>>52223020This. I can't vouch for Nemona myself, but it's not that a friendly rival can't be good, it's that they haven't really delivered.
Hop is an interesting case because somewhere down the line it felt like they had something going. After he lost to Bede, it looked like he might have character development to a less "friendly" rival.
Think of something like ORAS Wally. He wasn't a full-fledged rival, only having two battles in the main campaign, but he went from a wimp to as close to a smogonfag as you can in the official games. I think something like that could work really well.
You have your friendly rival, but at some point they just get sick of being the loser, and they develop into something more serious.
Similarly, Bede does sort of scratch that asshole rival itch, but he also get sidelined halfway through.
SwSh characterization is actually decent, it's just the games being rushed out leaving even that aspect pretty half-baked.
