Little things you like about Pokémon

[Sixfortyfive]

I'm digging into the Emerald Battle Frontier for the first time, and one little thing that stood out to me is the fact that there are apprentice trainers in the Tower lobby who will ask you for team-building advice over the course of several days, then eventually show up in the Tower itself as either an opponent or a multi partner with a team built from the advice that you gave them earlier. Was that sort of concept ever further iterated upon later?

It's notable to me because the player character's growth and eventual expertise in Pokemon battling isn't usually something that feels like it's properly acknowledged throughout the quests in these games. You thwart the local mafia, catch supremely powerful and one-of-a-kind legendary creatures, and topple the Pokemon League and become the regional champion. You should be a renowned celebrity whose notoriety increases throughout the adventure, yet barely anyone acknowledges your feats in the end, and your status as Champion rarely ever persists after the credits. It often doesn't feel like you make a proper impact on the world when it's all said and done.

So, it's interesting that the Frontier houses a collection of trainers who are very much aware of your expertise and seek you out because of it. Doubly so when these battle facilities themselves tend to be extreme narrative contradictions in the first place that don't really concern themselves with making any logical sense for their existence. (The trainers therein are supremely more capable and challenging than any you'd meet throughout the quest, as the facilities exist solely as an endgame challenge to hardcore players, so the fact that everyone in here has access to supposedly-one-of-a-kind legendaries and could smoke the Pokemon League with their eyes closed is just kind of handwaved away. Yet the developers put in the time here to add something to make the player feel that their status is being properly acknowledged in at least this one little way.)

I feel Moltres being in Victory Road somewhat fails cuz the sprite for it is....literally the same as all other bird mons using fly

Similarly, you'd think the NPCs would notice and be way more excited, rather than only 1 mentioning it offchance when talking about Blaine. I feel the best thing is to have it interacted with, it roars, then flies off, which leads you wanting to find it in the overworld later

Some of the NPCs in Victory Road don't really make any sense in the first place. One of them is explicitly impressed that "you beat Giovanni of Team Rocket?" when, like, wouldn't everyone in that tunnel have had to do the same just to get in? Was Viridian Gym sporadically operated by a substitute leader for every NPC trainer but not for you whenever you happened to show up?

 

[QuentinQuonce]

I'm digging into the Emerald Battle Frontier for the first time, and one little thing that stood out to me is the fact that there are apprentice trainers in the Tower lobby who will ask you for team-building advice over the course of several days, then eventually show up in the Tower itself as either an opponent or a multi partner with a team built from the advice that you gave them earlier. Was that sort of concept ever further iterated upon later?

It's notable to me because the player character's growth and eventual expertise in Pokemon battling isn't usually something that feels like it's properly acknowledged throughout the quests in these games. You thwart the local mafia, catch supremely powerful and one-of-a-kind legendary creatures, and topple the Pokemon League and become the regional champion. You should be a renowned celebrity whose notoriety increases throughout the adventure, yet barely anyone acknowledges your feats in the end, and your status as Champion rarely ever persists after the credits. It often doesn't feel like you make a proper impact on the world when it's all said and done.

Emerald also has the fan club mechanic which does give you the "celebrity" feel. I liked it because it kind of had two stages - beating the Elite Four grants you some fans, but there's an additional room full of NPCs who tell you you've got much further to go yet and talk about how you pale in comparison to various Gym Leaders or Elite Four members. If you mix records or lose battles to real-life players, they'll hype up those people instead; upgrading your trainer card or getting a certain amount of link battle victories will make them like you instead.

The Apprentice feature is fun but it always annoyed me how useless they actually are in the long run. I've put a lot of time into Link Multi in Emerald and never really gotten an Apprentice I'd describe as good: their Pokemon have random natures and 85 EVs in each stat, and they're not guaranteed to ask you all the questions they possibly can so they may wind up not giving their Pokemon an item or having weak moves you don't want.

They're generally a superior choice compared to the other NPCs you can pair with in early rounds (since they start off with NFEs like Jigglypuff and Rhyhorn) but it's remarkable how quickly the Apprentices will pale in comparison. I have one with Mawile, Lanturn, and Ninetales and another with Dustox, Pinsir, and Shedinja; neither are particularly amazing partners. Maybe if I had one with Alakazam, Milotic, Metagross, Kingdra, or Salamence but so far luck has not been with me. I prefer to mix records with another file and partner with the AI version of the trainer who'll appear in the Battle Salon instead (real-life 2-game multi is a massive headache and too prone to link failure to seriously attempt a long streak on)

Some of the NPCs in Victory Road don't really make any sense in the first place. One of them is explicitly impressed that "you beat Giovanni of Team Rocket?" when, like, wouldn't everyone in that tunnel have had to do the same just to get in? Was Viridian Gym sporadically operated by a substitute leader for every NPC trainer but not for you whenever you happened to show up?

There's a few ways to rationalise this:

• Either you go by the idea that there are more gyms in Kanto - and elsewhere - than the games show us, or that trainers can get into Victory Road by having multiple badges from multiple regions (and the badge check gates the player goes through are just a gameplay mechanic). Case in point: there's a Black Belt in Indigo Plateau in FRLG who complains that he can't win against Agatha. If he's having that much difficulty with a type he's disadvantaged against how did he ever manage to defeat Sabrina?
  
  
• You could also surmise that, since the NPCs in the various Victory Roads often imply that they've been there for some time and/or are having immense difficulty getting through the area, it's entirely possible they fought whoever was in charge of Viridian Gym prior to Giovanni taking over. Or, as in the anime, it may be that Giovanni occasionally appointed underlings to serve as deputies while he was absent instead of closing the gym down.
  
  
• There may be other ways into Victory Road we don't see, but in general NPCs very rarely seem stymied by the same roadblocks the player is unless it serves some specific purpose. In Platinum two Galactic grunts block access to Mt Coronet at one point in the story, with one of them mentioning "we can't go through here until the other guys from HQ bring a Pokemon that can use Defog". I think it fairly unlikely that one of the guys from HQ happens to be a stellar trainer who got the appropriate badge - surely they'd have said "until the guy who can use Defog gets here" in that case.

 

[DrrT]

Regarding Giovanni's gym, it will never not be funny to me that he decides to disband Team Rocket because the player beats him...but the Gym itself lists Blue as having done so previously.

You have some history of battling him previously of course, but if anything that should make it worse for him that another random kid defeated him. Of course this is just due to Gen 1's storytelling limitations but still. Unless Blue did so much sooner but at the start of the game the Gym is closed. I suppose it depends on how much time you think the game takes in-universe.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Regarding Giovanni's gym, it will never not be funny to me that he decides to disband Team Rocket because the player beats him...but the Gym itself lists Blue as having done so previously.

You have some history of battling him previously of course, but if anything that should make it worse for him that another random kid defeated him. Of course this is just due to Gen 1's storytelling limitations but still.

I feel like the implication here is that Red is the only person who knows that Giovanni is both the Viridian leader and the Team Rocket boss, and is thus now in a position to expose him and get him locked up, necessitating that he abandon the gym and go into hiding.

...But then this also doesn't square with what that Victory Road NPC I singled out 3 posts up from here says.

Just strikes me as some rough storytelling jank resulting from a decision to reuse an important character as a mysterious late game boss without any consideration that it make any narrative sense.

 

[Sixfortyfive]

Thinking more on Gen 1, one thing that has stuck out to me more and more in a positive way over the years is how subtly it presents Mewtwo's story to the player in comparison to his equivalent box legends of successive generations.

• You meet the elderly Mr. Fuji in the Pokemon Tower, who--in the process of paying respect to the deceased Marowak--is taking it upon himself to berate Team Rocket for their horrible mistreatment of Pokemon.
• After you dispatch the Rockets, Fuji gives you a key item to assist in your quest, but he also stresses that you'll succeed in the long run only if you treat Pokemon with kindness.
• Through the NPCs in Lavender Town and the FRLG Fame Checker, the only other concrete things you really learn about Mr. Fuji are that he primarily cares for orphaned Pokemon and, notably, is not originally from this area. One of the messages he leaves for the player through the Fame Checker is a suggestion that the player care not only for the happiness of their own Pokemon, but for the happiness of all Pokemon.
• Far later, on Cinnabar Island, you rummage through the ruined laboratory/mansion and glean the main details regarding the capture of Mew, the creation of Mewtwo, and the destruction of the mansion.
• Through the photos in the Cinnabar Gym and from some dialogue, it's revealed that Blaine and Fuji are old friends who used to research Pokemon together.
• In the Gen 3 Faraway Island event, a single very old and very faded message on the island's outskirts outlines the hope that the next person to set foot on the island be someone who is pure of heart. The Japanese version very clearly implies that the message was left by Mr. Fuji.
• Deep in the island's interior, there is only a single wild Pokemon to be found: Mew.

Dr. Fuji, driven by guilt and regret over his role in the Pokemon Mansion disaster, returns Mew to the wild and dedicates the rest of his life to caring for mistreated Pokemon. It's nothing profound, and it's pretty easy to piece it all together so long as you're not just glossing over your surroundings, but it stands out for how much it doesn't railroad the player into digesting it. It's all just out there for you to pick up on your own. Even Mewtwo himself doesn't end up being some kind of rampaging boss encounter that you have to put a stop to as part of the story; he just presumably wanders off to the mountainside to live out the rest of his life in isolation from humankind.

I think the more story-centric legends of later generations are fine in their own right and that it was generally a good idea to incorporate many of them into the plot more directly, but Mewtwo's place in RBY is cool for how much it stands out in retrospect.

 

[DrrT]

Scarlet and Violet's models. Most people probably don't care that much but I personally really appreciate how much they have improved from the previous ones instead of reusing the old ones we have been getting since XY. Mewtwo and the Kanto starters in particular are amazing, trough Ho-oh and Lugia also stood out to me.

Also while I don't use it, the amount of unique animations in the Synchro machine is surprising. I don't know why they put so much effort on it but it's cool. The way Blastoise swims for example is great, retracting its limbs.

 

[Yung Dramps]

I dunno if anyone else remembers this but a couple years back there was this online entertainment awards show with a "best web animation" category which Hisuian Snow won. What made this so funny to me is that one of the runner-ups was a The Boys spinoff and I'm still so sad that nobody drew a picture of the shiny Zorua and his human pal I forgot the name of clutching their first place trophy in joy while Homelander is absolutely seething (that I know of)

 

[Suspicious Derivative]

One thing I learned recently is that the music in Slowpoke Well was changed between Gen 2 and 4. In G/S/C, it uses the Dark Cave/Ice Path theme, but in HG/SS, it uses the Union Cave/Ruins of Alph theme. Really odd change, not sure why it was done. I think the track that was used in G/S/C suits it better, and I'm adding this to my list over reasons as for why I like G/S/C better than HG/SS.

Even if it is minor, I like how the Gen 2 games show a difference between Morning and Daytime on the overworld. I don't think I ever noticed or cared about this when I played G/S/C as a kid, probably because I rarely played Pokémon in the morning back then (and that does still not happen very often, only on weekends since I never have time to play before I go to work in the morning on weekdays).

Let's talk about TMs! I am a huge fan of the infinite TM system in Gen 5-8. In regards to how I play Pokémon, it is just way more convenient and time-saving. But I think the TR system in S/S and the TM system in ScaVio are great too since you can still obtain an infinite amount of any TR/TM, though it isn't as convenient as just having one TM that can be used infinitely.

But that's not what I wanted to say. In Gen 1-4, TMs can only be used once, making them way more limited. As if that wasn't enough, some TMs can only be obtained once per game, making them very valuable (assuming the move in question is any good). But there are also TMs that can be obtained indefinitely through various means. Some can be bought at places like regular shops, Game Corners or Battle Facility shops, and others can be obtained through more unusual means such as Pickup (this was how I got all of my Earthquake TMs in Emerald and Platinum, thanks Linoone army). Anyway, this means that TMs in the earlier generations are either one-off or unlimited. But there is one exception. In Gen 2, TM47 (Steel Wing) is neither. It can't be obtained indefinitely, but it isn't a one-off either as it can be obtained in two different places, Rock Tunnel and Route 28, making it a two-off. (If that wasn't a word before, then it is now.) I don't know if this happens for any other TM in Gen 1-4, but it is really cool either way.

But there's more. The Steel Wing TM you get on Route 28 is from a celebrity girl who lives alone in the house there. According to Bulbapedia, she is apparantly the same girl who lives in the house on Route 16 in the Kanto games, and gives you the Fly HM in there. I'm not able to confim if this is true since that would require me to replay R/B/Y or FR/LG, and I have yet to reach Route 28 on my current playthrough of VC Crystal. But assuming this is true, it is really cool how they decided to create a small story like that for a random NPC.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

One thing I learned recently is that the music in Slowpoke Well was changed between Gen 2 and 4. In G/S/C, it uses the Dark Cave/Ice Path theme, but in HG/SS, it uses the Union Cave/Ruins of Alph theme. Really odd change, not sure why it was done. I think the track that was used in G/S/C suits it better, and I'm adding this to my list over reasons as for why I like G/S/C better than HG/SS.

Even if it is minor, I like how the Gen 2 games show a difference between Morning and Daytime on the overworld. I don't think I ever noticed or cared about this when I played G/S/C as a kid, probably because I rarely played Pokémon in the morning back then (and that does still not happen very often, only on weekends since I never have time to play before I go to work in the morning on weekdays).

Let's talk about TMs! I am a huge fan of the infinite TM system in Gen 5-8. In regards to how I play Pokémon, it is just way more convenient and time-saving. But I think the TR system in S/S and the TM system in ScaVio are great too since you can still obtain an infinite amount of any TR/TM, though it isn't as convenient as just having one TM that can be used infinitely.

But that's not what I wanted to say. In Gen 1-4, TMs can only be used once, making them way more limited. As if that wasn't enough, some TMs can only be obtained once per game, making them very valuable (assuming the move in question is any good). But there are also TMs that can be obtained indefinitely through various means. Some can be bought at places like regular shops, Game Corners or Battle Facility shops, and others can be obtained through more unusual means such as Pickup (this was how I got all of my Earthquake TMs in Emerald and Platinum, thanks Linoone army). Anyway, this means that TMs in the earlier generations are either one-off or unlimited. But there is one exception. In Gen 2, TM47 (Steel Wing) is neither. It can't be obtained indefinitely, but it isn't a one-off either as it can be obtained in two different places, Rock Tunnel and Route 28, making it a two-off. (If that wasn't a word before, then it is now.) I don't know if this happens for any other TM in Gen 1-4, but it is really cool either way.

But there's more. The Steel Wing TM you get on Route 28 is from a celebrity girl who lives alone in the house there. According to Bulbapedia, she is apparantly the same girl who lives in the house on Route 16 in the Kanto games, and gives you the Fly HM in there. I'm not able to confim if this is true since that would require me to replay R/B/Y or FR/LG, and I have yet to reach Route 28 on my current playthrough of VC Crystal. But assuming this is true, it is really cool how they decided to create a small story like that for a random NPC.

There's a few enjoyable mini-arcs like that in Kanto/Johto, like the guy in the Sevii Islands who strikes it rich in Three Isle Path and ends up moving to Kanto. I like what was done with the Karate King when we later meet him in Kalos. Hey, maybe we'll see him again in PLZA!

 

[Yung Dramps]

I like what was done with the Karate King when we later meet him in Kalos.

You do?! I've never heard of this

 

[QuentinQuonce]

You do?! I've never heard of this

Indeed.

 

[RocketSurgery]

I don't know that this is something I like, per se, it's more that I am surprised it took me 10 years to notice that mega mewtwo x has two neck cables instead of 1. I was looking at its art after the LZA reveal and thought that it looked stupid because it looks like the cable goes into the side of mewtwo's face. So I looked it up in the Pokemon HOME model veiwer to see if the cable was lopsided, and lo and behold there are actually two! It's a bit hard to see in the screenshot because of the lighting. I guess it's a neat detail to contrast with mega mewtwo y, whose neck cable disappears/merges with Mewtwo's tail/becomes a headband?

I did always like the neck cable element of Mewtwo's design. I always imagined that in a less kid-friendly medium it would be a clear weak spot, e.g., severing it would disrupt Mewtwo's psychic powers.

 

[Bakugames]

pokespe is finally good

 

[Ransei]

The amount of options of music you could choose for battles both locally and in the Battle Tree in Generation 7. You get every major battle theme you listen to in the story in addition to the themes of some major postgame bosses. This feature was fully fleshed out in the Gen 7 games. Gen 6 had some kind of beta version of it where you were only given the full selection if you went online but just the first four themes if you're playing locally or in the Battle Maison instead.

Because of this, Gen 7 was also overall better for creating customizable boss fights if you're into that :^).

 

[DaRotomMachine]

The amount of fan games in Pokemon.
Just to list a few: Radical Red, Unbound, Team Rocket Edition, Inclement Emerald, Light Platinum...
But do you see a pattern?
Yes.
I LOVE HARD POKEMON GAMES
where they challenge you to atcually use your brain like a god pokemon player instead of some dumb idiot who just overlevels his starter to sweep everything. Not gonna work in these games buddy.
This may be big for me bt little to everybody else, so I'm just gonna post this here :)

 

[Yung Dramps]

How about some fun trivia?

Here's every wild battle theme in the series up to and including Legends Arceus but not counting remakes:
-Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Kalos, Galar: One each (5)
-Johto: Day and Night (2)
-Unova: Regular and dark grass (2)
-Alola: SM and USUM (2)
-Hisui: Normal, Alpha, Disaster Looming (3)
That makes 14.

Now, here's every wild battle theme in SV ALONE:
-Poco Path
-Cardinal Provinces (4)
-Area Zero
-Kitakami
-Blueberry Academy: Normal and Tera (2)

40% of the wild battle themes in the series are from one (1) game. That's coolio.

 

[DrrT]

I'm not sure if it's a little thing since it was a big improvement but I personally love that we finally have Legendary Pokemon who are their own characters. Replaying trough older games for the Ribbon Master challenge just makes me appreciate Koraidon and Miraidon again. They are not random powerful Pokemon that happen to be in the covers or just antagonistic, they genuinely have an arc about overcoming trauma (in a surprising way for the main series, death has been a topic previously but never as an important plot point, and rather than their trainer passing away they literally witness their murder!). It also helps it's arguably the one Pokemon we use more in the series -even more than partner Pikachu/Eevee- yet they managed to keep the mystery around them for so long as being that shouldn't exist.

I hope gen 10 keeps it up somehow. It would be a downgrade if we get back to an unrelated story where the legendary shows up before the League climax as a separate event. Always felt that ironically enough downplayed them.

 

[QuentinQuonce]

Brandon saying "I need your assistance!" every time he sends out a Pokemon in the anime is the dorkiest thing ever and yet I find it weirdly endearing

 

[pika pal]

Brandon saying "I need your assistance!" every time he sends out a Pokemon in the anime is the dorkiest thing ever and yet I find it weirdly endearing

I like it as well because it's a nice tie-in to Brandon's lectures about trainers (with 2 matches against Ash and ESPECIALLY his battle with Paul) needing to better themselves, not just their Pokemon. He's not simply sending his Pokemon to fight for him, they need to work in tandem to achieve the results he shows.

 

[Yung Dramps]

There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING more soulful in this series than taking full party screenshots with all your Pokemon sent out and standing alongside you in Legends Arceus. I would also add SV in there by default but I haven't played that one so w/e. I don't have to elaborate on this, right? It's pretty much just intrinsically sick as hell. Can't wait to take some awesome pictures of my Z-A crew down the road

 

[ant4456]

I'm not sure if it's a little thing since it was a big improvement but I personally love that we finally have Legendary Pokemon who are their own characters. Replaying trough older games for the Ribbon Master challenge just makes me appreciate Koraidon and Miraidon again. They are not random powerful Pokemon that happen to be in the covers or just antagonistic, they genuinely have an arc about overcoming trauma (in a surprising way for the main series, death has been a topic previously but never as an important plot point, and rather than their trainer passing away they literally witness their murder!). It also helps it's arguably the one Pokemon we use more in the series -even more than partner Pikachu/Eevee- yet they managed to keep the mystery around them for so long as being that shouldn't exist.

I hope gen 10 keeps it up somehow. It would be a downgrade if we get back to an unrelated story where the legendary shows up before the League climax as a separate event. Always felt that ironically enough downplayed them.

as with most things in the realm of narrative Pokemon, Sun and Moon either did it first, or best, and often both

in this case I don't think nebby is the best example, but it's probably the first in this trend

 

[DrrT]

Ballonlea. I got reminded of it by concept art from SWSH. I was honestly very gladly surprised with Galar -conceptually and aesthetically, definetly not in gameplay terms- but I also think a high fantasy look like the one around Ballonlea would have been very refreshing as a whole if it was expanded.

as with most things in the realm of narrative Pokemon, Sun and Moon either did it first, or best, and often both

in this case I don't think nebby is the best example, but it's probably the first in this trend

View attachment 613918

I was actually thinking about Nebby too! but I think more of them as an extension and support for Lillie's character more than its very own character but it was indeed the first one. I also have yet to play SM -only played USUM- and am unsure if there are any significant changes so I didn't want to talk about something I'm ignorant about.

There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING more soulful in this series than taking full party screenshots with all your Pokemon sent out and standing alongside you in Legends Arceus. I would also add SV in there by default but I haven't played that one so w/e. I don't have to elaborate on this, right? It's pretty much just intrinsically sick as hell. Can't wait to take some awesome pictures of my Z-A crew down the road

This is really underappreciated. My kid self would have been so incredibly excited about being able to have all the team out for photos. Similarly SV's picnics are also great but LA still is the best so far as you can do it at any moment.

 

[R_N]

Ballonlea. I got reminded of it by concept art from SWSH. I was honestly very gladly surprised with Galar -conceptually and aesthetically, definetly not in gameplay terms- but I also think a high fantasy look like the one around Ballonlea would have been very refreshing as a whole if it was expanded.


I was actually thinking about Nebby too! but I think more of them as an extension and support for Lillie's character more than its very own character but it was indeed the first one. I also have yet to play SM -only played USUM- and am unsure if there are any significant changes so I didn't want to talk about something I'm ignorant about.


This is really underappreciated. My kid self would have been so incredibly excited about being able to have all the team out for photos. Similarly SV's picnics are also great but LA still is the best so far as you can do it at any moment.

SM & USUM Nebby are effectively the same up to the Necrozma hijacking, which supplants the climax (so they also don't attack Lusamine) and adds a recovery aspect to obtaining it afterwords.


Personally my favorite of the "legends as a character" Calyrex. The raidons and Ogerpon are great, but Calyrex got to actually speak and had fun gags which really endeared me to it.
LA went about it slightly differently (focusing more on other people's relationships with their Nobles, and Arceus itself is fittingly distant for its role) but I'm hoping we get a proper companion legend in Z-A (Squishy Zygarde would make some sense...), too.

 

[BIG ASHLEY]

There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING more soulful in this series than taking full party screenshots with all your Pokemon sent out and standing alongside you in Legends Arceus. I would also add SV in there by default but I haven't played that one so w/e. I don't have to elaborate on this, right? It's pretty much just intrinsically sick as hell. Can't wait to take some awesome pictures of my Z-A crew down the road

shoutout photographer cameron from hgss... a real one fr

 

[pika pal]

SM & USUM Nebby are effectively the same up to the Necrozma hijacking, which supplants the climax (so they also don't attack Lusamine) and adds a recovery aspect to obtaining it afterwords.


Personally my favorite of the "legends as a character" Calyrex. The raidons and Ogerpon are great, but Calyrex got to actually speak and had fun gags which really endeared me to it.
LA went about it slightly differently (focusing more on other people's relationships with their Nobles, and Arceus itself is fittingly distant for its role) but I'm hoping we get a proper companion legend in Z-A (Squishy Zygarde would make some sense...), too.

Nebby I think is very much an extension of Lillie: What agency or behavior does Nebby express that is in service to its own characterization as opposed to something thematically tied to her? Hiding it in the bag, taking them away from Aether, being forced to open the Ultra Wormhole by her mother, evolving so they can confront her, and in SM attacking Lusamine to separate her from Nihilego are all actions played more for their relevance to her character (hiding from her mother, escaping an abusive home, the abuse resurfacing when found, confronting and retaliating directly against her mother's behavior). If there is one thing I can give USUM for all my criticism of its rewrites, Nebby trying to fight Necrozma is a bit more of a decision on its own in that version of the story (since Necrozma is a much less personal antagonist than Lusamine, it feels less like an extension of Lillie's arc than Nebby choosing to protect its loved ones with the power to do so).

While I like Calyrex I'm kind of of the opposite mind: I think the Pokemon (Legendaries especially) work better as Pokemon characters when they don't speak Human languages. Calyrex has some funny lines but it's rather stoic (which may be in part due to its character or TPC's unimpressive animation standards for cutscenes) and its role feels like it could have been replaced with a human who knew the legend and simply helps the rider get its mount back.

The Raidons have a start and endpoint to their characters (calling it an arc implies more depth to the progression than I think is there), and the fact that they don't have linguistic communication makes it a bit more effective to me seeing moments like them taking a shine to Penny or cowering like a frightened pet against their aggressive counterpart (admittedly this is bias because I've owned Dogs who have had those behaviors due to food-aggressive living mates for one) while making them fit better into the Pokemon world as a setting for me since they're not even Legendaries, just big time-displaced Creatures.

Ogerpon I think is the closest the stories benefit from getting to a Salient Pokemon as part of the story in a directly-involved role (as opposed to something like the more Aloof God Arceus in PLA). She's given very expressive faces and enough context to the story by other means that you can follow an emotional drive and motive, but again still functions as a creature since the conflict really doesn't work if she could communicate directly with people. I also think Ogerpon still being a creature in terms of intelligence leaves more room to work with the supporting cast: Kieran's character set-up falls apart hard if Ogerpon could speak to outright deny his delusion of winning her as a partner, as his take away from losing isn't "I was wrong to think this" rather than "I wasn't strong enough to get my way," not to mention communication between the two would break Kieran's "strong loner" image that fuels his mentality a lot sooner. One additional consequence I also see is that GF tends to be "done" with a character after their arc is over, which would beg the question of how Ogerpon would factor into the ID since that incident is significant to Kieran but Ogerpon herself has very little left to do.