It's funny how the game made me like Bidoof in that, because normally I HATE Bidoofs (lol), they look so stupid. It made it kinda hard to take its story serious every time I saw that funny looking faceset of him in the dialogue, but in the end I really liked the story they gave him. I don't remember his story being that difficult, but I did have trouble with some of the parts in Sunflora's story, but I guess some of it comes down to how lucky you get with random elements. The random stuff that happens in the games does get frustrating sometimes, especially when you've exploring a dungeon for a long time and then something bad happens and you lose everything.
I actually did play Explorers of Time before Sky, but I hadn't really played beyond the part with Phione, so at that point I hadn't met Team Charm yet. But yeah, no other videogame I've ever played managed to get me close to crying, but this one did, lol. I was like, dammit I can't believe I'm almost crying over a Pokémon game, that's not supposed to happen... T__T But I guess that's a good thing, because it shows how well the story and characters were done in the game.
It's a shame there's been no sign of a Mystery Dungeon game for gen 6, probably because Gates to Infinity didn't do that great.

I would love a game to play as a Fennekin, they're so... cute.
I don't think Absol looks feminine; I always use he and him when I talk about Absol, even though the one I have in X/Y is a female. Didn't look at the gender when I caught her, it was the first Absol I encountered in X/Y, and it was love on first sight (not in that way, lol).
So, have you been keeping up with the news about Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby?