I disagree! This is Alola we're exploring though, not Kalos. I'd rather not have the region's identity compromised for the sake of "tying up loose ends" from past generations. XY feeling incomplete and unpolished is a fault of XY, not SM, so it shouldn't be SM's problem.
I can maybe foresee some references to Kalos that might help clear the mud, but that's about all I'm expecting, here.
Well I hope they don't mix the two stories either, just maybe drop little references here and there, maybe tie loose ends. I'd like to know what actually happened to Lysandre, for example. But yes, Kalos' faults should in no way damage Alola, I want them to give us a full and complete story and region again.
As for the characters this time around, I like them sooo so much more than the Kalos characters, at least design wise. The main characters are honestly our most bland to date, although the girl has been warming up on me, she's kind of cute, either way I think they were designed that way intentionally to work with character customization.
I love Team Skull and the Admins look awesome. Gladion looks like Sasuke merged with a Jojo character, Plumeria is cool, and Guzma is straight up awesome, I'd love to party with him.
The trial captains have pretty good designs, Mallow is cute. Hala is pretty badass and I like Hau too.
Kakui continues the trend of "hot" professors (I even saw a cosplay at a con a few months ago), and I like the Aether Foundation's designs too. Wicke is cute and Lusamine reminds me of Cynthia in a way, she's really cool and I feel like she'll be a great character no matter how her true identity is. Also Lillie is cute. So yes, I really like the character designs this time around and I hope they are as well polished and developed as Gen 5's characters.