>>34228869It's being given the option to do things in different orders.
Route 22 is optional until the end of the game, but you can still go there early and even have an optional rival battle.
Route 23 can be visited once you have a badge, and the player can keep going back every time they get one. You can even use the Super Rod there to find a level 23 Slowbro which you can trade for Lickitung.
Route 24 and 25 can be visited before battling Misty, and that lets you go south to Vermillion City. You need Cut or Surf to reach Lt. Surge, and if you use Stadium 2 to transfer a drink over, you can reach Saffron City long before going to Celadon. You can face Sabrina as your second Gym Leader. There are two chains of routes that lead to Fuchsia City and Cinnabar Island can be reached from Pallet Town instead of Fuchsia.
There are OPTIONS in the way the story progresses. The same cannot be said of Gen VII. I'm honestly surprised they let you visit Route 10 and 11 before the story wanted you there. They didn't let you go anywhere else (barring Memorial Hill) before you needed to, and that's really disappointing. I didn't feel like I was on an adventure at all. Hau and Lillie were always there and Kukui and the other adults were always watching over you. I'm sick of the game holding my hand like I can't figure out how to proceed. Rotom always has to tell me what to do when ever I enter a new room. My first game was Silver when I was 6 years old and I got through it just fine. Why do they need to make the games dumber?
