Yes it was quite empty in that sense, but I thought that made the populated areas feel all the more welcoming. I feel like in a way, the barrenness was what they were going for; a desolate Hyrule close to destruction where a few survivors were clinging on. Personally I didn't see how it's all that different from OOT or TP which had big open sections mostly filled with enemies. I suppose the scale is different in the case of BOTW? TP felt a lot more bleak imo.