>>38197148>>38197157I'd argue that pokemon is one of the primary games that should be compared to it though, simply off of original layout and premise. You're talking about a top down adventure game that is promising a wide world to explore, solve puzzles, battle, and find secrets in. The setup of an open world game is what pokemon was always pitched as in concept if not execution, and the execution was lacking primarily due to hardware at first, and then tradition more recently.
The primary reason a Pokemon style BotW game would be bad is because Gamefreak has no clue how to make one and have it be any good. It would be the featureless wasteland that everyone strawmans it as because Gamefreak has forgotten how to properly implement rare pokemon and clever secrets.
Regardless of that though, nothing prevents the game from simply being larger with more places to explore without removing the linear nature of it. Making the game feel like a properly grand adventure with at least some illusion of choice would go a long way towards improving immersion and bringing the world to life, rather than sticking to the same familiar retreads of going along the only road until hitting a roadblock and having to progress the plot.
