I had low expectations about this title coming from Never7, which were kinda confirmed at first. The first playthrough felt eternal, but I loved the (Sora) ending. After that, I really liked completing the other endings because of how they make you understand the characters and the whole picture.
Then, I went for the true ending, and man it felt slow, but once it gets started, it's trully a mindfuck. You think you know how the plot will end and then they throw you plotwist after plotwist after plotwist, until you are afraid to think that a human mind could actually create such a story. Kotaro Uchikoshi, you're a fucking genius.

For modern Pokémon standarts, is kinda original. It changes some fundamental mechanics in battling, capturing and EV training which is nice to see. I found the game loop fun and was really invested until I beat the game. Completing the pokedex is honestly ten times more boring than the rest of the game, so I just cheated it out to get straight to Arceus, which was a kinda cool fight but not even close to worth the hassle of capturing all pokemon. In general, the game has a lot of fanservice for people who played the original 4th gen games and I ate that shit up.
On the negative side, this is a Pokemon game, so graphics are extremely lazy, dialogues are really stupid or unnecessary 90% of the time and there are a ton of features that needed some tuning before release. Most of the plot doesn't make any sense BUT I really liked the "ghost tablet" fight and didn't expect that plotwist at all. But in general, another case of "I wish Game Freak had 300 more employes or developed this game in 2-3 years instead of rushing stuff and getting millions copies sold by doing the bare minimum... again"

When you get to it, it is really a simple RPG. The dungeons and exploration are straightforward, the skills and weakness are simple, and you have a couple of minigames on top of it. However, it's one of those games where the whole is better than the sum of its parts, and boy is it better.
For starters, it really feels like a nostalgia trip, but in a good way. You get that vibe of exploration of a classic RPG (in my case, Pokemon Mistery Dungeon) in a fun and light package. The combat has some action like a Mario&Luigi game but the general strategy is not too complicated. Nothing feels too daunting or too boring and there is plenty of side stuff to do when you get to it. Also, the difficulty settings are really extensive so you can have a more challenging run if you want.
Now, the plot is really deceiving. Same as the Messenger, you think everything is going to be very simple and linear, you fulfill some big quest and that's it. But then it gets complicated, then more complicated, and then even more. The fact that a JRPG starts with such a chill vibe and then has these plotwists really turns the game for the better. In addition to this, I loved all the references to the Messenger (there are a lot), which made me like the plot even more.
My only nitpick was the ending, however, I just discovered there's a true ending which involves some sidequests that I plan to beat when they release the DLC because I'm too lazy and want to replay the game, so I can't say if it's good or not, but I trust it will.
Incredible game, incredible lore, would recommend.