Planning your team

[Raburesu]

I've never been interested in completing the Poké Dex, in any of the games. I'm an OCD-level completionist when it comes to collecting, sometimes, yet I just don't care about doing all that work for zero in-game rewards.

With this in mind, I find adventuring through a region, catching random Pokémon that catch my eye like an irritating vice. Not only do I end up with boxes of random, unorganized Pokés I have neither the intention of doing anything with nor the desire to release, I wasted a bunch of time and money on said pointlessness!

I like planning out my teams before I even pop the cart into my 3/DS. It's like a fucking project for me. And I plan everything out. :pink_shifty: I find out what species are available in the reigon (like, all of 'em), and at what point in the game, what Ball I want to catch them in, what their moveset will be (temporary and final), and even what held item I want them to eventually have. I once even wrote a column on my planned team for White because I'm just that pretentious. :)

Do any of you do this?

 

[Mecha-Scrafty]

The first time im gonna play a game i dont like to know a lot about it. But when i have finished it and i want to replay it.... :3

When i'm replaying a game and know where i can find each pokemon, i like planning my team. Get the moves soon as posible, natures, nicknames (very important), items... that stuff. I enjoy it more that way.

 

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

When it comes to planning a Pokemon team, here are the steps I do for when a new Pokemon game comes out.

1. When the new games are introduced, decide which version to get
2. Come up with a theme to use when thinking of nicknames to use for my team members
3. After the new Pokemon are all revealed, decide which Pokemon will be the team members
4. Pre-order the game
5. After the game comes out, pick it up
6. Start playing the game

 

[VisualJae]

I just make sure I have coverage. That someone on the team can always counter another type either through natural learnset or TMs.

If it's a new game and it's literally the first playthrough, I wing the whole thing for the sake of getting the genuine "new" experience. If it's a second or subsequent playthrough, I start planning ahead on team members and how I want to tackle the content I already know.

I do, however, in any situation, pay close attention to natures and IVs on any playthrough due to making it easier for future breeding endeavors. It's much easier now with the Poké Bank, but still. You never know what you can find in the wild.

 

[Oblox]

I now breed a special 'Starter team' for new games which consists of some favourite pokemon I like to enjoy the main game with. They are all good IV's and EV trained with good moves for their level.

Thats about as far as my planning goes.

 

[Otamajakushi]

For a new game, I'll typically just "go with the flow". For replays, I'll plan out what Pokemon I'll have on my team, but not really that detailed.

 

[Raburesu]

I should probably mention that I also proceed blind when I'm playing a new Pokémon game, even if it's a remake, as those tend to change quite a bit when it comes to the items available and TM accessibility compared with the originals.

Although, I sure would've liked knowing about the Leftovers under each Snorlax in FireRed/LeafGreen the first time around! :)