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They're fine games, but my biggest problem with ORAS was how they squandered one of Hoenn's biggest strengths (its exploration).
There's a lot of scenes where you're with your rival, and they'll warp you back to and from a place even if it's not that far away. Most of them are optional but the one that stood out to me was the mandatory Wally warp after beating Norman, which completely undermines the point of the game opening up after you get Surf, with all sorts of locations opening up to you (the sea next to Petalburg, the 103 river leading to Slateport with you possibly returning home to talk to mom and get the Amulet Coin, or simply just going through Rusturf again to make it to Mauville and immediately Surf to the next location). Combined with all the transition screens turning a seamless world into one with jarring load screens and it ended up feeling far less adventurous overall.
I liked Dexnav, the added personality to the cast, and online-based features though like Secret Bases and Buzznav. Really felt like what they were trying to go for with Record Mixing, a lived-in community of players.
