>>55553608The point at which it became less of going on an adventure and more of just being told a story. RBY and GSC were perfect for how minimal a plot should be in these games. They had the perfect balance and fucked it up.
The games have swayed further or closer to the balance over the last 10 or so years. Kalos started off okay, but started blocking you off from exploring in pretty obnoxious ways for no good reason. It's like it wanted to railroad you but keep the plot thin on the ground for a long stretch at the same time.
Alola and Galar straight up kept you on rails, Galar being especially bad for it. I think this is where it started to become more about the humans than the Pokémon, which is the biggest indicator of Pokémon's loss of identity.
PLA regressed slightly towards more open goals, but still had to restrict where you went. They did this using the rank levels instead of pure plot, though, which whole still annoying, is a better thought out way of power-gating the player.
SV's treasure hunt could have been the ultimate "dick around and discover shit" adventure, but no, we got saddled with a Lizard and everything coalesced towards nugen storytelling yet again.
With ZA taking place entirely within a city, I'm thinking the plot will dominate yet again.
I don't know if we'll ever get back to Pokémon and the game world being prioritized over human character drama, but I think it's the only thing that would let me enjoy the games again.
