>>46119377Pokémon games had more freedom, agency, and complexity in their world design and structure in the first four Gens than many of the later ones. You can say Unova and Kalos are straightforward but still have stuff to do along the side. And then Alola and Galar are railroaded to death and the side stuff is generally forgettable.
Pokémon's exploration is nowhere near as great as Xenoblade X's, a game that is designed around exploring and colonizing a massive alien planet. The scale doesn't even compare, especially considering the hardware and scope of X compared to GB, GBA, and DS games. However, early Pokémon always had a pretty solid balance between story events and freedom. Yes, roadblocks existed, but no, they didn't control your sequence so absolutely precisely as they would later on. The Power Plant, Bell Tower, Abandoned Ship, and Wayward Cave were optional. Silph Co., the Radio Tower, diving, and Mt. Coronet were mandatory. The optional and mandatory could both be complex and interesting.
Good exploration is feeling personally compelled to go outside the requisite areas to see what else could exist and being rewarded for that curiosity. It is not "Find Tyranitar in a massive open field of hundreds of Pokémon", that's just Where's Waldo. Both Xenoblade X and Pokémon rewarded the players in ways that were relevant to their game design.