[Sword & Shield] What else should be version exclusive?

We've always had version exclusive Pokemon, and for the second time will have version exclusive Gym Leaders (but they actually have different types of Pokemon, etc., unlike in BW). And of course there'd be a slight variation on plot given the mascot legendary. But how far should this extend for Sword and Shield? Different Gym puzzles entirely? Different town designs (again ala BW), or even a radically different story?

Or do you think it's already too much with the different Gym Leaders?

something similar to SM/USUM's 12-hour mechanic would certainly be interesting to see. of course, it doesn't have to have anything to do with the time of day per se or anything like that, but moreso the kind of experiences the player will have based on version, if that makes sense.

Honestly, I'm kind of over the two version mechanic as a whole. I never really cared for it to begin with, actually.

In the early games, version exclusives were just pokemon I wouldn't get to use (as I didn't know anybody with the games) and with the advent of the GTS version exclusives became so easy to obtain that there was practically no point in separating them in the first place.
But now that Nintendo's online service costs money, version exclusives are literally hidden away behind a paywall. No thanks.

i'd love to see the two games branch out and do their own things to make their experience similar, yet still different enough to justify the two versions. one of the problems earlier generations always faced backlash for was "oh it's just the same game twice" but with a few different pokemon available and possibly a different story line, starting with ruby/sapphire and eventually building more difference between games as the series has gone on. i was sad to see gen V come so far with it only to go back to normal with xy and even gen VII since there's not too much different there as i recall, at least compared to bw. different gym leaders, different towns, things that don't take away too much from the opposite game, but give them enough feel to stand out from their brother. sounds good to me.

I think GF is on the right track with version exclusives atm. Trading Pokémon is already easy enough so mon version exclusives don't have as much value, while different gym leaders (Bea and Allister) are characters/battles you can only experience playing that particular version. Would like to see more of that and less of mons (or at least an even mix).

How about version exclusive evil teams again? That'd be really cool, and it hasn't been done since R/S/E! I mean, I don't think it'll happen, but I've been hoping it would for ages.

I appreciate that GF is branching out when it comes to version exclusives. I can't say I want the gaming experience to be too drastically different, but alternate gym leaders with different Pokemon, different Pokemon on the dex, and little changes like that are totally fine. :)

Personally I think just the exclusive Pokemon and small differences is best. You should be able to experience the whole game with only buying one of the two. And then you trade to get the version exclusives and help someone else get the version exclusives on theirs.

Since we have version exclusive gyms, I can see them doing version exclusive characters as well. Maybe in one game you have more interactions with a sub-rival or team and in another you get to interact with more characters than before.

Is it weird that I am hoping for totally zero version exclusive mons? And also hoping the leaders will be the only version exclusive something?

...But like the above has said maybe version exclusive characters won't be too bad.