The Fine Details

[Aeroblast]

Speficially talking about hidden values of IVs and EVs (well, latter until X/Y). IVs and EVs are the underlying mechanics to a Pokemon's stat along with base stats (obviously) and nature. They have gone through changes throughout the franchise's history, especially early on, and are important when it comes to competitive battling.

Want to know what I'm talking about? Just take a short look at these Bulbapedia articles:
IV: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Individual_values
EV: https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Effort_value

Did you know about this? If so, what do you think about these game mechanics? Or more importantly, do you even care about it in-game?

 

[Treecko]

Personally , I know what IVs and EVs are , but on't pay attention to them much. X and Y, however , have made noticed them more with Super Training. I'm just not a competitive battler. I really don't feel like spending time EV training. Too much work for me. I usually just pick Pokemon I like on my team and only somewhat pay attention to starts.

 

[Smeargle]

Being that I'm not much of a competitive player I never really cared much about EV's or IV's before X and Y made it so easy to EV train. Before X/Y I normally just stuck with what I caught first and didn't spend time looking for one with the best nature or strongest IV's.
Now that X/Y is here and there is super training, I have started EV training and I have breed a few perfect pokemon. But I did that only after I finished the maingame and the looker quests.

 

[Puddle]

I know about them, but it's way too complex for my liking. I'll add them if I'm doing Showdown, but I'm not going to waste my in-game time to do that. The games are easy enough to where it's not necessary unless you're trading and battling.

 

[Zorogami]

Ive known about EVs and IVs around the time Black and White came out. Since i was older by that time, i understood the mechanics behing them, but since i dont play competitively, ive never cared that much. Sometimes i try to get a nature that wont at least hinder my most important stat(s), but thats it

 

[Hiatus]

Unfortunately, I had no idea that these sort of mechanics existed until generation four, when I was introduced to the competitive scene. xD;; You don't need to know about them, anyway, unless you're a battler. If you play the games like a casual player, then do whatever you like with your Pokémon and train them any way you want; enjoy. Are EVs and IVs actually important? To me, they are, but to others, maybe not. It all depends.

 

[XpokeX]

To be honest,when I started to play 3rd gen on my gba emulator,all i did was catch the pokemon it thought looked cool :3 no stats or natures or shiny or whatsoever i just wanted it to look cool,I did do research on ev and iv at those times but I had no idea what they meant (i was 10 or something) but when this gen came out,I started to understand the hidden mechanics of stats and started to do some IV breeding and been succesfull :)

 

[Hikamaru]

It wasn't until I read a guidebook for Emerald that I heard IVs and EVs existed, although that was just the system we're now familiar with. Even though I'm not a competitive battler, it was still kinda interesting learning about that hidden stuff.

 

[Pendraflare]

I found out about EVs during Pokémon Emerald's time, and natures in RS, although it wasn't until DP that I really cared for IV breeding, given that was when everyone was able to battle competitively over Wi-Fi.

I bred quite a few good IV'd Pokémon in White 2 and Platinum, and I have plenty of stuff with 31s in Heart Gold, so I have found it all fascinating.

 

[Timbjerr]

Man, this thread makes me feel old. I first looked into the hidden mechanics of the games back in the second generation...when IVs were referred to as DVs and only ranged from 0-15, and the predecessor to the modern EV system, called Stat Exp., was still used and you were able to abuse it to max out all your pokémon's stats instead of just two.

I don't even realize that the function of natures was apparently a big mystery until recently. While Ruby/Sapphire were in their pre-release stage, serebii.net just published that 5X5 chart that we're all familiar with showing all the natures' effects. XD

Despite the fact that I'm such a veteran, I don't really bother with any of that stuff in-game. I save it all for Showdown or other simulators. :P

 

[Baby~Eevee]

I found out about EVs and IVs in gen 5 because my boyfriend brought me into the competitive metagame. From then on, when it comes to raising Pokemon for battling, I believe it's super important since it helps your Pokemon be the strongest they can be! But if I;m just gunna play around with them, I don't really care. I'd rather have a Pokemon that has bad IVs and no EVs than not have said Pokemon at all. x3

 

[mangamusicfan]

I know about them, X&Y is the first pokemon game where I'm trying to get the best IV an EV as possible!
I think it's quite awesome, so you can keep this game Casual, but if your really into it (breeding etc) you can make it quite Hardcore and that's what I'm trying to do This generation.

 

[Nah]

I didn't know about them until Gen 5 (I somehow was unaware of EVs and IVs during my time in the previous 4 Gens). For in-game stuff, I don't care about them much, because you don't need a team of EV trained and IV bred pokes to beat the main story. Main story aint hard, usually.


For post game battling (Battle Frontier, PWT, Battle Maison, etc) and competitive battles (both Wifi and Showdown) I do care about that stuff. Well, initially I only cared about EVs and natures, because IV breeding was a pain in the ass until Gen 6 and Gen 5 was when I got into competitive battling, so I had enough to learn without adding IVs to that. Now I care about IVs more since it's easier to IV breed (yay 6IV Ditto!) and I understand competitive battling much better, but I don't get myself worked up if the IVs aren't absolutely perfect. Togekiss has only 3~4 perfect IVs? Good enough for me.