AdventureRacing
Member
The same non-content activity cramming can be seen in World of Warcraft as well, back in the day you could wander through the Barrens with nothing happening for one hour because there were no fast traveling options and the quest goal would be on the other end of the map. But you would enjoy it anyway due to the atmosphere and serenity of the area, probably in the same way as in Shadow of the Colossus I'd imagine.
Nowadays the expansions feel very systematically manufactured, it seems that they have a formula or an algorhitm for placing different types of activities or elements to correct places with exact distances from each other. I really dislike that feeling. The world is too perfect, it's like a controlled simulation environment like Westworld, designed just for me. The world stops being immersive anymore, it's like uncanny valley of adventure or exploration. Seems that the new Zelda is having symptoms of that problem to a degree as well.
The WoW comparison rings true to me. On top of what you said though, the time spent traversing large areas of land would encourage me to do other things. Looking over my talents, equipment, skills etc. I would also communicate with my guild or the area I was in. Plus I would find myself getting curious and searching all the areas I wouldn't normally go.