>>714268694The X series focus isnt really speedrunning and clear times. The slower pace is a detriment but its not like it goes against the fundamental design philosophy and purpose of the games which is challenge more than it is speed. Dropping individual part functions was a compromise for having 2 armor sets because mixing the individual parts would break the difficulty curve (only X8 would do this later by carefully balancing the individual parts against each other).
Really bad stages and mavericks is kind of vague. I assume bad just refers to the speed issue that I already discussed. I think they are otherwise fine. Regarding complaints about Mavericks I can only think of Slash Grizzly being too easy. The others arent much worse than previous entries.
The story in X5 is fine. I dont know what you meant to imply with "cant make heads or tails of", its not very convoluted or complex. The X vs Zero story can resolve in two ways depending on the enigma cannon and space shuttle outcomes, with the result linked to the "bad" ending being more climactic than the alternative. Also the music rocks, especially the boss theme, but thats highly subjective.