>>57639008No, they aren't. Crits exist exclusively to fuck over the player, which is why the AI has an increased crit chance, and why the player has a crit boost against wild pokemon (which you'd often be trying to catch).
HMs are worthless, and their presence is not a necessity for intelligent puzzle design. Running back to a pokemon center in every cave to swap to for your HM slave to get an item locked behind a Strength/Rock Smash obstacle is something that could be very easily substituted, as shown by Poke Rides.
>>57639092False, they exist to fuck over the player. Using your own boosting moves, defence-decreasing moves, phasing moves, Haze/Taunt/Clear Smog, switching to a counter that can hit their weaker defensive stat, etc. all easily prevent defence boosts from being OP. If you let them set up to a x6 boost in their defence stat anyway, you can only blame yourself.
On the other hand, KOing every pokemon you try to catch with bullshit crits is completely out of the player's control, as is the AI abusing their increased crit chance to get damage they should not be getting.