>>36843597>>Freedom of exploration dangerously near zero>>Gating everywhere and a half for the entire first half of the gameWhat qualifies as freedom of exploration? Because it's characteristic of Pokemon games in general to wall off areas until later, and I remember exploring Hauoli City, the path to get Flyinium Z, and the first island over after getting Ride Lapras from the second.
>>Fades to black to do anything gating and/or story-related because Lame Freak was incompetent with its new no-grid systemI don't see that as a problem but I did have to get used to clicking A to enter houses and such, which I didn't mind since other games typically warrant that.
Battle Royale did no harm in showing you what it was about, was fun to try out. You can't do too well or they gang up on you.
Festival Plaza I agree is a downgrade from PSS but I didn't waste more time in it than needed for my playthrough, wasn't like I was trading or battling during a campaign.
I didn't have a problem with the trainer customization, got what I wanted, and was glad you could take off your hat.
SOS was a lot of fun, I took advantage of it to chain for interesting and rare Pokemon. I got a Gorebyss in Ultra Moon.
For me, the positives outweigh the negatives. Like I rarely hear people praise pic related, which was so much fun. Alolan Forms and Z-status moves are really cool. Z-Nature Power Decidueye was so much fun to play with as I progressed through the game.
