Do you play for aesthetics or strong pokemon?

[Ryanasaur]

Hey guys!

How do you guys create your party? Do you go for your favorite pokemon or do you find the strongest ones and make a balanced party? Or do you do mono typing?

It might sound naive, but I always wondered if it's possible to make it through the E4 with just any pokemon.

Basically, I guess my question is: do you guys believe you can make it through in game using any pokemon regardless of typing or stats? Or do you believe balance and strength is necessary?

 

[Meganium]

The way I build my teams during gameplay is always based on favorites as well as preferences whether the Pokemon is strong enough for my liking or not. For example, in 5th generation, I was told that Mienshao was a freaking powerhouse Pokemon and can withstand any trainer battle during Victory Road. This Pokemon saved my butt through the E4.

Same with Aegislash, it's not one of my favorites, but I used it because it was extremely useful in hard battles.

On most teams I use, I gotta have a Meganium on my team, no matter what. It sucks competitively, but it's bulky at least. it can withstand weaker moves.

 

[Hikamaru]

I play mostly for aesthetics, because as they say, in ingame runs you can do well with pretty much anything and not just the powerhouses. Even if some of my faves have not-so-good stats that will never deter me from using them because variety is always good to have.

In terms of how I build my teams, I tend to always have a Grass/Fire/Water trio (with the starter taking one of the slots up), a flyer for Fly purposes when needed, and then a random wildcard although in X I had something taking up both the Fire-type and the flyer slots so that was the perfect opportunity to try out a Fairy-type which really did well.

 

[Oblox]

Aesthetics, as said above most pokemon can do well in game so pick ones you like.

 

[Guest123123]

I use Pokemon I like that I also like using.

An example of what I mean by "like using": I like Umbreon, but I haven't used it past HGSS because it's more of a defensive Pokemon than an attacking one. It can't really dish it out but it can take it, which meant some battles went on longer than I wanted them to. I still like Umbreon, but because of its battle style I don't use it for my team.

 

[janejane6178]

I like picking my Pokemon by aesthetics (In game).
As for competitive battles I tend to choose Pokemon I like + don't suck at battles.. JUST NOT the super strong and popular ones, like Greninja, Talonflame etc.

 

[JJ Styles]

I go for usually what is strong and at the same time cool looking, but I value inner strength and beauty more so I definitely go for "strong" pokemon.

Most of the time, i would just say the easiest things and say I'll just go with what i like: Blaziken, Gyarados, Garchomp, Gardevoir, Excadrill, Metagross and there I'm done, but then again, that team as much as they are cool looking and badass, is still pretty shitty competitive-wise because its all hyper offense with no utility so its a really predictable team. But I love them all anyway and all of those pokemon i mentioned are great pieces for certain competitive teams that can be built around them.

But then again, when i know that a Pokemon can be strong because of its capabilities, then i go for it. Most people would say Crustle is a shitty pokemon because it looks like a brown piece of cake but then they don't see how good a Shell Smash Crustle can be. Then there's Chincinno from Unova. Oh its a cute little bunny that most girls would just keep as a pet and don't bother fighting with it, then they forget that Chincinno can have Skill Link for its ability, the same ability that makes Cloyster one of the most feared pokemon in the game right now, and it actually kicks a lot of ass. I have a Chincinno in my White 2 party and its kicking a lot of ass with those always 5-hit Crit Tail slaps. And of course there's Cloyster a pokemon that i thought was always cool but was never any good in most of the past generations until it got Skill Link because as i mentioned earlier, Shell Smash + Sash + Skill Link Cloyster is such a cheesy monster that it makes me feel bad watching someone get swept by it. And then there's Jumpluff. Oh its so cute, its obviously not a threat. Its so cute that people would laugh at me for having such a weakass pokemon with me. WRONG. Jumpluff is such a great pokemon that not a lot of people realize who threatening it can be with the right moves and right teammates to work with. Jumpluff is a threat.

In short, if its cute, its cute. If its cute that can kick a lot of ass, like Jumpluff, Chincinno, Crustle and the like, then i'd use it.

And then of course there's this question:

do you guys believe you can make it through in game using any pokemon regardless of typing or stats? Or do you believe balance and strength is necessary?

My opinion is that well, I don't want to. Its possible to go through the games with some of the most subpar of pokemon, and there's even those people who deliberately not let their pokemon evolve as well, but I'm just not one of them. I remember in those good ol times with Pokemon Yellow that I never had the heart to dump that starter pikachu because i got emotionally attached to it, even though its stuck with subpar stats compared to the rest of the good ones that I had with my Yellow team such as Blastoise, Charizard, Nidoking, and Ice Beam Chansey. I held on with that Pikachu but its stats were just too low to handle even the Elite Four part of the game, but at least it can still hang on against Lorelei's Water/Ice types. But having to use potions for Pikachu every time it failed to KO a threat and it taking a chunk of damage in return made me realize that i just can't handle playing with subpar pokemon when it comes to tackling the end-game.

Sometimes you need the strongest or at least the most workable pokemon to not make the journey frustrating and the battles irritating. Its not just for the sake of winning but its also for the sake of having fun as well. Its great to have some oddballs in the party and not just those super good OU and Ubers to basically just insta-win the game, but some oddballs still have to be actually good in order for me to have fun. So its in the matter of being good and at the very least, "not sucking".

 

[Pendraflare]

It's an interesting case, I like XY and ORAS for their 3D and a lot of other things, but I end up using different Pokémon depending on the type of playthrough i'm doing. I often have different teams. Same can be said with BW and B2W2, I tend to have a mix of very strong Pokémon and some not quite as powerful but still usable.

 

[Mister Coffee]

I have my favorites, but I'm more of a team builder.
Often when I play a pokemon game, I'll pick out something like 2-3 favorite pokemon that I absolutely have to play with through the game, and the favorites that I pick often vary game to game, sometimes they're incredibly powerful pokemon, and sometimes they're straight out of the worst selection of NU tier pokemon. Generally once I have picked my favorite 2-3 pokemon, the rest of the team is built out of "Checks and Balances" pokemon which is just a collection of pokemon used specifically for either keeping my favorite two to three pokemon alive, or for covering weaknesses.
I never build teams that I know wont be able to carry me through the game all the way to the end, as well as I never build teams that are not in some way competitive, simply because in the past, my pokemon playing friends loved to link battle with me quite frequently, so my teams always had to be good enough to beat my friends as well.

I've just always liked building teams where I can focus my power on my favorite pokemon, and then everything else in my team is geared towards protecting and supporting those favorites of mine, and I definitely do not always focus on what is an obviously powerful pokemon. Sometimes pokemon that are obviously popular high powered picks make it in to my team, when they do, it's because they serve the purpose of either being a pokemon that I genuinely enjoy, or they are used for protecting pokemon that I enjoy.
I like knowing that by the time I've finished my fully designed team, they all work together like one smooth running machine. It's not about what one pokemon can do over another, it's about how they all work together comfortably in the end. (Sometimes in a role playing perspective, I like to imagine that my "completed" pokemon teams are all best friends with one another since they constantly are saving each others lives in the middle of battle. They all serve incredibly important purposes, each one knows this, and because of that no one member on my team is more important than another since the lack of one means the whole team falls apart.)

 

[EscapeRope]

I go for a bit of both really. Pokemon that look cool but can still destroy.

 

[Precious~Dark]

Aesthetics mostly and I like to mix it up and not use the same pokemon over and over again. I have a lot I and I mean a lot of favourite Pokemon I tend to use some types more than others I even like to use weaker Pokemon (this isn't really a problem in the game play-troughs) because I feel like they don't get used often.

 

[KorpiklaaniVodka]

I generally pick Pokemon based on their power, since I'm a competitive battler.

 

[Bellsprout]

Totally depends on my mood. I've done a lot of themes like monotypes or Pokemon of all one color just to do something different. If I just want to play through normally then I'll make a team of 6, making sure they're all different types. My general formula is fire, water, grass, electric, and then two random types. Even so I don't always stick to that either.

Generally they're all various strengths. I don't like to have a team of all super strong Pokemon or all weak Pokemon. Design does impact my decision making a lot, but for the sake of not repeating the same Pokemon all the time I've used ones I've deemed hideous lol.

 

[Margaery Tyrell]

I generally do a mix of both aesthetics and strength - after doing competitive battling and such, its hard to ignore a Pokémon's value in battle if it sucks. Still, I do try out favorites and such. My teams are usually a mixture of both dangerous and beautiful. :3

And, I think its possible to beat the game without having strong Pokémon in mind. With enough leveling, dat HP is goin' down.

 

[Circuit]

I like to choose Pokémon that have a bit of both. Strength and Aesthetics never hurt anyone eh? In-game I base my team around Pokémon I enjoy using and are fun to see. Pokémon I dislike rarely find their way into my party. But when I used to battle competitively, I'd use what was strong. Now, if I were to get back into it, I'd look for a way to make Pokémon I like that aren't used so much do well.

 

[Sylphiel]

I don't really do any kind of competitive battling so the strength of pokemon usually isn't the first thing on my mind. I try to go for "which of these pokemon do I like most?" first and foremost, while trying to keep a team that I know is a good balance of types for what might be ahead. However, if I find that a pokemon is holding me back and that I should have another certain, stronger pokemon, even if I don't particularly like the one that's being switched in...sorry buddy, but you're getting boxed for now.

But yeah. I try to go for my favorites, to a point.

 

[Lycanthropy]

In games I mostly pick the Pokémon I haven't really used before, this can be Pokémon that are neither one of my favorites nor strong Pokémon (Delibird for example), but I try to have at least two decent Pokémon on my team, so that my progress won't be halted by constantly losing battles.

 

[Euphoric]

As most have said, I tend to go for a mix. The most important aspect, though, is my favorites. I prefer glass cannons, so that affects my teamcomp. My favorites are usually fairly viable, so if I'm strictly using them I don't experience much difficulty.

Probably my most trying time was in Black, I think. I wanted to use a Water but I hated the look of most of the Unova possibilities save Samurott, and I was already using Snivy. I ended up using a Simipour, which I'm pretty sure I nicknamed "Aesthetic" to show my annoyance at the choice that I was presented with.

 

[Drayton]

I go for both. I like using my favorites and mix them up with a balance and overpowered mons. It's just cliche if you speed run with just strongs mons, where the fun in that

 

[LusoTrainer]

Aesthetics. Why would I limit myself to stronger Pokémon if I can beat the game with any of them?