Botw had an issue very similar to that of wind waker where it just doesn't feel like there's any real danger or threat. I mean subconsciously you know- zelda's time is running out, calamity ganon will break free, chaos will ensue. But you don't feel it. The villages are safe and tranquil, nobody in any real danger (aside from the divine beasts but it feels like a very vague threat). Travelers can wander pretty much problem free except for the idiot npcs who get jumped at the same time in the same place every day. Monsters are sparce, and ruined towns just feel like relics of a past with little relevance. And the problem with a plot like that, a pain you can't feel, is that you as the player want to feel it. You want to see the way calamity ganon affects the people of hyrule. You want to see citizens mourning the loss of friends and a society now lost. You want to see them carrying on, bravely and stubbornly rebuilding as the threat of ganon looms over their head like an incoming shadow. Instead what we get is a bunch of zoras who remember the past but decide it was all Link's fault, a bunch of townspeople blissfully growing carrots in their dull tranquil villages, and travelers looking to the once capital and saying "well that's a funny looking storm cloud. Wonder if it's guarding anything shiny." Therin lies the problem with games like botw and ww- the threat seems too far gone to be relevant. The people don't have a thing to worry about outside of pig herding, and Link is bearing on his shoulders the weight of a world that just doesn't seem like it needs saving. If you can forget what you're fighting for your narrative isn't strong enough.
