I think this is more discussion point than debate, but...
Was using Unova-only Pokemon for the main story a good idea?
- Dream World included past generation Pokemon during the main story
- However Dream World could not be accessed by everyone
- Older Pokemon appear post-game
- Some people hate the Pokemon so much that they don't want to play through to the end
I think that having the Unova Pokémon exclusively during the storyline is an excellent idea, and would second this in future generations as well. Look at it this way: there are over 150 new Pokémon to catch. 146 of them - #495-640, being Snivy up to Virizion - are catchable, tradeable, and in all but a few cases, breedable before the E4 battles in the main story; I've excluded Tornadus and Thundurus as they only appear after the 8th Gym and roaming, but I've included Terrakion who is in a fixed place at Victory Road. (Of course you can import and trade others that players further ahead have already obtained, such as a Corsola or a Ditto, or even a Pikachu that someone plopped in from Gen. IV, though you can't import your own until beating the game, thus giving players a reason to try out the newer Pokémon. I'm not exploring any of that in this comment.) The number of Pokémon, if you count Zekrom, Reshiram, and other unique gift Pokémon that exist (Victini, Keldeo, Genesect, Meloetta, and so on), is 156; more than Red/Blue/Green/Yellow. If a player doesn't like this, they need to remember at one time they played a game with only 151 Pokémon TOTAL. We have more available here during the main story, and more later on for the final E4. Live with it.
At the same time, having the older Pokémon appear after the first E4 is both silly and itself storyline-inducing. You now know that you will see pretty much anything in future travels in those 5 Routes. You also know that, next time you visit the Elite 4, some of those older gen. Pokémon will appear (but still be just as easily wiped out). So in that sense, it adds one more storyline wrinkle right at the end (I don't consider the story "finished" until you meet up with the Shadow Triad for the final time). I do wish that post-E4 some map areas became tougher; that it, move the earlier areas (up to the Skyarrow Bridge) up in level and say that the Pokémon have become much stronger, and oh, by the way, something is attacking your hometown, you need to save the day...and that the townspeople themselves made remarks or even gave new items...but maybe I'm asking too much here. This is why having them appear at this point is silly; you don't have a use for most of them now other than post-game activities like breeding and EV training for use in competitive battling and the like, or as trades for an unwary new trainer wanting to trade for a Lv.89 Drowsee that will not obey him until he gets all eight badges. Or somesuch.
In other words, I like that it was just new Pokémon in the main game; it's a fresh start. I like the others coming along later on to help with breeding, etc., or unique moves for unique Pokémon; however, not a lot was done with it.
Also, FTR, post-game for me means after becoming Champion - or at least defeating him.
Cyclone