Were HMs that bad?

Bear with me. Pokémon rarely get access to a good competitive 6v6 four-slot moveset ingame. Most HMs are not that bad. There's Cut and Rock Smash, Flash isn't even required but even so it still isn't that bad. Do you really need a slot for Defense Curl? It's not like you don't just spam your STAB ingame anyway.

I understand getting frustrated that you'll have to use a certain combination of Pokémon since the HMs you need won't be available on every mon regardless. But they still weren't THAT bad.

I know I'll get burned at the stake for this but I was never even realized HMs were a problem until I started going on /vp/ years ago. Staraptor was fine running Defog and Fly. Infernape was fine running Rock Climb. I don't mind having a Water type to Surf, Dive, and/or Waterfall on. Strength is a great move ingame, especially on a Normal type. Cut, Rock Smash, Flash, those are all moves that you can just run alongside your regular moves - plenty of Pokémon learn them.

Is this just /vp/ exaggerating?