Pokémon Heart Gold and Soul Silver Discussion

[Thirsty Pocket]

Halelujah I finally got my first handful of Pokemon to level 100! Feraligatr was first, then Charizard, Crobat, and Pikachu followed. My Lucario, Gardevoir and my Fire Red Team ( Which Crobat was a part of ) are pretty close too. This is the first time ever ( and I been playing the series since it first came to the US ) that I raised a Pokemon without spamming rare candies once it got too hard around Lvl 60. I feel accomplished. I admit, I tried this "EV" training for a while with some of them ( namely Pikachu ) but it barely seemed to have an effect on it's growth. Im skeptical about that stuff actually working.

[Saint Nathan]

Fff I went ahead and AR'd max block amounts for Safari Zone so I could get a goddamned Riolu.

His move set SUCKS and he won't evolve for another 5 hours at the LEAST.

fffffffffffffffffFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK

[SuperLink]

Usually not a fan of Latios, but...

WHOA NELLY.

[Semi-colon e]

Blue Gengar ftw.

[Senator NinjaShark]

I am Personally a Fan of Charizards and Rayquaza's Shiny forms

They look pretty cool with a Black Color Pallete In my Opinion.

Umbreon is also nice, Tho' granted therer isnt a Huge difference between Normal and Shiny

on the other hand Pink Honchkrow looks silly

Overall, there are some Shiny's that I think look cool, But with many others I prefer the Reguler Color.

[SuperLink]

Oh god oh god oh god.

I forgot how much I loved Shiny Rayquaza.

I tried to get one for so long >.< but I just gave up in the end...

Another of my favourite shinies (and one that I proudly own myself, through trade):

The blueness looks awesome *-*

[Remy]

Black charizard rocks so hard

[Thirsty Pocket]

Shiny Rayquaza looks like it's a firin' it's lazer.

Also, is there an advantage to picking SlowKing over Slowbro? While on the topic, what about Politoed, Bellosum, and all the other "alternate evolutionary forms"?

Edited April 19, 2010 by Lando The Bat

[Faded Echoes]

Zangoose is my all time favourite shiny. He looks so epic. Blue stripes and orange claws FTW.

2nd fave is Glameow. What's not to like about a purple cat?

[Octarine]

Shiny Rayquaza looks like it's a firin' it's lazer.

Also, is there an advantage to picking SlowKing over Slowbro? While on the topic, what about Politoed, Bellosum, and all the other "alternate evolutionary forms"?

Slowbro and Slowking have swapped Defense and Special Defense stats (Slowbro's got the higher Defense and vice versa). Slowking can also learn Nasty Plot, which is a huge deal. Politoed and Poliwrath are totally different beasts; their different stats and Poliwrath's Fighting-type are the big things, but they've also got plenty of different moves (especially since Poliwrath only naturally learns a couple of moves after evolving). Vileplume and Bellossom are pretty close, though, with only Vileplume's Poison-type and a handful of moves (Leaf Storm on Bellossom is the big one) keeping them distinct.

[Semi-colon e]

Beat E4 today, finally after boring level grinding. I like how they added 3rd and 4th mons to Kanto, but I've only beaten Sabrina (and her new look ) and of course, Surge. Higher levelled trainers are nice but I still decimated both leaders.

[Cake]

Hey guys, when chaining for a shiny egg with the Matsuda method, do my chances of getting a shiny reset if the game is turned off?

[Rusty Spy]

Hey guys, when chaining for a shiny egg with the Matsuda method, do my chances of getting a shiny reset if the game is turned off?

There is no chaining with the Matsuda method. It's just that the chances of the offspring being shiny is increased when Pokemon of two different countries are bred. So in short: no.

I admit, I tried this "EV" training for a while with some of them ( namely Pikachu ) but it barely seemed to have an effect on it's growth. Im skeptical about that stuff actually working.

Your Pokemon have full EVs then. Each Pokemon have a total of 500 or so EVs in total (they start at 0 EVs when first received), and for every 4 EVs you receive for a certain stat, the amount that it increases when the Pokemon lvls up is increased. Considering how your PKMN are all near 100, they most definitely have full EVs, or are at least very close to full.

[Thirsty Pocket]

I started with my Pikachu and some of my others the instant I got them. I don't believe this alleged form of training is as effective as it is made out to be. Even though I fought the same species from the instant they got them, the lttle boosts to their stats at each level up still felt mostly random. Im gonna just go ahead and be the guy that doesn't believe in global warming here.

[Serperior]

I started with my Pikachu and some of my others the instant I got them. I don't believe this alleged form of training is as effective as it is made out to be. Even though I fought the same species from the instant they got them, the lttle boosts to their stats at each level up still felt mostly random. Im gonna just go ahead and be the guy that doesn't believe in global warming here.

Thats because you were probably fighting Pokémon that only gave you 1 effort value in a stat due to your low level. If you fought stronger Pokémon such as Kadabra and you fought more of them before you levelled up the increase would be alot more apparent. With Pikachu fighting Pokémon such as Kadabra, Magneton, Haunter, Pidgeotto, other Pikachu and Golbat to get the best stat boosts for it, unless you have a volt tackling one, in which case Pokemon like Arbok and Nidoran M would be good choices to fight as well. If you give Pokerus to your Pikachu and fight the Pokémon I've listed, 1 point will be added to the stat up for every one of those Pokémon you KO.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

Pokémon acquire EVs automatically by simply battling, and this is why the long held belief that freshly caught wild Pokémon aren't as powerful as Pokémon that have been trained from an early level is actually true, and this is in fact something you can easily prove for yourself by comparing a freshly caught Pokémon of the same species to one of your own. Don't expect miracles from EV training: the sole point of the process is to place the bonus stats only in those useful to the Pokémon species you're training. The only difference between a regularly trained Pokémon and an EV trained Pokémon is that regular training doesn't focus the EV gains and rounds out the stat boosts across all the stats instead. This turns your Pokémon into a Jack-of-all-Trades at best and Pure Crap at worst.

If you want a competitively viable Pokémon, EV train it, otherwise you won't get much out of it.

[Blue Blood]

You're likely to notice the effects in Radar Chaining. I was using just my Electabuzz when chaining against Shinx. It was lv.41 and they were lv.3. After enough battles to gain a single level, there was an increase of over 20 in the attack stat and al other stat increases were normal. Of course, the same effect can be pulled off in any game, regardless of radar use.

[Thirsty Pocket]

Haunter, and nothing but until it was strong enough to take down the Absol and Alakazam that the Ace trainer on Route 1 had, repeatedly.

[Pelly <3's U]

Well EV training happens over the full 100 levels too (I'm fairly sure). So if you grind Special Attack EVs it's not like the next time you level up it's going to gain +60 in special attack or anything. You don't gain the full benefit of your EV training until you reach level 100 (as in the whole 1 stat point for every 4 EVs doesn't become true until level 100). EVs come into play in maximizing the effectiveness of your pokemon though, like if you have a pokemon with all special attacks then there is no point in wasting any EVs on attack points. The problem with not EV training your pokemon is that you have no control over how they spread out. If you EV train though you can effectively boost the stat of your choice by up to 63 by level 100, which is a substantial difference. Of course you can spread EVs however you like, but using them right does make quite a difference.

EVs, IVs, and natures can make quite a difference. I mean if you look at min/max stats for pokemon there is usually a difference of over 100 points.

Not that I've done it much. My Ninetails is EV trained just for the heck of it, but the only other EV trained pokemon I have are battle tower ones.

[ovarloard]

Haunter, and nothing but until it was strong enough to take down the Absol and Alakazam that the Ace trainer on Route 1 had, repeatedly.

Aha! Absol yields 2 EV points in Attack. Perhaps this is why? (Maybe your Pikachu also has poor IVs and a bad nature)

[Blue Blood]

EV training is like level grinding, only worse before you have to search around for the Pokemon you want. Hurrah!

No really, it is. It's crazy boring. Like, wouldn't you rather just AR them in? I seriously can't see where any of the enjoyment comes from in training of any kind, because all you do is mash A.

[SuperLink]

EV training is like level grinding, only worse before you have to search around for the Pokemon you want. Hurrah!

No really, it is. It's crazy boring. Like, wouldn't you rather just AR them in? I seriously can't see where any of the enjoyment comes from in training of any kind, because all you do is mash A.

Enjoyment isn't the appeal, the appeal is the reward of creating something awesome and rewarding through your hard work.

It's the best life experience any video game has to offer.

[ovarloard]

EV training is like level grinding, only worse before you have to search around for the Pokemon you want. Hurrah!

No really, it is. It's crazy boring. Like, wouldn't you rather just AR them in? I seriously can't see where any of the enjoyment comes from in training of any kind, because all you do is mash A.

Yeah, I'm sure most people would rather AR them in, but the whole point of EVing is to create a team viable in a competitive battle.

And in those battles, some people disallow "legit" hacks. I don't know why; maybe they're scared of seeing someone "accidentally" put in more than the allowed 252 EVs, or maybe they just don't want someone to have it easy when they did all the hard work for themselves, but the fact remains that in the competitive battling community, creating "legit" hacks is frowned upon.

For those who don't know, "legit" hacks are Pokémon that are hacked but don't change the outcome of a battle. For example, hacking a Pokémon so it's shiny but still has the same stats would be a "legit" hack. Using a wild Pokémon modifier to get evolved Pokémon and using an AR to train it to lv. 100 would be "legitly" hacking, as long as its stats are legitimate. Same with EVing Pokémon; if you didn't EV the Pokémon because you were too lazy and instead used an to fully EV it, as long as it still has legit EVs and stats, it's a "legit" hack.

[Pelly <3's U]

EV training is like level grinding, only worse before you have to search around for the Pokemon you want. Hurrah!

No really, it is. It's crazy boring. Like, wouldn't you rather just AR them in? I seriously can't see where any of the enjoyment comes from in training of any kind, because all you do is mash A.

Well other then most pokemon people have an obsession with legit (I do too, so I'm not harping on anyone)........

I don't think the majority of people even bother EV training. The only in game place where EV training is needed is battle tower. The only other place where you absolutely need it is competitive battling, and even then many of the people competitively battling are Shoddy-ing it.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

Actually EV training and training to Lv 100 I've often found to be incredibly boring unless I tied in doing something else at the same time (simultaneously levelling a Pokémon to 100 and filling Pokédex pages in the process is good shit), but you've just answered your own question: it's the only way to optimise your Pokémon legitimately.

By the same logic you used, you can use AR to hack a Pokémon with full 999 stats and a full set of guaranteed kill moves and obliterate everything, but that's completely pointless because it's cheating. All of the competitive battling scene and the techniques derived from it are based on the assumption that you are interested in making a legit team that is as powerful and effective as possible.

If we're going to be really picky and question what is legitimate and what isn't, it's whatever you can do in-game that doesn't require a game modification device to be possible. Exploiting game mechanics without breaking them outright is perfectly fine, and that's why the guides to creating perfect Pokémon go so far as to have you determine a hidden trainer ID in your save file to farm shiny Pokémon and Pokémon with perfect IVs. RNG abuse is definitely a shady practice, but it's done without any cheating at all.