The Legend of Zelda

When people say ‘traditional’, it’s very possible you’re only referring to a style of Zelda game that only started with N64’s Ocarina of Time. It was back then a change of pace for adventures that were sometimes too cryptic to decipher, or too difficult, for younger players.

Nintendo definitely spent a lot of the GameCube/Wii era trying to repeat the main appeal of that game; but most people I know still just enjoyed Ocarina more than the others. Even Majora’s Mask tried to take side roads with their time limit system to set itself apart.

So it does feel a bit like people constantly demand a “new Zelda just like the old ones” when the purpose of the old ones was to fulfill some new fantasy people hadn’t experienced. The ones that established themselves as “Ocarina of Time 2 / 3” just didn’t feel as notable. That practice of committing to new concepts does, by necessity, mean leaving some people with a poor taste in their mouths. I didn’t even feel that excited about Wind Waker back when it came out and popularized cel shaded art styles.

Really the only thing I wish would go the hell away is item durability. It makes the rewards for things less cool. Like, oh look I did this long ass chain of fetch quests and got a beautiful sword that's a reference to a past game; better make the most of it before it fucking explodes. Get outta here with that.

I do wish the world was more open. I despise huge walls and climbing. Especially when explosives are abundant. We invented dynamite specifically to not have to deal with huge fucking cliffs everywhere; let's use some bomb flowers and really open shit up.

I don't think your opinion is as unpopular as you think. In the zelda discussions I frequent, this is a reoccuring opinion, especially from long time fans.

In my opinion, the last 2 Zeldas sacrifice a well designed linearity for freedom at every turn. The games offer so many different approaches to playing, that in their entirety, they feel completely different. However, depending on your playstyle, this freedom can fall flat. Once you figure out how to solve a certain challenge, you can adopt this and keep using the same solution for the next 100 times this challenge is thrown at you, OR you can force yourself to creatively come up with a new solution. Some gamers really like optimizing how they play and "powergame" and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Once they figure out the optimal strat for anything, the games become boring and monotonous to them, as they are more interested in solving the challenge in front of them, than in messing around with different approaches. This happened to me when I was playing Breath of the Wild.

With Tears of the Kingdom, I thankfully managed to avoid that trap and keep myself entertained for longer, but I can definitely see how one could have the same thing happen again: Find optimal strat -> Use it everywhere -> get bored with how monotonous the game is.

While this freedom approach offers a lot of new things, it fails to statisfy the same itch, that a traditionally designed zelda game would with it's plentiful dungeons. Yes, the physics puzzles are great and the creative approaches offer a lot of various solutions to the same thing, but they aren't a SS Ancient Basin or a TP Snowpeak Ruins.

I understand that desire a lot!

I do miss traditional dungeons, but as a person who likes playing a ton of different games and genres, I think TOTK (far more than BOTW) really does some incredible things with it's systems and really invites true creativity. I think, overall, that outshines the very enjoyable, but linear approach of the older games.

I would love a next gen, classically dungeon based Zelda game too, but I think that if one of the older Zelda games came out today (skyward sword, ocarina, wind waker, etc) it simply wouldn't have the universally fun pull of BOTW or TOTK.

They have big issues, yeah. But they are doing more to advance gaming as a whole by a huge amount and I can't help but appreciate them.

Maybe I can't answer your question because I haven't played them... Yet.

But I also feel them like almost a different franchise altogether.

I remember once I read this was like the technological evolution of Zelda as of today, meaning this is what the Zelda experience must to be for today's standards, as revolutionary as the first TLOZ was or OOT in their age and time.

I couldn't relate with this feeling completely because I never played them on their current time lol.

The only games I have played are the following in this order:

Phantom Hourglass (good entry I think)

Twilight Princess (edgy)

Ocarina of Time (timeless (?))

Majora's Mask (my favorite)

A Link To The Past (hard as balls to me)

And I definitely have the new games on my sight, it doesn't help that my gf insists and insists that I play them lol.

But they feel very different for me already, but I don't think that's necessarily bad, maybe they can coexists wether Nintendo remaking old stuff or creating smaller experiences for the older fans, handhelds used to have this spot, and I don't think next consoles are not going to be hybrid tbh, only time will tell how Zelda games evolve.

My favourite zelda was the one on the Snes, then wind waker. And I love botw. Played it day 1 for hundreds of hours on a wiiu, then transferred my save to pc for 4k60 goodness. Loved it. Not enough to get all koroks, but enough to get like two thirds of them. But I was in love with the environment. And those cool as hell dragons. And the atmospheric sound and music. And the little bite size shrines. And the chasing star fragments and pointless armour upgrading.

But for reasons I cannot explain, I bounced off totk in about an hour and have no desire to return. Opening with the shitty story didn't help. Following up with a crafting system didn't help me much either. The environment feeling like part of the same map too, did not help. But none of that feels like a proper reason 🤷‍♂️

I didn't care much for BOTW, but TOTK is freakin"' awesome.

The only disappointment I have with TOTK is really just a lack of traditional bosses and power acquisition. But it is still pretty good and way better than BOTW.

It's right there with Link to the Past and Wind Waker for me.

I didn't care for BOTW and didn't buy TOTK. Too different for me and breakable weapons with no way to repair? Get outta here...

BOTW was my first Zelda game. I hated the item degradation, but everything else about the game was so good that I eventually got over that

Yes, hella good games - didn't scratch the Zelda itch though.

There was one point in totk where I fell down a well, bombed a wall, and found a fairy fountain, and suddenly I felt it for a fleeting second. But that was about it. The dungeons were an absolute joke in terms of length and difficulty.

I also managed to break a LOT of puzzles (like straight up skip them) by lifting a piece of something up high with ultrahand, dropping it, hopping on it, then recalling it up. I think the game would have been better if recall just didn't exist.

I didn't even bother to play them. Happy that a new generation loves them though, and the sales figures speak for themselves. We're probably not getting classic Zelda back for a long time.

I hated BOTW but love TOTK. I think the expanded world, new mechanics, and story make it really fun.

Links Awakening (GB) is my comfort food though, I've always considered top-down Zelda games to be the best ones. Idk why but the lack of a jump button in older 3D Zeldas always screws me up.

BotW was my first Zelda and a gateway drug. I didn't really enjoy TotK as it was too much of a sandbox. I preferred the creative ways you were forced to use your limited abilities in BotW. Then I played Twilight Princess HD and was at first disappointed at how linear it was but later absolutely loved the story and characters (it took the first spot for me). I guess I did myself a disservice by playing TP so early because I'm playing other Zeldas now and I'm still searching for that type of experience knowing that it may probably not be reproduced.

Can't play games that aren't on PC and on Steam. So it's like they don't exist for me