The dungeon order was linear up to a point. TLoZ's Overworld was not. Barring 2 spots which requires the raft, you can go wherever you please.
And I'm quite certain that over 100 dinky little shrines, 4 divine beasts and hyrule castle ate up a lot of resources. TLoZ has 18 full, distinct...
Which is mainly aunoma's problem, and the problem of newer modern players mentality in struggling to envision an open world zelda with proper dungeons. It baffles me how so many people can't concieve of them being inclusive.
And to those people who think it can't be done I say again, look at...
Traditional puzzly lock and key. And why wouldn't it fit into an open world? TLoZ and ALBW did it before. Its a simple matter of not item gating the overworld. Or at least most of it.