So. About those egg moves.
Yeah.
Egg moves are not a prerequisite on every Pokemon. Sometimes they are useful and sometimes they are not. Some Pokemon have none at all.
And besides, breeding is usually available relatively early in the game. It's not like you have to beat the Elite Four before you can get an egg.
I'm not saying your entire Elite Four team should be tournament material. I'm saying that *A* Pokemon you played the game with should be viable.
What about your starter? If you intend to use a starter evolution for multiplayer, you basically have to breed a new one, even if you don't intend to use a single egg move. What is the point of that? If you're crazy enough to breed for IVs, fine. Some people will just find something remotely beneficial with a proper Nature and leave it at that, which is what you pretty much have to do if you intend to battle with a non-breedable Pokemon anyway.
It's actually worse than that. You only get 127 bonus points to distribute among your attributes, so if you accidentally kill something that gives you EVs in the wrong stat, you permanently screw yourself. And the game doesn't [tornado fang]ing tell you ANYTHING about this.
This is exactly my point. You're pretty much guaranteed to get the wrong EVs in normal gameplay, therefore, Pokemon used in gameplay are worthless unless you berry the hell out of them. It shouldn't be that way. If you were negligent in IVs/Nature, fine, that's your own problem. But EVs are nearly impossible to work around.
But that gets me started on how shitty I think the lack of legacy in 3rd generation was. Why was it so hard to handle it that time around?
Because of the change in how the "randomization" as you put it was handled.
In 1st and 2nd gen, EVs did not exist as they do currently, instead there was a stat-experience system that gained by the base stats of the Pokemon you defeated in battle. All had their individual caps, of course, but there was no total cap, and you always gained SOMETHING in every stat from every battle. With EVs, an individual stat caps at 255 but your total caps at only 510 (allowing you to max only two stats), and a Pokemon defeated will usually only give you EVs in a single stat; rarely 2 or 3, never more than that.
Also, the IV (Individual Value, this is randomization irrelevant of battle experience; or why two wild Pokemon of the same species and level may have slightly different stats) range was expanded. 1st and 2nd gen ranged from 0 to 15. In 3rd gen on, it's 0 to 31.
Personally, I like the EV system since it at least gives non legendary pokes a chance at taking on the Legendaries without struggling like they should. Plus it adds a layer of complexity that the game normally wouldn't have before.
It's really fun to take out an all legendary with an EV trained team. The look on the other guy's face is priceless.
The EV system has nothing to do with that, as legendaries can be EV-trained just the same. That and numerous legends were weakened in the shift from 1st to 2nd generation. Specifically, all three of the birds and Mewtwo. Everyone thinks Arceus is so big and bad, but the truth is Mewtwo would still surpass him if his Special Defense hadn't been slaughtered. And that's ignoring R/B/Y Amnesia physics. There is nothing more evil than a first-gen Mewtwo.
Their happiness goes up when I give them vitamins!
Yeah, but vitamins won't get you more than 100 EVs, so you're actually helping Keno's point there. Whatever it is. >.>
x2 for pokerus
I hate Pokerus. I have better things to do than harvest stealthy-but-stupid single celled organisms amongst my Pokemon.
Understanding what's going on doesn't ruin the game, it makes it better.
Do yourself a favor and don't read too many guides about X5.
I thought that Rare Candies worked the same as leveling in 1st gen.
Nope. In 1st and 2nd gen you have stat experience, which basically plays the role that EVs do in 3rd gen and on. Except the stat experience lacked a total cap.
I'm playing Crystal right now. How do they work in that?
Each stat has its own "invisible" experience. Whenever one of your Pokemon defeats an opponent, all of its stats gain experience equal to the base stats (that is, the strengths of a Pokemon's species) of the opponent. Each stat can gain a maximum of 65,535 experience. Vitamins can get you up to 25,600 experience in a single stat.