Wha...?! I don't even know how to acknowledge most of that post. At a certain point you just have to realize you're dealing with a troll...
I don't get how ER's style of open-world keeps getting compared to Ubisoft. They aren't even comparable...
You're correct. Ubisoft open worlds are so much better because they learn how to guide the player and give them ways to navigate the terrain. They don't add random jumping points that look stupid and often got the player killed because they're buggy. Adding giant grave stones sticking out of walls positioned awkwardly with a janky double jump system and a fatal fall at the bottom. They don't lock the player from looking at the map when in combat or even worse when 'in combat' but no where near any danger. They don't litter the place with useless crafting pick ups adding nothing useful to the player.
Guidance? There's literally huge wisps of light called the "Guidance of Grace" that, at the bare minimum, show you exactly where to go to progress the story! Beyond that there are multiple statues, steles and other interactables that show the locations of caves, dungeons and other secrets. Not to mention the two dozen or so NPCs giving you hints. How much more help do you need? Can you just admit that all the freedom makes you stir-crazy and you much prefer to have your hand held from one dopamine hit to the next??
Funny thing is, the terrain isn't difficult to navigate. There are multiple parts of the map where you can carefully sidle down, cliff by cliff, from a much higher elevation to a lower one. These parts largely appear in Limgrave and the Mountaintops, so they're not omnipresent, but they are there. You just didn't notice them, I'd bet money you weren't looking for them, and I'd bet my soul you didn't even try to experiment with Rainbow Stones to see which falls were lethal and which weren't. Bet my soul you didn't.
As for the gravestones, I can't find any evidence that they were shoehorned in at the last minute, considering:
1. They're in the first trailer.
2. They're correctly marked on the map, all except for the ones leading to the intentionally-hidden Jarburg.
So you can admit you pulled that one out of your ass. There is a point here, though, in your defense where you mentioned the "janky double-jump system" which tells me you tried to traverse the gravestones on horseback. That one lies squarely at the feet of the developers, they really should have put no-Torrent zones around those things, as you're supposed to drop down on foot. You don't even have to press the jump button a single time of most of them, only walk off at the right spots; one of the few much-maligned "jumping puzzles" in ER that requires no jumping.
It's ironic, actually, that there's a much stronger argument for weak world design to be made at the rampant use of Sending Gates and other warp points, particularly in the endgame. But you aren't making that argument. I wonder why...?
