>>46192596Base SM already had a decent story, admittedly. Base XY's story on the other hand is infamously garbage, there's nowhere to really go from there but up.
The problem with USUM is that they were a third version split into two games, instead of a traditional third version. If it were Pokemon Stars instead, I don't think there'd be many complaints. Either way, this is purely subjective. imo gen 7's handholding was way too fucking much, which completely destroyed my enjoyment of the game, while I thought XY were alright and I don't feel like its flaws are as pronounced. At worst, XY are really average, but they still have enough going for them gameplay-wise that SM removed (like the PSS)
