Haven't they done that in like ... every zelda game? I'm not sure about AoL, but I'm pretty sure otherwise we've never seen one without that.
Soo ... I guess you'd better just get used to that :)
Although, they could've made it quieter.
Other than the biggoron Sword, I wouldn't consider the others side-quests. Getting poes is only two steps: kill the poes and sell 'em. Song of Storms, again, is short. Talk to the windmill guy when you're old, then play it when you're a kid. too short.
OoT has terrible replay value. It's the same the entire time. Never changes. In Majora's Mask, at least there's a decent amount of side quests to do. The only ones I can think of from OoT are the Masks (which I hated, BTW) and getting Epona. I like it when your game experience changes each time...