Johto's level curve is flawed, but it's not totally unmanageable from my experience. I did use a team of 4 from my experience, but in recent run-throughts I've also actually taken the time to explore, namely going to dungeons like the Union Cave, Mt. Mortar, the Dark Cave, and a few places that are only Surf-accessible. I found quite a few Trainers in those dungeons, and found myself getting plenty of EXP off the peeps you can find after getting Surf. These places also have Level 20+ Wild Pokemon despite the main path not having that until after Mahogany. Given the specific structure of Johto, I feel like the region was specifically designed to be explored off the beaten path. Aside from the fact that there are routes that let you easily backtrack to earlier locations, the Level curve seems to suggest this, given that the Trainers in all the side dungeons are closer in level to where you will likely be after beating Morty.
Yes, you ideally need to only use a team of 4 to not fall severely behind in GSC and HGSS, but I feel like that's not all there is to it. I feel like they designed it specifically to be that way so that people don't necessarily finish their full team of 6 until the Kanto segment of the game. The Kanto portion of GSC/HGSS imo isn't really "post-game" in the traditional sense, but is more like the second half of the game imo, where you pick up 2 more Pokemon to build to a full team of 6. In HGSS in particular if you use a team of 4 beforehand you'll be fine in terms of levels and you explored everything including the side dungeons in Johto and a solid Fire/Water/Electric core will pull through most of the game, especially if you use coverage moves on all of them. Typhlosion, Ampharos, and Gyarados together make a rock-solid combo to roll through Johto. So by some point during the Kanto segment you will have a full team of six ready, especially in time for Red and future Silver/League rematches if you're playing HGSS. Granted I'd actually say this works better in HGSS where you can use the Safari Zone after the first League match to get Pokemon on par with where you will be level-wise unlike in GSC (where everything is really low level) to finish up your team once you're going into the Kanto half.
I'd also argue that HGSS having higher leveled Pokemon is something I kinda liked better than GSC with the Kanto Trainers having stronger Pokemon meaning it's easier to get EXP and levels off of the Kanto trainers, plus the Gym Leaders rematches/League rematches making it easier to level up your team to prepare for the huge level jump that is Red at the very end of the game (whereas in GSC I had to grind in Mt. Silver for hours on end to be at a manageable level for him).
It's a pretty heavily flawed execution for sure, but this is what I feel was the likely intended structure they may have been going for. It was a bit of an unconventional structure that explored the idea of non-linear exploration of a region (the dungeons help a lot imo) and dealing with exploring two regions, which ties into GSC/HGSS being a sequel to RBY/FRLG, which I liked a la BW2 Unova in that it was fun seeing how Kanto had changed in the three years since the days of RBY, which made it a pretty fun sequel adventure to the OGs. The specific structure of the game I feel actually doesn't consider you done after the first league challenge, and even though you use a team of 4 for a while once you're in the Kanto half you should find two more mons to build to a full team of 6 (ideally something like Houndoom, Rhydon, or Snorlax).
I honestly am inclined to disagree since I loved DPP, but if you don't mind, I would like to hear why you feel that way. Care to elaborate, maybe? I can give you DP maybe but Platinum is honestly a really great game imo, but I am interested in hearing why you didn't like DPP and what made you think it's not great. After all, this is the unpopular opinions thread so I'm all ears for this.
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