Ash leaving was something fans had (even if they didn't say it aloud) been expecting and wanting for a long time. The constant meme of "Ash never growing older" alone shows how fans were somewhat skeptical of the story being told, and it's almost guaranteed that the series would have done just as well (if not better) if the protagonist were changed after a long several season story arc and completing their goal (the Horizons template), instead of recycling the same main cast and just changing the region and Pokemon involved. The extra dynamic of new characters for character growth would likely have benefited it as well...

Too much opinion, with not really any real persuasive argument behind it. "It's an open world done differently than TotK"; just a subjective opinion, not a statement of fact. Game's diversity is one of the reasons why the exist and are popular to this day. Otherwise, we'd still only have Jumpman and the rest. Don't knock a game because it does things differently and call that an informed opinion. Show polls! Show quotes from reviews! One person's opinion isn't a very persuasive argument. Having evidence of a large and general consensus of what's wrong with something, and what needs to be done to fix it; that is a 'much' more persuasive argument...