>>32418023Gen 5 still let you do that though. There was plenty of routes and areas that were completely optional, for you to risk exploring on your own.
And you could always, always, ALWAYS go at least one route ahead of the story for extra grinding against harder trainers if you needed.
It was X/Y that truly started the railroad-hand-hold bullshit.
I agree with your post though, when I see people complaining about the level curve, and wishing the game was more linear to fix it, all I can think of is fucking babies whining about these childrens games being too hard. I've never found myself underleveled or overleveled in Johto. As long as you generally have your team finished by the 4th Gym (which really should be where your team is coming together by) you will always be fine, no matter which way you go at Ecruteak. The freedom to tackle a solid 1/3rd of Johto however you like is wonderful, and genuinely refreshing.
If you wanted to take the nostalgia goggles and acknowledge a BAD level curve, take a look at Gen 1 Kanto for fuck sakes. Those games did the same thing, open up for you to tackle things your own way, only the level curve is much more severe. (Just look at Saffron City)
But nope, it's only Johto that gets the "level curve ruined the game, it should be more linear!!!!11!" shit, pure contrarianism because the vast majority of Pokémon fans seemed to enjoy HG/SS enough for it to widely be considered the best game. Looks like that level curve isn't really a hindrance at all.
(I'm not saying I hate Gen 1 either by the way. That freedom is one of the best parts of it. Just pointing out that it's an even rockier "freedom" that gets a free pass for no reason other than that people are just specifically looking to complain about HG/SS)
