I think this is a difference between us as players. I'm not a competitionist at all, and I don't even remember what economy the Korok seeds were for. I probably finished the game with a ton of them collected and unspent.

But in my mind they weren't meant to be collected as a goal on their own. I'd be exploring up a mountain or whatever, just because I wanted to know what was on the other side, and when I got up to the peak I'd look out over the landscape and enjoy it for what it is. And then while I was up there I'd see a weird rock and go "ah, the developers wanted me to be up here looking at this view" and I'd move the rock, get some little fireworks, and then I'd have a buddy to enjoy the scenery with.

And then hours later, maybe months in real time, I'd be climbing around and see a Korok and go "Oh! I must have been up here before! Hey little guy" and then keep going.

So I liked them because it was something put there by the devs to show that they intended this place to be visited; that they put some attention here, and I had come to a place that wasn't just endless grass or empty procedural trees or something. It was full of stuff, even if it was silly little guys.

Oh, and you can drop rocks on their heads and they go "oof". That's a good one.

Not really. The 2D ones at least. You literally can't access areas until you've progressed by finding an item, usually by killing a boss in a dungeon. Its a fairly linear design actually.

You're spot on!

They said cool dungeons, which I understand, BotW shrines all have the same visual style, same enemy types, they can be boring.