Agreed entirely, but also I think what doubles down in making it really sweet is that it kind of picks up in the style that Dragon Warrior IV did...mini RPGs within the big RPG. By that I mean in the old NES(DS) title it had 5 chapters, the first four were stand alone adventures kind of where a set of differing people had to save a town/area and drop a dungeon or two (and in Ch5 they all eventually meet up and take on the big adventure.) This game seems like that. So far I've returned 3 islands to the world and the 4th is starting, they're like chapters. Sure it's the same characters from the start, but each spot has its own dialect of sorts, look, landscape, creatures and bad thing going on that caused it to drop off the face of the world. It's more bite sized feeling and rewarding since it's chunked off like that and you can feel great in a matter of an hour or two (so far early on) helping the people in the area, then realizing you're restoring the world as well.
It is a bit sketchy on fragments/where to go a couple times so far, but if you need it Nintendo has a first 20hrs guide online that doesn't ruin anything but will remind you by steps so you don't miss something like that which helps a lot.