>>30643782I agree that not everything needs to be a threat, and many praise the Totems for being varying degrees of threatening, so I'll leave those be.
That said, the Kahunas are very much "Can you check me with SE moves? Yes? Alright, here's the Z-Crystal." They needed better AI, ESPECIALLY when we had the E4 roll around. I shouldn't have been able to beat Olivia with the exact same strategy both times, although I mostly attribute that to Rock just being a shit type in too many aspects.
Team Skull definitely needed to be more of a threat, too. Plumeria can give you a run for your money, but you fight her a grand total of twice, both fights being well before the climax, so the threat really falls flat. Guzma has a decent team, but he fails to utilize the shit he's got properly (Really, Guzma? You're gonna triple-stack Swords Dance on a mon that can be forcibly switched out with ITS OWN ABILITY?).
I mentioned it before, but the E4 is mostly a checklist of type coverage. One of them will give you trouble (Khalil and Hala have both been cited as being potentially difficult depending on the team). The first Champ fight isn't anything special outside of the narrative and thematic appropriateness.
AI definitely needs brushed up.
