I do believe that you should play pokemon the way you want it. I'm notmally seeing people who breed pokemon again and again to find the perfect IVs but I've decided not to be influenced by it. I normally go with pokemon I like or pokemon I want to like due to the fact that I'm not that much of a fan of breeding and ev training mostly because it's tedious and takes away the fun of the game. So, go and enjoy pokemon the way you look at it.
For the starter, you can start with any pokemon you like or have a hacked one. If you'd like one of those choices you gave, then pick Eevee. It's a rather cool pokemon and you can even do an Eeveelution run.