Open world while still needing to go through the temples in a certain order. Various gadgets were required to progress, but crafty players often got around this. Pokemon would also be called "open world", but could you just walk up to the Elite 4 from the beginning? Nope, had to get them badges first.

There's "open to exploration" open world and "here's a giant map, go wild"(a la Fallout/Skyrim). I prefered a Zelda with more guidance. Even Wind Waker, arguably the most open world, still had a progression the game tried to keep you on.

Drag finished BOTW and now likes riding around Hyrule on a motorbike looking for koroks. Drag thinks the game is great if you use it as something to pick up and play a little bit of every now and then. Good game for bringing on airplanes and playing on the bus. Drag would have very much liked to have a game like that when drag was a child being dragged to boring dentist appointments and waiting to be picked up from school. Drag thinks maybe Nintendo is making games for children.

To me, they would be perfect games if they weren't Zelda. That is to say, they are great games, just not what I expect from a Zelda game. Something I'd expect from Bethesda moreso(style, not gameplay lmao).

I feel like Wind Waker was the right balance between freedom and linear story.