[Clarste]

You could get spirits in towns, for one... It makes sense for shrines to be in towns, right?

Anyway, I see your point about all dungeons existing primarily to lengthen the game, but you're really misrepresenting the opposing position for some reason. There's a difference between "hey, there's a mountain path in the way to the town we need to go to" and "hey, we need to collect all these spirits to make the whatever that opens the door to the tower of doom, so here's 8 dungeons scattered across the world." It's just a matter of degree.