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I really enjoy those puzzles

@Deadcow One puzzle was "move the box 16 times." I daresay that was the most tedious puzzle of the entire game so far! (I'm still saving one region, so I haven't seen 100% of them.....) I don't want the game to end!

Most of the puzzles are either super simple, or devilishly complicated (Did you play the one in Eternal Spring up on that tall hill you can't get to directly due to the red cloud that drains stamina? It's a masochistic platforming challenge that will have anyone ready to snap their controller....though I'm pretty sure it's actually bugged. The one part of it, early walkthroughs say you have 54 seconds and should take it slowly. I timed it on a stopwatch....it's 28 seconds. I don't think it's actually possible to complete, and it's clear at one point the time limit was longer. The general recommendation involves cheesing it a certain way.)

But a lot of the puzzles are quite reasonable and pretty varied. A lot involve moving boxes onto switches, but not repetitively like the one you're talking about. I know what one that is. That's kind of a tutorial to REALLY drill into your head the importance and puzzle uses of boxes for the rest of the game, IMO.

The overall design of the puzzles is similar to BotW. Except BotW let you play with time and inertia with Stasis in a way that made it more emergent.

@Deadcow Those overall themes remain through the game, but it sounds like you're mostly talking about the Valley of Eternal Spring vaults. Once you get into the other territories the vaults become more interesting. Yes, the primary features are still moving boxes and balls to activate switches, but they become notably more complex the majority of the time, and more platforming related components come into play. I don't think many of the puzzles are as sophisticated as BotW's, but I was disappointed in most of those as well. But the majority are definitely not as insipid as those earlier tutorial ones (thankfully.) And some are genuinely clever. Can't say I've had a lot of problem floating the balls across on the air vents though. A ball goes rogue now and again, but most of the time they go where they ought to.

I think Eternal Spring is the most visually interesting, but the most functionally boring section of the game. Even the starting clashing rocks island has some more challenging stuff in it when you go back to it (things you couldn't access the first time there) than anything in Eternal Spring. The vaults that start requiring Godly Powers get more BotW-like, where you have to improv with Athena's Dash (through lasers), Aries' Wrath (triple jump), Hephesto's hammer (whack objects in an arch or a straight line), and the bird's statue (BYO Box). Those require more thought to solve the puzzles than just using what's around you or what it looks like you can easily access. Also, the valults all have 2 (or more) destinations, with the treasure chest(s) usually being much more difficult challenge goals pushing that vault's puzzle theme further than the main exit with the lightning.

@Deadcow cool! You may still be disappointed, but I definitely think there's some cool moments to be had, and none are as brain numbing as that one box one...

If you don't have all your godly powers yet, take note when you approach it enter them, some will have a brief warning in the bottom right that you don't have the required power to get the chest (some vaults can be completed without the powers, but the chest can't be completed. ) The outside of vaults turn from red to gold if you clear them but left the chest behind. They totally cave in, close off, and don't light up anymore when you fully clear them with the chest. Chests are the "harder difficulty mode" for vaults. Getting a certain amount of hem is also one of hermes quest board quests.

The box one is actually a good example. That one actually has one of the more insidious chests that requires a certain power, and you have to use it in a tricky mid-air way from an initially unobvious place. It's nail biting!

Also, if you haven't seen them yet, some vaults are arenas (combat shrines in botw terms)..... There's a locked lever on the back left quarter of the arena. After you clear the battles and the gate opens, you can instead pull the lever, starting a second, harder battle. That's what unlocks the air stairs adjacent the lever to the chest in arena vaults.

It's not soulsborne, and it's no Portal, but there's definitely some worthwhile challenge in some vaults, IMO.