There is a reason why that kind of gaming experience died and its buried.
Very few people like it and its more because of nostalgia than anything else. There is no skill involved, just time wasting.
Current gaming is based more on skill than spending stupid amounts of time doing mindless stuff for no reason.
In your example, there is literally 0 skill involved in carryng those bombs and bombing the rocks, any 5 year kid could do it, you just need to have time to waste.
Sure ... except that, as I mentioned,
Breath Of the Wild is a return to the exploration based style of gameplay, and it was a big success which has spawn a spin-off, a sequal in production, a slew of popular clones, and is itself strongly influenced by previous game in some aspects, and all of those things have been popular lately. So ... not so much dead as "making a comeback."
You are right that it is not a "skill-based" style of gameplay. It's based on the sense of exploration and discovery. The original Zelda was inspired by Miyamoto's experiences playing in the forest behind his home as a child. Recreating that feeling was the whole point. It doesn't require a lot of skill to peak under rocks and logs and discover cool bugs and stuff. It's not "for no reason" if you happen to be someone that enjoys it. Enjoyment is the ultimate purpose of most games.
So, in a way, you're right. While it could be said that too many hints defeats the purpose of an exploration based game, one could also say that exploration based games in general don't require as much skill as other kinds of games.
In the end, that just means you're another person coming into the thread of a game you don't like
because that's not the kind of game you like
and complaining that it's not the kind of game you like.
Too bad. Don't play it.