I feel like when people talk about 'linear' routes and 'exploration' in Pokemon, everybody seems to be using different definitions of what that means. So let's talk about it now.

Imagine two hypothetical regions, Region A and Region B (I'll refrain from mentioning real regions because it will inevitably start a genwar, but I'm sure you can draw the parallels yourselves)

In Region A, routes are short and simple, but boring without much to do. But you can go from the central town to any of the others in any order you wish - so in that way the gameplay is 'non-linear'.

In Region B, you are railroaded from town to town in a pre-set order. But the Routes are much longer and have a lot of side stuff to explore - so the routes could be described as 'non-linear'.

When you talk about 'exploration' on /vp/, which of these are you talking about? And which do you prefer, and why?
(Obviously in an ideal world we could have a mix of both, but this is Gamefreak we're talking about and currently we're getting neither)