Is EV Training Easy Mode?

[Raviel the Phantom]

So since I got a new laptop I lost my old save file. Playing through I have been using the different bands to improve the EVs on my Pokemon. Now I am not maxing them, but reaching their best stats to about 150+ points with good natures to support. Now I have noticed that some fights have gone a lot better, especially Aya, but I wasn't sure that was because of my Fraxure or not. So I would like to get some opinions on this. Does EV training make Reborn too easy?

[Exalted]

it makes it slightly easier but not to easy

[laggless01]

Yeah, it just makes things a bit more predictable/reliable. I even IV-breed all my mons when I can, it can add just that bit of extra punch to beat some opponents.

[FairFamily]

The power items do make it easier at first because you basically get free ev's at first. I experienced this as well and just like you it made me question wether or not it was fair. After a while that effect goes away because you reached your maximum ev stat total and then it basically becomes a part of your strategy. The game gives you many options to improve your strategy and some parts of this strategy invalidate some difficulty of the game. For instance is using boomburst in the glass field against Serra to break her entire strategy broken or clever? The same with setting Shelly's field on fire, the sheer diffculty removal that action does is staggering. Another strategic choice would be to run perish song/destiny bond against any pulse. What about about type advantage, my Mismagius swept Bennet before Luna with power gem alone. So if you use the entire toolset the game gives you, the game becomes a lot easier. But can you call it easier? You still use a lot of strategy, you just shifted some elements of your strategy around, in this case money management. The fact that you feel a lack of difficulty in some other parts is only natural.

Edited April 1, 2016 by FairFamily

[Personthing]

EV training completely snaps the game in half, often leading to very easy OHKO victories on most enemy pokemon if the EVs raised were attack or special attack.

[MetrololAce]

I would say EV training should NOT be needed for Reborn's difficulty. Simply observe the level cap and play for match ups if you are having trouble.

There are a few trials in the game for sure, but after playing though Reborn multiple times with a serious mindset, I found no need for any perfectly optimized pokemon.

That level of difficulty can be seen in Intense Mode for Pokemon Rejuvenation, for example.

There are few situations out there in any fan game where max EVs is going to be anything other than your choice per time.

[RainbowHugs]

It makes it a little easier, but not to the point of sweeping

[Commander]

I see this question come up time and time again, but nobody seems to give an exact answer and it's always divided. While you can EV train, Reborn was designed around the fact that EVs are spread out unevenly between Pokemon so that almost any Pokemon can be used at any time allowing for a variety of teams. Obviously, a Blaziken is going to break the entire game with or without EVs and a Pokemon like Corsola and Blissey is going to be pretty worthless even with perfect stats. Yes, I called Blissey really bad as its a hassle to even use due to the lack of TMs. For the most part, it'll either make the Pokemon do a little bit more damage or take a little bit more hits.

Speed, on the other hand, is probably the one which will make the game easier because its so important. Most Pokemon on the opponent's side will go down in two hits (this can also be applied to your side as well). If you attack first, the opponent's Pokemon goes down, but if they attack first, yours is going down. That alone can change the potential difficulty of the game into a complete joke. This could also be applied to Hardcore, but I did focus on making it difficult to use cheap strategies on the leaders.

So in a nutshell, EV sets alone won't break Reborn, but the game may feel a lot easier because there's a whole thread dedicated to beating leaders along with walkthroughs of everything the bosses have and do, you've probably beaten the game already so you can prepare easily for the leaders, and the fact that Pokemon Reborn is designed as a game for people who kind of know how to fight with Pokemon, but they don't need competitive experience to play it. It was also designed so that any Pokemon could be used to enjoy it (within reason of course).

The same exact argument could be said for the Hardcore mod I made. Yeah, it's a bit more difficult to get easy wins, but after enough people play it, I'm sure they can exploit every fight one way or another. EVs probably wouldn't affect the difficulty that much, but I certainly didn't design it to become a grindfest like that (I am actually against spending hours to grind). I pretty much designed it for people who feel Reborn is a bit too easy, but it's something that sticks as close to the Reborn feeling as possible.

tl;dr: EVs can make the game easier, but there's quite a bit on what makes a Pokemon game easy or difficult. I usually just say, "Make the game as hard as you want," since there's so much you can do to make the game harder (set style, no items comes to mind).

[AeroWraith]

I wouldn't say easy mode. I still had a good number of moments of getting destroyed even after EV training my mons. It does make some trainer battles easier to go through but gym leaders, rivals, and team meteor members can still be a pain.

Edited April 3, 2016 by IronWraith

[Ironbound]

There is a reason why EVs and IVs have a significant impact in the game. At Lv 100, you're literally adding a maximum of 94 points to a stat with perfect IVs and maxed EVs.

Reborn is not so simple a game where a properly bred and raised Pokemon will break the challenge; rather, it adds the right element of reliability. As has already been said, a borked Pokemon like Blaziken or Greninja will make the game easier regardless of their EVs.

I, however, always raise my mons perfectly, with the power items and by the murder of scores of bats, rats, cats and magma snails. In fact, although this is purely for personal pleasure, I raised up a boxful of competitive mons with near-perfect or perfect IVs, as good a moveset as currently available and competitive EV spreads, just as trophies. Having the Shiny Charm means that very often you have a perfect shiny specimen as well.

Granted, you needn't hatch 200+ eggs for that one mystical perfect IVs HP Fire Magnemite (trust me, genderless Hidden Power breeding is a nightmare. Especially with only one Ditto) but you certainly would be doing yourself the right favour by raising your mons well in EVs. It won't make the game too easy, rather, the choice of mons may.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Viridescent

[Foamy]

EV-training makes the battles marginally easier, but it doesn't affect too many of the outcomes. Most 2HKOs will still be 2HKOs, you'll still outspeed most of the things that you'd normally outspeed, etc.

I'd say that EV-training is more noticeable in boss fights, where you're often "trading up" with Pokémon that are higher levels than yours. For example, my Level 67 Jolly max Speed Archeops was able to outspeed Ciel's Noivern, which wouldn't have happened if her Noivern had been more invested in Speed.

[Sheep]

I'd say it depends on when you're EV training. If you don't EV train until after you beat Luna, but then continue from there with a full team of EV trained pokemon then you'll generally be facing off against similarly trained pokemon. For the boss battles anyway, regular trainers tend to just fall over once you EV train some good stuff but regular trainers tend to just fall over anyway so it's not a big loss.

[Damage]

Im not a super great trainer or anything but generally speaking if you know how to ev train on a pokemon to pokemon basis then how many AIs are really going to outmatched your fully trained team. If you don't know ev training as well then you'll probably get a decent team and have an enjoyable challenge and if you don't know it at all then the challenge gets steeper. I think things like this can only break the game in the hands of the user. If youre one of the best then even hardcore reborn will only push you so far, ev training or not. conversely if youre one of the worst then reborn wont get easier with a perfect team because you can't utilize it correctly against the highly competent ai and their op fields.

[Imperial]

It also depends on how you play. For a normal run where you can have various pokemon of course it's easier but not so much. If like me you try a mono dragon run on Reborn hardcore, with just a deino and a noibat at the beginning... Well, I had to EV train speed just to make possible to beat Florinia. In general for mono runs where you're limited in your choice of pokemon, it can make things much easier since you can improve pokemons that would be too weak otherwise