It's honestly not even that bad, it just suffers from a critical lack of a follow-up, with a few other flaws as well that make it fall into the pit of mediocrity. Pokemon Z absolutely needed to come out in order for these games to be complete, but because it didn't, the story has so much left to be explained. Other than that, although it isn't a particularly bad Pokemon game, I'd be lying if I said it didn't start the downfall of the series. It's way too easy (the 8th gym leader only has 3 pokemon and one of them doesn't even have a full set of moves) and it's overall just kinda boring at some points. That being said, Lumiose City is a cool way to unite the whole region, and the music is really good. The 3D chibi art style is pretty neat, too, even if they don't really emote that well. I cannot deny the fact that this game has the worst rivals of all time, though. They have no depth to their character, surface-level motives, and generally don't do a lot for the story or for how the player feels. It's a mixed bag that I would blame no one for skipping over, as it's just such a nothing entry in the series, despite its interesting lore and good music.