I think I'm coming around on XY.
I've been a long time XY-hater since I hate the EXP share, Megas (all gimmicks really), and all the general casualization masquerading as "QoL" "Improvements" that gen 6 brought. But I guess new pokemon games have lowered my standards because I've been replaying Y ever since Legends ZA was announced and honestly I'm really enjoying myself. Being able to simply turn off the exp share and forget it exists is a privilege that I hate to admit I appreciate in hindsight, and I genuinely don't mind boxing the shit I don't feel like using even though I'd consider the overabundance of gift mons a flaw. Add onto that the (mostly) incredibly solid route/dungeon design, the actually GOOD graphics, and the fact that the story is pretty hands-off compared to some of the newer, and you've got yourself a pokemon game that feels as good to play as a lot of the older games, feels more like classic pokemon than like what came after.