Day 1 of playing for me, so I can't compare the level of instruction to past versions of the game, but as a datapoint, I thought the rock's chatter today was helpful, without being overbearing. I noted there was some conversation about this in past threads, and I just wanted to drop a note saying I thought it was appropriate today.
I'm still a little confused on what the end goal is, but I trust that'll come with some more exploration.