I think the argument was that having it be linear allowed for better puzzles since you’d progressively need more items per dungeon. I think they kept the freedom more on the handheld games than the main 3D ones. If memory serves, you could do most of the dark world dungeons in any order, in A Link to the Past as well as a Link Between Worlds. Echoes of Wisdom recently also gave some ability to choose dungeons. I’m curious what the future holds post TotK.