1. jfc I'm starting to hate the genwunner pandering. Alola forms are easily the worst of the reveals so far, Exeggutor looks ridiculous, Ice/Fairy Ninetales was obviously made to sell merchandise, and I would have laughed in your face if you told me yesterday there would be a Sandshrew form based on a fucking igloo. Instead of redefining the same Pokemon, just give us proper tweaks and evolutions of Pokemon that need them.
I don't want to believe in the whole "Gamefreak is running out of ideas" schtick, in fact many of the designs to come out of this gen have been interesting so far but this constant redefining of the same Pokemon is just becoming a joke that is equally painful and hilarious. Especially since it tends to happen to gen 1 Pokemon.
2. It seems like the leak about the lack of gyms is somewhat confirmed with the island trials. At the moment, since there's only four islands, I'm a bit concerned that it won't fill the same amount of gameplay time as the 8 gyms did but overall I find it interesting. I'd also rather not have legendaries (which the guardians seem to be?) be available to the player during the storyline but these are minor gripes. The quests are probably much more interesting than plowing through gym leaders with overleveled, OP Pokemon.
3. Hoping for an expansive roster with the rider Pokemon system. Looks like they listened to player feedback after it ended up being a total letdown in XY! If the available Pokemon are good and not just restricted to the "fan favorites", then this would be the best replacement to the beloved HGSS follower Pokemon.
4. Nothing that really stands out with the new mons revealed, Mudsdale pre-evo is super adorbs tho
5. More Digimonification of Pokemon with Z moves, glad Gamefreak isn't over the ridiculous power creep /s
6. I love the soundtrack to this game. Beautiful music that honors its Hawaiian/Polynesian influences.
In spite of my criticisms, I am actually really hyped for these games. Loving the infodump!
