God forgive me for drifting back to BotW discourse when I swore that I'd never succumb to that shit again.
There's a few reasons why I'm not a huge fan of Hyrule, but I understand that it's all subjective.
1. All the biomes in the game are generic, other than one area (Rito Village). There's not a whole lot to them.
I always have a hard time to understand when someone explains their points by using non-words like "generic", but I'll try anyway. If by generic, you mean that the regions have more traditional/conservative themes like "snow region" "lava volcano region" "steppe region" without any crazy twists to them, then yes, BotW indeed didn't reinvent the wheel with its biomes. But that doesn't have to be a negative thing IMO. If we look at all the other hot open-world games released during the era time (Horizon, RDR2, The Witcher 3, etc.) I'd say that BotW had one of the best biome variety, making Hyrule easily one of the most versatile and multifaceted landmark when it comes to open worlds. Yes, the Witcher 3 and RDR2 didn't necessarily need gamey-ass biomes due to taking a different, more realistic approach to their game worlds, but still, BotW's biome variety makes me always appreciate Hyrule more.
Also, I don't get what you mean by Rito Village being the exception. I assume you mean the Tabantha region since you are talking about biomes. If yes, then I'm a bit confused since Tabantha is generally considered to be the worst story-relevant region in BotW, both in terms of content and the biome itself (which is basically just canyons with some grass land inbetween).
I'd actually use Mario Odyssey for inspiration here. The Sand Kingdom has a beautiful village, pyramids, and an icy cave. Meanwhile, the Gerudo Desert is a barren wasteland. It's boring. The Wooded Kingdom has a garden industrial area and a dark section underneath. The woods in BOTW are just basic woods. There's nothing to the biomes in BOTW.
I think comparisions with SMO are not fair for various reasons.
1. As someone else already mentioned, SMO is whimsical and goofy platformer featuring a plumber and his speaking hat traveling through different kingdoms while fighting rabbits in wedding attire. That game can totally get away with all sorts of quirky worlds without it feeling strange or out of place. BotW is a melancolic fantasy tale featuring a failed knight waking up to his kingdom in ruins and all his friends dead. I don't think quirky biomes like "lava region but it's actually hot pink sugar" or "forest world with sentinel garden machinery" would fit the game too well.
2. Even if with we ignore all that and just compare the themes of both games' regions/worlds, it feels like you are clearly biased in the way you describe each region. Like come on man, I can also purposefully describe one region in a positive manner while downplaying the other.
Just saying the Gerudo desert is "barren wasteland" is just bonkers to me.
2. The animals and enemies stay nearly the same across every biome. The only area I can think of with unique encounters is the Gerudo Desert, with the Molduga and sand seals. The same enemies is copy pasted across every other biome, just with a different color scheme (and not even that half the time).
Not surprisingly, I agree with the poor enemy variety in BotW. It's obviously BotW's biggest flaw (at least to me, who doesn't consider traditional dungeons a "make or break" thing when it comes to TLoZ). Elden Ring obiously did a way better job here, but tbf, combat is ER's bread and butter. Of course they had to deliver in that regard. Even then, enemy variety is something even ER gets criticized for.
As for the animal variety, you kinda lost me again. Animal types actually vary way more than you make it look like. We have moose and rhinos in the snow regions, bucks and does in the grass fields and small forests, blupees and bears in more elaborate thickets, herons in the swamps and wetlands, weird-ass ostriches in the volcano region, etc. etc.
Could there be more animals in Hyrule? Sure, I think it would've been cool if there were jaguars in the Faron region for example. But still, considering it's the first time that Nintendo tried to do stuff like that, they really did a great job with the fauna of Hyrule. The kingdom really feels like a wild world reclaimed by nature with all the animals either strolling around or just providing ambient sounds with their weird...cries.
3. The shrines are completely separate from the game world, which is a HUGE missed opportunity for some great environmental puzzles and structures. For example, the dungeons in Elden Ring are connected to the game world. It feels more cohesive.
I agree that some shrine content could've been redeployed to either caves or old ruins to make things feel cohesive, but it feels like you are undermining BotW's attempt at enviromental puzzles on the overworld. BotW has like 45 shrine quests, where the bulk of the challenge lay in solving puzzles/riddles by interacting with objects/elements/npcs on the overworld. Not only did they represent a good amount of the games "puzzle gameplay", but they also contained some of the most memorable gameplay moments in the game. I'll never forget when I was at the beginning of the game with no divine beast cleared, climbing Mount Lanayru out of curiosity with only 5 hearts and barely any warming food, just to reach the top somehow still alive and seeing the fucking dragon. I was just sitting there thinking "Bro this is crazy, the heck is even happening??"
4. There's a lack of unique settings/encounters. Don't get me wrong, there's a few here and there (Thyphlo Ruins, Yiga Clan hideout, Eventide Island, the target range near Rito Village), but there's not nearly enough.
Maybe I misunderstand what you mean by "unique encounters", but there have been a good amount. Even if we ignore story-relevant scenarios like the divine beasts and Hyrule Castle, there are still a big amount of peculiar puzzle challenges / trials via shrine quests (like the Naydra one I mentioned above), towns and other unique locales like korok forest and Tarrey Town, mini games, weird wildlife (Ganon's Horse, Lord of the mountain, etc.), curious structures like the labyrinth, the colloseum, the horse fairy, the forgotten temple etc. etc.
Of course there could be more stuff, especially in terms of unique interior structures (caves, old fortresses and abadoned temples), but people often downplay BotW's offering by just saying there ain't more to it except for shrines, korok seeds and the same 3 enemies (not necessarily saying that you do that).
In general, I feel like people underappreciate the overworld shrine quests. These have some of the best puzzles in Zelda history because they often feature actual riddles (instead of "use item on correct thingy"), which is pretty unique when it comes to the series' puzzle gameplay. Maybe I should make a thread detailling all the cool shrine quests.
5. The towns suck. Super basic, with no interesting structures or unique locations (sense a pattern here?).
The towns are not particulary amazing, but I still like them overall. Not only are the towns very idyllic & cozy (not only thanks to the beautiful music tracks), but they also feel very genuine thanks to the NPCs having their own daily routines and struggles (that you learn more about by completing their side-quests). Of course not every town is a home-run, Goron City is pretty doodoo all things considered. But then you have something like Gerudo Town, which feels like it's own little world with its tavern, street markets, "love" workshops (lol), secret stores etc.