>>34190683The thing that makes this difficult is, a lot of what XY does right, SM fucks up, but the opposite is also true; a lot of what SM does right, XY fucks up.
Graphics-wise, from a technical standpoint, SM might be better, but at the same time, the non-chibi look and the camera being zoomed all the way in makes Alola feel super barren. There is not a lot of room to run around. There is not a lot of room to explore. Everything feels cramped in a way XY did not. This is a personal preference thing, and I preferred XY's graphical style for the region because it made it feel more vast. The characters did look better in SM (though I still hate protags stupid constant :) face)
Also, Alola has a terrible case of feeling very same-y throughout. XY, with the opposite problem, had very jarring transitions between biomes. Snowbelle City is snow-covered and nothing else is. The route with the desert is stuck in the middle of grassland and a city. Kalos has random parts sewn together.
SM's story is divisive, but XY's story is pretty much universally disliked because of how poorly it is executed. I am very much of the opinion that XY had a terrific first half overall, and I thought the story was cute at first and I appreciated the attempt at giving you a group of friends, but it fell to SHIT. Trevor could never beat you. Tierno was pointless (dancing? really?). Shauna, who at first seems like a Bianca-esque character, never really developed at all. The same could be said about your rival, who I desperately wanted to act out on their RIDICULOUS inferiority complex to you, but it never happened. SM's story had a reasonable progression, if nothing else. XY's just fell flat, bad even for a pokemon game. (And I haven't played USUM yet to judge story.)
Dex-wise, they are both pretty good, but XY's is bigger so that's a point to it. It also had a national dex. Design-wise, I think they're both good, but I love the UBs, so SM wins that round for me.
