So there’s been a lot of threads lately about Zelda (no surprise really), but I think we should try to keep it in a single place, so everyone can discuss it; the good the bad, the questions, anything. Let’s try to keep this civil.

I guess I’ll start since I finally was able to catch up after a long day of work:

The game looks very good, the trailer got me pretty hype up and it continued during the live demos, there’s a lot of stuff to talk about I’m not sure where to begin.

First I guess is the biggest question/concern: the “empty” open world. I was curious about this as well, but after seeing the Exploration demo this fear is gone for the most part; in the demo you can see stuff to do or find without having to travel that far in between, in the green area of the Plateau there were a good chunk of enemies (sadly most of them were the same which got me a little bit worried, but it can easily be a demo thing and not in the final game), minerals, camps, treasure, so it was very good; the snow part of the Plateau was less exciting, but it was ok. If I could compare it to anything is probably like Fallout on the “how often you find stuff” category.

I like the concepts of Shrines a lot, and they mentioned in the demo that they won’t replace dungeons which is very good news. The atmosphere in the Shrines was excellent and I can’t wait to see what they can do in the more difficult ones.

From what I have seen, the only big concern that I have is how often you will find the same gear. Let me give a concrete example:

In the Shrine demo, the player found 2 “Traveler Swords” if I remember correctly, one from a chest and the other was a drop (I might be mistaken and it could have been only 1, but the point will still stand); then in the Exploration demo, after clearing a camp full enemies, a chest shows up and the thing inside was a “Traveler Sword”.

I understand why they do that of course, is unreasonable to think all players will explore every single corner on a game of this size, so they want players to find various gear without having to explore every small area; this can be dangerous though, because if you find the same gear multiple times then what’s the point of exploring? If it happens too often, players will not bother to go and explore because “it’s probably another gear I already have”. Rare materials and the likes will be a much better choice for these type of treasures, they did that in the Snow area, at the very top of a mountain, which the reward was what it looks like a weapon craft material, more rewarding than a repeated gear.

Maybe I’m just being paranoid, that example was the only instance I saw it, and it could also be a demo thing and not in the final game, but is something I’m worried about and could break the exploration.

There’s way more stuff to talk about, but for now I’ll leave it at that.

What I liked:
Openness
Lack of Tutorial
Small touches like Wind blowing Link's hair and clothes
Lighting
Slow Motion
This fapness:


Art style
Physics
Not much handholding
Gotta find stuff out for yourself (like the story)
Tons of weapons and shields
Shield Surfing
Lots of other stuff

What I didn't like:
Cheesy Voice Acting (As I feared)
Stamina Meter: Specially in an open world game where you would want to hall ass as fast as possible most of the time imo...
Minimal BGM: Playing games like XC and etc where there are tons of places to explore shows how BGM can enhance the experience. Zelda really should have had a nice amount of BGM with an option to turn it off if it starts to get too repetitive... Not remove them completely... Or in Zelda's case, have minimal amount of them...

Spoiler alert

Ganon cutscene taking Hyrule Castle is hinted at the trailer but it is showed in the E3 floor demo. Didn't watch it, I spoiled too much of the game.

I like it. I like the new things they added, think the art style is nice, combat looks fun. Lots to like here.

I have some concerns over the world being a little empty...but hopefully there is enough to do to keep things fun.

Will be buying for sure. Probably on Wii U, unless NX is really impressive.

I really love the emphasis on exploration and customization.

I think the thing I like the most is that the game seems much more difficult than previous 3D Zeldas, and there is a focus on combat. Besides the exploration of course. 

Have you watched the Exploration demo? I think that's about what we should expect, which I think is ok.

what is BGM?

Oh yeah, I watched the full Treehouse today. From what I hear the world is BIG, so I just hope there is enough variety and such to keep the game interesting. But, not a huge issue. Still excited for the game.

Weapon and shield durability is a thing so I would be happy to find two of the same swords.

Edit: provided I like that weapon of course.