[Matrixbeast]

No, I got that impression.
They just did a shit job at establishing it and I disregarded it.
You can't just say "THEY ARE TOTES SIMULATION YOU GUS" and proceed to act like it's law while doing absolutely nothing with it.

N-Daguva-Zeba was kind of the epitome of show, don't tell. They spent the entire final 4th of the show trying to hammer in everything in a connect the dots style way, but rather than do anything that makes sense, they sat on their hands, showed off Daguva's name in Grongi being similar to Kuuga's, and then shrugged and expected that to be enough.
Daguva did not have any character, and if you say he did you're a fucking liar. There was no real connection beyond their powers, which is the weakest connection possible since most Riders already have that kind of connection with their villains anyway.
With the lack of a proper character to Daguva, they were only able to establish tenuous and strained connections between them, so I never felt like he and Kuuga really shared anything.