>>16315185Shauna suffered from being a close friend (who you still hardly knew) instead of an antagonistic figure, like May/Brendan and the 5th gen rivals (sans N, who not only was a rival, he was the main antagonist (and original protagonist) who was constantly one step ahead of you).
Tierno was pathetic. They could have gave him a solid team based around Rain Dance or something, but it fell flat.
Calem/Serena aren't designed to be challenging, and there's no sense of pressure when they constantly reaffirm that you're the stronger trainer.
Then there's the last kid who challenged you to pokedex battles that he was scripted to always lose.
