The discussion is turning very black and white. You're either a toxic troll or a naive fanboy that will accept anything. To me, this franchise is the one I always enjoy even if it has flaws, like a childhood music artist I loved back then but hasn't brought out an album I really liked for the past ten years. I've stopped playing and later on caught up with the games several times in my life. There is enough to criticize if you want to. From lack of innovation to elements of corporate greed.
For example, I really didn't like that USUM added so little new content to SM, and you basically needed them to get a new mythical and got rewarded with higher level event Pokémon than players with only a SM copy. That's a bad direction to take. I also think the games are sticking too much to Meet Professor - Pick Grass, Fire or Water Starter - Meet Rival - Catch Bird, Bug and Rodent in a Forest - Fight Evil Team - Catch Legendaries - Fight E4. It's the same game over and over again, with QOL improvements coming too little, too slowly.
To me, Pokémon is the fantasy of being a young teenager and going out in the world on an adventure, being able to go where ever you want, no worries about how you will pay for it, where you will sleep, and adventure behind every corner, something new to discover every day. That's the essence. RBY and GSC translated this to a game within what was technically possible at that time. But when the technology improved, GameFreak continued to remake the same games over and over instead of using new technoligcal possibilities to make the essential experience even better. RBY didn't have a big open world because it was not possible, newer games don't have it because GameFreak chooses not to.
Anyway, I'm sure other people have other things they consider the essence of Pokémon to them. But it might not be bad if the controversy this time around will lead to a broader discussion about what a Pokémon game should be. Is it about a professor and a rival, or is exploration more key to the experience. Hopefully Nintendo/TPC/GameFreak will see the need for innovation after this release. QOL improvements are fun, but the formula is still the same as RBY. Time to shake things up.