Some of the greatest puzzles imho were in MM & LttP. I always found the puzzles are what mainly defined zelda, whether be dungeons or sidequests. Of late I found it got a little watered down, or maybe I have just grown too accustomed to it? It's like:

NPC: I heard something is going on in an area with heat!
You then go to death mountain and a everything else plays off for you.

The combat is something i always took for granted tho. It's good enough, nothing much broken in it. While i don't mind a beefier combat system, I am a little worried that they focus too much on that and leave the puzzles behind, like how they focussed too much on the art style (and combat) in WW and gave us really bland side quests and dungeons. So yea, for me, the puzzle-like elements of Zelda is what makes it. Tho, if it lacks any of the other elements, i agree it would still take away.

P.S. Those who say that zelda 1 for nes didn't have puzzle elements, and that it was only "push random block and burn random tree" are living too much in the present. There wasn't much they could have done (with the tech) at that time and they did a fine job. It wasn't random btw, it was the very same tree/wall/block in every play through that could be manipulated. Watch what you say.

what defines the Zelda experience? interesting question. zelda was the first game that ever truly amazed me. the awesome music, fantastic moments, spectacular fights, great story, and,of course, the pure adventure. the world is often huge and riddled with secrets and just begging to be explored. i was truly amazed at the things i could find and the thing i could do. it was the first game to actually feel like an adventure to me.

one of my favorite moments in a zelda game comes from TP: after the water temple and the truly disturbing cut scene, Zant appears and uses the power of the spirit to fatally wound midna and then turns link back into a wolf. In an epic scene with "Midna's Lament" playing the background, Link has to rush to zelda for help. however, when a nealy dead midna tells link to forget about her and go on, zelda gives her own power and life to save midna's, despite midna's protests.

that scene is probably my favorite of any zelda game, next to the ending of Wind Waker and the grandma scene in WW (when she is all depressed) among many others.

like i said, what defines the zelda experience is the pure adventure in it. the secrets, story, action, and moments speak for themselves.

3 characters that represents the Tri Force ,and legendary weapon aka The Master Sword. As long as you have these main elements. A Legend of Zelda game can be in any setting, and any plot.

There were games with actual puzzles even back then and, to the player, the bombing/setting on fire/pushing was basically random. There was basically no thinking involved, so I wouldn't count it as a puzzle on any level. Anyway, they sure did a fine job :)

This thread sucks, especially Khuutra's posts. Now i want to play Majora's Mask and WindWaker and i can't decide which one to play since i hated WindWaker back in the day, and i've never even watched a single trailer for Majora's Mask lol.

It is very difficult for me to describe what I love about Zelda.  It could be the sense of adventure and exploration.  It could be how your abilities and powers grow over the course of the game.  It could be the dungeons.

What I do know is that no other game has given me the same feelings as this franchise has.

What!?

You think you know everything about these games...

Sure...there were games with 'actual' puzzles back then, but that's because they were...you know..puzzle games (like q-bert). This was an adventure game with lots of secrets to be found. Wasn't straight puzzles but "puzzle-like-elements", like the lost woods, finding the master sword, and the other area where you go continue going up. Combine that with the  supposedly "random" stuff and you got some puzzle-like stuff. I still stand by the fact that ppl are comparing this too much to present-day stuff. Just saying..

Oh, you do have a point with the riddles. Still, to me, and I believe to others on this thread as well, many of these elements felt like they were more, much more, about exploration (like looking for suspicious bushs, trying to get to some place, searching for a dungeons, the general finding of secrets as you point) than actual puzzles.

So I think the puzzles were not what brought players in and amazed people, but much more the sense of exploration coupled with the open world mechanic, challenge and sheer scope and sense of adventuring. Small riddles may have been a part on these things, but they were much more accessory than essential, at least this is how I see it. These "puzzles" were much less of a defining point of the experience than they are in the newer games, and exploration and even combat were much more in the spotlight.

But yeah, you are right, there was a bit of light, basic, simple puzzling as part of the exploration in the form of the riddles, I indeed didn't think that through.

Yea, i guess on that light level. It certainly was a vast brilliant open world wasn't it? For me the puzzle-like stuff/secrets was really the topping on the cake for an already great game...and really accentuated my memory of it. I guess playing games like Metroid/Guardian Legend/even TMNT beforehand, which had fairly big overworlds with lots of exploring, soughta made that aspect of Zelda a little less impactful. This is why i guess everyone here has different views...but hey..it all points to one thing...greatness!