How You Play

[Evening]

I'm curious as to how you guys play the games. Let's hear it.

 

[DraconianWing]

Usually I just walk through the story and go with the flow. If I see a Pokemon that I know will be useful (ie. regional bird), I'll go ahead and catch it. Non-evolving Pokemon that have low stats are a no-no for me, unless they have a Mega or something.

If I'm up for it, I'll move any valuable Pokemon to a different game and start over. Every walkthrough has me using a different starter, because I like to experiment and see how your first Pokemon influences the strategy in terms of Gym challenges and the Pokemon League. This doesn't really happen unless the game is lacking in post-credit content though; in fact, I'm considering doing this with Y since all of my competitive 'mons have been moved to OR.

 

[Laguna]

My strategy for pretty much everything is "make this **** up as I go along", I mean it works pretty well so I'm sticking with it.

 

[Sopheria]

When I play, I like to take my time through the game and experience everything it has to offer, so I'll often explore every part of an area and talk to every NPC before moving on to the next area.

Once I've finished with the Elite Four, I generally start training up a competitive team to rack up points in the battle facilities. And occasionally I'll go for a Pokedex completion, such as what I'm doing in my Omega Ruby.

 

[Hyzenthlay]

I just go with the story for the most part, only sometimes I stop along the way to do some grinding. Once I've defeated the Champion, I will usually explore the region with my trusty HM slave to find items and/or Pokemon that were otherwise in places too out-of-the-way.

I tend to get bored post-game, though. More so if there isn't much to do like in X/Y. :(

 

[KetsuekiR]

I've only ever done challenge runs twice xD I usually play normally, figuring out where Pokemon are, what order to do stuff in, catching every Pokemon I find and then I'd play a second time, knowing where everything is, with a good team in mind xD I always expect the second time to be more fun but it usually never is xD I'd like to do challenge runs but I've just played the games too many times normally to really get in to playing them again xD I might though, in the future, give nuzlockes a try :P

 

[Pendraflare]

There are different ways to play. Sometimes i'll go through the game really fast and not do much grinding, but if it's a Nuzlocke or something, i'll usually try to explore as much as possible. Often times i'll backtrack when I need to, or want something cool.

 

[Nolafus]

I tend to build my teams very slowly, and be very picky about who makes it on. Sometimes I don't even have a full party of six when I beat the game. Other strategies include grinding before every gym. I don't care if I'm already ten levels over, if I'm not one-shotting everything, my levels aren't high enough.

 

[Alfieri]

Plan out a team before starting.
Use Max Repels constantly.
Use dowsing machine constantly.
Beat the story and after-game.
Create a competitive team and battle the offered battle facilities or online.

 

[Precious Tears]

I plan my team before the actual play. I also love searching for the items and TMs, regardless they are hidden or not!

 

[myystogan]

Before I begin, I plan my in-game team out. I always have a game plan before going into a game, lol. I'm just really picky about that kind of stuff; I need to have team-related things outlined first before I can even consider starting. I NEVER just catch random Pokemon for my team, since I prefer to use Pokemon that I haven't used before.

But once that's taken care of, I play the game normally. I don't skip around or anything with the main story, so yeah. The only notable thing I do is... grind a lot. I spend roughly 3-5 days of my initial playthroughs just leveling up my Pokemon. It's crazy. One time I was able to get my team to Lv100 before challenging the E4, and this was BEFORE the EXP Share was turned into a key item :-/

 

[CatAlert]

I play to have fun, and I believe that speaks for itself. I pretty much do whatever as long as it does not get in the way of my enjoyment of the game.

I also usually like to explore while I go rather than rush through the game, because sometimes you can find nice items on the way. Plus, I tend to get bored if I rush through things.

 

[Niko Collins]

I play the game through once...building a team up and them when I get enough pokemon high enough and capable enough to learn the TMs or HMs I want, i rechallenge the Pokemon League. I did this with Pearl and Platinum and Black 2 and beat the Elife Four and the Chapmion a consecutive twelve times...each game...making it 36 times combined. That's typically how I play. Otherwise, I play...beat the game, do a few post-game activities and stop. Pick it up again for a speed run or Nuzlocke or some onine matches (which I lose...all the time...), and then stop for a longer time.

 

[pkmin3033]

I tend to plan my team out in advance before I start and then just play through the game at a fairly steady pace. I don't actively hunt for items or catch everything on the route; about all I do over the course of the story is stick to a levelling plan to make sure I'm comfortably levelled (usually two or three levels above the next Gym Leader) for whatever comes next. Once I've finished the main story and beaten the Elite Four, I start dex-filling, usually starting with Legendaries before moving through the rest in dex order for the sake of box completion and simplicity. Nothing too complicated. xD

 

[VisualJae]

1. Plan team, including which types to make up the six members. One member must be able to learn Fly and one for Surf.

2. Soft reset until starter has the desired nature and 1x max offensive and/or speed IV (for future breeding purposes).

3. Newly acquired members also soft reset after each capture attempt until with a desired nature with 1x max offensive and/or speed IV (again for future breeding purposes).

4. Every new party member (including starter) Super Trained immediately for max EV spread when applicable. Otherwise optimize for targeted EV training whenever possible with EV reset berries if needed.

5. Grind for every party member within +/- one level from each other.

6. Enjoy the plot whenever the opportunity comes up.

 

[G0!d]

I always start my game by picking a grass starter (because nobody seemed to love them for some reason) and I really like their design in every generations except gen V. Then once I got control of my character, I talk to a lot of NPCs and inspect every nook and cranny of every city. I don't have prepared team in mind, I just build my team along the way, depending on the situation and gym leaders. I also train a lot when I know that I'm about to challenge my rival because I really like it when they get beaten mercilessly (esp. gold's rival). {:3}

I don't bother with post-game before. But now, I'm planning on building a competitive team.

 

[HollyYoshi]

I like to go for nuzlocke runs for the extra challenge. I always strive to keep my team as balanced as possible, using different types. And, if I'm able to catch it's pre-evolved form, I ALWAYS use an Arcanine on my team. Because that's how I roll.

 

[Hikamaru]

I tend to focus mainly on exploration, picking up items and catching at least every Pokemon I encounter so I can collect Dex entries and such. And if I have a planned team and still haven't caught all the Pokemon I wanted, I just use a random filler Pokemon until I have the team completed, like how in X I used Vivillon until I caught my Eevee, since it was the last thing I needed for my team.

 

[Firox]

I usually have my team planned out from the start.
So I have to play the game any random starter, until I can transfer the eggs.
Hatch about 30 eggs - choose the ones with the right nature and ability.

I take my time exploring every where, talking with every NPC, battling all wild Pokemon catching the ones I don't have.

 

[Embernight]

After choosing my favorite of the three starters I then proceed to...
1. Head to the next town and dodge as many trainers as possible
2. Either check out the town, gym, or next route, catch pokemon, grow berries, bury myself in the sand at Lavaridge, hatch eggs, hang out at the game corner, decorate my base, etc. Basically whatever I feel like doing at the time.
3. Realize my team needs training, so I back track to the previous route to face the trainers I skipped over
4. Repeat 'til I'm "ready to meet and defeat the Elite." Once done, I'm pretty much stuck at Step 2 with the additional goals of catching every single Pokemon and making a competitive team.