Similarly to the anime, all towns now have a bigger population, and a bigger layout. They don't only consist of a few houses and a Pokemon Center, but actual streets with actual rows of houses. You can no longer enter all houses, but the ones you can are inhabited by useful NPCs. There are now a lot more NPC trades in the games, you can now trade items with them as well. They now frequently give you useful advices e.g. they heard that an Elite Four member uses x type, you should make sure to catch a y Pokemon in the nearby area, etc.
Yay or nay?