>>37306028I think not having to do the gyms in order could be cool, I also think the meme of "you just happened to start in the town with the weakest Pokemon and just happen to progress through increasingly stronger areas" can be fixed with different patches of grass or different overworld areas in the same part of the map having differently leveled Pokemon. Maybe outside HomeTown most of the grass has some caterpies, zizagoon, etc but perhaps if you go into a little grove the grass there has lvl 30 Butterfrees who will destroy you. Of course some areas of the world can just have stronger Pokemon, ex. the League being on top of a mountain that contains the psuedos.
Have multiple ways to get to the same city so that you can go through the game going gym to gym and then once you beat the League explore the rest of the region, or play the game slow exploring each route before continuing. Have off-route areas that are not necessary to enter but just for exploration and maybe they have one unique Pokemon to catch.
MAYBE all gym leaders level scale to 3-5 lvls higher than your Pokemon, then after that all of them rematch you with increasingly better teams, and you can get a 2nd version of the original badge for beating their final rematch team (this could be post game content after you defeat all 8 gyms, you could click a button on your badge screen to 'flip' your badge case to the next page where the 'champion' badges would go).
The elite four shouldnt level scale, it should just be very strong as is since the point of the elite four is to be THE BEST in the region. Gym leaders are more like specialist in their type and also teachers to less experienced trainers.
"Non linear" doesnt have to be difficult or fucking crazy. IMO it just means "more options, less rail roading." Life isn't that non linear
