>>51683961In the first games, they seemed fitting, it created an obstacle for the player to overcome and insured that the player was catching a variety of Pokémon. Not only that but requiring them to teach a specific kind of Pokémon a move that was needed to progress further in the game. In a way it was a puzzle that utilized monster collecting to surpass it.
Where the HM's came into issue was when moves became much more important to the game and the limited number of moves you could have as the games grew, so did the useful moves available. Originally restricting the number of useful moves wasnt really that big of a deal and acted as adding an additional barrier of difficulty to beating the game.
Nowadays its just seen as an inconvenience.
However I do think its important to encourage the player to catch a variety of Pokémon and utilize them to progress the story outside of battling.
A happy medium, perhaps, is to implement overworld moves seperate from battle moves.
You would still need to obtain a suitable Pokémon, you would still need to acquire the HM, you would still need to teach it. However. It wouldnt impact the meta, besides maybe perhaps requiring you to switch out Pokémon from your party.
Sun & Moon tried simply supplying you with the Pokémon to over come to obstacle.. far less enjoyable and actually kind of arbitrary.
