>>56694222NTA, but as a DPPt-let myself, I don't think the earliest implementations of HMs are as bad as people make them out to be. I liked SM's answer to HMs much better, obviously, but honestly, my biggest issue with old games and HMs is that there's more HMs than there are slots in your party. Who the fuck in their right mind wants Defog, Whirlpool, or Flash to shit up their party's moveset? At least the useful HMs are moves worth having for the most part, like Surf and Fly.
Some people may think it's cringe, but I like how some romhacks/fangames change Cut to Grass-type and Strength to Fighting-type. More opportunities for STAB means more thought goes into my teambuilding in a Gen where HMs are mandatory. Gens which usually have dogshit regional dexes, as they are earlier in the series.