>>43537738The rivals are a mixed bag for me.
Tierno is absolutely awful. Trevor doesn't stand out much, and seems like a natural (for XY's structure) equivalent to Oak's aides in RBY. Shauna is cute - and I don't mean that
purely in a coomer way, but her crush feels like just the right level of "trying hard to keep it secret and failing" for her character, and I feel she does what they were trying with Yancy and Lillie significantly better. Serena/Calem is a solid rival, and wasn't executed quite as well as the concept could've been. Hau felt like a second attempt at that concept, and fell flat as well. I find the Gym Leaders to be a mixed bag as well. They felt more like how Gen 1, 3, and 4 handled Gym Leaders (as boss fights pretty well isolated from everything, with one designated plot-relevant leader), compared to 2, 5, and 7 (as characters integrated with the world). I personally believe Kalos has better graphics than Unova, but that's a matter of preference. Alola feels like an upgrade graphically, but Gen 7 is by far my favorite. The roller skates were annoying at times, but I found them pretty easy to get used to. The music is pretty underwhelming, I definitely agree, but in my opinion the atmosphere is nice. Kalos sort of has a "fantasy kingdom" thing going on, and the further you get, the more the fantastic overtakes the modern.
