re: BoTW, horizon or Witcher 3

The Bloody Baron mission was what really sucked me in. Very well done.

Bloody Baron stuff is basically the first big push in the story when you get to Velen. If I had to put a number on it, I'd say that's maybe five-eight percent into the vanilla game.

Not sure how others played, but I basically got to a new town/area and took everything off the bulletin board. It highlights not just new side quests and contract missions, but points of interest, too. Then I'd knock out all those that I was appropriately leveled to do. If I came across a POI that had a red skull icon, I'd skip them and save for later. Then, I'd move on to the next area.