>>56167628There has never been a "lonely silent adventure". The absolute closest Pokémon ever came to that is arguably Gen 2.
Kanto is honestly very upbeat with quite loud and charismatic characters who frequently interact with you at every town, including Blue who (as much as fans want to deny it) is a friendly Rival character. People exaggerate his snark, and definitely conflate his personality with Gary in the anime.
Johto is admittedly the far quieter region. Less bustling cities, more long stretches without rival interaction. But even that is misleading, because Johto puts the phone call mechanic front and center, allowing half the region to interrupt you and praise you or treat you like their personal rival. The remakes even added Lyra to fill that friendly rival spot.
Gen 3 has 2/3 friendly rivals, nuff said.
And even Gen 4's loneliest point, the trek through Cornonet to Snowpoint, comes after a cutscene in which you and your two besties watch tv together in a library, and you're just following after Barry to help him ahead.
So yeah, the only Pokémon game I'd truly say has that lonely adventure feel where you're not constantly being interrupted by quirky characters in cities or friends, is OG Gen 2, if you reject all offers of phone numbers. It's a lot more mundane, like getting the squitcan from the flower shop or helping Kurt in exchange for his PokéBall crafting mechanics, and that is admittedly cool.
In fact, if I had to make any game comparable to that old lonely adventure feeling, it's Legends Arceus. Sure you get those interludes eating the mochi with Rei or whatever, but largely speaking, you're out adventuring on your own and only rarely bumping into other NPC's to help with mostly minor tasks. Until the stories climax that is.
