I see what you're saying there, but I guess I distinguish between 2 kinds of hints:

1. Strongly hinting (or outright telling) the player where their next objective is, and
2. Telling them some enemy weakness or strategy that may not be important right away, but will ultimately be important.


As a player, I find the first kind rather condescending and it takes away from my enjoyment. If that's the kind of game I wanted, I would make it a straight line, no branches, so that you have no choice but to go forward. My quest is rather non-linear; you can skip dungeons if you are so inclined (not in all cases, but for a great many it is possible). A good exploration game should not lead you, it should get out of your way. That being said, if "search the whole overworld" is too vague, I may add in some guys to give hints (but not explict directions) to some of the dungeons, as I'm open to change if something is too well hidden. Of course finding those guys is just moving the problem from one spot to locate to 2...

The second kind, I am completely in favor of. If some new gameplay element could not be known from experience (as this is a 5th quest, knowledge of the previous can be assumed at least minimally), then it should be given, even if cryptically. You have no way of knowing that Pols Voice are weak to arrows until some guy tells you. If they were a newly introduced enemy, that would be a potentially crucial thing to know. With that in mind, I included hints for the bosses, even though they are not new to the series, as well as some other new enemies that are mixed in with my quest (as that is a mandatory inclusion).

The two kinds of hints, to me, are as different as telling a child how to work a math problem and telling them the answers. One retains the interest and ultimately helps them (albeit with no immediate gratification), the other gets it over with quickly, sure, but guarantees that they will run into the same issue again later. The quest, in its early phase, has to teach them how to play, so that later on they will not get stuck. If they always have a post-it note about what to do, they never learn the lesson of "navigate thyself."