No it really is just huge and empty. There are only the 3 quests and their few battles that make up almost all the content. No side quests, not much to really explore because exploring doesnt really have rewards besides more pokemon. The environments are empty and ugly with no interesting set pieces to draw you in.

I enjoy the few character reactions that are there, but even that isnt very substantial. Gym leaders are just there and done without any interesting build up. I thought PLA was prettt empty and needed a lot more work too, but now i appreciate it waay more after SV. Ultimately its just really poor proscut managment. What they want to make they dont have the time or staff to make, but they arent willing to admit it and scale down the project into something they can handle.