By Matt
Today’s game mechanic is on the topic of Individual Values, which is something that every Pokemon has. This is a quality which is guaranteed to make every Pokemon unique (that is, unless you decide to use Pokesav or any other hacking device). Since the beginning of all Pokemon games, IVs have been there in each Pokemon’s stats. Unfortunately, they are hidden in plain sight, and only by comparing Pokemon can one see that there are differences in each of the stats.
IVs range from anywhere to 0 and 31. Starting with the Generation IV games (Diamond and Pearl), the Pokemon’s highest IV was listed as a Characteristic, which the game programmers did. It was a little something nice to add to a Pokemon’s qualities, and added a little something hidden for us to eventually find out what it meant. For example, “Likes to thrash about” is the highest possible IV for the Attack stat. There are even IVs for the HP stat, but the calculation of IVs is different. The best IVs are “Often dozes off” for HP, “Capable of taking hits” for Defense, “Mischievous” for Special Attack, “Somewhat vain” for Special Defense, and “Alert to sounds” for Speed. (Attack was mentioned above.)
Because the list of IVs have not yet been verified by the Pokemon community, they are not guaranteed to be accurate. An IV calculator has been created as freeware, and can be downloaded for use anytime. This can be found on Serebii, and is a very detailed calculator, but “runs without error”. It takes into account the kind of Pokemon (even those who want to train Pokemon that aren’t fully evolved), nature, characteristic, EVs in each stat, base stats, and level. It must be some superior programming; it even tells when there’s been a mistake made in the EVs section. If that is so, it provides a suggested base stat range for that stat, and the values for level 100 (set as default) will not be calculated.
It also calculates Hidden Power, that strange move which many do not know what it does. The IV Calculator determines its type and base power, both of which are unknown. This is because the Pokemon’s IVs depend on the type and power. Before there was a person who could tell your Pokemon’s type of Hidden Power, players have spent hours trying to manually figure out a formula to figure out its values. For best results and accuracy, try using the IV Calculator when your Pokemon is at level 50. If you’ve overleveled it, just go to a Battle Subway and take the challenge. Your Pokemon will temporarily be set back to level 50, and you can see its base stats, plus the IVs. This brings us to another topic.
We know that Pokemon have base stats, which are for level 50. The IV makes a range of values the Pokemon could have, which is why some have significantly higher or lower stats in one value than another of the same species. IVs are complicated, but if you’re really into Pokemon, try studying them even further.
Tags: Nintendo DS, Pokemon Black & White