>>44844007Actually weave the plot into the gym challenge. Not like Gen 8 did, where the gym challenge was the entire fucking plot, which narrows the scope of the game down to its bare milestones. I mean that every gym Leader or gym is involved in or affected directly by the plot in some way or another.
If the gym challenge is the whole point, it's easy for it to become boring. If the game's side plot happens completely separately from the gym challenge, then the goals get muddled; you're just doing shit as you go from place to place and happen onto it. If you find a way to compromise by blending the two, that's not only better for your worldbuilding, but it makes every stop on the journey more meaningful.
Look at Gen 1 for a short example of this. Team Rocket tends to show up as stuff you have to do in-between gyms, which is good for breaking up the pacing, but the golden moments for joining the two main parts of your journey (taking on the Pokemon League and dealing with Team Rocket) happens in a couple of spots:
>Team Rocket takes over Saffron City as part of the raid on Silph Co., which includes stopping people from going into or leaving the Gym. All of the things that you're doing are now related, and one of them is directly in the way of the other.>The unknown Gym Leader for the Viridian Gym was Giovanni all along, allowing you to kill two birds with one stone. 
