2- The festival - seriously - what the F???!? Remove the PSS and put/hide some of the functionality in this hot stinky mess? Not a fan.
I have no experience with the PSS since I didn't play XY. The Festival could've been good. I don't think it's
terrible, but it could use improvement. One major issue is it's unintuitive and the NPCs that explain things aren't very helpful, so you have to figure a lot of things out on your own. My biggest beef with it is you can only have 7 shops in your plaza, but there's lots more options than that. I'm finding it difficult to decide which 7 I actually should have.
With these three glaring issues, for me, the rave reviews must've been paid for... Someone tried to phone in SunMoon and it shows.
I don't know about that. The festival is, IMO, the only major issue in your listed cons. Honestly, I'm seriously having more fun with Pokemon than I ever have, and I've been playing since Pokemon Blue in 1998. I was actually wondering if I'd regret getting back into the series, and I don't.
Things that really improve the whole thing for me:
- The ability to instantly put Pokemon in your party after catching it, even if your party is full
- The ability to see the Pokemon's summary page right after catching it
- The ability to trade Pokemon that are still in boxes
- The ability to trade even when you're not in a Pokemon Center
- Exp Share the way it works now. Less grinding when over 800 individual Pokemon exist is only a GOOD thing. (I know XY introduced it)
- Daycare not giving EXP? I LOVE that. I always hated it when parents would level up and all I wanted was them to make eggs.
- The whole QR code scanning feature. Once you get things registered as seen, it makes it easier to find in your own game and you can also search for it on GTS
- Pokemon Refresh. I like that you are given incentive to play with your critters by boosted experience, more chance for resisting status effects, evading attacks, etc.
- PokeRide. Seriously, I've hated HMs since 1998. I do not miss them at all.
- Customization of your character. (Again, I know this started in XY)
There's tons more things I could say that I love. Really, I can only think of 3 things off the top of my head that I hate and only 1 is a Sun/Moon thing (Festival Plaza). The other things have been a problem in the series - the fact that friendship evolution is tedious and annoying, and that I really wish they'd just show us these hidden stats more directly already (EVs, IVs, friendship). Put those things in a back summary window so it doesn't confuse any young kids/newbies to the series if you want. Most JRPGs show all of your stats to you and the only thing you CAN'T see is, of course, the RNG. Pokemon is more opaque.