>>40785994XY had paper thin characters, but at least it didn't have us on the border of suicide just because the amount of hand holding we give to Lillie is overwhelming. XY's dex might've been somewhat weak for some, but at least had old mons in case its own dex isn't your own thing.
Sword and Shield practically begs you to spend your time with Galar dex and the very specifically hand picked old mon for its region which definitely aren't the gen Jim Turner's started his career with or popular already established mon from back in the days. Or shitmons that became so much of a meme, they became popular.