I still have a fantasy that this game will feature events like, say you are in a village, and all of a sudden some huge enemy appears and starts destroying everything. You can fight off the enemy and save the village, or you can get on Epona and run away. If you run away, the village is destroyed and whatever effect it had on the story is now different. That way, your actions actually impact the narrative. That would be so freaking cool.

I have to ask you for an example of the effect on the story. I like the idea, but need some examples. Maybe if you run away you will face the enemie later in the game or what?

They could also have different abilities. For example, the metal shields are weak against electricity, but the wooden ones to fire. That could be cool. The Hylian Shield should be the best one.

Yes I can, OoT is widely considered not only like best Zelda game (you can see almost any poll on internet) but like the best games ever. And yes, in 98" it was almost pure perfection, and game aged very well for game that is 17 years old and first generation of 3D games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_games_considered_the_best

http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/score/metascore/all/all/filtered

http://zeldadata.com/zeldadata_survey2014.html

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=210107

Offcourse that OoT isnt best Zelda or best game ever by today standards and in comparison with modern games, becuse its game that is 17 years old (but even for today standards is good game), but in 98" was almost pure perfection. Main point when we talk about best Zelda game (or best game ever) is question is it Zelda OoT was better game in 98" than WW was in 2003, or TP in 2006. or SS in 2011, after that you have clear winer and not only for Zelda games.

I was thinking, .that rupees will no longer be in the grass as well as the hearts ... I believe instead that one must collect frutta..andare to catch fish ... animals ... and then sell and take rupees ... (apples to eat as well) ... so doing one would gain much fatigue (but also with satisfaction) things, remembering always that, going in search of chests (once past the difficulty and at the same time the beauty of 'exploration), you might end up flooded rupees, ... all this would make the game more rewarding as well as long-lived as well as realistic and you would enjoy a gigantic world full of activities

Well see that's the thing, I'm not really sure of a specific way it would work. Just spitballing, maybe you had a scheduled rendezvous with a character in that village but now you will need to seek them out elsewhere. Maybe just the fact that the village is destroyed will be a hindrance because it is close to a dungeon and now in order to restock supplies you'll have to go to a village further away. Maybe the fact that the village is destroyed prevents you from completing certain sidequests that would've been given out by the NPCs, but if opens up others related to that event and that monster. IE "that monster destroyed my home, kill it and I'll give you 500 rupees." Something like that maybe?

I've been interested in that idea for a long time because in one of my dream Zelda games the overworld change in the middle of the game, similar to other games like FFVI. If I merge my idea with yours, when the village is destroyed a certain NPC dissapears and the piece of heart you can obtain is now located on another place, maybe another npc with another request. Other idea is that you can get an upgrade, like a bow that can shoot three arrows at the same time.

Yup, this almost certain.

It's great that Zelda U is open-world, but hopefully it's not going to be an empty game!

Yup. Something like that would be amazing. Would be quite daunting though. I wonder if Nintendo would be willing to undertake it?

What I'm expecting/wanting/hoping:

That Zelda goes back to it's roots, to the first game. I'm hoping this will be like the original LoZ, but in 3D. This will of course mean that a lot of tropes from other open world games will be present (for good or bad). There will probably be a lot more side quests, or else it'll be one big empty and boring world to traverse, and I think Nintendo learned their lesson from TP (which had a big empty world). With a world this big, Nintendo must give you some enticement for exploring the world. I feel like this game could take Zelda back to it's exploration roots, where you had to upgrade your gear just to survive. Ironically, this means it'll be a lot more alike to Skyrim, Far Cry and other modern franchises, and thus, the circle will be complete in some weird way; Zelda will get inspiration from games that themselves sought inspiration from Zelda in the beginning.

Looking at the recent Zelda games (ALBW in particular), I think it's quite clear that we'll be able choose in what order we'll do the dungeons. At least a few of them. I also think that with new gear new parts of the world will be open for exploration (which, hopefully, means you'll have to do those side quests in order to get them heart containers, or you won't last very long in the newly opened parts).

And considering the scope of the world map I'm sure there will be a lot more NPC's and villages dotted around - further strengthening the idea of exploration and more side quests.

I think the size of the map will tie in to everything else, they cannot afford to have huge areas empty of interesting places and hidden secrets.