Is it important to catch a lot of Pokemon for gameplay reasons in Scarlet and Violet?

Question

For example: In Pokémon Fire red/Leaf Green we need to catch a certain number of pokémon to be able to have access to some items like exp share for example, in Pokémon Sun/Moon/Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon we need to have a certain number to be able to unlock everything on the Poké pelago, in Pokémon Sword/Shield we need to have a certain number of varied types to be able to do the Poké jobs. I'm talking about these kind of things that has a high level of importance, not small things like needing to complete the pokédex to have a diploma, or shiny charm, things like that.

The purpose of this question is to help people who have this doubt to be able to plan ahead on their first playthrough, to not face situations like: The player decides to catch only the pokémons he will use, further ingame he realises he needed to have caught a lot to make use of something important on his gameplay.
(By the time i'm asking this question i'm one of the people who has this doubt)

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(My english is not the best, so I humbly ask anyone that can edit this to edit the grammar mistakes if it has any, thanks!)

Comments

I think the only thing catching Pokemon really does is get you is special Pokedex prizes like rare balls. I did a playthrough of the main game and barely caught Pokemon and beat it just fine.

I don't know about the DLC though.

Answer 1

The Pokedex does give rewards in regards to finishing it and progressing through it with special Pokeballs and money items. (Comet shards and nuggets)

For gameplay is YES

Terra Raids are probably the only form of events we will see for a while and with that you need to have not just the right tera types but Pokemon! Some setups require two people or more with specific Pokemon. Having some one trick such as belly drum iron fist is good for slower and low-def Pokemon while shell smash white herb Pokemon need it to be fast and do more special ATK damage.

Other than that you might want a Pokemon with false swipe (preferably dark) also a Pokemon with the ability Damp in order to avoid recoil/self-damaging Pokemon from fainting when catching or hunting certain Pokemon.

However, the whole story can be played without all this. You can fight with your team of your own adventure! (Still recommend something to help catch Pokemon)

Comments

Thanks for answering, i appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.

I didn't understood very well. If we don't have pokémon of a certain tera types and also some types specifically, we are prevent from doing some tera raids that will give the player something with a high level of importance in relation to the gameplay? Or is for example, having certain pokémons can help and in your experience it can be seen as necessary, but the game doesn't prevent you from doing it if you don't have them?

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The answer is saying that story-wise, you won't need to catch a lot of Pokemon, but for specific things like Tera Raids or catching specific Pokemon, you might want to have certain Pokemon.

In terms of Tera Raids, completing them aren't necessary, the answer is just saying that you may want certain Pokemon for specific Tera Raids, especially the event ones. But beating Tera Raids are not necessary for beating the story.