Agree with the take from this TikTok:
I did the Zora region right after Rito Village and that my friends was a mistake
In the Rito arc I was scaling up pirate ships to the top of the world straight into the eye of a tornado feeling like a damn superhero
In the Zora arc... there were some things that felt underwhelming
All the interactions you have in the Zora area were kind of boring for me and it just wasn't anywhere near as good as what you needed to do in Rito.
Maybe you get pushed to the Rito area early in the game as the developers knew that this is the best part of the game. They wanted to hook the player in.
Moving on the Water Temple, this temple was my least favourite, it had some good puzzles and mechanics but it was pretty uninspiring overall
Also agree with this. The puzzles here were just kind of meh. The boss battle was also underwhelming.