So.
The new mega evolutions are awesome. (The ones we have are good; what we're pissed about is the lack of Mega Flygon and Milotic).
The updated graphics are awesome. (I seriously never knew the weird holes in the ground on route 114 were craters.)
The tutors are awesome. (Tailwind at last!)
But what I'm most excited about out of everything is something gone unnoticed for, really, ages on this thread: (super) Secret Bases. Think about it; I'm sure that everyone who plays Pokemon has, at one point, fantasized about making a Gym, being the leader, and taking on challengers with your monotype/theme team. Yeah, this was technically sort of possible in the original RSE, but your challengers were limited to people you mixed records with (which you had to go way out of the way to do), and if you wanted to have a gym that's actually challenging (remember most people have endgame-level teams after the first week or two), you had to grind 5 or 6 mons to insane levels. But now, in ORAS, those problems have both been solved. Level grinding has become *much* easier thanks to the battle chateau in XY providing easy leveling (Whether or not a similar facility in ORAS exists is somewhat of a moot point, since you can level in XY and then bank the mons over), and StreetPass/PSS providing no shortage of challengers. (Yes, they fight against an AI with your team, but nothing's stopping you from having 6 level 100 Arceuses.)
I will definitely be taking advantage of this feature. I'm currently training a Porygon2, Klinklang, Metagross, Magnezone, Porygon-Z, and Mewtwo (SCIENCE! and yes I am using Mewtwo as my ace) to level 80-84; well above Wally's endgame team, but not crazy.
Will anyone else be making a Gym? If so, what will your team be? I look forward to potentially challenging Smogon's AI teams in... 17 days. I'm never gonna make it.