>>41838075I like the idea of the freedom of Gen I's midgame, but it's more that I like it as an option. If the game were actually paced Brock > Misty > Sabrina > Koga > Blaine > Erika > Lt. Surge > Giovanni without any alterations, it would of course be bad design, but what makes it interesting is that it allows the player this option.
My ideal game would still have the overall formula of Gym Leaders, an Elite Four, and a Champion, but I would think including a quiz at the beginning of the game like in Mystery Dungeon could lead to interesting possibilities. Like if you were asked what kind of place you'd like to live in given the chance, and you could answer with "A quiet town, a snowy town, a bustling city, a humid town, a seaside town, etc." as a way of choosing your starting location. Gym Leaders would have 8 possible teams each, with each one differing in difficulty but including their signature Pokémon. I think that optional rematches at different points in the game would be cool so you can see their differenclt teams. But the real difficulty comes with designing routes and the plot of the game around this free structure. Routes should become progressively more complex as the player accumulates badges, and I don't think making everything 8 times is a viable solution. I think that the routes surrounding each town should have optional easier paths that work as first routes, but perhaps more dynamic elements pop up depending on your progress like rivers, trees, or bike paths allowing for more complexity while still keeping the overall route look the same. In this way, the world evolves by how you progress. There's a lot that would need to be examined and restructured for this approach to work, but I think it would make each player feel like they're going on their own journey.
