Quoted By:
Dexit doesn't bother me, I'm fine with temporarily sacrificing a few hundred Pokemon if the tradeoff is higher quality games with more polish and content (unfortunately GameFreak is lazy/incompetent/on a tight schedule so we might never see this in our lifetimes, but I can at least acknowledge that dex cuts are one of the only realistic solutions to the rapidly increasing amount of new Pokemon).
The trek to Snowpoint City is grueling and slow, but that's the whole point. It succeeds at making you feel like you're on a relentless journey fighting against nature in a remote corner of the world, which makes reaching Snowpoint much more relieving and makes it way more memorable as a result. I'm scared that a DP remake will "fix" this and turn the route into something as short and bland as Galar's route leading to Wyndon.
Hau may be one of those spineless friendly rivals, but I really like his character arc because of how he plays off of Gladion, and through their interactions, their perspectives on battling rub off on each other. Gladion learns to let loose a bit and smile in his final fight with you, and Hau shows subtle bitterness after you brush him aside to take on the Elite Four. I liked that way more than USUM outright making him the champion. He's not supposed to be the final boss, he's just your dorky kid neighbor whose effort was too little too late to truly surpass you.
