>>44206157The problem I have with villain teams is that they steal the spotlight from the League, which ought to be the climax of the game.
In most of the games, you save the entire universe during the legendary plot, then all plot just stops. All that's left is mopping up the rest of the Gyms then wandering up to the League and cleaning house. It feels like an afterthought, the pacing is fucked.
Gens 1 and 5 are the only ones that felt like the Champion battle was the high point, 1 because it had no plot, and 5 because it made the plot centre around the League (which was a good idea but to do that again would just feel like a knock-off).
Similarly, rivals steal the spotlight from yourself on your own adventure. Pokemon used to be about going on an adventure by yourself, now it's more about watching Gamefreak's self-insert rival character go on an adventure and occasionally being given control back to walk through a route (hallway), then battle a gym, then it's time for a cutscene to catch up on the latest development in your rival's ''''arc''''
It's just a consequence of having a silent protagonist, your character can't really have a story so you have to pair them up with an NPC to focus things around. Half Life had it's Alyx, Mystery Dungeon has your partner. It's not always a bad thing if your supporting characters are interesting, but GF rivals never are. They've tried 7 times (8 but I haven't played SWSH) and they've yet to make a rival I give a shit about.
There are plenty of other characters to focus on besides a generic rival anyway. I'm all for Gym Leaders doing more stuff (a trend that seemed to begin and end in Gen 5). Hell, their secondary rivals like Gladion and N were more interesting than the generic garbage that was Cheren and Hau. Mostly because they were used sparingly instead of talking my ear off every time I entered a new town.
