The length of time it takes to get just above a bare minimum ending is still longer than most other 3D Mario games . BTW, the entire concept of the bare minimum ending is to prevent novice/casual players from feeling frustrated because they cannot or do not have the time to find all the collectibles (this was a criticism for some of the earlier collect-a-thon style platformers). While some of the Moons are hidden in somewhat meaningless ways (like the feathers in Assassins Creed or Korok Seeds), there is a great number of them that are unlocked after completing meaningful quests and platforming challenges. Case and point, I watched the play through you posted as well as 2 other playthroughs, all three of them collected just a bit more than what was required for the ending. However, aside from the more linear quests that often end in boss fights that reward you moons (these overlapped for all players), each player found different moons. Not to mention that like other 3D Mario games, a great portion of the game (including several other kingdoms and more missions) are unlocked after you beat the game (again most likely not to frustrate more novice/casual players with that task of having to finish everything before getting the main ending).

I guess it depends on how strict your definition of 'open world' is? It's definitely not a giant game like BotW, but it isn't a linear game either.

I always go for all the stars/shines/moons in a 3D Mario game so your complaint about length doesn't apply for me. I don't necessarily disagree with BotW probably being more deserving of a GotY award but I'll wait for the opinion of people who played the game and most importantly my own opinion before labelling the game as lazy.

He is comparing games he will never play, and there are too many nintendoom threads on this forum so do your job ;p

I'm not talking about you and PS4 exclusives dude.

So it's like Mario 64, the length thing, where you also needed only 70 Stars, IIRC, instead of 120. I'm cool with that, needing everything would become a chore.

Correct. They did a similar thing with 3DWorld. It was fairly easy and straightforward to reach the "end". But afterwards you unlock a whole lot of levels, more challenging and diverse. I didn't expect that the standard length to reach the final boss will take more than 10 hours. I still expect that some moons are hiding in different ways, with more platforming challenges and maybe more kingdoms unlock after the end. First time I read some reviews of 3DWorld they said that it takes about 6/7 hours to beat, and in the end I've played more than 30 hours doing different things.

What Mario game can' tbe beat super quick. Also it's usually super easy to beat a Mario game.

The length and difficulty and most fun of the game is always the after game stuff. That is where you find the harder levels, the harder to find stars, the more creative levels, ect.

Just cause you "beat" the story means nothing. Heck, this topic is about BOTW right? Well you can beat that game in like an hour if you want.

And so it begins.....

agreed.