>>45042237>XY debuted while Iwata was still aliveYes, and they still managed to have core gameplay intact.
2015 is the only gap year we've had in a long time and it was when he died. Plans for Z went down the shitter, and they went full damage control in trying to take down Yokai because they don't have any faith in their fucking brand.
XY didn't have to be the beginning of the end, it seemed like things could only go up back then. Yes people were upset about the missing links and even more people made a shitfit about the Battle Frontier, but to say anything otherwise is revisionist history.
What I don't understand is why Gen 7 gets a free pass despite doubling down on the mistakes Gen 6 made AND removing all of the good things it did right. Hell, most of the shit people like about SM/SWSH are just stuff rehashed from XY's troubled development. Ultra Beasts, the sports theme, Pokemon riding, are all things that were repurposed from things in XY that were either not fully implemented or managed to make it in but not in the way they intended because of time.
