He thinks so because in his words:
"Starters are meant to be one per person, so technically, you should only be allowed to use one."
It seems like trading them over means nothing to him and it still counts as cheating. XD
Hmm...well I did the same thing in later playthroughs of
Pokemon Sapphire and Emerald Versions (received Mudkip and caught a second Pokemon to satisfy the trade requirement, traded over to another person's Ruby, repeated the process a second time with Treecko, started a file with my preferred starter Torchic, caught 2 other wild Pokemon to trade for Mudkip and Treecko back from Ruby).
It's not cheating in the unfairness sense (i.e., hacking for 31 IV-ed, 999-in-all-stats Pokemon)... The only times I'll acknowledge using Action Replay or GameShark as not cheating are either for backup purposes, multiple TMs and HMs ("retconned" in BW since we are now allowed infinite-use TMs, so you could say Game Freak made oversights in this implementation in previous Gens ;)), "event" Berries, event Pokemon, and shinies (to an extent - I mean, some shinies look awesome compared to the normal colors. You
cannot use these for bragging rights or when considering yourself a "Shiny Pokemon Hunter", though.) All other uses I consider cheating, and as such are prohibited.
Anyway, more
on-topic, performing such a "trading of Starters" process kind of defeats the whole purpose of
picking a Starter Pokemon. If you were
meant to get all three at the beginning of the game, Game Freak would just either let you receive
all of them at the beginning of your game or allow you to collect them along the way (like they were distributed among other Trainers you encounter in your adventure in
Pokemon Yellow Version) to eliminate the whole trading hassle in the first place.
Proceeding with only one Starter makes the game more of a challenge, IMO, and encourages the player to
catch and train other Pokemon opposed from the Starters (the challenge is more evident in the Gyms, where whether you have an advantage or disadvantage against a certain Gym Leader can
greatly depend on what Starter you chose, as it will usually be your highest leveled Pokemon at any given time aside from any Legendary Pokemon you managed to catch [i.e., Fire Starters tend to fare horribly at the first Rock-type Gyms]). Plus, your rival (and the first Gym in BW) is
meant to possess an advantage over your starter Pokemon; trading for the other 2 Starters ruins and defeats said purpose.
In reference to the "player is forced to catch and train other Pokemon" idea that I touched upon earlier, when I started with all 3 Hoenn starters in Sapphire and Emerald, they were pretty much the only Pokemon I used the
whole playthrough before I
first conquered the Elite 4, save for Kyogre/Rayquaza who I conveniently managed to encounter in the storyline.
Trading for the other 2 Starters after you've beaten the Elite 4 and Champion for the first time is definitely OK, I would think. You've beaten the freaking Pokemon League! Surely you should be allowed
something for that feat, right? (plus, you're supposed to continue your quest of "catching 'em all," which is impossible without trading for the other 2 Starter Pokemon. :cer_nod:)
[S-HIGHLIGHT]So trading for the other starters isn't really traditional
cheating per say (as actual Pokemon trades are legitimate by default), but IMHO it's
technically cheating according to the
game design, as the designers
intend for you to actually make a choice at the start of your Pokemon journey, not just allowing you to get 2 other freebie starter Pokemon at first. :) [/S-HIGHLIGHT]
I originally planned to start the third version of BW with all three starters, but I think for this Pokemon rebirth, I'll just start with my preferred starter Pokemon of Isshu, the Fire-type Pokemon
Pokabu. Makes the game a bit more of a challenge (especially since the rival
and the first Isshu Gym are dependent on the player's starter choice this time) :D
