Grinding

[Lucos]

I guess most of you people will know what 'grinding' means and for the one who doesn't, it means beating up lots of simple foes to gain a lot of (small) portions of exp. This is a technique often used in RPG's and MMORPG's to level up your character. Although it goes slower than beating up foes at your own level, it does give you a little head start, well, at least in pokémon it does.

My question, however, is, does beating up a lot of small fry in order to get lvl20 or higher pokémon at the time you get your first badge (your pokémon usually are around lvl15 if you don't 'grind') affect your pokémon's stats?
In other words, does your pokémon get stronger (or weaker) when you let him fight stronger foes compared to when you let him beat up loads of small fry or does it really not matter at all?

 

[Disfunction51]

At level 100 it doen't matter at all. The only thing you get by battling more pokemon is extra EV points which you would probably max out any way while leveling up.

 

[5wamp3rt]

If what you fight is the same pokemon species, it does not affect your pokemon's stats at all, whether it's Lv. 5 or 50. You just get different amounts of exp.

 

[arceus7]

well it depends on what stats you want and the evs you grind in the beggining if you grind with a pidgey against rattata's and other pidgeys in the beginning in leafgreen your gonna get a whole lot of speed busts

 

[foxyman1167]

I guess most of you people will know what 'grinding' means and for the one who doesn't, it means beating up lots of simple foes to gain a lot of (small) portions of exp. This is a technique often used in RPG's and MMORPG's to level up your character. Although it goes slower than beating up foes at your own level, it does give you a little head start, well, at least in pokémon it does.

My question, however, is, does beating up a lot of small fry in order to get lvl20 or higher pokémon at the time you get your first badge (your pokémon usually are around lvl15 if you don't 'grind') affect your pokémon's stats?
In other words, does your pokémon get stronger (or weaker) when you let him fight stronger foes compared to when you let him beat up loads of small fry or does it really not matter at all?

Well the pokemons stats will be higher, but thats from being at a higher level, so no.

PS. I hate grinding.

 

[Lucos]

PS. I hate grinding.

I also hate grinding, but I think it part of the game. For what I've experienced, your pokémon are merely lvl40 when entering the poké league if you never 'grinded' during your adventure. Maybe I just suck, but there is no way to beat the E4 with a lvl40 team, so you end up grinding till your pokémon are at least near lvl50. So in the end, you always have to grind your way up at one point or another, so I rather do it in the beginning of the game, to give myself a little head-start.

 

[An00bis]

I beat the E4 in Pearl with two Pokemon under level 40, one Level 42 Pokemon, and a Level 15 HM Slave that never saw a proper battle. It is possible but extremely difficult. I don't have the patience to just sit in the grass fighting for an hour or more so I just keep on moving and challenging until I win. Suppose that's why I do my post E4 EV training in random spurts.

In truth there are enough mandatory fights from Town to Town that you can't run from that the only way you'd be unprepared for the Gym Leader or Elite 4 is if you continually rotate your Team with newly caught Pokemon thus losing the EXP and EVs you would have gotten from the mandatory fights.

 

[Brock Coli]

I don't tend to grind unless I have a new, under-leveled addition to my team.

 

[Tiomasta]

My question, however, is, does beating up a lot of small fry in order to get lvl20 or higher pokémon at the time you get your first badge (your pokémon usually are around lvl15 if you don't 'grind') affect your pokémon's stats?
In other words, does your pokémon get stronger (or weaker) when you let him fight stronger foes compared to when you let him beat up loads of small fry or does it really not matter at all?

The only difference is EV. Which you shouldn't care before you get the power items in the frontier.

Beating up more pokes(low levels) gets you more EVs(because the EV is the same in all levels), so it could be more useful, if you know what to kill(Atk EVs for physical attackers, etc).

But without the power items you get so little EPs and your poke isn't at a high level so it will barely make any difference.

 

[GolemGuy]

I, personally, spend some time grinding before each "Boss Batle" or string of them.

For example:

I grinded to Lv. 45 before facing Volkner
I grinded to Lv. 50 before going through Victory Road
I grinded to Lv. 55 before facing the E. 4.

I only don't do this if the boss has an abhorrent tendency for being easy. For example, even though the first Trainer in Gardiena's gym has two Lv. 17 Pokemon, I'm going through it with my 4 Lv. 16 Pokemon because in Diamond, my Staravia OHKOed everyone in the gym with Wing Attack.

 

[WhereIsMyWonderland]

The only time I ever grind is usually in the very beginning of the game and before gyms to reach certain levels.
For instance, after obtaining the starter pokémon-- even before getting the first 5 pokéballs, I always train on Route 201 until my starter evolves, then I make my way through the game, training only my starter until I've beaten the main storyline.
When preparing for Gym Leaders, I grind only to get my pokémon to a level that is ten levels higher than ten-times the order number of the gym. (Example: 1st Gym = Lv20, 2nd Gym = Lv30, etc.)
If you beat the right amount of trainers on your way through the game (like, I dunno... all of them?) you may not even need to grind. The only difference is Effort Values anyway, and that isn't entirely important in the main story to begin with.