This is a reasonable take, though I don't feel the same way.

OoT felt like an open world game at a time when those largely didn't exist (some did, but not really on console). The gameplay was still somewhat linear, but it felt like there was a lot of freedom compared to a lot of other games at the time. As a kid, I spent hours just exploring. I'm guessing this has something to do with its popularity at the time.

I prefer ALttP

Agreed. I just don't like that type of game myself.