I worry that going full open-world with this one was maybe not the correct choice. There's so much to see and do, and I found myself having the same issue as I did with Witcher 3 (minus disliking the dev team, I mean), being able to go anywhere and everywhere from the start means burning out before you decide it's time to do the main quest.
This wouldn't be an issue if the goals were presented in the same way as BotW, prioritizing exploration with bosses staying the same scale with a different flavor of challenge, but that's not possible with the way fromsoft games work.
I would honestly prefer a map formatted more like, dare I say it, the new pokemon games, i.e. a large open area with full freedom of exploration that then narrows into a boss fight or two before then reopening into another, much larger area. It's really close to being like that, at least the first 6~ hours are, but it opens up just a little too much when you realize there are infinite tangents to follow in any given direction and quickly forget what you were doing story-wise.