@oscillator
Like, Mbun said, the BOTW comparison and "open world Souls" is really just a quick and dirty shorthand.
What you point out is absolutely correct, BOTW and TES have far more simulation aspects built directly into the game and one's enjoyment of the game. BOTW to Elden Ring really isn't an apples to apples comparison and people gotta stop relying on that so heavily.
BUT, Elden Ring does do a lot of what it's predescessors do and expands on it. And there, the comparison is fair. For example, exploring the world to whittle down Shrines in BOTW is similar to the emergent exploration in Elden Ring. How you traverse and explore the world is completely different. In BOTW you obviously have the ability to do anything through mobility, elixirs, etc. In Elden Ring, you have limited mobility but gain some with your horse (than can double jump and leap up mountains).
I think the competitive spirit of these comparisons comes from what is in Elden Ring's world versus other games. If BOTW and Elden Ring both have a core loop around exploring wherever your heart's content, Elden Ring pushes the bar really damn high because there is so much custom bespoke content naturally dispersed throughout the world. Whereas BOTW has a similar approach, but the Shrines and dungeons feel a bit samey. So I think the core loop is where the comparison comes from, but the approach is really different.
In the end, I think the comparisons are mostly healthy based on what I've seen, but calling Elden Ring the "killer" of a 5 year old offline single player game is hilarious to me. Who cares?!
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On the topic of open worlds, the Triple Click Podcast (Jason Schreier, Maddy Myers, Kirk Hamilton) have a really good open world discussion where Kirk presents this really great classification system: https://maximumfun.org/episodes/triple-click/elden-ring-and-open-world-games/
They go into recent experiences like Elden Ring, Horizon, and Dying Light 2 and you kinda start to see more connecting tissue between many games, even if it isn't immediately obvious.