>>26456796"Help, I'm scared!"
"..."
"I feel better now."
The partner in Super was even more awkward for this. At least you could say in Explorers that the partner simply got used to being in dangerous situations, but Super's doesn't even have that, and it really felt like the plot was just morphing itself at every corner to make the partner look good after they left Serene Village. The player character in Super, however, might be the worst player character in the pokemon franchise, if not games period. The whole conduit for the partner's development doesn't hold much water for reasons already stated, and not only that, he/she does pretty much nothing and could have been written out entirely, and when it's the character who gets the most screen time, that's a massive problem.
Thinking back to the special episodes, I really wish Bidoof was the partner instead. Someone who tries and fails is a lot more endearing to me than someone who was wanting to explore the unknown while not even having the guts to sign up. Makes me think 'get a new career mate' instead of 'I want to help you'
I actually thought Gates had the best story of the bunch. Partner's development was minimal, but it at least worked, and had motivations aside from being an explorer. Side cast was by far the best too.The grindiness and IQ system made me not want to use anyone but me and the partner, since fuck taking pokemon in who walk on visible traps. It made things get repetitive faster and wore out my interest quicker.
