Its not just the progression alone....everything else of the game is seriously disappointing and easily my least favorite game in the series.
The story is incredibly cliche in Azran Legacy. Even Miracle Mask had interesting plot twists here and there but the way its implemented here is so damn poor. Nothing in the story stands out and it just made the overall progress pointless in the end. And that there were too many plot holes that were in the game.
But even if you ignore the story, the gameplay here is no better. There's the problem with the puzzles as majority of them are loosely based on the previous games and only very few of them stand out (unless you're not mentioning weekly puzzles which I haven't played and am not that much into)
Sure you can say the same for the previous games but there, it doesn't borrow too much.
Look, I get that the game is decent to some, but seeing as how this is the last time Layton will be the main hero here, you expect to get the best of it rather than to put up with all of this.