Has the expected way to set up Pokemon teams changed over time?

[KrspaceT]

This is more based on my own observations, but it seems a lot easier to me to have a team that you get early and stick with in games since Gen 3 than in the first two games: at least to me a lot of mons you can get in Gens 1 and 2 are not really good for solo playthroughs.

(NOTE, TRADE EVOS DRASTICALLY ALTER THIS DISCUSSION, AM GOING AT THIS WITH THE IDEA OF SOMEONE ALONE WHO CANNOT ACCESS THEM)

By that I mean mons that evolve at a decent distance from when they are caught, without trade at any point, and can do their job well from capture to the Champion's final Pokemon.

For an example of my point, before you fight the first gym in Hoenn in Gen 3 you have access to Pokemon like Lotad, Shroomish, Ralts, Slakoth and Makuhita, which I'd hold as being good from that point onwards, and I'd probably be able to argue other mons like Seedot and Taillow if I had a bit more recent experience with them. In Gen 1 the only mon I could rec like that is is Pikachu, and maybe the Nidorans at least in Yellow.

To expand this a bit, as some games like BW are a bit slower burns, by around the third badge in BW 1 you can get Petillil, Darumaka, Sandile, Drilbur, and Sigilyth, with some tentative options like Lilipup and Blitzle. Kalos has more options than I possibly could list, and Sinnoh has Shinx, Budew, Shellos, Buizel, Ponyta, Gible if I recall correctly, Starly, and Girafirag in just DP by my own experience. In GS I consider Drowzee one of the best options available, with Scyther, Mareep, Wooper, and Pinsir and Heracross as potential options made diffiult by RNG problems.

Kanto has a less extreme but still present bottleneck too at this point.

Given that BW was meant to be a lot like Gen 1....am I on to something? Has Gamefreak shifted the expected way to make teams over time from a more 'replace as you go along' approach to a 'to the bitter end' set up?

 

[Silktree]

BW are the same as FRLG as far as the first gym is concerned; compare Lillipup/Munna/Monkey to Nidoran/Mankey/Pikachu (RGB lack Mankey, and Yellow has Pikachu as a starter). LGPE take out Mankey in favor of the Grass trio: Oddish, Bellsprout and (rarely) Bulbasaur. At the same time, Butterfree is a lot easier to use, and Pidgeot and Beedrill eventually benefit from Megas.

Fearow has always been a decent option thanks to Drill Peck, actually. I used Pidgeot in Yellow as a kid, and I doubt it was an obstacle.

 

[KrspaceT]

BW are the same as FRLG as far as the first gym is concerned; compare Lillipup/Munna/Monkey to Nidoran/Mankey/Pikachu (RGB lack Mankey, and Yellow has Pikachu as a starter). LGPE take out Mankey in favor of the Grass trio: Oddish, Bellsprout and (rarely) Bulbasaur. At the same time, Butterfree is a lot easier to use, and Pidgeot and Beedrill eventually benefit from Megas.

Fearow has always been a decent option thanks to Drill Peck, actually. I used Pidgeot in Yellow as a kid, and I doubt it was an obstacle.

You at least see what I am going for, right?

 

[Silktree]

You at least see what I am going for, right?

There is no doubt about it when it comes to B2W2, XY and SM/USUM. For RSE, Gardevoir may be great, but catching and training Ralts are no small feat (and Slaking's ability is annoying). DPPt are better by the first gym with Starly, Shinx, Budew, Zubat and Psyduck.

 

[Nicolas721]

In XY, the first routes are flooded with Pokemon, so the players can go with what they feel best. However, Talonflame and Diggersby's sightly higher stats and better typing compared to most of their kind could mean that FT planned for them to be in a lot of players' team. Also, they latter sort of force Lucario, the Kanto starter and the version mascot into the player's team. I don't think that has an impact over the gym design, other than you'll likely get access to Mega Lucario before your Kanto starter evolves.

In SM, the first routes are flooded again. This time, most of the trials are centered around the starter, as Akala has the 3 starter types and Ulaula and Poni together have the 3 secondary types, and Rowlet's flying type is even covered in USUM. This was done so the Z-crystals would have a very high chance to be used by the player.

As for the question about replaceability, well, I think it depends more on the player than on the games' design. GF might create a dungeon full of strong Pokemon before a very hard gym, but if the player doesn't care he/she will ignore them.