Heh, this is all too true. But honestly, I've been using nothing but pokemon I like, and I can say I'm doing quite fine.
Delphox is amazing. Seriously. Especially when you get Grass Knot and can kick rock, water, and ground type pokemon's asses. Will-O-Wisp helped with Arceus and Abra (I couldn't touch Garchomp, though, that thing was too fast). I can easily say that I'm not regretting choosing this pokemon as my starter so far.
Shiny Pidgeot! Granted, it's not the strongest pokemon ever, but it can take hits pretty well and heal with Roost whenever something threatens to bring it down.
I trained Noivern mostly because of the Gen.6 hype and the fact that it's the only dragon pokemon you can obtain early on. Turns out I won't be regretting this, either, because of Super Fang, which means that when I want to catch a pokemon, I don't have to risk killing it, and bulky pokemon aren't really much of a problem anymore... I know I'm a noob looking for ways to make my experience in this game a bit easier T-T (did I mention that Noivern also has Roost?)
Sharpedo isn't exactly one of my biggest favorites, but I liked it enough and I needed something for the rock gym.
And my newest addition: Rotom! I haven't really gotten to test this thing's potention, but it has Substitute, and hex (to be combined with Delphox's Will-O-Wisp), so I have a feeling this guy is going to be at least decent.
Gyarados? What Gyarados? I have a Magikarp sitting in my PC, I think.
At any rate, I have to train some extra pokemon. I might consider Gyarados if this thing really is as amazing as people say it is. And Absol. I just don't like training pokemon I don't really like...but I like Gyarados enough.