[Question] Pokémon obeying commands

[Sandslash Fan]

Is there a change with how loyalty works in the new games? I only have four gym badges (got the last one recently) so only level 45 should be able to obey me, but most of the Pokémon I've been exploring with are in their 50s and always do what I tell them to do. Conversely, a recently caught Dragonair wouldn't obey me when I tried to battle with him in an outbreak.

Are Pokémon that you've started to level from below your gym badge cap on some kind of different loyalty track? Or is it a happiness thing that they will always obey you?

 

[Devalue]

Changed disobedience in Legends: Arceus. According to Bulbapedia:

In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, the Galaxy Team rank achieved by the player affects their Pokémon's behavior. Unlike previous games, this applies even to non-outsider Pokémon, but is based on met level instead of current level.

Presumably holds here as well.

 

[Iceshadow3317]

Yeah there was a change and I didn't understand it until a few days ago since never read what Bulbapedia said.

But a quick example, if you catch a pokemon at a lower level than your cap, so your example being 45, it will obey you even if you go over that level. So...

Cap is 45, catch a pokemon at 44 or lower and you level it beyond your cap, it will still obey.
However, if you catch a pokemon at 46 with the same cap, it will not obey you. Until the cap is higher. But once the cap is 50, it will obey you even if you go over that level.

 

[tokyodrift]

Here's the list of the levels and the wild Pokemon cap, keep in mind that you must have caught them under the level. There seems to be a different cap with Pokemon you've already had, not sure what that is though.

1 Gym Badge – up to Level 25.
2 Gym Badges – up to Level 30.
3 Gym Badges – up to Level 35.
4 Gym Badges – up to Level 40.
5 Gym Badges – up to Level 45.
6 Gym Badges – up to Level 50.
7 Gym Badges – up to Level 55.
8 Gym Badges – all Pokemon will obey you.

 

[Amore]

Ugh, that progression! I was planning on just ignoring the gyms given they're in all my older games whereas Titans and Team Star / Mad Max compounds aren't, but I'm already finding Pokémon at Lv.22+ so I guess I'll have to do gyms first…

(One thing PLA did great - you can blitz the ranks without doing story, think I hit 7 before I got to the second map as I was going for true Pokédex completion rather than just getting Lv. 10!)

 

[Elder Trainer]

Yeah there was a change and I didn't understand it until a few days ago since never read what Bulbapedia said.

But a quick example, if you catch a pokemon at a lower level than your cap, so your example being 45, it will obey you even if you go over that level. So...

Cap is 45, catch a pokemon at 44 or lower and you level it beyond your cap, it will still obey.
However, if you catch a pokemon at 46 with the same cap, it will not obey you. Until the cap is higher. But once the cap is 50, it will obey you even if you go over that level.

This is how I understood it to work. But unless I'm just really unlucky, I'm having a different experience. Every member of my team (the Quaxley I chose as my starter, the other two starters being hatched from eggs, and the others being caught in the wild) were all obtained in some fashion below level 20, with my Diglett being the highest level when caught at level 17. Yet after levelling them up to 55 in the other version and trading them back, all of them refuse to obey despite having been obtained below the initial badge cap. Could the trading have messed things up somehow, or is something else going on?

 

[Sandslash Fan]

This is how I understood it to work. But unless I'm just really unlucky, I'm having a different experience. Every member of my team (the Quaxley I chose as my starter, the other two starters being hatched from eggs, and the others being caught in the wild) were all obtained in some fashion below level 20, with my Diglett being the highest level when caught at level 17. Yet after levelling them up to 55 in the other version and trading them back, all of them refuse to obey despite having been obtained below the initial badge cap. Could the trading have messed things up somehow, or is something else going on?

You traded them between games, then you aren't the original trainer any more and the rules wouldn't apply.

 

[Elder Trainer]

You traded them between games, then you aren't the original trainer any more and the rules wouldn't apply.

You misunderstand. Aside from the eggs, every member of my team was obtained during my current playthrough and therefore has that save file's Trainer ID, as do the Pokémon that hatched from the eggs. I traded them to the other version from the one I'm playing now and then back afterwards. Nothing about them changed aside from them leveling up and evolving before being returned to where they originally came from.

 

[Devalue]

Returns to the earlier Bulbapedia quote. Copied the full paragraph this time. Bolded the important part about trading them.

An outsider Pokémon will often not obey the player's commands if its level is too high and the player does not have the appropriate Badge, Stamp, or number of Badges. Having all eight Badges or the Island Challenge Completion stamp always makes all Pokémon obey the player. This mechanic exists to prevent players from trading in a high-leveled Pokémon from another game and easily beating the game. Starting in Legends: Arceus, this applies even to non-outsider Pokémon, but is based on met level instead of current level. In Generation IX non-outsider Pokémon are treated as outsider Pokémon for this purpose if they have ever been traded, even if they are traded back to their Original Trainer.

Became "outsiders" after trading them. Disobeys based on the current level instead of level met now.

 

[Elder Trainer]

Returns to the earlier Bulbapedia quote. Copied the full paragraph this time. Bolded the important part about trading them.


Became "outsiders" after trading them. Disobeys based on the current level instead of level met now.

In that case this was a terrible game design decision on Game Freak's part. I get why they did it- don't want players getting through the game too quickly- but if the players want to level up their own, personally attained Pokemon that way, that should be their own business, not the developer's. This system is why I came to despise the Star Rank system in Legends, and to know it was carried over to the core series in this fashion is unfortunate.