>>44305563People just don't like HMs in general and not just Gen4 got critique for them, and Sinnoh was a bit of a hassle to explore and had no issue having non-optional shit being behind 2-3 of them, usually so you don't see what you will need ahead of time which would mean backtracking if you didn't have something that could use that particular HM on hand at the moment, they also kinda "overlap" even when they are good moves, Surf and Waterfall (and Whirlpool for HGSS), Cut, Strength and Rock Climb and Normal-Type, that's 6 Moveslots for two types, the two most common types at that (IIRC Water was already outnumbering normal in GenIV, but i could be wrong), Normal isn't super effective to anything as per its gimmick.
That said, i enjoyed Sinnoh and didn't mind it too bad since i actually like Bidoof/Bibarel, even back in the day when Pokémon General was all about how it was the worst thing ever.
Futhermore GenIV was also still when Move Relearning and Deleting(that HMs required) was late/end game and kinda costly(Heart Scale) so just learning a HM on the spot and then replacing it wasn't that viable, had GenIV had the system of SwSh where it is at every center and free HMs would probably been considered a complete non issue (because you can just forget the HM moves and remember the ones you actually want before major battles like Gyms and just learn the HM you need when you need it), which is pretty ironic since that system only appeared when even the last vestiges of HMs been removed from the gamedesign.
