OK, it would be fine if they kept just that and changed everything else. But those three are just the worst. They keep ALL of these:

- Start in small village with "mom", second small village after first doesn't have a gym, third does*
- Resident Pokémon professor gives you and rival a Pokédex (not true for 2nd Gen, rival is a vandal)
- Have to travel back to first village after visiting second (True in all cases)
- Pidgey-alike and Rattata-alike in every game on the first route (not true for 3rd Gen, no Pidgey-alike on first route)
- Numbered routes and towns with grass (Are you suggesting having routes like "Johnson Road"?  Cool.)
- HMs, and requiring you to get Fly to fly and Surf to surf. No exceptions. (Agreed.  Kind of stupid.)
- Evil Team, with grunts, "admins" and a boss you fight several time (True in all cases.)
- 2D Cartoony look, below hardware capability (How does this support your argument?)

- Legendary Pokémon you fight towards the end of the game, and represent e.g. gods, time, space, etc. (Only 3rd and 4th gen required you to fight against these Pokemon.)
- Trading only opens up after about halfway through the game (I've been able to trade after I learned how to catch Pokemon.  Please specify your point.)
- Cave and Forest locations are the same in every game.  (Elaborate, please.)
- Victory Road is the same in every game.  (Same name, yes.  Good point.)
- "Closed" gym that opens up after Event X in game. (Well, if we could just walk into all the gyms and beat everybody, then the game would be more systematic than it already is.)

Alone, these things would be OK! But with all together in every game, and the fact that the battle system and screen layout doesn't change at all, means that it IS stagnant. Even CoD or FF, the definitions of sequel overload, change the whole game mechanic in each installment.  (There have been game mechanic changes b/n gens.  In 2nd Gen, we got Dark- and Steel- types as well as the ability to hold items.  In 3rd Gen, we got Double Battles, Pokemon Contest events, and Pokemon abilities like Chlorophyll and Lightningrod.  In 4th Gen, we got online capabilities so I don't have to travel across the country to get a Stunky on my Pearl or Platinum game.)

*Pallet/Viridian/Pewter, New Bark/Cherrygrove/Violet, Littleroot/Oldale/Petalburg, Twinleaf/Sandgem/Jubilife  (You can't enter Petalburg gym upon getting to the town.  Since we're counting Viridian as a "no gym" town at this point in the game, then Petalburg is also a "no gym" town.  Moving on, Jubilife doesn't have a Gym at all.)