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HMs are typically disliked by the vast majority of people. They use up to eight move slots across a minimum of two Pokémon in your party of six, meaning you have to purposely gimp your party with HM slaves to traverse certain areas. Not all HMs across the series are actually outright required to progress either, such as Fly mostly being for convenient travel rather than removing obstacles, and Flash/Defog just making the environment easier to navigate visually.
But what purposes did HMs serve?
>Blocking story progression until you got the correct badge and HM, such as the cuttable trees in Cerulean City and Ilex Forest
>Opening shortcuts on routes you had already visited, such as the cuttable trees on Route 29 and Route 30
>Blocking or hindering optional paths that don't necessarily help you progress through the route, but may lead to hidden items, Trainers, locations, and general rewards
In the first scenario, I find HM obstacles to be less obnoxious than characters who block your path. At least with HMs, you have a greater use that helps you better navigate the world. Different people will have different opinions on this though.
I have no issue with the second scenario either. You used to even be able to cut grass in the older games.
But the third scenario is where I think people will be most split. If you're progressing with your full team of 6, you don't want to have to backtrack to get your HM slave or keep 1-2 HM slaves in your party at all times just in case this situation arises. It's inconvenient. But the inconvenience is exactly what makes a reward a reward. With the Poké Ride, as long as you had progressed far enough in the story, you could use that Pokémon at any time. But then what's the point of having those obstacles if you always have the solution? The only real obstacle becomes if you have the attention span to go to the reward.
