I got the PokeMon-Amie thing right off. I thought the wordplay was fairly obvious the way the voice over said it. Plus, come on, when isn't anything localized in Pokemon wordplay or a pun?
Having said that, this feature is the only reason I even care again. I agree with everyone else who said it makes Pokemon more than monster shaped robots, and honestly I can't get behind the games when that's all they are.
I'm still skeptical overall about my enjoyment of the game as a whole, I dunno how far gone I am at this point, but I'll definitely try it at least to play around with this feature, and to see what effect it has on the game overall. It only makes sense to finally integrate how the Pokemon feel about things in a game titled Pokemon. I've never been interested in how Red/Blue/Purple/whoever and the wafer-thin NPCs feel. However, I can begin to care when I can feel a connection between Pokemon and trainer, something that feels real.
I'd love to see some character development in the creatures (outside Mystery Dungeon). It would be amazing if each Pokemon had their own personality based on their, well, personalities (or Natures, whatever). The way you have to bond with them would be different. Let's use Pikachu. A timid Pikachu would act differently than a Hardy one, and it would show in its actions. Effectively, you can have a few Pikachu that are all different from each other, which makes them all unique (or only as unique as there is a total number of Natures). However, the treatment of each would be different. What works for the Hardy Pikachu may not go over very well with the timid one.
This alone will add a LOT of depth to the creatures, something only seen in the anime and manga (and even then not always). How you bond with it in spite of or because of its nature, will become your own personal story. You're not just RPing a kid doing the same thing every other kid has been doing for the past 5 generations (sure, the way you went about it is all you, but still, only so many unique ways to talk about how you took down the Elite Four).
Pokemon are supposed to be your friends (not robots, not even pets, really), we've never really seen that beyond some empty dialouge. Just like you don't expect everyone you meet iRL to all act the same way, I'd really appreciate that with Pokemon within the same species. I'm probably wishing big, here, but I can't tell you how much I can't get enough of this sort of thing.
