4th Gen Grinding mid-game

[H3Y COOLK1D]

Hi all! I recently fired up my old HG to get some legendaries for my living dex, and I'm having an awesome time playing through the game again. My only issue is that I seem to be fairly behind in levels, and IIRC this could potentially put me in hot water for the E4 (I'm currently at Blackthorn Gym, having issues with the leader). The obvious answer would be to grind, but most of my mons are in the high twenties, low thirties, and the majority of wild mons are comparatively very low-level, so grinding would take f o r e v e r. Hopefully I should be able to borrow a friend's DS and AR to get some rare candies and boost everyone up to the forties or so, and in the mean time I suppose I'll just grind in Ice Path.

Anyway, enough about my problems! Have any of you had similar issues? Do you usually end up grinding a lot? How does leveling usually go for you in Johto?

 

[Hikamaru]

Grinding is actually one of the huge problems with HG/SS since the wild Pokemon are very low-level meaning you don't have many options. I think the best thing to do is contacting trainers registered by the Pokegear for rematches, but other than that it's really all I think of.

 

[Desert Stream~]

I don't need to grind much, because I usually do semi-solo runs (I have 6 but only train one.) Grinding is tough though :p

 

[Mab]

Hmm, weird. I've never really found myself particularly low-level in any game, HeartGold and SoulSilver included - and I never re-battle trainers. I guess it's just cause of the fact that I catch Pokémon very infrequently and often only have a team of 4 by Blackthorn. Trying to keep a full team up to scratch, given HGSS's low level wild Pokémon, would probably be pretty tricky.

But like Nichole said, you can always use the Pokégear matches.

 

[8andahalfby11]

Currently have a team in the mid thirties. there's a patch of ground just at the enterance of Tohjoh falls where walking back and forth yields lots of Goldbats in the low-mid-twenties, and these give around 500EXP each.

Key is to locate places with evolved wilds rather than first-forms, as the evolved Pokemon, regardless of type, always yield EXP in the 400+ range while first forms tend to yeild 300 or lower. Just my observation so far.

 

[H3Y COOLK1D]

Currently have a team in the mid thirties. there's a patch of ground just at the enterance of Tohjoh falls where walking back and forth yields lots of Goldbats in the low-mid-twenties, and these give around 500EXP each.

Key is to locate places with evolved wilds rather than first-forms, as the evolved Pokemon, regardless of type, always yield EXP in the 400+ range while first forms tend to yeild 300 or lower. Just my observation so far.

Yo, thanks, that's really helpful. I didn't consider skipping ahead to grind in later areas.

 

[BubbleBeams]

The Johto based games are among my favorite because I have a lot of fond memories with G/S/C but grinding is not one of them! :')

I feel like a lot of the issue is that this game requires you to get 16 badges + beating the E4 + beating Red, so there's a lot to cover and I think because of that, they keep levels down a lot more than in other games so your Pokémon don't get too OP for the gyms and such. That way there is still a challenge.

This makes me feel a lot more thankful for the changes they made with the EXP. Share in Gen VI! lol

 

[H3Y COOLK1D]

The Johto based games are among my favorite because I have a lot of fond memories with G/S/C but grinding is not one of them! :')

I feel like a lot of the issue is that this game requires you to get 16 badges + beating the E4 + beating Red, so there's a lot to cover and I think because of that, they keep levels down a lot more than in other games so your Pokémon don't get too OP for the gyms and such. That way there is still a challenge.

This makes me feel a lot more thankful for the changes they made with the EXP. Share in Gen VI! lol

Funny thing about that. I managed to keep grinding to a minimum by playing very well. And now I'm at the end of Mt. Silver with a team in the high forties, low fifties. Red's mons are in the mid to high eighties...

 

[BubbleBeams]

Funny thing about that. I managed to keep grinding to a minimum by playing very well. And now I'm at the end of Mt. Silver with a team in the high forties, low fifties. Red's mons are in the mid to high eighties...

Haha, every time I play the Johto based games this is my constant struggle! Hope you're able to get your mons leveled up relatively easily.