep my starter.

It's been a long time since I've done a no-starter run, might actually consider it when Gen 8 gets here, depending on the number of new Pokemon and how good the new starters are.

Edit: I wonder if anyone didn't use their starter on Let's Go xD. Or if that's even possible?
 
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Sorvete

Novice
3,134
Posts
6
Years
Yes! Most of the time in regular playthroughs. I generally do not use them in challenges, though.
 

EC

5,502
Posts
8
Years
  • Age 32
  • Seen Jul 1, 2022
I always use my starter, even if it means that it limits what other Pokemon I can use.
 
8,973
Posts
19
Years
I kinda feel like an asshole if I box my starter early so I use it throughout the whole game and I only box them if it's for a post-game team I'm planning.
 
41,320
Posts
17
Years
For the first playthrough, yes! Only time I didn't was in Ultra Sun, though I don't count that too much since it's very identical to its predecessors and I used Popplio throughout the entire story haha. Just feels like the right thing to do, and each time there is at least one starter I like plenty enough to use. (b' ')b
 

forg

ba-dum tssss. [icon]coffee-pot[/icon]
992
Posts
7
Years
Like some, I keep them during my first playthrough. But afterwards I either store them away or trade them with siblings.
 
3,786
Posts
7
Years
  • Age 30
  • Seen Jan 10, 2024
Yes, for the most part.

In R/B/Y and G/S/C, I hold on to them until the very end, since Natures didn't exist back then. I'm playing the Virtual Console releases, so that I can transfer them to Gen VII by using an EXP trick that gives them certain natures once transferred.

From Gen III onwards, if the Starter's Nature is bad or detrimental and there are good Water/Fire/Grass-type alternatives, they will be boxed until I have the motivation to breed them once I beat the main story. In the meanwhile, I find an equally as good, if not, better Water/Fire/Grass Pokémon. I would be able to acquire a Pokémon with the Synchronize Ability to get ideal Natures, so that I can raise my favourites and when transferred to/already used in Gen VII, I will then buff their IVs with Hyper Training once they reach Level 100.
 
8,571
Posts
14
Years
I almost always use my starter Pokemon from the beginning right through until the Elite Four, though generally it's just in a supporting role, and never the ace of my team. Decidueye kind of broke that trend for me in Sun, and Eevee's been my best Pokemon so far in LGE, but I think the last time my starter was my best Pokemon was back in my first playthrough of Platinum with Empoleon.
 
1,415
Posts
15
Years
  • Seen Jul 2, 2023
I almost always use my starter. I used to avoid boxing it at all (and in Red, I used to insist that it always had to be in either the first or second slot in my party, which led to some convoluted party rearrangements). Since the introduction of the newer Exp Share, I tend to find myself overpowered, so I sometimes have to box it just to keep it from out leveling everything else by a huge margin. Either way, my starter is pretty much always part of my "team," even if that team frequently consists of more than six Pokemon these days.
 
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