>>44121473Honestly even ignoring the water routes as a whole, I feel hoenn is still a reasonably big region. You barely have to spend any time on them if you don't want, so it's more like the last 20% of the game, or rather more like 10% because you spend that chunk of the game in areas that aren't actually on water, Like islands and caves and gyms, for the most part. The complaints about them just don't really reflect their role in the experience, it's all extremely not intrusive. After lilycove it's all just one big optional sandbox, if you hate it all so much just head straight for the next objective, almost every single water route in the game is completely skipable. Plus, in my opinion, the water routes supply a MUCH needed stretch of pure exploration completely uninterrupted by story