Now I'm noticing the expected placements on the poll - Rowlet being in first place, then Litten and Popplio being last.
Rowlett was my starter. I thought he was going to be the best one, turned out to not be true at all. Decidueye kind of sucks.
I can see the disappointment. Personally I feel Rowlet's line is statistically the worst matchup against most of the major bosses in the game, and as we know Grass-type starters tend to do the worst in the main story compared to the Fire and Water options.
I feel Decidueye's stats are a problem. It should have been more physical-based rather than being mixed, and the high Sp. Defense felt unnecessary. Its Speed feels mediocre and it falls easily to physical attackers as well, so Sucker Punch tends to pose a huge threat to it.
Basically, the only reason why Rowlet is the most chosen starter is solely due to Decidueye's design. I feel this generation saw people care way too much about design with the starter choices, which explained why Popplio was so hated. Its design felt too "derpy" to them, but oh man Primarina proved them wrong.
Yeah, I chose him because I fell out of love with Littens design the moment I saw his second evolution, and then hated his final evolution every bit as much as the fox from the last gen.
They had a FIRE FOX and a FIRE KITTEN and ruined both of what should had been the two most epic and cool starters in pokemon history.
Ah yes, the issue of quadruped Fire starters becoming bipedal when they evolve, resulting in unpopular final stages. It's plagued the last three generations, and shows why people want 8th Gen to desperately have a quadruped for the Fire starter's final stage.