On the story bit I agree 9/10 on the story being a more cinematic style of Pokemon in this gen.
I agree with the number of Pokemon where I wish I got more 7 Gen Pokemon and to be honest I'd rather of not had Alolan 1st Gens if it meant more New Pokemon for Gen 7 even though there are some cool Alolans like Marowak. In the mechanics I feel this was a step back when compared to X/Y where the Super Training, Hordes, and Dexnav were SOOO useful that I wish it would have been included in Sun/Moon in post game. Instead for EV training we get a Island that yields 4 EV of a desired Stat per 30 minutes, where if you want to get a Pokemon or up to 6 Pokemon up to 252 EV's you need to put them in for 63 Training sessions for about 2 days roughly (Can be cut in half via beans). As for hatching 20 eggs to get the IV checker to give you a tool in your PC to check your own IV's in your PC I think thats amazing so you can go to the Nursery, get 5 eggs, Spin in that area below the Egg giver, Hatch 5 and check 5 easy in the PC. By "attempting to pass down" do you mean that you didn't know that Hyper Trained Stats don't get passed down? Cause how Hyper Training works is it doesn't change the IV to a 31. It treats its initial IV as a base Plus the Hyper Trained amount (Say Pikachu has 15IV in Atk, After Hyper Training it is treated as 15+16 instead of 31. This is how it lets it keep its Hidden Power Typing even though sadly it means it doesn't pass down a 'Maxed' IV). I agree with the rest of the SOS nonsense. EV Training with SOS's makes it easy if you got the Power Items + Pokerus needing only to kill 7 Mons (Assuming the Mon your killing gives 1EV for x Stat) or 14 without Pokerus.
Grinding to level 100 is a pain, I am still grinding off the E4 and my Highest is only 91 at the moment with the rest of the team being in the mid 80's. It boogles my mind as to why Pokemon wouldn't add a easy grind location to 100 for a mechanic SPECIFICALLY FOR level 100 Pokemon. Next Gen I'd love a option to tell E4 Members to "Go Train" and when you rematch them again in the E4 they have Stronger Pokemon and you can't tell them to train more until you beat them. As for Bottle caps there is a trick to get bottle caps in the Festival Plaza where you constantly replace a 1Star place for a 2Star Lottery and then talk to it and the first time you always get a Silver Bottle Cap (There was a Verlisify Vid about it as much as I'd rather not promote his channel), Then there are the Bubbling Fishing spots that have a chance at a Bottle Cap Drop, The Treasure Dive in the PokePeligo has also another chance but its seems pretty rare as I still have not got one from it and I think Pick Up mons have a chance at grabbing one as well. I disagree with the Pokepeligo being useless as its a very good way for grinding berries and maxing out EV's, Happiness, or Levels casually which makes it easier once you put in berries and all the islands are upgraded. Personally I find the Festival Plaza more useless in its early stage as you need to grind out Plaza Coins for the place to Rank up so you eventually get to the amazing shops that help with EV Training even more with purchasable Max Stat Gain stuff and Level Up stuff in the Rare Kitchens that in the highest level can level a lv 89 or lower Mon by 9 levels (You can also buy multiple of them per day) which helps alot with the grindyness BUT you still need to get there first and get the right and highest level shops :P and the best way to grind Plaza Coins being connected Online at Peak Times to chain off Type Matching Missions that people host for 10-50 Coins per mission (You get more coins the more stars in total are earned).