I’d say every flashback serves a purpose. Yes, it likes to repeat a lot of themes, but the flashbacks tend to be important to either plot or character development. Sometimes both. There are a lot of character actions and behaviors that would make little sense without the flashbacks. This story is not nearly as much about what’s happening in the moment in the games as it is about the characters. Who they are now, who they were before, and who they will become. Early on in the show I get how they might seem pointless, but as the show goes on I think the purpose of the flashbacks becomes more and more clear.