>>724168989
BW's approach is that the journey is linear, but the routes aren't just straight lines. A lot of them are like this one, where you have two paths and then a junction, an optional dungeon, then another split.

I prefer the more open design, but I wouldn't write it off for the path being linear, because it still gives you choices and stuff to come back to. 6, 7 and 8 are all way worse about this.