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here's how game design works
>define the point of the game, and go in assuming your player wants to do that (otherwise they wouldn't be playing the game)
>create obstacles that keep them from doing that
>you now have made gameplay out of overcoming these obstacles
people playing a puzzle game want to solve puzzles, so you give them harder puzzles to solve. people playing a fighting game want to kick ass, so you give them harder asses to kick. people playing an open-world game want to explore, so you give them roadblocks.
people playing pokemon want to train pokemon, and the xp system is designed so training more pokemon makes that training more difficult. the gameplay of pokemon was about overcoming that.
with the Exp. Share, that second step is removed and you're left with a game that rolls over and lets players do whatever they want. that's not an adventure, that's a sandbox.
