Would you train any Pokemon or would you only use your favourites?

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

More like design vs power v2.

Personally, as I am a competitive battler, I would train any Pokemon, no matter if it's named Garbodor, Weavile, Scizor or Arceus. However, I do care a little bit about design as well (only in-game though), as Milotic and Rhyperior are two of my favourite Pokemon.

However, I'm pretty sure many trainers can't stand battling with their least favourite Pokemon. What do you think? Would you only use your favs or train any Pokemon?

 

[Ephemeral Euphoria]

I'd train any Pokémon if the results were positive when using it in battles. Granted, I had a few failures with this style before such as Castform and Altaria but I also discovered some surprisingly decent Pokémon during this process like Cradily and Hitmonlee so it can be a coin flip sometimes.

 

[Bounsweet]

When it's in-game, I go only by design. There's a reason why I've used Beautifly and Delcatty all the way through into the Elite Four (although my Beautifly OHKO'd Steven's Mega Metagross so booyah).

I'm into competitive too, and I've used some seriously ugly ass Pokémon because they get the job done. Right now I'm pretty happy with my current competitive team though - Ambipom, Venusaur, Sylveon, and Suicune are all pretty high up on my favs list. Talonflame is okay, and I couldn't give a crap about my Excadrill lol.

 

[ixXIndigoXxi]

Personally I would train my favorites, even though I am not a competive battler, there are ways to make your favorites bulked up and ready for anything! even though I say favorites I do prechoose my teammates to make a balanced team (water, fire electric, grass..) . So I think it still counts..... right?

 

[slyroh]

I give every Pokemon a chance. There have been plenty of Pokemon that have surprised me in a good way.

 

[NeoTheCelestrian]

I would prefer training my favorites, but I guess I would try training any Pokémon.

 

[Emboar]

Using Pokemon I don't like wouldn't be a problem, as most of the Pokemon I dislike are terrible at battling (i.e. Watchog), so I wouldn't use them anyways.

 

[Pendraflare]

There are plenty of Pokémon i'm willing to use in battle, whether they're among my favorites or not. Whether i'm playing a specific challenge or a normal playthrough, there isn't much i'm not willing to go with unless it's either severely limited or really pisses me off.

 

[moon]

Note: this thread is in Pokemon General, so you don't just have to think game wise here, you can actually use your imagination 8)

If I were a trainer, I would probably only train my favorites. I'd have Octillery, Cryogonal, Elekid and a Sneasel for sure, and possibly wouldn't even bother evolving the latter two. It's mostly for design I like pokemon out of the gaming world, while in-game I lostly use fast attackers with low defense. Usually.

 

[Brivoo]

I battle fairly competitively, and the ones I use tend to grow on me, so my favourite and my most powerful tend to overlap. I'd love to be able to only use my favourites, but every time I've tried that I always end up getting annoyed at the areas I lack in, and the team tends to rebalance itself. My three absolutely favourite pokémon are Sableye, Wobbuffet and Swampert, but the latter is a lot easier to fit in than the former two.

 

[JJ Styles]

There are two groups of mons i train:

1) Those who'll be my signatures = They will be EV Trained especially if they have the smogon natures (Adamant for physical deeps, modest for special deeps, Impish for Physical Walls/Tanks, etc) and if they are the ones who i really like. Getting the smogon nature Starter is a rarity in itself though, but if the IVs are good but the nature is something like Lonely or Naughty, that i'll EV train even in an in-game run (For battle frontier purposes)

2) Those who will be for in-game stuff only = Going to be used in a number of forced battles that will harm my signature mons' EV Training. In RSE, Wingull is one of my favorite in-game pokemon to use since its a great HM Slave and its decent typing pretty much helps wreck the early game. Then when their purpose is done, they are either HM Slaves (Like Wingull to Pelipper) or be kept in the box to help breed Egg moves and all that.

Eitherway, gamewise, I'll carefully EV Train mons that I will definitely like (even in an in game run) especially if its a starter with the Smogon Nature, and pokemon picked up in the wild that have a great nature as well, like the Jolly Gible, modest magneton and raltz...

Lorewise, how i play my pokemon games are basically how I am as a trainer. I carefully train all of my mons to make sure they are very strong, while obviously treating them as friends and not just mere weapons.

 

[Early]

In games: I'm not a competitive battler, so I usually only train Pokemon that I like. The catch is that I do take the time to pick out their natures and stats carefully, in case somebody challenges me to a battle. There are actually very few species that I don't like, so I do still have wide expanses of teams to choose from in my PC boxes.

Outside of a game: If Pokemon were real, I'd do the same thing! I'd have a lot of Electric, Poison, Ghost, or Dragon-type 'mons in particular.

 

[pkmin3033]

I won't use Pokemon I can't stand, but I won't use only my favourites - whilst I will use my favourites in my first playthrough of a game, if I replay it I like to use different Pokemon that I haven't used before, just for a different experience. I'm not a competitive battler (at least, not anymore) so it doesn't matter to me if the Pokemon is particularly strong or weak...in fact, if it's weak, so much the better, as that means a greater challenge!

 

[d4rk]

Usually I like to train 'mons that are useful at every step in-game, from lv. 5 to lv.100. I already had bad surprises with Pokemon with funny or cute design and that are good in early-game and that become crap once they get lv.30 and they teammates evolve, such as Watchog or Mightyena; while some other Pokemon that are creepy in early game become very good, such as Breloom or Ludicolo. When bad surprises, bad 'mons are boxed and replaced. When 'mon won't be able to train itself in his early levels, I wait for it to appear in higher levels (i.e Magikarp, Ralts, Cocoon 'mons, Abra, Lotad), so they can at least DO SOMETHING BY THEMSELVES!

I've never decided to use OU Pokemon with strong typing and good Base-stats, such as Dragons, because I don't really like :
1/ their designs
2/ the way they are glorified and mystical in every game (i.e Peter, Clair, ...).
But I won't say they're lame cause I would be like, totally wrong.

I remember having used Beedrill and Parasect (though I think they are usually defined as "not good") in Red/Blue, and they gave me good results. But Beedrill is GSC has become much less useful.

For EV training I must admit I find it way 2 complicated in early-game 'til the E4 (in Emerald) : no information provided (you must establish an EV-counting by yourself), no possibility to reduce EV with Emerald magical berries since they are HELL scarce... And when my team has raised levels and it's ready to battle E4, it's just a pain think : "oh my, they are not EV trained, better go breed new ones that I will EV train and thus spoil an entire game giving exp to useless 'mons". So... Sometimes I try, sometimes I find ways to keep my 'mons and EV train them (Pokemon Glazed hack has GOOD features to allow that : magical berries for pk$20, EV training center,...)

Finally, I also have a big issue with these games : some Pokemon are good in competitive battling but are unable to have interest in-game (terrible grinding ability on wild 'mons, not OHKOing some trainers while game-rushing, not gaining Exp. fast enough as their teammates do). These ones are mainly Stallers or Pokemon that learn Explode and Selfdestruct, and I don't even want to catch'em : for instance Weezing, Forretress, Dusknoir... Saying that I had Dusknoir in Pokemon Flora Sky and it was not EV-trained and totally useless since he was not able to kill any 'mon, nor to resist and stall as he can do in competitive battling with correct EV and nature.

 

[twillight]

I'd use the EFFICIENT pokemons. Efficiency based on the anime-circumstances.

I only saw series 1-3, but I already have 2 places taken from my possible 6:

#1 Golduck. It is a freakin' GOD. It reads mind, so can't be surprised. It has ~telekinetik power, so there goes all physical attacks, and maybe even energy-ones too. And it produces infinite amount of water, so I never die from thirst.
#2: Abra, or any other teleporting pokemon. No more need for vehicles. No more time spent traveling. Interstellar travel? solved.

If there is a regenerative pokemon, that'll be my third. Hey, pokemons are for food anyway.

 

[d4rk]

Note: this thread is in Pokemon General, so you don't just have to think game wise here, you can actually use your imagination 8)

If I wanted to point out some of my fav 'mons, I'd quote Magcargo, Houndoom, Piloswine, Camerupt, Venusaur, Poliwag, Beedrill, Breloom, Yanma, Victreebell, Parasect, Blastoise, Dragonite, Cleffable, Articuno, Charmeleon, Cacnea, Skarmory, Shaymin, Celebi, Gardevoir...

I now imagine myself as anime character going on to battle E4 and making a magnificient Hail move while riding Articuno... Or just feeding Charmeleon with some meatballs *sparkles*

 

[Centipede Chan]

When it comes to training a pokemon there are too factors for me:
1. Do I actually like the pokemon?
2. How good is it competitively?

A lot of pokemon I like usually are RU or NU so that's kinda hard to avoid, but some I'll make exceptions like Gourgeist.

 

[Ponyta]

I would try my best to use any pokemon I caught, but of course I'd have bias (though I doubt it would be as big of a bias in game, because I'd feel like a jerk if my Pokémon ' s feelings got hurt)

 

[Return]

Well I can train any Pokemon if they gave me good results in battles. Normally in Pokemon games i generally use my favourite Pokemons in battles rather than other Pokemon(My favourite Pokemons are: Blastoise,Jigglypuff,Charizard,Aggron).I Normally look on the design and somewhat cuteness of the Pokemon when
entering them Pokemon into Battle and in general i like Cute Pokemon.So i somewhat(Generally) don't like Pokemons(that i dont like or that are not my favourites) to enter them in battles :(

 

[Entermaid]

Sometimes it's a bit of both.

I will not use a pokemon I don't like design wise.
Of those I do like, sometimes I have a bias against those that are less useful.
Sorry about that Delcatty. Though I will still use her from time to time.
There are also an abundance of non-evolving pokemon that are mediocre, and once in a while I will still use them.