Your personal playstyle

[Warspirit]

I just catch (or get them from someone else) my favourites. I like Pokemon that hit hard and fast so I don't worry about Defense that much. I might have one wall, like Umbreon, but everyone else moves so fast and takes out the opponent I shouldn't have to use it very often.

I always seem to have the same team set up too:
Fire Type (Charizard always or another fire type that gets lucky)
Electric (Always just Jolteon)
Dark or Normal (Furfrou I'm telling you)
Psychic
Flying/2nd (so I can use the Fly HM)
Water/2nd (so I can use Surf/Waterfall)

Besides the pokemon part, I talk to all the NPCs. I do not play the little contest things though unless I'm forced. I can remember though in HG I loved the little competition thing (??) but that's the only exception. My goal is to never "catch 'em all" either. Too many of the damned things now. I mainly like just taking out the gym leaders, mowing over trainers and then smashing through the Elite Four. Then I stop playing and move on to the next game basically. I never do competitive play ha.

 

[Stormerbuzz35]

First I use a team of 6 pokemon I like for the gyms and E4. I have HM slaves but I always keep my starter with me. Usualy its the fire type. After that I make my real team, breeding and training them to be the best they can be. I used to try catch them all but theres just too many to try do that now.

 

[Gardevoir the Dragon Slayer]

Mostly before I get a new Pokemon game, I plan my party of six beforehand including nicknames.
I normally include a few old favorites and some new ones I haven't used before.
I do the main story play first catching only the pokemon I need in my party.
After the main story is complete I then do post game stuff, then the National pokedex and sometimes make a competitive online team.

 

[NotThatOneAgain]

If you're bored, you can always try something I used to do: Only catch the pokemon in the first grass area and stick with them - NFE! (Not Fully Evolved). Quite exciting to try beat Claire with a rattata and hoot-hoot level 50, lol.

Of course you will have to catch some HM-slaves, but they aren't used in any fights anyway.

Another way is to use your starting pokemon and then catch a weedle, caterpie and magikarp, then put the starter into the box. Then try to win the league with your pinstakingly grinded NFE Weedle, Caterpie and Magikarp-trio. Weird? Yepp. Fun? OOoooh YES!

 

[Foxrally]

I like to imagine my character is the same in every game and he just moves to a new region every year, while keeping his old Pokemon in the PC :D

 

[JJ Styles]

I'll probably won't be mentioning things such as "Make sure I have good movesets in my pokeymangs (good type coverage), have utility skills (not just going with 4 attack moves because that's so nub)" and all of that since i think that's what most people would often think about, aka common knowledge.

Since I mostly play solo and rely on whatever version's exclusives that can be obtained, the only time i ask for trade or help from some friends when I've collected all 8 badges and want to build a reliable Elite 4 + champion lineup. I'd like to have a Hall of Fame record with the pokemon that i like.

So basically, I catch my first 5, along with my starter. I raise the first 5 to certain levels until I've caught until better versions of certain types (such as replacing a Plusle for a Electrike or a Magnemite). If its a region that I've played to death (such as Hoenn, where i played AS blindly for most of the time, the only guide i used was an EV Yield chart) I tend to spend a lot of time exploring and collecting mons that are potentially good (Natures, IV checking, dexnav chaining) for the initial run + Post game content + Battle Frontier/Maison + breeding for PVP, my overall game time in whatever playthrough is much longer than usual. (My Alpha Sapphire run is hugely extended, currently at 99:35 hours game time, with the Elite Four and Steven not yet beaten, the longest playtime I've ever gotten on a Hoenn based game, even longer than one of my Emerald + Complete Hoenn Dex edition playthrough)

Regarding starters, I also do my best to get the best possible Nature as well, as it really affects much of that starter's adventure. If I can potentially get the best nature ever for a starter (Adamant for Physical deeps, Modest for Special Deeps), I do it in a game where soft resetting can be easily abused (easily abuseable in FRLG, HGSS, and somewhat doable in Hoenn (Its possible to know what potential nature that starter can be by looking how much damage it does with its Scratch/Pound/Tackle against that Poochyena/Zigzagoon chasing Birch), but for Sinnoh and Unova, I just have to pray since those initial scenes take minutes to get through.

TLDR, I basically collect as much mons as I can for reference purposes, sometimes I catch multiple versions of them to experiment with movesets (all hail the modern TM system). I guess i play a lot like Gary.

If I'm playing on a Unova based game, the same principle applies. I have to find pokemon that provide coverage as much as my old favorites from any of the non-unova regions provided, because Arcues bless Unova for having mostly pokemon unique from the previous gens.

 

[MegaRegisteel]

I originally played using just my starter, only really having HM Slaves and that Version's legendaries. In fact, my first hall of fame consisted of Empoleon, Giratina, Uxie, Azelf and a couple of level 30 Tropius and Bibarel that I forgot to take out. Needless to say, as Empoleon and Giratina were my only decently leveled Pokémon, Cynthia's Garchomp was an absolute pain.

More recently, I've played using my starter and Pokémon from the first couple of routes, and then adding legendaries later on.

On my playthrough of Platinum I started yesterday, I am using the following: (Italics are future)
Turtwig > Torterra
Bidoof > Bibarel
Starly > Staraptor
Shinx. > Luxray
Giratina
Riolu > Lucario

They aren't the strongest out there, and the natures/EVs are completely disregarded, but that doesn't bother me. I don't/can't play competitively as I don't have a 3DS or current gen game, so I have no need. They tend to be pretty strong by the time I've finished with them anyway. I like to play just using that region's newly introduced Pokémon (except in Unova, but I had to, and if I get X/Y I'll likely not), and have some of my Pokémon evolved at least once if I can manage it. They also have to be the same level. HM-wise, I like to get away with the bare minimum and spread them out so I can still battle properly with each one. For example, in Platinum I will be not be using Defog.

 

[Tetra]

I like keeping my starter always 2 levels above my Pokémon. Whenever I reach a good training spot, I often train until all my Pokémon hit the same level, then do some extra training for my starter. This way I won't be underlevelled in almost all circumstances. I also like to use non-evolving Pokémon on my playthrough. It makes the game much more challenging, especially while using small Pokémon like Pachirisu ;)

I do end up boxing some of my team members late on in the game, and sometimes at the Elite 4! It's kind of a pain though because you have to catch new Pokémon and train them up back to your team's level. At least that's what I do.

 

[Gligar]

I don't really have a strategy, I just have fun. Well if you call having a different type move for each pokemon a strategy, I guess that you could say that's one. I also keep my starter a higher level than my other pokemon.

I broke that rule in White 2, where I let my Zoroark be higher leveled than my Samurott.

 

[RandomDSdevel]

My play strategy has actually evolved over time, to tell you the truth. I first started playing [I}Pokémon[/I] games when my elder brother lent me his copy of Sapphire while he played Ruby, and I was able to use that until I got FireRed. If I remember correctly, I did a lot of exploring back then, and I usually tried to blast everything with my starter, which was usually (and typically still is) the Fire-type one, and tended to make al of my 'mons' moves attacks — i. e.: "Defense? I don't need no stinking defense!" Needless to say, I always got into a lot of trouble when that failed! I think I may have used HM slaves, too, but it's been quite some time since I played Sapphire since my brother sold it to my sister before I could get around to asking if I could just have it (yeah, I know it stinks, but, hey, it made me look forward to AlphaSapphire!) Anyway, I payed a lot more attention to type advantages and tried to do somewhat better in preparing for Gym battles during my first play through FireRed. I also caught some extra Pokémon so that I could trade with my brother to get some Hoenn-exclusive ones even though I no longer had access to Sapphire. I actually managed to beat the Elite Four on that save file! For Diamond, I used a copy of the Prima guide that I had bought when it caught my eye because I wanted to attempt to see and get everything. After that, getting the guides almost started to become a tradition; for Black and Black 2, I got both of each game's two volumes and even got volume two of the D/P guide and the Nintendo Power guide for FireRed! My younger brother got the guides for X and Y, though, and I haven't gotten around to getting them for myself (I'm trying to stay away from the guides, or at least their non-statistical parts, for my first play through Y.) For AlphaSapphire, I'm using Bulbapedia and the DexNav instead of the guides for now, though I might get those eventually (going to the 'Home' menu shouldn't disrupt αS's Internet connectivity like it does, and reconnecting is starting to get kind of annoying!) Some rules that I've always tended to stick to include nicknaming every Pokémon I catch, talking to as many NPCs as I feel I need to, trying to find as many items as I can, and just generally scouring each region I visit. I've also gotten much less reliant on my starter over time and now actually try to keep all of the Pokémon I've caught at the same level, or at least thereabouts. I've also always liked to make my PokéDex as complete as I possibly can, but I've only begun to keep up with news about distribution events relatively recently. I think that's everything, I think, but I'll edit this post if I remember anything.

 

[Maserati777]

When I was a kid I would just use my starter, then when I couldn't make it past the big battles I'd put the game up and forget about it for 10 years, then go back to it and look in my pc and find some Pokemon I can level up easily in Victory Road.

I skipped a few gens, like 3 gens and started playing 6 and currently I level all my pokemon up evenly. It kind of helps to not treat the starter as a favorite Pokemon but rather a teammember. I never use Pokemon I don't like, I only use Pokemon I like so I'm currently using both Emolga and Klefki in Y.

 

[XxNaughtyxNickyxX]

every mon has to be the same level at all times
i catch every type i see
and use a diverse team (no theme) and switch as needed

 

[Pendraflare]

I like keeping my starter always 2 levels above my Pokémon. Whenever I reach a good training spot, I often train until all my Pokémon hit the same level, then do some extra training for my starter. This way I won't be underlevelled in almost all circumstances.

That was kind of what I did when I first played through White 2, I remember when we took on Marlon, my Samurott was Level 52 and all my other team members were 50. But as that progressed my team started to be near the same on levels, and I was 54/55 when I took on Ghetsis.

 

[Candy]

I just go with the flow. I always nickname my Pokemon and use most of the ones I took interest in. My gameplay always ends up with a rotating team, which I then pick 6 that I've bonded the most with, and the rest will ultimately end up in the box. I've always reserved the last box of the PC for the honorable party members that has traveled with me for a while.

Also, ever since I played Y and noticed the lack of challenge in my opinion, I started to battle using the "Set" rules. So there's that.

Another thing I noticed is that my team normally consists of a Water type (or anything that can use Water-type attacks), an Electric type (same as Water type) and a Flying or Levitating Pokemon. Starters are used depending on the situation.

If I'm doing character challenges (in which I play as an original character I've made), then same rules apply except that I role-play as the character I'm using. Like, my last game was at Pokemon X, played in Japanese since my character is a Japanese native in my story, and used all sorts of gorgeous Pokemon like Gardevoir and Milotic since he's a fashiontista. Also, his clothes changes every day to reflect that. I ended up with an all-Special team though, but it was fun nevertheless. I've done that in Platinum, Soul Silver, as well as White. I'll probably restart one of my old gen games to do another one of those character challenges.

 

[Pendraflare]

Character challenges? That's a kind of go that i've seen quite a few people do, it is always different to try to emulate what characters from the anime use. Although I never used Set in any normal playthroughs, I save that for challenges. But Omega Ruby was the first game where my first (and only) normal playthrough of it had me not using any bag items in battle at all throughout the main story. I made it through a little bit of X doing the same, but there were a few trainers that were major dickheads.

 

[mew_nani]

I get my starter Pokemon. I catch Pokemon I like and add them to my team, as well as catching Pokemon for the Pokedex. If a wild Pokemon is a challenge to take down it often gets added to my team, like Benny the Audino or Sneezles the Budew (later Roserade.) If there is a legendary, it usually is added to the team.

 

[Novarin]

I tend to play through at a pretty slow pace, even if I've beaten the game before. And then spend the whole time trying to decide on which pokemon I'm going to end up using for my team. Way too many choices. I always nickname the ones I like though. I tend to get a little too into things...

 

[Nakala Pri]

I set speed to fast, catch every damn thing I can find, have a god awful team, ditch it when I hit the breeder then breed an OP team of babies! >:^D Then I level them up pretty fast-ish with my top Poke from my old team.

I'm such a noob! BD

 

[Inkblots]

Interesting to read all of these, they've definitely given me some ideas on how to make my playthroughs more interesting!

My first time playing through a game, I do kind of a faux-nuzlocke. Any time I encounter a pokemon I haven't caught, I try to catch it. The first six pokemon I catch are my team until one of them faints, then I swap it for the seventh pokemon I caught. The next fainted pokemon gets swapped for the eighth pokemon I caught, and so on. If I run out of new pokemon to swap for, I go back to the beginning of the lineup. Once I start getting a larger collection, I'll at some point switch so that I take the next unused pokemon that doesn't overlap with any of my current team's types. That way I have a reason to not let my pokemon faint if possible (because it's a pain in the butt to have to swap out your level-40 pokemon for a level-5 pokemon halfway through the game), I get to use a lot of different pokemon, and it lends an element of randomness and a bit of a challenge to have to work with whatever I've got rather than being able to pick an ideal team. I usually don't spend too much time on strategy or planning because my entire team could change at any moment. I usually just brute-strength my way through. I don't usually give my pokemon nicknames on the first play through because outside of the original 150 and a few favourites from the 2nd generation (which is when I stopped watching the anime as a kid) I'm terrible at remembering what pokemon are actually called XD

On later playthroughs (or a play through of the corresponding game) I just go for challenges. I usually use a random number generator to pick my team based on whatever criteria I'm given (because I'm very indecisive, and again, I like the challenge of having to work with what I'm given rather than choosing an ideal team - I just feel like it's more true to the idea of a good trainer being a good trainer because they can take any pokemon and be successful, rather than simply picking the best pokemon). I usually do more planning here in terms of move sets because I know what my team is going to be from the start.

 

[Rahaste]

Get starter. OOHGRASSPOKEMON BAM! In my team. OOHWATERPOKEMON BAM! In my team.

Flying Type? BAM! In my team.

Me mind's like "WTF is an IV and WTF is an EV? I DONT CARE!!!"

SHINY?!!! BAM!!1!11! In my team (even if it's worthless lol)

Attempt to beat E4 & Champ with team

Lose/Win
the end lel