Pretty much more or less that, with "Stop complaining: ESS is worse anyway" being the comment in full. Exactly right on all accounts.
Again, I agree: it's all about THE BATTLEZ being TEH COOLEST and the STRENGTH OF THE POKEEEMONZ that constitutes good writing to the DP and XY Anime fans, IMO.
"If Pikachu becomes a Raichu, I might be able to win that badge. On the other hand, to make it evolve just to fight...I would be just like Surge...Pikachu, what do you want to do? I really wanna beat that Surge, but I also don't want to force you to evolve if you'd be happier staying the way you are now."
--> Now that is good writing and gave OS Ash the kind of depth of character his future incarnations have all lacked, IMO.