Don't hate me please, it's still a good game
It might be one of if not the best open world game, but it just gets so boring once you've seen most of what the world has to offer. So many open areas with nothing going on. Still looking forward to SotE
The best open world is still Zelda BotW/TotK, and sadly, ER is not even close.
Yeah, it should have been a dlc, or, more likely, an expansion included with the switch 2 version. The original Switch was just not powerful enough for it. BotW is the gold standard for open worlds, and probably the most deserved GotY award ever given.
The world of ER feels lacking in comparison. To me, their biggest mistake was still trying to follow the old formula of "dead world". It works fine when you're limited to seeing only the important parts of the world. It stops working when you're selling the idea that his huge land is all entirely dead, with the exception of some very few people.
I didn't mind it on first playthrough, but it can be tedious after that. Thankfully we get fast travel and Torrent to help.
SotE was about the same or worse for this, especially the ::: spoiler spoiler finger bell areas. Despite how cool they looked, there is so much space with almost nothing in them, and the most annoying enemies in the game. Abyssal Woods is similar. :::
The open world is honestly bloat. It's really cool and engaging on your first playthrough, but by your second it's more tedious because you know most of the rewards found in the open world are not useful to your build and the bosses get re-used a ton. By your fifth playthrough, the open world is something you spend 1-2 hours running around in to gather up your essential items, before becoming a very long loading zone between the Legacy Dungeons.