>>49279591Adding some more diverse types would definitely be good. The formula of regional mammal/regional bird on the first few routes generally makes for boring team composition. The game design philosophy of having the first big hurdle after a route or two being a big forest in every game just makes it feel very very samey. It just sets your party up for the first 3-ish gyms to be your starter, two normal or bug types, a grass type, and maybe a pikachu clone for flavor. For everything else it does terribly wrong, X and Y did this well enough by having the regional bird turn out to be a fire type, and letting you catch things like Riolu, Croagunk, and Axew before the second gym.
A bit more spice to the early game in general would be nice. Maybe not something so drastic as the route 3 Bagon in Sun/Moon, but ideally you'd have more type variety in the early game, or something that'd show off one of the main draws of the game. Like, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to catch a Murkrow in Ilex Forest, in the games that originally introduced the dark typing.
I feel like short, optional sidequests could be a fun way to diversify Pokemon availability. Something like the anime episode where an off-color Metagross was being aggressive and threatening a nearby town. Maybe a group of Houndour are burning up the regional forest, or a Sneasel is being a nuisance and stealing shit in a town before the second gym, shit like that.
