>>53224465>n addition to not having much variance to the region's climateThe only regions with significant variance are Hoeen/Unova. And Johto has just as many points of interest as other regions probably more than average thanks to barren nu-regions like Galar throwing off the curve.
And as for identity, Johto is clearly steeped in spiritism: Bell Tower, Brass/Bell towers, Dragon Clan, Alph, etc.
There also daily events, like how the world changes from day to day, which was huge during the time GSC was made, minor stuff like the Weekday Siblings was unironically considered SOVL.
As for Jotho's dungeons, I have to look at them again but I don't think they are partially small (though admittedly oGalar's "mines" throw off the curve), but one thing that does set them apart is how they connect different parts of the region (especially Dark Cave, and Union Cave).
There's also routes 26-28 which are pretty large but the game stupidly calls those parts Kanto despite it being brand new content from Johto games, which supports the idea that Game Freak should have just have made Johto on big region instead of connecting it to Kanto, since the connection only seems to serve to make Johto seem smaller than it is, also that connection is never reference in any of the many Kanto remakes.
