>>45136452XY isn't bad by no means, but it is noticeable downgrade in terms of the limited exploration this series had. Do recognize that Pokemon's series staples like gyms, Elite Four, evil team, ect are products of being on a limited console platform and, rather than moving beyond these, Pokemon stuck by it and did almost nothing to truly innovate them or expand on them. Sun & Moon + even SwSH even try to present the gyms differently to aid in this, but not to the extent that it actually changes much. "Don't fix what isn't broken" doesn't make sense here because the series has been ridiculed for years for being the same as the previous games. Platinum, BW+2, and HGSS are effectively the endgoal when it come to polishing core staples of the series. By no means were they truly revolutionary or significantly changing the series at all. The fact that sidegames like Pokemon XD, Coliseum, and even Pokemon Mystery Dungeon provide much more in breaking the series' conventions really highlights the core series' issues.
Pokemon has stagnated for over two decades and effectively profited immensely from it. XY is by no means bad, but it is certainly mediocre for a game that was supposed to be the series changer. With 3D and a significantly more console platforms to work on, there could have been much more overworld to explore, Pokemon-player interaction, expansion to the battle system in more interactive ways. To extent, there was that with Amie and Mega Evolution, but both of those only addon to existing staples. There was no reason there was no walking Pokemon couldn't have coexisted with Amie by the time Sun & Moon existed. The reason for a lot of this stagnation is largely Gamefreak's horrible coding. Having a single Pokemon model in the overworld, even just the the path following for the Pokemon would've been too much for the 3DS given their horrible coding practices. XY was disappointing because it postured like it was reinventing the wheel for Pokemon.
