I wanted to answer some things in this post as a lore nerd:Wow, I missed the PMD talk
Several things
First while I agree partially for Teambuilding, I do find it funny Magnemite is actually decent. A lvl 10 Magnemite is roughly on par with Lvl 15 you/partner, so even after the fugitive arc he can assist well if maintained. Same for being one of the first levitating mons, so he can chase enemies better if needed, whittle down defenses with Metal Sound. Unfortunately as noted, menuing and teams being reset each day severely hamper its use both casually and speedrun wise.Absol ironically isn't too good, especially moveset wise, though Quick Attack is good for sniping
Balance is absolutely bonkers though, and Def being based on both stat and level first game curves things to where special moves likely will do more damage than physical (this is noticeable for Groudon). Fury Attack from Beedrills does nill (50-60% range), but my Psyduck gets one shot by Tangela in Lapis cave via Absorb :V
Also fuck Articuno
Grass Types I partially disagree bar Mt. Blaze (even then, eh) and Frosty Forest. Cubone and especially Machop fair worse. Many grass types at least have sniping razor leaf or high crit Vine whip for damage, status moves, and decent stats. Cubone has no SE stab the entire campaign despite bonemerang, Machop has 0 range, eh defenses, and really sucks against birds
Story wise the issue of you being outed was forshadowed before Great Canyon. Alakazam is aware of the legend (it's why he tells you to go to Great Canyon), but kept it secret before for your safety given you at this point have proven you aren't a bad person, nor did Xatu make the connection to events yet. Incidentally, no one would've fully believed Gengar if not for YOU being suspiciously quiet and accepting his claims given the dream the night earlier
I can't even say they were 100% on board either. Lombre was apologizing before attacking you, most give up before Lapis Cave, and even if you/your partner lie and deny everything, nothing prevents Gengar from just sending a neutral party to Xatu to get a similar cryptic message for proof: you're connected to the disasters. It's SoL for the player either way, just shortened and escalated due to the player's guilt
You didn't get past Mt. Blaze, so this is another thing. The game's aware how hard the fugitive arc is, so the events between that until Groudon are super chill. It also gives time to buff another member if you need it (hah, nooooo), farm cash and items in Great Canyon, etc.
Now here's a bigger issue I feel should've been focused on:if the Ninetales here is the same one from the legend, then wouldn't this mean that the PMD residents live in the far future after human civilization perished? The Decrepit Lab Friend area flat out says
An abandoned lab built by humans long ago. Left to fall into disrepair, it is now home to Pokémon
So wouldn't it make more sense to say the player's from the past? And what happened to mankind anyway?
100% agree for remake talk though. RTDX gets me for basically being BDSP/SwSh in terms of awkwardly porting lowres assets onto Switch. The movesets make it clear nothing from Gen 8 was compensated, and level up movesets force an even worse forced tierlist for starters than OG. Same for lack of stacked abilities oddly, obnoxiously large recruiting mid dungeon, and graphically I hate the cruddy shader. It is NOT watercolor, it is oversaturated processing!
Here's the last thing, I think the isekai gimmick PMD has isn't necessary. I think you can completely just have sentient mons like Pokepark with no strings attached. Super's story I argue is stupidly convoluted cuz of this, and even the devs noted how the isekai idea got tired for that game. Unfortunately they're also aware it was the only gimmick that stood out, so they ceased making new poke entries after 3DS' sales failure. RTDX if anything solidifies the inability to shake it off, and most fanfiction I've seen hasn't realized it. It's too engrained to PMD's identity
Basically, PMD doesn't take place in the world of the mainline series, anything in the first game attributed to humans is mostly retconned. Humans never existed in this world. Later games make this more clear with similar setups, and PSMD at least soft confirms that all games take place in the same world at a similar time, which makes it even weirder considering that that means four major apocalypses happened within a lifespan... Or we can take that as just fanservice. I'm not gonna judge any interpretation, just saying what happens.
Ninetales is a Pokemon that can live for around a thousand years, that's why it was able to live so long.