This game was only hated because it was the popular thing to do. Since this game released, I've played Scarlet, Omega Sapphire, Soul Silver, White, and Radical Red. This one is my favorite.
The main game is easy like all modern Pokemon games are, but it's not dumbed down like Scarlet Violet was. The graphics are good. If you were upset about the tree, see previous statement about jumping on the band wagon and also, we're really nitpicking shit that is literally background, huh?
"The Pokemon models and animations have been the same for 3 generations now." So what? They look good, don't they?
"The map and story is so linear." Yeah, so is every other game. SV is no exception, because they did not do level scaling like they promised. Sword and shield didn't break promises.
Why is this game better than all those other beloved games? Pacing, fluidity, quality of life changes, not having to play it on a DS and being able to use a controller and have a big screen to look at. All the old games are so slow. Movement and battle animations. This game really picks up the pace. Quality of life, the ease of getting TM's and changing my move sets of my Pokemon at will, not having to get to the city with the 6th gym or anything like that.
These are the best Pokemon games. The DLC probably could have been included in the main game and locked behind certain story points, and there could definitely have been some improvements here or there, but these are super minor complaints.