I guess they struggled with the limitations of the 3DS, hopefully this won't be a problem with future generations anymore. I hope the next generation gets rid of RNG, I want to see all the wild Pokémon in the overworld.

Haven't gotten very far in Moon, so I can't say yet :p

Both are pretty fun though

Sun and Moon by a mile. XY were terrible Pokemon games.

I don't think they were terrible, just kinda stock.  

For me, it was a great reintroduction to the series; hadn't played any since Ruby and Sapphire.  And they introduced some neat features.  But I can definitely see cracks in the seams, Team Flare being the most glaring one in my opinion.

The main cast of XY was all combined to make Hau.

Honestly, I feel that every mainline Pokemon game serves as adequate introductions, so I consider that the status quo. It wasn't just Flare. The whole game felt like it was talking down to the player narratively. Most of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four were forgettable. The supporting cast of friends felt like annoying children that you were babysitting outside of Serena/Calem, who just felt personality-less.

Sycamore was cool. Alexa was cool. Sina and Dexio were inoffensive. Viola and Korrina were fine. Xerosic was fine. Malva was awesome, but suffered a serious case of dropped potential. Oh, and everything infolving the Looker post game quest was awesome. Everyone else was either terrible or forgettable.

If you care about more than competitive battling or "catching them all," XY were abysmal additions in almost every regard.

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Oh, and this isn't directed at you at all, but Hau was fine. And he definitely wasn't "comic relief." He's just a laid back dude with a good attitude. He's far from my favorite rival, but there was nothing offensive about him at all. He was a very passive character in the plot, but he had specific goals and a believably character arc. He's a more fleshed out and likable character than most characters in Pokemon. Just because he doesn't spit in your face and insult you doesn't mean that he's a bad companion.

The only truly bad characters in the game were Gladion and Lusamine, and Gladion was easy to spot by a mile, so I ain't even mad.

I think XY had a great feel to the region though.  That's what I think I liked so much.  But yeah, characterization was remarkably shallow for 90% of the cast and there was definitely an overtly childish tone.  It felt more child orriented than child friendly at points.  And I also like a lot of the Pokemon designs.  

I like what I have played of Sun and Moon more though, no doubt.

You know, I'm sure the region as a setting was fine, but the scenarios you're put in were so shallow and cringy that it was difficult to remember most of it. Just off the top of my head, I can remember only a handfull of cities and landmarks. I do think that the region had a good feel though, which is why I was really excited about a Pokemon Z. All it really needed was a good re-contextualization.

Kalos is fine and the Pokemon are as good as ever. I'm still not in favor of Mega Evolutions as is puts normal Pokemon on the same level as legendaries and essentially makes their original forms obsolete, but even so I think they'd be fine with some nerfing. (Like a 5-turn limit) The problem with XY is really just with their plot and world building. (The main legendaries are pretty lame though, but that's more due to how the story treats them than anything.)

Alola definitely did the Hawaiian theme much better than Kalos did the French theme. I've been to France countless of times and I found Kalos to be shallow at best. Oh look, here's the Eiffel Tower, how French!

And X/Y has lame legendaries. Why are they based on Norse mythology if the region is based on France? What was even the point of Zygarde? What's his story? Why is he shoe-horned into Sun and Moon again? Why does this thing even exist? He's such a pointless legendary.

Sun and Moon, of course. XY were completely garbage, a huge step back after Gen 5.