>>54750661>You're supposed to hate Kanto's cities and be happier exploring the routes and forests.The entire game design of Pokemon relies on towns being used as checkpoints to heal up after long routes and dungeons. They're a sign of peace and respite for the player, just like in the many RPGs the series inspired by and a lot of this is reflected in the game itself. Saffron and Celadon are definitely pretty sleazy, but most other towns are filled with nature and flowers and they all come with much more serene, calm music than the adventurous tunes of the routes or foreboding tunes of the dungeons.
I don't even disagree that "industrialization and deforestation is bad" is a significant part of early gens (see: Viridian Forest and Pokemon Tower in Gen II, showing that Kanto has begun sacrificing more natural places in order for high-tech stuff), but if the game was really trying to sell "CITIES ARE BAD" to the player, then it objectively fails at it.
