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JRPGs are, in general, best when they're largely linear experiences. Chrono Trigger isn't considered the best JRPG for the story (which is just solid) or the freedom (build wise there's hardly any aside from character choice and progression wise it's about on par with the SNES FF titles in that there's a technically optional endgame section) but for how well the game is paced. And the pacing is so good because not only are you forced into certain areas for the plot, said areas have a limited number of fixed encounters so the developers have a baseline in mind that players will likey fall into. Now, Pokemon will never fit this simply because of the way catching Pokemon as a system works, but it's gotten close a few times. I'd say RS(E) and BW have the closest type of campaign to something like Chrono Trigger, or to be far less generous to the games it's more like Square's other output during the SNES era, but it's not really the be-all end-all of game design. I'd say GS (and HGSS) stand out more for the daily stuff that's more similar to something like Animal Crossing, and perhaps Pokemon would be better suited for that direction if they want more open game design. It's not like excessive railroading even helps the game design all the time, XY is proof of that and SM/USUM's benefits are completely unrelated to it. That having been said, it's clear that Legends and SV aren't great fits and almost every system would need serious overhauls to make it work (Legends doesn't go far enough). Rather than "Pokemon but open world" the developers should have really thought about every system before going all in, it worked out just fine for BotW because they did that (BotW's problems are more map design and content related).
