>>34849581I disagree about the open world desire only coming from non fans. The whole reason I want it so much in the first place is because red/blue actually gave you choice in gym progression. It’s silly that the first game in the series is still the least linear. That’s clearly a sign of regression.
If you want to bring up levels, just have it so that someone at the beginning says pokemon seek out others who are roughly on their level. Have the pokemon and trainers you encounter increase in level depending on how many badges you have, with occasional areas that have a set range of levels so that it doesn’t feel TOO much like the world revolves around you. Place a sign in front of these areas with a difficulty rating or something.
You could have strong trainers who refuse to fight you because you don’t have enough badges, or a few strong trainers who will utterly wipe you out early on if they see you. Make them all ace trainers or something if you want a visual cue to know how strong they are without having to fight them.
Gym leaders or whatever equivalent change the team they use depending on your badge count.
There are plenty of ways to make open world pokemon work.
