I'm surprised you feel this way about Gen 4 more strongly than Gen 5.None of the Pokemon outside of the legendaries appeal to me in any way. The designs, their types, their names... I found them all lackluster.
Gen 3 made moves physical or special based on types, making some Pokemon completely flawed (eg. Bite and Crunch being ruined when most of the Pokemon with it being physical attackers).Kyo said:I thought nothing about the physical/special split really changed until Gen 4? Or are you simply faulting Gen 3 for having the same flaw as 1-2? Wording doesn't seem to suggest such.
I'd say the Gen 6 rivals being your stock "Ur mah Nakama" gang akin to OG Yu-Gi-Oh, being even bigger pushovers and just getting in your way moreso than helping make Gen 3 May/Brendan tolerable by comparison. Would've also mentioned Hau being unrealistically happy 24/7, though USUM improved him slightly.In terms of criticism, I'm a little surprised you didn't bring up RSE's rival character. That rival is easily the most underwhelming of the series -- a more experienced trainer initially who constantly loses to you and just sort of accepts that they're a loser, only to stop being a trainer altogether before you even finish your adventure. (The remakes give the two of you a battle after the E4, but that's pretty damn underwhelming since they're significantly weaker than the E4 you just beat).