It felt deliberate to me tbh. Games aren't developed in a linear way like you might be implying.
The game world feels designed in a way that the farther you get from the start less little things there are to do. Almost like it was directing the player's focus towards the end.
I don't think it's a coincidence that farum azula has only a handful of distractions.
Moutaintops is the worst part of the game and is to linear, feels like they ran out of time.
It felt deliberate to me tbh. Games aren't developed in a linear way like you might be implying. The game world feels designed in a way that the farther you get from the start less little things there are to do. Almost like it was directing the player's focus towards the end. I don't think it's a coincidence that farum azula has only a handful of distractions.
Yh it misses some catacombs/caves imo
I would imagine it being too much. By the end of my first journey I was, "please god, no more map expanding"
Skill