>>43461883Scrap routes entirely and go full open world. Pokemon doesn't benefit from linearity, in fact it's hindered by it.
It doesn't have a good story to tell, it doesn't use it for good pacing, and the generally positive reception to the wild area is that people don't mind running into high level Pokemon in the wild (but they should be catchable).
Put all the effort into making a proper wild area with thought out encounters, pokemon in proper biomes, weather that makes sense, etc.
Gyms can be challenged in any order and scale by badge count. Trainers too, maybe.
This would have worked so much better with SwSh's heavy focus on the gym challenge.
