Since I have played Red/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/LeafGreen/Let's Go about 20 times in my life previously, when these games launched on Switch I knew I needed to play them a little differently than usual. I thought about all of the Pokemon I've never truly experienced on a team before, and came up with some rules. I'm sure these rules have been used in similar ways by others before, but I didn't go searching for them, so the way I've played this game might be interesting to some.
Rule 1: Must catch every available Pokemon on a route before continuing. If I already own a Pokemon of that species/evolutionary line, no catching. (NO LEGENDS THOUGH)
Rule 2: At Brock's Gym, after defeating all gym trainers besides Brock, randomly choose 2 Pokemon from my team. I must bear Brock with these Pokemon.
Rule 3: After beating Brock, and after beating every gym leader from now on, randomly choose 6 Pokemon from my caught Pokemon up to that point. They will be my team until I beat the next leader.
Rule 4: For each gym, after beating all gym trainers, randomly choose Pokemon from my party up to the amount the leader has. I must bear the leader with those Pokemon.
HM Clause: If a section of the game requires HMs and nobody in my randomly generated team can use the required move, I must deposit Pokemon and withdraw HM users. However, the team to be used in the gym remains the same.
These rules are why my playtime is so high, as I would constantly pull one or two low level Pokemon onto my team and need to grind them up, as they could end up being randomly chosen for my gym leader team. Another few reasons why the playtime is so high:
– Porygon. Thank god this was LeafGreen, but still, that was a lot of time standing at the slot machine, as I couldn't move on from Celadon until I had it.
– Safari Zone. Tauros especially. Catching Tauros was a few hours by himself. Although I did save a lot of time in the Safari Zone in the end, as the one and only Chansey I caught was holding a Lucky Egg!!
– Elite Four. My team rolled after Giovanni were a mix of low 30s and early teens for their levels. I spent a few days grinding a bit here and there on Kindle Road and trading the Lucky Egg and EXP Share around before tackling the elite four with Pokemon between level 43 and 50.
Overall I had a lot of fun playing this way and working out strategies with Pokemon I'd never usually use. However I feel this would be a little more fun and less time consuming in a Gen 6 or later game. I might try it with Sword and Shield, as I've been meaning to replay those games.
by TheHighway