Unpopular Opinion: HMs are good for the game and shouldn't have been removed
I think HMs forcing you to pick Pokemon to traverse a region adds to the immersion of the game. Instead of calling some random Machamp to teleport and break some rocks for me, it feels just that extra bit more realistic to have the Pokemon you caught use Rock Smash on them. Similarly air taxis or whatever they're called just feel like... why? You just teleport somewhere without a cutscene. It's much cooler to fly there on a Pokemon you caught yourself. It just feels so much more rewarding to travel around using Pokemon you bond with to help you out on your journey outside of battles.
They weren't perfect though, and there are definitely ways in which they could be improved on.
- Some of them are too weak (Defog, Cut, etc). They should be improved on.
- Not being forgettable is too restrictive
- Some of them are a bit restrictive in moveset choices - perhaps having them not as moves but as teachable actions to learn. For example, you could teach your Charizard how to fly with a HM that you get after a certain point in the game, but you wouldn't have to teach it the move Fly.
- Not all of them make sense in being standalone - why does Cut but not Slash cut down trees? Perhaps trees could be cut down but "cutting moves", rocks could be smashed by strong physical attacks, etc etc kinda like Legends ZA
I know everyone seems to hate them, but I always liked them & enjoyed building a team around them
