I'm not sure what you mean here. Each title has been a "massive departure" in some way, shape or form, with each title borrowing something from it's predecessors. The only games to follow a linear path [which I think you are calling the "standard" (lol) format] from my memory are OOT, TTP and SS.
The only thing BotW is doing differently (in general terms) is that they've taken WW's world and removed all the water. Aonuma even stated in a recent interview that he wanted more islands in WW, but couldn't due to hardware limitations.
You seem to have no idea what BOTW is doing. Which is fine. Wastes my life having to explain it to you though. It's massively different from other Zelda games.
-It's significantly more 'open world' focused with large amounts of exploration. No Zelda has been like this. Most Zelda's have *a* open world. But not anywhere in the style of BOTW. There is significantly more to explore and find in BOTW. Including significantly more FREEDOM to explore compared to previous Zelda games. This game lets you CLIMB as well as having a dedicated jump button, and a GLIDER. To name one example, there are 100 puzzle shrines scattered around the world. That alone is massive compared to older games.
-Significantly more items because there are tons of different types, and they function very differently from normal Zelda items (mostly temporary because of durability). This includes weapons, armor and various resources
-A pretty massive cooking system, and you can craft potions/elixirs
-environmental effects (link can be too cold and freeze to death, or too hot and overheat, etc). Some Zeldas kinda sorta had this but it was typically just a timer and a time out. Weather can also affect things realistically like rain putting out fire.
-physics. It has an actual physics engine that is a huge part of puzzles and other stuff
-a smaller note but they seem to actually tried to include a story people might give a shit about, and added voice acting.
There's probably more but I just can't be bothered. Look up videos if you're still clueless why BOTW is significantly more work than previous Zelda games. Even a half retarded monkey lizard can plainly see how massive BOTW is compared to a traditional Zelda.