I like sprites and I'm glad that 3D models and the games as a whole are finally at a point where I don't wish they had continued to improve on the 2D animated battle sprites and mixed 2D/3D overworld style.
There never should have been a point where anyone could argue that 3D was a mistake, and it shouldn't have taken them 10 years to reach this point. Shit like blastoises attacks not lining up with its cannons didn't matter pre gen 6. We would meme on it, sure, like skuntanks flamethrower, but back then because you were filling in more blanks with your imagination it was easier to just not be bothered by a poorly aligned animation. It becomes a lot harder to ignore when you're watching a 3D animation play out, and for it to have taken this long for them to stop treating 3D models like sprites is just another reminder that gamefreak is packed with incompetence
