The thing with Gen 6 is that it's much easier to forgive Gen 6's flaws because it was the first transition to 3D for the series. Given this was Game Freak's first entry into making 3D Pokemon games, it's expected that there are some hiccups. And for their first step into the 3D development realm, Gen 6 was not a bad effort. Yes, compared to Gen 5 and *especially* Gen 4 it was a step down, but it had ambition to it, and that's what counts.
X and Y may have had flaws, but they did a lot of things that were great. Pokemon Amie was a great way to play with Pokemon and took advantage of 3D models really well, the region was fantastic, the Pokedex diversity was awesome, PR Videos were fun, the multiplayer and the Player Search System and Friend Safari were all amazing and made the multiplayer aspect fantastic, and the routes had a lot of fun things going for them like the Rhyhorn/Mamoswine riding, the caves were gorgeous, the region is beautiful, etc. Plus roller skating, 8-directional movement, Lumiose City! Sure the game was stupidly easy and the story was meh, and it wasn't everything it could be, but for all those flaws, there was a lot of good to say about X and Y. Upon recently replaying it I've grown to appreciate it more and more. ORAS was also a great game because while the lack of Battle Frontier was apparent, it made up for that with a lot of other great things: mostly everything else was intact, there were upgraded E4 rematch teams, the Delta Episode was a fun post-game story, and contests were better than ever. And can we not forget riding Latias/Latios across Hoenn and seeing all of Hoenn from a sky view? Plus all the Mirage Islands to find more Gen 4+ Pokemon in them.
Was Gen 6 perfect? No. Was it a step down from BW2? Yes. But here's the thing: it was the first entry into the mainline series that went 3D, and it was a given that yes, given this was GF's first big step into making 3D mainline games, there would be some hiccups. That's why in a sense, even though it was a step down, Gen 6 was forgivable. They were just getting into 3D development and were not fully comfortable with 3D yet, so it was a given there would be some flaws. And especially because for all of its flaws, Gen 6 still did a ton of things that were great. And it still had ambition in it, and it still showed: Gen 6's flaws was really a matter of Game Freak biting off more than they could chew, but you could tell they put a lot of heart into it.
The problem is that with Gens 7 and 8, we should be expecting improvement from Gen 6. And that's why people are much harsher on them than Gen 6. We have not seen any sign of improvement or growth from Gen 6! Gen 7 did some things right for sure, but compared to Gen 6, it failed to fully build on the foundation that Gen 6 did. As I said, Gen 6 laid out a foundation for 3D Pokemon. And it did fine for their first entry into 3D, and for that circumstance, it was a success. Gen 7 and Gen 8, have, in some aspects, been even worse than XY and ORAS, and Game Freak has still shown a lack of competence with 3D development. The rushjob of the base game of Sword and Shield was embarassing. Gen 7 was good, but it was in some ways a step down from Gen 6 and again, it also failed to refine and build on X and Y's groundwork. They clearly didn't give it their all here. They haven't improved significantly since Gen 6, when we should be expecting something better than what Gen 6 delivered. The models are still the same basic models that we saw in Gen 6. No, we should not be seeing the same models in Gens 7 and 8 that we did in Gen 6, the models should be better and more expressive. We should be expecting them to be more comfortable with 3D development, and in turn have even better content than what we saw in XY and ORAS. They still haven't shown that, and that's why people are much harsher on them than Gen 6: it's much less easy to forgive Gens 7 and 8 because those gens are a point where we really should be expecting refinement, expansion, and polish from the groundwork and foundation that Gen 6 laid out, but no, that's not the case unfortunately.
Now granted, the upcoming Legends: Arceus has given me some hope. I do see some legitimate ambition and experimentation coming out of that game, and it seems like it truly is taking 3D Pokemon and advancing it another step forward, even though there might be some hiccups. The models this time look legit better than they ever did, and the full on 3D world is great, and the combat looks to be much improved from past games. I still cannot form a solid opinion on it of course, but after Crown Tundra and Isle of Armor really showed that Game Freak does still have it, and they can deliver something great, I'm more hopeful Legends Arceus will be a true improvement and step up from the groundwork that X and Y laid out, and in some ways, take what Sword and Shield's DLC did and make it even better. So in that sense, while the past few gens do have their problems, the newer stuff does make me cautiously optimistic, personally. Plus BDSP using a minimalist artstyle makes me hopeful they won't taint or ruin DPP Sinnoh in terms of content like many initially feared.
