Okay, here's my feelings on the matter: I think we all expected something else from this thing than what we got. Then again, the giant red flag was over the matter that it tells you where to go. My guess is that the mechanics of the game didn't really allow them to do anything else with it. Though why it couldn't be used as a pokemon in battle was a missed opportunity. (I would've made it Electric/Psychic) Maybe the matter that it wasn't being kept in a ball prevented that, too. However, that brings up something that should shatter any previously held perception of the pokemon world: someone has a pokemon on them and it's not in a ball. AND NO ONE DOES OR SAYS ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
Anyway, I'm sure people were expecting a helper sort of thing in that aspect, and that is what we got in the end. There was too much emphasis put on the matter that it was a talking pokemon, though. They said that we would communicate with pokemon in a way never seen before. ALL IT WAS WAS A TALKING POKEMON, THAT'S IT. Technically, they are right, and this hasn't been seen in the games until this point. People were expecting to be able to understand ANY pokemon. Again, I think the only reason why it doesn't exist is because it doesn't fit with the mechanics of the game. There really isn't any opportunity to interact with your pokemon other than the Refresh. What would you expect anyway? I mean, I don't believe there is any chance of a Xenoblade-esque bonding moment here. What do you want your pokemon to say to you? I'm curious. If this were HG/SS's walking pokemon, I'd expect to see them say something about the environment or something. Or to have some kind of flavor text depending on how well you've bonded with them. (same as Dr. Footstep, could be expanded) It could've been done, but for some reason, they didn't. Maybe they had already worked everything else to the limit. I wouldn't get too hopeful for an expansion.
