one of the problems with recent gens is that the main quest hasn't changed very much. the battle mechanics and stuff keep getting changed but that's something only people that are into competitive battling notice. for the more casual gamer, you have the usual 8 gyms and bad team stuff. i really hope the mix up the main quest this time. at least it looks like the games are in full 3D instead of the locked top down pseudo 3D of DPt.
looks basically the same as the previous gens except with different camera angles, like you said. battles are still sprite-based, but that might be a good thing considering the ds sucks at 3d.