D&D General Path of Feats: a Superior Design than Subclasses

[Tonguez]

Are there no crazy builds in 5e?

Is there something inherent about feats being prereqs for other feats which exacerbates this?

Not trying to pull your leg or anything. I’m genuinely curious. I’ve played 3.5e quite a bit so feel free to point out anything in particular that you feel is relevant, and I might remember…

One of the issues that people cite regarding 3.5e is the proliforation of feats, especially 3rd party splatbook feats which were sometimes pointless, unbalance or not well considered. Feat chains in particular could lock you into rigid lines that ended up being traps - though personally I think the same is true of some subclass abilities too.
Having come from GURPS, I personally loved the customisability, but do agree that the bloat did make things more complex and tended to add to the bonus stacking problem. (I stopped playing GURPs due to complexity too)