Crazymoogle
Member
JackFrost2012 said:Crazymoogle: thanks for the detailed advice! It's prolly best I ran into trouble so soon, as it's forcing me to play the game more balanced and realistically.
I know it might be a pain at first, but after awhile there is a certain amount of addiction to gradually growing your pokemon. Don't feel reluctant to look at faqs or websites for pokemon growth info, because sometimes it's a lot easier to endure skulking in the bushes if you know you're looking for one rare pokemon and want to level up one of your own to a specific point.
Clefable is okay, although on cuteness factor I go for Wigglytuff. One thing to keep in mind though - no matter what we say, you can probably train any pokemon into greatness. Some Pokemon have shitty stats, some have shitty move compatibility, but in the end it's more about the makeup of your team. About the only one that is universally hated for this reason is Luvdisc, and you won't be seeing that Pokemon in FR/LG.
Definitely ask John for Staryu - he evolves into Starmie with the easily accessible water stone, and is really easy to catch with a fishing rod. Starmie is an awesome Water/Psychic type, and if you've fought Misty yet, you know how brutal it can be.
There's two other benefits to trading: If you have a pokemon in your group that you did not personally catch, it gains 1.5x EXP for as long as you keep it, and there is a rare chance of your pokemon catching the Pokerus (pokemon virus) which boosts EXP gain for everybody for a certain period of time (actually, I'm not sure if it carries to LG/FR, but I've only ever encountered it once)
Edit: The detriment is that traded pokemon are surly. Badges are needed to keep them in line (I think the water badge guarantees you up to Lv30?) This prevents you from just trading for a Lv99 guy early and mopping the floor with everything.
Where do you get Cut and other HMs? I presume they show up automagically as you go through the story... Also, what does "HM" stand for? Poor Japanese versioned me ... I know most of the Pokemon names bilingually, but the move names are 120% lost on me.
Nope. To earn HMs, you need to find the labcoat scientist guys who are at various points in the game. I think the cut guy may approach you, but some of them are just sitting around in houses and require minimum amounts of 'pokemon caught' in your pokedex. To make matters more complicated, you need to beat the appropriate gym boss to be able to use the move. Cut is easy; you get it from the Captain of the S.S. Anne. If you haven't been to the Anne yet, don't sweat not having HMs.
TMs (Technical Machines)
HMs (Hidden Machines)
As mentioned, if you learn a TM, the TM is used up, but you can always overwrite the move later. HMs can never be used up, but you can't overwrite the move without the aforementioned extraordinary measures. Since Paras can learn cut and flash, he's a good HM pokemon early on.