Some other negatives to go over...
-Move Tutors are in in spite of the lack of a battle frontier, but there is exactly one move it offers over move tutors in previous generations, particularly Black 2/White 2. While the proliferation of Electroweb as a new entry hazard is quite awesome (Because we needed another reason to run Rotom-W), this has been the least enticing set of Move Tutor Moves since their inception in Generation 3, which is a real shame. Really wish we would have gotten something crazy like Boomburst or Play Rough tutor.
-Cosplay Pikachu absolutely breaks the Pokemon Contest system in the exact same way that early game Latios/Latias and the EXP share breaks the single player experience. Cosplay Pikachu on the whole is disappointing, just as Surfing Pikachu's lack of transfer-ability. the improvements to lightningrod and the Light ball that came in 5th gen would be GREAT with some of these moves if they were permanent editions to Pikachu's movepool, but they aren't.
- The crippling lack of updates to the engine. This game still chugs terribly if 3D is engaged, and 3D is limited, just as in X and Y. The fact that this Engine is pretty much the same thing makes it especially appaling that they couldn't be bothered to take that extra step and give Pokemon X and Y one more patch to bring last year's releases some peerity with these releases. There's a number of Mega Stones that must be sent from X and Y to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire for those old Mega pokemon to be available in the new versions. Why then, can we not send those new stones, have access to Kyogre, Groudon, or Rayquaza's new moves, or put Cosplay Pikachu's models back into X and Y? what if I like having a customized trainer? what if I like level grinding in Battle Resturants? This absolutley baffles me, especially considering Mega Latios and Mega Latias' models are buried inside X and Y's code! isn't it absurd that you can't have Mega Diancie in X and Y? This bullet point alone is the reason I chose to watch LPs and read Serebii instead of shelling out for the Pokemon Tax.
-I personally feel the soundtrack is lazy after giving it a listen. Heart Gold/Soul Silver took a really bombastic and manic approach to it's music, going so completely all out to make all the tunes epic and awesome. I was expecting much the same for OR/AS, but ... I dunno. the trumpets feel more muted and reserved. Yeah, it's a better soundtrack than X and Y, but I feel X and Y probably have the weakest soundtrack of any Pokemon game. Particular disappointments include Route 113, the Aqua/Magma leader fight theme, and the lack of arrangements for the various legendary pokemon shoehorned in. Don't tell me that asking for such arrangements is unreasonable, because one need only look at the World Tournament from Black 2/White 2 to see that they will re-arrange music from every generation without hesitation. I will say that the Battle theme for Zinnia is REALLY good, though. Like, I feel that they could have SERIOUSLY used a theme like that for X and Y's gym leader battle instead of having reject F-Zero GX/Wipeout music.
- All the new Megas being revealed in pre-release material is quite disappointing. Mega balance feels quite a bit shakier here than it did in X and Y, where the Megas either offered pokemon very alternate builds or a reason to shine in the limelight with few exceptions. Stuff like Mega Audino, Mega Pidgeot, and Mega Steelix just seem VERY ill-concieved. (Not saying these are bad, but conceptually weak; Mega Pidgeot literally picks up no-guard for 100% accurate STAB hurricanes, which is nice, but they didn't really expand it's movepool in a way to make it a real contender. It's like if they would have done Mega Heracross but only given him acess to Rock Blast and not any of the other skill link related goodies he gets) The fact that Mega Rayquaza essentially breaks the Mega Evolution system is really stupid and I don't wanna play in Ubers where you can eat a base 120 STAB Life Orb boosted flying move from a pokemon with 180 base attack. or Draco Meteor, for that matter. Shout-outs to Mega Bedrill and Mega Sharpedo for being really GOOD examples of what I like out of a Mega Evolution. Kinda sad there's no Mega Exploud or Mega Torkoal.
And a couple of positives.
- Props to Gamefreak giving us a Deoxys that doesn't come from an event, even if it's raw statitude gets shat upon by Mega Evolutions. and a Cresselia you don't have to catch roaming, because it kinda made me sad when I caught myself a calm Cresselia back in the day and found out it's IVs were awful.
- Delta Episode is indeed an AWESOME idea for how post-game should be handled.
- mad shout-outs to my boy Sharpedo, who not only got a -GREAT- Mega Evolution, but also gets the distinct advantage of being a surf pokemon that moves at double speed on water, which coupled with lower water encounter rate makes Hoenn a slightly less painful region to explore.
- I do love that Gamefreak went out their way to try and make sure all pokemon are available between X, Y, OR, and AS. at the same time, I also like that if you have a pokemon that's got an OT from a Ruby/Sapphire game that you get a commemorative plaque from the developer room. Again, Shout-outs to my Sharpedo, who has been with me for a very, VERY long time.
- 'dat Zinnia battle theme.