> As you can pretty much do everything off the bat, there's no "oh a boulder, can't move it, better come back later" element to the game. (This is my biggest gripe I think, a big part of the Zelda games was doing a dungeon and getting a gimmick to unlock new places).
I was actually considering getting it, but you might have just changed my mind. I like an open world, but the reward of progression is often a key to enjoyment for me in many cases. Do they make up for this in any other ways (ie: unbeatable monsters until you're high enough level/have better gear or something)?