What advice do you wish you had been given?

[Rantiki]

Hey There
I am a novice trainer, what I define by that term, at least personally to me is I have played Platinum a long time ago, and just recently this Christmas have played X and am now at the end of AS. I don't know a great deal about the depth of these games.

I know I like them, I know I am going to prefer breeding and collecting to battling however I wondered. As a pretty much new and shiny trainer could I benefit from some of my more experienced veteran trainers.

What one piece of advice has been hard won for yourself that you wish someone had passed on?

I know I will find it all kinds of interesting and helpful, and maybe others will too. I find it's amazing the knowledge we take for granted that others are unaware of...

As someone who imparts knowledge professionally, it's a day wasted when we don't learn something new *grins*

Sarah

 

[Laguna]

Going all the way back to when I first played Black, it'd be "grind your freaking pokémon". Seems kinda obvious to someone who's played the games for a long time, but not me apparently!

 

[fenyx4]

(In Generation 3):
Grow as many high-level Berries as you can and cherish your clock-based events/internal clock battery; things won't last forever..(until they do)
Feed your Pokémon their Poké Blocks carefully; you can't attempt to "undo/mitigate" any mistakes when they're full!
Don't train your Stage-2 Pokémon (at the time - like Rhydon) to Level 100; there may be a future level-up evolution!
Train your Pokémon's Effort Values carefully, because it will be difficult to re-distribute them once you hit Level 100 (and in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire, you can't re-distribute them at all)!
Also, Natures MATTER!

Of all of these, the internal battery and PokéBlock tips matter the most to me. For the others, I can always catch another Pokémon, but the internal battery only lasts so long (at least if you don't want to risk tampering with the game cartridge). -.-

1700th post; woo-hoo!

 

[pkmin3033]

Play how you want, and have fun. Pokemon, like any video game, isn't worth playing if you don't have any fun with it. If EV training, IV breeding, shiny hunting, and all the rest of the purely optional and unimportant stuff is enjoyable for you, then go for it. If it isn't, don't get hung up over it.

Pokemon is a very simple series when compared to other JRPGs. Once you've learned the basics, you can play however you want. So go for it. Discover your own play style and enjoy yourself. Don't worry about your levels vs. your opponents, don't worry about what your Pokemon team is like, hell, don't even worry about type matchups if you don't want to. You'll learn through experience and discover what best suits you as you go.

It took me until the fourth generation to stop worrying about how everyone else was playing. You'll get all sorts of recommendations about how to make the game easier for you, and it's perfectly good advice, but it's still all totally unnecessary. The best way to learn is through your own experience. Some people like to play with a team of their favourites, some like a balanced team. Some people grind a lot between Gyms, and others rush through. Some people go for the best possible Pokemon by screwing about with hidden values and natures, whilst others never bother with it. Who cares? There is no right or wrong way to play Pokemon.

So, learn how it works and enjoy it.

 

[magicalgirlj]

When I was I kid I wish I had known to save before battling a legendary. I accidentally killed it, and I did not save before hand

 

[Mecha-Scrafty]

Dont smash the A button all the time. I know battles are important but you can enjoy the story too. Give it a try it wont hurt you ;)

Also, writte where you planted thoose berries. You dont want to go looking all over the region for them.

 

[Sopheria]

There's very little advice I wish I had been given that I can think of because I enjoyed the games a lot and don't really have any regrets. Even some of the more silly things I did when I was a newb, like mashing A and only ever using my starter, or evolving Pokémon immediately once I have the proper evolutionary stone. I don't really regret any of it because I probably just didn't have the attention span to play smarter, and probably wouldn't have even enjoyed it if I had tried to force myself to xD

Like Meloetta said, if you're having fun playing the games, you're doing something right. There's really no wrong way to play Pokémon, which is part of the fun. Just try out everything the games have to offer, and see which aspects of it you enjoy most :)