>>46849501Surfing serves a unique function by giving you access to new Pokémon.
Strength boulders serve as puzzles, but are unfortunately one and done.
Smashable rocks in many earlier games did have the benefit of dropping unique items such as fossils and shards in HGSS or allowing for special encounters such as Shuckle in Johto and Nosepass in Hoenn. They do not have any functionality in Alola beyond being obstacles.
Cuttable trees are the same where they're nothing but obstacles.
Flying is arguably the only worthwhile inclusion for Poké Ride.
Obstacles serve a purpose in the earlier stages of the game to control how players interact with the world, preventing them from getting ahead because of the geography of the world rather than any arbitrary blocking. Because HMs require some degree of sacrifice within your party, people don't feel like they want to include those Pokémon after the necessary obstacles. However, there is still a purpose to including those obstacles become they can be removed. It can be annoying when they're required to progress, but more often than not they'll be used to block shortcuts or sections with rewards, a way of rewarding players who chose to make that party sacrifice.
If the obstacle becomes irrelevant because you have access to breaking it at any point without any sacrifice, there's no point in including it. If there was some kind actual challenge to it, like the Underground mining minigame for Rock Smash, I would say it's justified, but there isn't. There aren't even dropped rewards or hidden Pokémon. It's just a waste of time to include it.
