>>24668297This. Old Red/Blue and Gold/Silver did it best. Minimalist story, just a boy and his journey to get to the Elite 4 and kick his rival's ass.
>>24668386That's Worldbuilding. Not story. Worldbuilding is a neat side dungeon where I can explore, talk to people to learn about its history or the Pokemon living in it. Story is when a character keeps me from going to the next town until I do some events I don't care about.
>>24668431This.
The Pokemon Mansion on Cinnabar did it amazing too. Hell, Mewtwo as a whole was very well built up. He wasn't a part of the story, but an event that happened long ago that you could read if you chose to, put together the pieces of the puzzle, and later catch.
Ho-oh and Lugia had this too, but a bit more focus is put on them. But they're still entirely optional and don't really play a part in your quest if they don't interest you. You learn about the history of their towers, the myths surrounding the islands, all that on your own, and you explore the dungeon on your own without anyone telling you you have to. That's what I hated about HG/SS, they build them up so much with you as some legendary hero and you have to fight them for no real reason to progress.There's also more mandatory bullshit, like forcing you to go through Sprout Tower before fighting Falkner.
Pokemon is not good at making stories. I wish they wouldn't bother since the main story characters tend to be ones that are annoying, and the story is shit and you're played up as some God hero who'll save everyone.
I just want to a guy who starts a journey exploring the weird and fantastical world of Pokemon on my own, seeing and exploring neat places and creatures, fighting and growing along the way, and learning about Friendship. That's all it needs to be, and being simple like that also makes it so much more replayable.
