QuentinQuonce
formerly green_typhlosion
I've played the games multiple times and done Chuck-Jasmine-Pryce in every possible order. Frankly, doing Chuck and Pryce before Jasmine is most satisfying because she's so much higher in level. Mahogany Gym is blocked until you clear the Rocket HQ so they could easily have kept it that way. It's weird. And given that the remakes added roadblocks to the Violet and Goldenrod Gyms, it's even weirder.Has anyone ever actually explored the options after ecruteak? From what i've seen, people just go to chuck and then jasmine, very few actually fight pryce first, mainly because of the amount of backtracking you'd need to do. Its just a hassle and kinds undermines the "openness" of it. I hate kanto games but at least theres good reason to go different routes (though skipping lt surge is a pointless feature if you arent doing some wingull only challenge. Hes right there bro just get over with it.)
Removing it and giving the gyms an actual exp curve would have been so much better
Another quirk is that Crystal allows you to access Blackthorn before you clear the Radio Tower, but Gold, Silver, HeartGold, and SoulSilver don't.