Was XY really that bad?

I quite liked them, myself. I can understand the complaints about the lack of post-game content or side-features (although in the case of the latter, I'd argue that Amie and Super Training are somewhat of a juxtapositioning of "timesink" and "utility" features), as well as the complaints about the games not being very difficult, but those are things that just don't affect me very much. I reset my games and replay them rather than linger around squeezing every last drop from the post-game, and I do this largely for the purpose of casual entertainment rather than seeking a challenge. So, XY were oddly well-suited to my playing style, especially with their absolutely gargantuan roster of Pokémon to choose from.

I would charge them with being painfully routine as far as structure goes (the same old "8/4/1 League and Evil Team circa Badge 7" model, even after BW managed to spice that up by involving the Gym Leaders some more), but I see that as being largely counterbalanced by their innovation and/or progress in other areas, such as the aforementioned Amie and Super Training, as well as Mega Evolution, the PSS, 3D graphics, and considerably more streamlined UI.

Admittedly, the story and character work is rubbish, but that's true of most Pokémon games. I suppose that I at least find XY's thematic concerns to be more interesting than those of DP and RS, for whatever that's worth, and regardless, I really liked the Kalos region itself.

I also find XY to be the most accessible and replay-friendly games out of the three 3DS entries.

All in all I'd say: Slightly underrated games with their inevitable share of flaws, but they helped the series move forward and, at least for me, provided a mostly good experience.