The Fifth Critically Relevant Question of Our Era

[Hanatori]

You've just purchased a new main game, and you're awfully excited...

When you receive your starter, you decide to keep exploring your hometown for a while before proceeding with your journey. When you go back to your room, you once again notice a staircase leading to the uppermost floor of your house. Going up the staircase, as you quickly learn, leads to a moderately sized Pokemon reserve with wild grasses and Surfable routes that you can navigate with the help of a Pokemon provided by an attending lab assistant. When you get to a wild encounter, you quickly discover that all of the Pokemon are leveled well into the 70s, fully evolved or in the second stage of a three-stage line, and, with the trust of the lab assistant, allowed to be caught. Of course, all you have is your puny level 5 starter.

Do you:
A. Load up on Pokeballs at the first opportunity, go back to the roof, and prepare to soft reset like crazy?
B. Disregard the area completely and proceed as usual?
C. Take a third option, either completely different or with shades of the previous two?

Some further guidelines for this question:
1. You do not get to use the Surfer provided by the lab assistant in battle.
2. Contrary to usual wild encounters, you are allowed to run away at any point despite your partner's lower speed. Of course, engaging them in battle will end in KOs and whiteouts.
3. Capture rates are normal.
4. While some people in the region are aware of the reserve, you will not encounter Pokemon this overlevelled at any other point in the game. You do not need these Pokemon at all.
5. If you do capture one of these Pokemon, standard game rules about disobedient Pokemon apply - you can use it, it'll take hits like a champ and annihilate most everything in its way for most of the main storyline, but you'll likely be waiting a few turns for it to actually fight until you get the right badge. (I may or may not have this correct - does this only apply to traded 'mon these days? Confirm/deny?)

[Talon87]

This is basically a well-dressed variant on "Do you import Pokémon at the first chance you get and do you use them in Story Mode?" And since my answer to that two-part question is "No and no," it's going to be a no again here. Option B, "disregard the area completely and proceed as usual." Not before taking photos and posting about it on UPN (in case it's a glitch) and seeing if others have noticed this elsewhere (by checking Bulbapedia, Serebii forums, etc.), but yeah, I wouldn't want to catch anything there just yet. Maybe after Story Mode is beaten, but not before.

[Toyo]

Personally going with B, because it's probably a glitch and I'd like to just continue living on with the game. Certainly would be interested in checking it out post-game, if it's still there though.

[Lanturn]

C or B, really depends. I like to play around with glitches/hacks. If this was on a catridge, it's a B. I don't like to do the 'sweep E4 with Lv. 70 something'. IMO it feels a bit pointless to me since all you see is just stuff going down the floor over and over and the sensation... which you'll get bored of after 5 x 5 times.

[Emi]

Going with B - I'd rather leave it till later. It's just oddly unethical to me.

[Kindrindra]

Going with B- From the scenario, you make it sound like it's not a glitch or anything, just something that was (oddly) put in the game. After discovering the high leveled 'mon, I'd probably mentally label it as a post-game zone and continue on my way, to come back much, much later.

[DaveTheFishGuy]

Voted B for the same reasons as everyone else.

I love how your mind works, Hana :]

[Loki]

I am smoking Bacon. And don't call me a baby goat.

[Tyranidos]

I went with D because I want whatever you're smoking.

[Lady Kuno]

A because why the hell not. That sounds too awesome to pass up. I probably wouldn't even use them. It would just be funny to do.

[Torkoal Stu]

A.

And then proceed to steamroll the story mode with a team of amazing high levelled Pokémon~

Let's be honest, you have a million play throughs of every Pokémon game to play through it 'properly', this is potentially a one off so you might as well go with it at least for a little bit and then restart if you're really unhappy.

Either way, fuck the haters.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Torkoal Stu

Let's be honest, you have a million play throughs of every Pokémon game to play through it 'properly', this is potentially a one off so you might as well go with it at least for a little bit and then restart if you're really unhappy.

Summer 2009 or '10. Pokémon Diamond. Pokésav. Properly EVed Chimchar. Properly EVed Gastly. Didn't touch their levels, didn't evolve them ahead of time (obv), just gave them 4/252/252 EVs and gave myself the Gastly in the first place that I ought not to have had. Least memorable Pokémon playthrough experience I've ever had. I can't even remember the other members of my team and I have like zero emotional attachment to that Infernape and Gengar. They feel wrong to me -- undeserved -- even though I can easily grind EVs during Story Mode (I'd done it once before and have since done it once again) and even though the only, only real cheating I did was to give myself access to a good species you normally can't have access to that early in Diamond. (And it's not like you can't have early access to Gastly period! Sprout Tower in Johto, remember?) But they still feel wrong.

I can guarantee you, I wouldn't be able to enjoy myself playing the game with a team of Level 70s. If a duo of Level 5s with meager stat changes thanks to EV training killed it for me, imagine what having Level 70s whilst squaring off against Level 15s and 20s would do.

You have fun with it though, Stu. :p Don't hold back on our account.