>>41643368removing return means the game has less interactions with friendship making a remaining mechanic more obsolete.
removing return is a hard nerf to all physical normal types that tend to rely on it for a strong STAB, the other moves you listed that are just worse in most cases.
its very satisfy having return power up as you travel with the monster more, no other move does this it is completely unique.
return is a very iconic move that sums up the theme of the series perfectly, catch some little cute monster and get stronger with the power of friendship, its a real crime to remove just a thematically perfect attack from the game.
the game is unironically worse off with return gone
any fucking questions?
