Pokemon - Game Mechanics Documentary

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by ForeverMaster, Jun 7, 2017.

  1. "Pokemon" is generally an all-age, family-friendly media franchise. Many people get involved in it to play the games or watch the anime casually: alone or with friends. It's one of Nintendo's largest socially-engaging intellectual properties, shared with Creatures Inc., Game Freak, The Pokemon Company, animation studios, and other businesses.

    Like any medium of entertainment, there are passionate Pokemon fans -- and a lot of them. Some love to participate in fan-made visual and auditory arts, including any favorite Pokemon and characters.

    Meanwhile, in particularly the main series of Pokemon video games developed by Game Freak, there are players that'll battle others in competitive battling formats/metagames. The games have even gone as far as being treated as an e-sport, with official annual tournaments.
    For me -- a Pokemon fan since the Old/Original Hoenn Generation, I was oblivious towards competitive Pokemon battling, until I tried a PvP battle in X/Y. I got seriously enraged/frustrated -- by the move Stealth Rock and frequent switching of Pokemon.

    -



    With that one battle aside, I have known many game mechanics competing battlers use to maximize their Pokemon's battling potential. What Magnet-Pulled me into learning how the Pokemon video games work started with the Battle Factory from Generation IV.
    In this battle facility, you battle with rental Pokemon, either at Level 50 or 100, which are nearly the exact same ones used by NPC trainers throughout the entire Battle Frontier. When I looked at the summary of the Pokemon, I saw details I never thought of achieving:

    *Dragonite with 371 Attack and over 360 HP and an Adamant nature. In later rounds, I found another one with an even higher Attack stat.

    *Magmortar with 371 Special Attack and a Modest nature.

    *Crobat with 360+ Speed and a Jolly nature.

    -

    How can the Pokemon have these high stat numbers? Why do they have a specific nature? What are they trying to accomplish with their moves and held item? How did they learn moves I seemly can't obtain on my own Pokemon?
    Overtime, I have answered all of my questions -- and a ship-load more!

    In this post, I'm going to deploy as much of my knowledge as possible about Pokemon's game mechanics. I've certainty that this information will make people better understand the games and help them create better Pokemon teams.


    All Pokémon have 6 stats.

    HP (Hit Points)
    Attack
    Defense
    Special Attack
    Special Defense
    Speed

    Each of these stats has an 8-bit integer assigned to it for every Pokémon. These are the Base Stats: used by the games to calculate the final stats. >> An Example <<

    A Pokémon’s Base Stats cannot change, unless it changes form, such as by Mega Evolving or its Ability.
    Starting in X & Y, older Pokémon have gotten their Base Stats increased from what they were in previous generations. >> Example <<




    Like real-life organisms, Pokémon of the same species are created differently from each other. The nature, ability, and stats can differ between individuals, even if they’re at the same level.
    All of these properties were added in Ruby/Sapphire. Due to the technical changes in these games, Generation III is completely incompatible with the Generation II games.

    The Nature of a Pokémon modifies its stats. A nature will increase one stat by 10% and lower another one by 10%. Five of the 25 possible natures boost and lower the same stat and thus are “neutral”; they do not affect the Pokémon’s final stats. No nature affects HP.


    Starting in Pokémon Heartgold and Soulsilver, in the Pokémon’s Summary page outside of battle will color which stats are affected by the nature. The stat benefited is red, and the hindered stat is blue – these are the same colors used to represent in-battle stat changes, such as from the move Swords Dance and the ability Intimidate.


    Effort Values and Individual Values, “EVs” and “IVs” for short, are the other values that affect stats at a given level. They’re added to the Pokémon’s stats, prior to its nature’s effects in the stat formulas.

    IVs are to genes for Pokémon. They’re set onto the Pokémon’s stats the moment it’s created by the game and cannot be changed. They are integer values ranging from 0 to 31.


    In Pokémon Sun and Moon, a level 100 Pokémon’s stats can be raised to ‘act’ as if their IVs were 31 by Hyper Training, at the cost of bottle caps. The actual IVs of the Pokémon do not change to keep its Hidden Power’s typing the same.


    Effort Values are like IVs, but they always start at zero and require a trainer to increment them. They range from 0 to 255 for each stat, and a Pokémon can have up to 510 EVs in total. Every 4 EVs in a stat increases that stat by one. Therefore, the maximum amount a stat can be raised by EVs is 63.
    Pokémon gain EVs whenever they would earn Experience Points from battling. The earnings are usually based on the highest Base Stat(s) of the defeated Pokémon. EV yields are higher for evolved Pokémon than most ones that can evolve. Without other bonuses, a Pokémon can yield up to 3 EVs in total.
    For Example: Pikachu yields 2 Speed EVs, because its highest stat is Speed, and it evolves from Pichu.


    Starting in Pokémon X & Y, a graph showing a Pokémon’s EV distribution can be seen. In Generation VI, this is shown in the Super Training menus.
    In Pokémon Sun and Moon, the player can toggle the EV Graph by pressing “Y” in the Pokémon’s out-of-battle Summary page. When the data turns blue, the Pokémon has reached the 510 EV limit.


    Some Pokémon can have one of two common abilities, or its rare Hidden Ability. Not all Pokémon have a Hidden Ability, and some that do have one are unobtainable without hacking.
    Hidden Abilities cannot be found on wild Pokémon by a standard encounter. Some ways to get these rare abilities are through hordes, the DexNav, and SOS battles.


    Egg Moves are obtainable usually exclusively from breeding Pokémon. The offspring inherits moves in its breeding learn-set list from both of its parents (only from the father, prior to X & Y). Also, starting in X & Y, if a Pokémon forgets one of its Egg Moves, a Move Remember can reteach that move.



    See the Post Below for More Information
    Abele and jkrmnj like this.
  2. Manipulating the Variables and Realistic Goals

    To most casual Pokémon players, there’s no control or consideration in a Pokémon’s nature, IVs, or EVs. The nature and Individual Values are randomized and the balanced spreads of Effort Values are byproducts from battling a variety of Pokémon earlier on.

    Luckily, Game Freak has granted us trainers a lot of control for customizing our Pokémon and making the process of getting the Pokémon we want realistic to complete. A lot of the randomness in IVs and the nature can be removed. EVs can be extracted from unwanted places. And some Pokémon abilities make certain qualities easier to find, if the Pokémon is in the first party slot. You can even raise the odds of finding a shiny Pokémon!
    By mastering these tips ‘n tricks, you’ll have a much easier time to get the Pokémon you want that’ll do the best its species can do.

    I’ll use an example Pokémon to guide you trainer step-by-step. As you master the process, like I had myself, you’ll be able to make an in-game team faster, from a few weeks to a few days, with periodic breaks.

    For this tutorial, I’ll be training a physical-attacking Charizard that’ll Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X.

    -

    #1: Flame Body or Magma Armor
    This first step is for making the whole breeding process faster. If the first Pokémon in your party has either Flame Body or Magma Armor for its ability, the distance you’ll have to travel to hatch eggs in the party will be halved!
    Some applicable Pokémon are: Fletchinder and Talonflame, Slugma, and the Magby line.

    #2: Nature
    The nature should ideally benefit the most prominent stat for the Pokémon and lower the least important one. Worst case is the contrary, or opposite of this.

    If you catch or breed enough random Pokémon, you’ll eventually find your target nature. It’s then a matter of passing down that nature to the appropriate species using an Everstone. If a parent Pokémon holds an Everstone, its nature will always be passed to the offspring.

    For this Charizard I’m working towards, I want a Charmander with an Adamant nature to maximize Charizard’s Attack stat and lower the Special Attack it won’t be using. I do have a Ditto, but its nature isn’t adamant. I have a male Haxorus, which can breed with Charmander, since it matches its Dragon Egg Group, but it’s not adamant either. Although I’ll still be using it for a later step.
    So, in this scenario, I’m going to keep breeding any Charmander with Ditto, until I get an adamant one. Then if it’s male, I’ll give an Everstone to it and breed it with ditto again until I hatch a female, which will always have the Adamant nature I’m after.

    -

    #3: Egg Moves
    While there are very little hints in the Pokémon games on what moves are Egg Moves to a Pokémon, the lists have been shared online.

    With my female adamant Charmander, I’m going to breed it with my male Haxorus that knows Dragon Dance and Outrage. Since these are both Egg Moves for Charmander, the eggs produced will have a Charmander that already knows these moves.

    -

    #4: IVs:
    This section is somewhat optional. The importance in perfecting a Pokémon can vary a lot. It may not make much of a difference to have the highest individual values for all stats. Other times, a Pokémon may win a battle or match-up that it wouldn’t have won without the maxed out IVs.
    Personally, I almost always aim for 5 max, 31 IVs on my Pokémon because I’m a very detailed-oriented person.

    By default, Pokémon obtained via breeding will copy 3 individual values between their parents. But beginning in X & Y, if either parent is holding a Destiny Knot, the offspring will have 5 of its 6 stats with the same IV as one of its parents.

    IV Breeding is one of the longest and complicated parts to breeding. But it’ll pay off in the long-run. Getting your first few Pokémon with 5 IVs of 31, “5 IV Pokémon” for short, will generally take longer than future ones.
    There are ways to guarantee the maxed-out 31 IVs on wild Pokémon. Ex: In Sun/Moon, if you make 30 Pokémon get summoned in a SOS Battle, anymore reinforcements in that battle will always have 4 31 IVs!!

    -

    #5 Ability
    This may not be necessarily to worry about, depending on what Pokémon you’re breeding. Some ability options on a Pokémon make little difference, others drastically change how they’ll thrive in-battle, especially by some of the Hidden Abilities.
    In order to get a Hidden Ability on offspring, the mother must have its Hidden Ability (a male or genderless Pokémon breeding with Ditto works too).
    Abele, jkrmnj and Eviltoade like this.
  3. Wow learned some new stuff o_o thanks FM! <3