I like Pokemon Amie and Refresh. They are really fun and useful features. Playing with your Pokemon and seeing how they react is fun, and so cute! Even the most terrifying beasts become adorable here. I also like how some of them get extra details which might not be seen in battle, like Land Form Shaymin getting extra flowers on its back. I also appreciate how Amie and Refresh give useful bonuses in battle too, as opposed to being nothing more than useless gimmicks. Both are great features that I hope will be kept and improved in the future.
Roaming legendaries is a concept I have always disliked, and I'm very happy that the newer games and generations are moving away from it. The last time we had any real roamers was in B/W, which were released more than 6 years ago. I'm also very happy that OR/AS didn't feature the Lati@s roaming in the same way as R/S/E did, I hope future remakes follow up on this so that we will never have any more roaming legendaries in the games.
I appreciate how Game Freak are sometimes taking baby steps with features in the games. They don't need have a perfect execution of a feature on the first try as long as they manage to make it better eventually. A good example here is the IV checker which has been improved in literally every generation ever since it was first featured in Emerald. Another one would be the PC Box system which had a very rough start but has since then mostly been getting better and better with every game.
I really like the Funfest Missions in B2/W2. They are one of my favorite minigames in the series, and they seem to be really underrated since I don't really see a lot of people talk about them or mention them. I really liked them, doing all sorts of different missions was a lot of fun, including things you don't usually do in a Pokemon game like helping lost kids get home or playing Rock-paper-scissors with preschoolers. They were also great for farming various items, and I liked how they could be done literally anywhere as opposed to being limited to just one or a few areas.
I like how the newer games and generations give you a good reason to re-explore the region once you have beaten the game. In Gen 5, the seasons were enough for me to go through Unova four times just to see how the landscape changed. X/Y had the hunt for Mega Stones, while OR/AS had a similar hunt as well as the ability to catch all Pokemon that are exclusive to the DexNav. S/M has the Eevee Quest, collecting Zygarde Cells/Cores and various battles that are only available during the post-game.
I also like how they since X/Y have been having some kind of post-game story, first the Looker Missions, then the Delta Episode and then the Ultra Beast quest. On that subject, I like how you aren't forced to complete the Ultra Beast quest in S/M in order to explore the post-game areas or go to the Battle Tree. In comparison, I found it somewhat annoying how OR/AS forced you to complete the Delta Episode before you could go to the Battle Resort.
Last thing for now. I want to talk about trainer classes. Backpackers are my favorite trainer class in the series.
Why? Because they symbolize one of the main things you experience in the Pokemon games: Travelling. It is just you, your bag, your Pokemon, your memories and your experiences. The Backpackers are nothing more than that. Then the Backpackers in the games often tend to say very funny things, which can be hilarious. One detail I noticed is that all Backpackers in X/Y are male while all in S/M are female. Gen 5, which introduced them, is the only one so far which features both genders in the same games.
My second favorite trainer class is Fairy Tale Girls. I think they are a creepy-cute concept done right, Game Freak absolutely nailed it. I don't know if I should find them terrifying or adorable or both at the same time and I love it. Then Fairy is my favorite type so I might have a slight bias towards them because of that as well. I miss them somewhat in S/M but I hope they will make a return in the future.
Roaming legendaries is a concept I have always disliked, and I'm very happy that the newer games and generations are moving away from it. The last time we had any real roamers was in B/W, which were released more than 6 years ago. I'm also very happy that OR/AS didn't feature the Lati@s roaming in the same way as R/S/E did, I hope future remakes follow up on this so that we will never have any more roaming legendaries in the games.
I appreciate how Game Freak are sometimes taking baby steps with features in the games. They don't need have a perfect execution of a feature on the first try as long as they manage to make it better eventually. A good example here is the IV checker which has been improved in literally every generation ever since it was first featured in Emerald. Another one would be the PC Box system which had a very rough start but has since then mostly been getting better and better with every game.
I really like the Funfest Missions in B2/W2. They are one of my favorite minigames in the series, and they seem to be really underrated since I don't really see a lot of people talk about them or mention them. I really liked them, doing all sorts of different missions was a lot of fun, including things you don't usually do in a Pokemon game like helping lost kids get home or playing Rock-paper-scissors with preschoolers. They were also great for farming various items, and I liked how they could be done literally anywhere as opposed to being limited to just one or a few areas.
I like how the newer games and generations give you a good reason to re-explore the region once you have beaten the game. In Gen 5, the seasons were enough for me to go through Unova four times just to see how the landscape changed. X/Y had the hunt for Mega Stones, while OR/AS had a similar hunt as well as the ability to catch all Pokemon that are exclusive to the DexNav. S/M has the Eevee Quest, collecting Zygarde Cells/Cores and various battles that are only available during the post-game.
I also like how they since X/Y have been having some kind of post-game story, first the Looker Missions, then the Delta Episode and then the Ultra Beast quest. On that subject, I like how you aren't forced to complete the Ultra Beast quest in S/M in order to explore the post-game areas or go to the Battle Tree. In comparison, I found it somewhat annoying how OR/AS forced you to complete the Delta Episode before you could go to the Battle Resort.
Last thing for now. I want to talk about trainer classes. Backpackers are my favorite trainer class in the series.
Why? Because they symbolize one of the main things you experience in the Pokemon games: Travelling. It is just you, your bag, your Pokemon, your memories and your experiences. The Backpackers are nothing more than that. Then the Backpackers in the games often tend to say very funny things, which can be hilarious. One detail I noticed is that all Backpackers in X/Y are male while all in S/M are female. Gen 5, which introduced them, is the only one so far which features both genders in the same games.
My second favorite trainer class is Fairy Tale Girls. I think they are a creepy-cute concept done right, Game Freak absolutely nailed it. I don't know if I should find them terrifying or adorable or both at the same time and I love it. Then Fairy is my favorite type so I might have a slight bias towards them because of that as well. I miss them somewhat in S/M but I hope they will make a return in the future.