Okay, Victory Road is kinda meh on story (but story isn't a huge focus in this path) and Nemona's... okay as a rival, but I do like her as more of a mentor character who's helping you along and just waiting for you to get to her level so she can go all out against you. Arven's story arc with Mabosstiff also tugs at your heart strings (although not nearly as much as his relationship with the Professor, poor guy just gets all of the tragedy in this story).
Team Star and The Way Home though, those are really strong in the story department and are filled with lots of emotional reveals and surprising plot twists. They really make you feel bad about taking down Team Star's bases with flashbacks that make you feel sympathy for the friendship the bosses have with each other and the grunts worrying about and lamenting the bases' downfall. They also seem to be conveying a very powerful message to kids with this storyline, that fighting begets more fighting and many bullies are the way they are because they've suffered bullying themselves. Luckily it all resolves happily with Team Star able to continue what they're doing under school supervision.
As for The Way Home. Hoo boy. This is a doozy by Pokemon standards and I never expected them to go this hard. First of all, looks like there was some truth to the rumors about the past and future Pokemon. And here I thought Paldean variants killed that rumor. And speaking of death. They did it. I never thought they'd do it but they did. They put death in a Pokemon game with the bombshell reveal that the real Sada/Turo died and the one we were talking to was just an A.I. I figured from the beginning of the game that Sada/Turo might be the villain of the game (a very interesting first for the series, with the Professor being the main villain) with how sus they were being, staying holed up in Area Zero and only talking to us through a monitor or phone, abandoning Arven, and how callously they're willing to reveal the original Professors' time travel experiments. But for this to be what was going on? I was not ready for this reveal. It also ends on a really bittersweet note thanks to the original Professors' security protocols forcing the A.I. to fight you. Which yes, makes the original Professors, not the A.I., the true main antagonists of this game, their obsession with bringing the past/future into the present is so extreme that they programmed the tech they left behind to fight you tooth and nail to protect it. And it really ends on a bittersweet note. The A.I. is forced to leave in the time machine to shut it down, but they are in a sense realizing their creators' ambition. Arven loses his parent, but the A.I. at least conveys their love for him before departing. And you're the hero of Paldea, but you're not being publicly recognized as such because the whole incident in Area Zero rightfully needs to be kept under wraps.
I do think there's one minor plot hole here because despite the Area Zero incident needing to be kept a secret they seemingly have no issue with Paradox Pokemon roaming around the entirety of the crater when one of them already escaped previously and they also seem to have no issue with you capturing them, taking them up to the surface, and battling random NPCs with them (I guess we're passing them off as Paldean variants or something?). Overall though, excellent story, the odd numbered generations come up with a great story once again. And who was it that said open world games can't have great stories?