>>27940375then that's pointless. Let's talk about practical things.
I think the best way to do an "open-world" pokemon game would be to it with an acre system, like Animal Crossing or the old Zeldas. Each "route" is a square, that tile together to make the game world. Basically, the entire game would feel like navigating the Safari Zone. You could still include roadblocks in the form of rivers that require Surf, one-way hills, and breakable rocks blocking mountain passes if you want. Then you could still use caves as the more linear, obstacle-course routes.
Level scaling doesn't have to be a factor, just let each acre have its own leveled Pokemon like a normal route, with the levels increasing the further you get towards the edges of the overall game world. If you wander too far when you're not ready, you'll get fucked up, and that's your own problem. So there would still be a sense of early, mid, and late-game areas, which I think is important.
