Pokémon: How meta are you?

[V8 Ninja]

As I don't play Pokemon to begin with, I've never touched the meta content in the game.

However, I did really get into the meta-game of a game called ClaDun X2. Once you unlock a specific story dungeon, you get access to job changes for maxed-out characters (level cap is 100). When a character's job is changed, they retain a percentage of their stats but start at level 1. While leveling is automatic and you can't choose what to put points into, different jobs offer different stat scaling for specific stats if points happen to be put into those certain stats when leveling up. So I basically spent +100 hours on trying to game a roulette wheel to give me the stats I wanted to level up so that I could job-change and continue to spin that roulette wheel in the end-goal hope of getting higher-than-standard stats. What made this even more painful is that ClaDun X2 eventually scaled needed XP such that it took several thousand XP to level up a character from Level 1 to Level 2. In retrospect it was BS, but I got really close to conquering the first of the two final challenges...

 

[Professor Lupin Madblood]

I knew a guy who had sunk 600 hours into a HeartGold save file precisely because he wanted to get the best competitive team he could.

Yeah, no. I appreciate how much a person can enjoy HeartGold, but 600 hours in a handheld game is blindingly idiotic. Metagaming and EV/IV training remove the fun from the game, and it's absurd how arbitrary some of the distinctions are. Speed determines who moves first, and maybe some other effects on maybe a handful of moves. Special Attack is just a number you add onto the damage of a move, as is Attack.

Plus, given how needlessly complicated the whole damn things are, it strikes me as ludicrous how anyone would ever WANT to train EVs or IVs.

Personally, I do give some consideration to natures and the like (I'll try to re-catch Pokemon if they get the bonuses to useless stats and negatives to good ones), but that's about it. I try to just make teams that get good coverage, type-wise, and that's about where my metagame considerations end.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

The most complex I ever get:

Manetric can really lay down the pain, and with his fast speed, I'll usually win.
Vibrava is the first dragon Pokemon you can get and makes my dick ROCK HARD, better catch a Trapinch as soon as possible.
Dude, Steel and Rock? Aron and its evolutions are going to beast up the Normal Gym, and I know the exact lineup because I've played the game dozens of times before.
Heck yes, Haunter can learn Ice Punch! I'm doing this because WHY NOT!?

Because ever since Generation 1, Pokemon has always been a straight run with little regard to competition or what is feasible. Never used the Daycare, can't get a clue how to make the species and genus work, don't even know where to catch a Ditto in any game.

 

[triggrhappy94]

My extend is going online to look up who has the best stats.
Stuff like: Who's better Onix or Marowak? (Marowak is).

EDIT:
I also came up with this crazy plan one time that involved breading like three generations of different Pokémon so I'd end up with an Agron that knew a move that was great against Water types. Or something like that.
I don't remember the specifics, but it was complex and I don't think I finished it.

I normally try to have everyone in my A-Team know a move that is strong against at least one of the types it's weak against. Like finding a good grass move for my rock type to use on a water type.

 

[Fodder Aplenty]

No, you don't really need to bother with EV and IV. Just keep and eye on your nature and stats so you know which moves to teach them

 

[TheEvilCheese]

Plus, given how needlessly complicated the whole damn things are, it strikes me as ludicrous how anyone would ever WANT to train EVs or IVs.

While IV's are just flat out annoying and require more effort than is reasonable to perfect, EV training is actually very easy if you're doing it right. Want max attack? go train on route 1 (black/white) for 5 minutes. Max speed? go surf near the daycare for a little while. It's really satisfying knowing you raised your 'mons to the best of your ability and makes a significant difference to the stats.

I've played a fair bit of the 5th gen metagame, both Wifi battles and Simulators, though I'm not really active at the mo'. I find high-level competitive pokemon extremely fun and mentally stimulating and the crazy effort put into a wifi team makes it all the sweeter. I've even RNG abused a couple of times just to see if I could more than anything, shiny perfect IV Metagross says hi.

 

[afroebob]

First, what the fuck is an EV? Second, what the fuck is an IV?

Seriously, I have been playing Pokemon for give or take 80% of my life (14 out of 18 years) but I've never played anything past gen 3 cause all the pokemon past then are more or less shitty IMO so unless they were introduced past gen II this is some seriously complex shit for me to have not known about it in the 3000+ hours I've spent in gen I alone.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

Fuck the meta game. I shouldn't have to breed and EV train just to figure out if my 'mon is doomed to begin with just because he/she has terrible IVs, effectively meaning I just wasted my time. I play competitively by picking the best moves for my team and developing new stratagies as the match goes on, not by mindlessly grinding into a time-sink with Serebii and Bublapedia telling me exactly what routes to train on.

 

[Eliwood10]

During my first playthrough of the main story, i don't care about the metagame. i just have fun playing. After the E4 is when I start breeding and paying attention to IVs and EV training. I don't play competitively at all, I just enjoy making some beastly Pokemon with fun movesets. As far a strategy and tiers go, I still don't care all that much. I just use Pokemon that I like.

I think it's worth mentioning, that if you don't know the mechanics behind those hidden stats, you won't notice a difference either way. Only after purposely maxing stats out on other Pokemon can you really see the effect it has.

 

[The Inquisitive Mug]

After my first couple of playthroughs I got really guilty at how many of your Pokemon end up in stasis on my computer somewhere. I would always restrict myself to capturing as few Pokemon as possible, it also made the beginning of the game a lot more interesting, because I'd have very few Pokemon until I got to the mid game and got access to the ones I wanted.

I never really trained my Pokemon though, too much effort.

Tell me, have you ever heard of the Nuzlocke challenge? You are only allowed to catch the first pokemon you encounter in each new area (route, cave, building, etc.). If you fail to catch it or KO the pokemon, too bad. Better luck next route. Also, when one of your 'mons is KO'd, it is treated as if it were dead, and deposited in a box.

 

[Gatx]

Not at all. I like to pseudo-RP it when I play and want to grow attached to my team. This is my first Pokemon, I got him from Prof. So and so, this is my second, I caught him when he was just a whatevers on route # just feels more natural than this is my strongest Pokemon that I got after hours of inbreeding and beating up the natural wildlife. The fact that they have IVs, EVs, Natures and etc. add a lot in making me feel like my Pokemon are unique though.

 

[Spacemonkey430]

Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't the constraints of the game make it so your EV and such training only goes so far? Like that Oshawatt of yours could only go so far stat wise. So it would seem to me that official tournaments would come down to the same generic set up of maxed Pokemon for everybody. Like I said it could be wrong but still.

 

[SD-Fiend]

I EV train. I ignore IV's though since those are permanent but EV's are are really easy.I don't quite get why people act like they're hard. You can do it in a few minutes with medicines,berries and feathers.

 

[AlbertoDeSanta]

Metagame can bite my ass. It's not in the spirit of Pokemon. I play with the monsters I like, and build my team for fun.

It turns the game into this.

This, so many times THIS. I played the metagame for a bit and boy was it boring as shit. No team originality, with 90% of teams playing with DW Politoads on a Water team. It really was not fun at all. Stick to catching them all folks, or else you'll have no fun at all.

 

[sanquin]

I catch all new pokemon I find. I keep the ones I like in my team, unless they're -clearly- dragging the rest of the team down. I try to mix up the types of my pokemon and their attacks so I don't have, say, a full bug team with only poison/bug attacks. And...that's about it. I've never cared about the meta or about online battles. Only the single player and trading pokemon.

 

[natster43]

I am kinda into the meta stuff, I just EV trained a Glaceon, and am planning on doing the same with some other pokemon. Also for IVs I pretty much choose the nature I want and breed a few with that nature and find one that gets at least between the top two for total IVs and has the best rating for a single IV according to the guy at the Gear Station.

 

[TehCookie]

I pay attention to natures but that's as far as I've gotten. I don't play competitively so I never saw the point, although I do want a hacked eveee team to beat anyone I verse in person.

 

[Razentsu]

I played competitive Pokemon, and it was great. EV training, IV/Nature/egg move breeding takes time, but I think it's awesome that you can manipulate your Pokemon's growth beyond simple levelling and evolving. You can grow a Pokemon into many different directions. You can build your Pokemon in a way to best fit your team strategy.

Even with all the number crunching, there's no real "best" way to build your Pokemon, and there is no "best" team or strategy. You can follow the "meta" and play a standard team, but that's not going to make you stronger than the average competitive player. It's the boldness to think outside of standard play and to experiment that will make you great. Also, you still have to be good at actually playing the game.

You have to make quality decisions, analyse your opponent's strategy and common tactics, and be brave enough to make some reads. It's almost like a turn-based fighting game.

Pokemon very closely resembles Virtua Fighter because of how heavily it is based around mind games. You need to be able to evaluate your options as well as your opponent's, and predict which option he/she will take.

Will you take the option that both you and your opponent know beats and only beats your opponent's obvious "best" option? Or will you base your decision around your opponent's likely "lesser" option at the risk of letting his "best" go through? Maybe you'll play it safe and choose the option that grants you a slight advantage on either option? Or perhaps you think your opponent will play it safe, so you plan to do something risky to create a huge advantage for yourself?

And of course, there are many more questions to ask yourself depending on the situation. But the point is, Pokemon is a lot like Virtua Fighter, you are very often called to reads and tricky decisions. It's a very deep game.

 

[emeraldrafael]

I get it and went at it, but it was just too time consuming and robbed some of the fun of the games. I dont mess with IVs though I wouldnt even know mine (ive seen the calculaters just dont care to bother with them since they dont change like EVs).

 

[Ratties]

First, what the fuck is an EV? Second, what the fuck is an IV?

Seriously, I have been playing Pokemon for give or take 80% of my life (14 out of 18 years) but I've never played anything past gen 3 cause all the pokemon past then are more or less shitty IMO so unless they were introduced past gen II this is some seriously complex shit for me to have not known about it in the 3000+ hours I've spent in gen I alone.

Well the Pokemon past gen 3 are not shitty. Alot of the older Pokemon games are like a broken down station wagon. Literally everything about gen 1 is a broken piece of crap. The game has nostalgia, thats all it has going for it. Frankly, Gen 2 has more crappy Pokemon than good ones. Lots of the games that are enjoyable today is because of the 4th gen. Alot of problems got fixed in the 4th gen. Now most people think that the first 3 gens are the best because thats all they have played.