Topic: Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee!

Oh man, now I want an Evee to catch.

Just learned about STAB (same type attack bonus) and suddenly realized I have no clue what I'm doing. There are so many types and strengths and weaknesses for each type, and certain Pokémon belong to two different types so the strengths and weaknesses overlap, some cancelling out and some doubling up.

Is there a general strategy for all this or is one really expected to memorize each and every strength and weakness for each type? Does it just come with time, and am I OK guessing for the most part as I go through the game?

Hah, I've been playing since the series first started and I haven't a clue about most type matchups still. Sometimes I even foolishly use normal attacks on a ghost type. There really is nothing to do but memorise everything or guess your way through it.

Some of the matchups don't make as much sense as others but I always thought some were common sense. I try to think what would happen if it was real life (normal people are weak to getting punched in the face, plants absorb water, throwing rocks at birds doesn't really help them etc )

I think they have standard ones that make sense and then the rest were for balancing, I still don't understand why Kanto had tons of certain types but barely any with others, I mean they had a creepy town but only three ghost Pokémon!? That's just weird...

It definitely comes with time but even as someone whose played pretty much every game since Red and Blue I still forget some things. It's usually with Pokemon that dont have an offensive advantage over the type they resist.
There are also moves that throw things off like Foresight which allows Fighting and Normal type moves to affect Ghost.
Each type have there own unique features as well. Powder moves dont work on grass Pokemon. Electric Pokemon can't be paralyzed. Things like that.

I had a lot of the type effects down pretty well until they decided to throw Fairy into the mix. Granted, it was the first type to be introduced since Gen 2; I've had a lot more time to digest the effects of the rest. XD I still forget a couple of the weirder ones sometimes, like Bug being super-effective against Dark.

As the others have suggested, you definitely start to pick it up a lot more easily over time, but long gone are the days I can keep it all up in my head.

It’s still pretty doable for gen 1 (although I wasn’t expecting dark moves or fairy type to be in this weirdly as they weren’t in yellow, but a nice surprise!), but with the sheer amount of ‘mons added now and the plethora of dual types it starts to become spreadsheet territory & a little beyond my age addled memory to remember it all!

One QoL feature I hope they add in the new games is being able to use the pokedex mid-fight like Ash can - always got my phone handy but it’d be kewl if it was all in-game/battle (unless it already is and i’ve missed it!).

@ReaderRagfish Because Alakazam can’t bend a steel spoon, only sterling silver and nickel.

Ok, so since the game can be a tad easy (and if anyone has the eevee edition and wants close to a ‘win button’, just find the guy who teaches eevee some special moves - they’re 100% accurate & 90 strength which is a touch insane!) i’ve been championing (& probably annoying you all by mentioning it) mixing your team up a bit by using less-favoured ‘mons.

Now obvious ones to pick would be rattata or pidgey but I wanted to be a little bit more creative whilst also building a team that’s catchable pretty early (in case anyone else wants to try - although version subs may be needed) - to that end the team i’m going with and trying to beat the elite 4 with is;

Ekans
Meowth
Spearow
Psyduck
Vulpix
Clefairy

Rules are they can’t evolve and I can only use a TM once per the team (so they can’t all rock earthquake!), i’m also not planning to use any candy. Happy to hear any alternative suggestions/if you’re doing a similar type thing but felt this has a good mix of anime tie-in along with lesser-mons.

Vulpix is my main question mark - i’ve never used it (or ninetales) but worry it might be a bit of a strong choice - is there a weaker fire type anyone can suggest that is catch-able early doors?

I know dark moves are in this now but i still think psychic types rule gen 1 (my boy alakazam ftw!) so have avoided having one.

Anyone up for the challenge?

@Tyranexx
But... fairy type is in this game, isn’t it? I swear Mew is a fairy type, no? And I’ve caught some other Jigglypuff looking Pokémon that were fairy type... at least I thought. Wait, no. I’m thinking of Psychic. Right? Fairy isn’t in the game then, seeing as it was added later?

Fairy is in the game, and Mew is psychic type.

Oh, so they added types that didn’t come til later in the series... interesting.

Is there anything else added in that technically wasn’t present in Yellow?

This is 100% accurate in my case. XD I recently found a notebook from second grade where I had drawn some Pokemon. Needless to say that I was pretty obsessed. That would have been in the late 90s.

@JaxonH: Most types have been in the games since the original Red/Blue/Yellow. Steel and Dark types were both added in Gen 2 (Gold/Silver/Crystal). Fairy types were added in Gen 6 (X/Y). Some Pokemon that were originally just Normal types had their types changed completely or amended; Clefairy/Clefable are pure Fairy types now, while Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff had Fairy typing added to their Normal typing.

Back in yellow, a Pokemons sp. Atk and sp. Def were the same stat. I'm not exactly sure when they became separate stats.
Another thing that was not in yellow was the physical and special move split. So, in the old games attacks that were water, electric, fire etc. always use the special stat to calculate damage and normal, fighting, rock(?) type used the regular attack stat to calculate damage. This changed in gen 3 so a move like thunderbolt would use sp. atk while a move like thunder punch would use the atk stat.

I think the attack/defense split (spatk/spdef added) came after yellow/in gen 2 too didn’t it? That’s (thankfully) included here too, was such a simple change but made such a big (positive) difference!

I never actually played yellow (just red & blue) so may have been included from there? I know it was in gold - but not sure if heartgold only? Ah who cares, the games are better for it and it’s in let’s go so all good!

Edit: Ha, and in all that time thinking out loud someone beat me to it anyway!

Correct. I'm pretty sure the Sp. Attack/Defense split first occurred in Gold/Silver.

@ReaderRagfish You're quite right. To this day I still know every single Pokemon in Gens 1, 2, 3, and 4 (when I was a big fan of Pokemon). Not quite as good at identifying ones in Gens 5/6/7 since those I experienced when I was much older after a "I'm too old for Pokemon" spell. Played White for the first time a few months ago and still haven't played Gens 6 and 7 (don't have a 3DS), but I'm familiar with the majority of Pokemon from each of those 3 gens thanks to Pokemon Showdown, the XY and XYZ anime, and my general interest in Pokemon.

@JaxonH Great to see you're becoming a fan of Pokemon! It's a fun game to get invested in. Type matchups are usually somewhat intuitive (fire burns grass so fire > grass, etc.) but some are definitely unintuitive (especially anything with Fairy types). Usually you'll learn through trial and error, which is the best way to learn in games IMHO — that's why BotW for example was so lauded, you learn on your own how to survive and defeat enemies, you're not told through a text box or have excessive hand-holding like you do in these games. Figuring out type matchups should be an "aha!" moment, not something you memorize from an NPC. ... But I digress.

Other changes from Yellow besides the addition of Dark, Steel, and Fairy types include the physical/special split, so that some moves from each type are physical while others are special, and the special split into special attack and special defense. And all your Pokemon get experience now after a battle/catch unlike in Yellow, where only the Pokemon participating get experience (and got no experience with a catch). Besides the addition of lots of new moves and the Alolan forms (which are essentially remixes of some of the older Pokemon with new types to make them fresh), these games are quite similar to Yellow at their core.

@Fooligan Actually that happened in Gen 4, but otherwise you're right. The physical/special split was a huge improvement that still ranks as one of the most beneficial changes the entire series has experienced so far.

@Tyranexx
Clefairy and Clefable... yes. Those were the two I caught. The Clefable was GIGANTIC. And it had a red circle, and was super hard to catch. Had to use like three berries and several great balls, but I got him. Man I was so happy when I got him...

@shadow-wolf
I heard about special and physical, but wasn’t quite sure how to tell the difference. Mayby it’s right in the move’s name and I just wasn’t looking. I got to trade this girl for a Rattata that looked different, which I thought was pretty cool. Also had two evolutions. My bug evolved into a cacoon, which evolved into a warrior bee with drills for arms. Dude is so rad. And my bulbasaur now has a plant growing on its back.

@JaxonH If you look at the move, there's a red, blue or grey icon next to it. Red means physical, blue means special, and grey is ''other'' for non-damaging moves. It requires you to know the general stat distribution of a Pokemon to use effectively. You can tell whether your Pokemon is attack or special attack focused. That Beedrill you got earlier, it should have a higher attack stat than its special attack. For defending Pokemon it's a guessing game. But there are some general rules, Rock and Ground Pokemon usually have a very high defence, but low special defence. Psychic Pokemon tend to have higher special defence stats. As long as a move is super effective, none of this really matters in-game, but it's the reason why competitive battles can be so much fun.

I'm not sure if natures and abilities are in this game, maybe they've taken them out, but those were a huge game changer when they arrived in generation 3. Generation 2, 3 and 4 basically changed the meta game with each entry, and it mostly stayed the same ever since 4.

Natures (which affect stats) are still in, abilities (which provide unique buffs) aren't. Which is good because newcomers to the series should not be introduced to the horrors of Sturdy... yet.

@EvilLucario At least Sturdy means that the average battle lasts longer than one turn