>>19355286>I'd argue that's the most open the main storyline of a Pokemon game has ever gotten.You made good points, but a lot of people forget that once you reach Ecruteak, Johto suddenly opens up.
You can do the Lake of Rage quest as soon as you reach Ecruteak. Once you beat Morty, you can do Pryce, Jasmine, and Chuck in any order you like (Jasmine wont until you bring her the Secret Potion)
You also get Surf at that point, and can go back through the region and find new areas, in particular, Union Cave.
Not to mention the short quests in Kanto have nothing to do with Gym Order, and you can do all those Gyms any way you like too.
But even ignoring the post game, Johto lets you face the 5th, 6th & 7th Gym Leader in any order, and lets you choose to explore the western side of the region, or the northern part, in any order you choose.
You can argue about what that did to the level scaling (an exaggerated criticism), but you can't deny Johto did a lot for letting you choose your own adventure once the trainer had learned the ropes so to speak.
