Asked ChatGPT to make a Pokemon team. Here's how it went down.

[RogueLynx]

first things first, i don't know the first thing about Pokemon. never played any Pokemon game except Pokecrater on browser for a year or so way back when and i didn't have the foggiest idea what i was doing. i remember teaching a Wartortle Smokescreen because i thought it was cool to have a Water-type that knew a Fire move. Smokesreen's not even a Fire move is it? yeah, its not. i just checked.

ANYWAY, i came across a vid on Insta where a dude was like, "make a Pokemon team based on your birthday like this...", and i was like, "sure, why not?".

following his instructions, i ended up with Crocalor/Rattata/Farigarif. and i didn't think it was particularly good since it had Rattata in it.

so i asked ChatGPT how viable the team was and she said, to summarize, that:

1. Rattata is shit, even when evolved to Ratticate
2. You probably want a Water- and/or Fairy-type in the mix

so then i asked her whether it would be better to swap out Rattata with Azumarill or with Primarina, and she said Azumarill.

then i asked her about further additions one could make to complete the team and eventually ended up with:

• Skeledirge
• Farigarif
• Azumarill
• Garchomp
• Corviknight
• Amoonguss

Corviknight and Amoonguss appeared to be her favorite Pokemon.

what do you folks who actually know about Pokemon think of this team?

 

[Nah]

For a general playthrough of the games you can make a lot of Pokemon and team combinations work. As long as you're adequately leveled, understand the basics, and have decent enough type coverage (both in terms of the types of the Pokemon themselves and their movesets) for all the major opponents in the game (rivals, gym leaders, Elite 4, antagonist team, etc) you usually can handle the games without too much issue.

And what the bot recommended definitely isn't bad and it could've recommended far worse (like, say, a Magikarp is really not going to do much of value ever). If you get into like the Battle Tower or competitive battling or challenge runs (Nuzlockes, monotype runs, to name a few) it requires a bit more effort and thought though.

 

[RogueLynx]

For a general playthrough of the games you can make a lot of Pokemon and team combinations work. As long as you're adequately leveled, understand the basics, and have decent enough type coverage (both in terms of the types of the Pokemon themselves and their movesets) for all the major opponents in the game (rivals, gym leaders, Elite 4, antagonist team, etc) you usually can handle the games without too much issue.

hmm... that does make a lot of sense. Pokemon never would have achieved the popularity it did if it punished players for straying off the most optimal paths.

lets approach this from a different angle. what makes Skeledirge/Farigarif/Azumarill/Garchomp/Corviknight/Amoonguss exciting or fun? or, what makes it boring? would, whoever you are reading this, like to play with this team specifically? why or why not? just personal opinions and preferences.

 

[Devalue]

Usually finds it fun to use less common or weaker Pokemon. Would not care much for having Garchomp and Amoonguss, for that reason. Grows a little tired from seeing them in competitive, despite not being a competitive player. Minds them less if there is some kind of self-imposed restriction. (Admittedly evolves Garchomp pretty late at 48. Would be on the weaker side until then. Fights the Champion in Scarlet/Violet at level 60-62, for reference.)

Already demolished a Pokemon game with Corviknight. Does not need to do so again.

Leaves Skeledirge, Farigiraf, and Azumarill. Views them with a little more interest. Considers none of them particularly weak. Never used any of them in a playthrough, though. Wonders how well someone like Azumarill would do (main gimmick: use Belly Drum to max your Attack, but at the cost of half your total health). Expects Skeledirge to be pretty strong with spamming Torch Song (good damage and increases your Special Attack every time you use it). Knows about Farigiraf appearing on some competitive teams recently, in a niche that does not translate well to a normal game. Would be curious to see what it can do.

Would not be super jazzed about using this team, overall. Likely performs too well. Might be alright with the right self-imposed restrictions. Probably means being pretty underleveled for most fights. Could also force them to learn new moves in order too. Pushes out some of the more useful moves, probably.

 

[Explorer of Time]

lets approach this from a different angle. what makes Skeledirge/Farigarif/Azumarill/Garchomp/Corviknight/Amoonguss exciting or fun? or, what makes it boring? would, whoever you are reading this, like to play with this team specifically? why or why not? just personal opinions and preferences.

Personally? Not a fan. They all have different types, but all of them save for Garchomp are on the slow side, and I prefer my teams to have more of a unifying theme. This team won't excel competitively, and nothing about it stands out in a way that makes it memorable. As far as I can tell, it was picked to minimize shared type weaknesses and not much else. It is aggressively mediocre, and I'd even take a bad team over it because at least that would be interesting to try and win with.

My advice? Stop listening to ChatGPT and pick a team that stands out to you. It could be a monotype team, a thematically-related team, or just six Pokemon that appeal to you, but even in a worst-case scenario it will still be more interesting than whatever a chatbot that has never played a Pokemon game would suggest.

 

[PoryKid575]

first things first, i don't know the first thing about Pokemon. never played any Pokemon game except Pokecrater on browser for a year or so way back when and i didn't have the foggiest idea what i was doing. i remember teaching a Wartortle Smokescreen because i thought it was cool to have a Water-type that knew a Fire move. Smokesreen's not even a Fire move is it? yeah, its not. i just checked.

ANYWAY, i came across a vid on Insta where a dude was like, "make a Pokemon team based on your birthday like this...", and i was like, "sure, why not?".

following his instructions, i ended up with Crocalor/Rattata/Farigarif. and i didn't think it was particularly good since it had Rattata in it.

so i asked ChatGPT how viable the team was and she said, to summarize, that:

1. Rattata is shit, even when evolved to Ratticate
2. You probably want a Water- and/or Fairy-type in the mix

so then i asked her whether it would be better to swap out Rattata with Azumarill or with Primarina, and she said Azumarill.

then i asked her about further additions one could make to complete the team and eventually ended up with:

• Skeledirge
• Farigarif
• Azumarill
• Garchomp
• Corviknight
• Amoonguss

Corviknight and Amoonguss appeared to be her favorite Pokemon.

what do you folks who actually know about Pokemon think of this team?

That team is perfectly serviceable for the main story, the games are designed to be easily beatable with essentially any combination; so you can choose whatever you want (which I would personally recommend, as it'll feel more like "your" unique team compared to using what a chatbot said to use) as long as you stay properly leveled, bring a good amount of healing items and know your type matchups. It is on the slow side, but the team has good type coverage as well as decent movepools / stats that'll more then carry you through anything the game will throw at you during the campaign.

 

[Alex_Among_Foxes]

lets approach this from a different angle. what makes Skeledirge/Farigarif/Azumarill/Garchomp/Corviknight/Amoonguss exciting or fun? or, what makes it boring? would, whoever you are reading this, like to play with this team specifically? why or why not? just personal opinions and preferences.

I've ran (separately) with 5 of those 6 before. The only one I'd have no interest in is Farigarif because I just don't care for it design-wise. The rest of the team is decent, though I'd replace that one Pokemon with a Dark type (preference) like Umbreon or something depending on what game it is. Otherwise I'd be fine with it.

 

[Zeostar]

I haven't played competitively in a while.

But I feel like the combination of Azumarill, Garchomp, Corviknight, and Amoongus could be found on a standard competitive team.

I'm not sure if the A.I did that on purpose.

 

[ReKoil]

You can make anything work on a playthrough tbh. If you want a team of nothing but Spinda you can beat the game with it. It's probably not gonna be a very pleasant experience for the average player but it can definitely be done.

This team looks like the AI just searched for a bunch of 'popular' Pokemon and slapped them together... and then Farigiraf for whatever reason. Ironically the mon out of these that I like the most.

 

[Explorer of Time]

This team looks like the AI just searched for a bunch of 'popular' Pokemon and slapped them together... and then Farigiraf for whatever reason. Ironically the mon out of these that I like the most.

That, and also that it's trying to minimize type overlap and avoid type weaknesses at the cost of everything else. Apart from Skeledirge, which has five, each Pokemon only has four or less weaknesses, and no type hits more than two Pokemon for super-effective damage. It's still not a good team because, excluding Garchomp, it's painfully slow, but not quite slow enough that it'd work well as a Trick Room team.

It's not built with any kind of strategy in mind, just lists of things to avoid that often aren't a high priority to be avoided in the first place. I routinely run overlapping types in all my teams, including competitive teams, and have had great success with combos that this model can't use if it axiomatically rejects team members for type overlap. In being programmed to avoid creating weak Pokemon teams, the model also crippled its ability to create strong ones.

 

[RogueLynx]

and then Farigiraf for whatever reason

i instructed ChatGPT to keep Skeledirge and Farigarif in the team. because the guy in the Instagram post i mentioned was like, "build a Pokemon team by taking such-and-such numbers from your birthday and substracting such-and-such and those are the national index numbers of the Pokemon that would be in your team". and following those instructions i got Fuecoco, Rattata, and Farigarif.