Just imagine the dozens of ruins around Hyrule in BotW, such as Lon Lon Ranch. Many could bee rebuilt, or in the process of being rebuilt. New towns scattered around and starting up.

Now that enemies don't respawn non-stop due to the blood moon, they could be starting to consolidate in areas, creating their own towns/fortresses/bases in areas of Hyrule.

One of the neatest things about BotW was seeing ruins and areas that you sort of recognized from older games, but were now so ruined that many probably didnt' even catch them, or missed them. Seeing Hyrule being rebuilt would in istelf make BotW feel like you actually won that game. You made a difference. I'm so excited to see the Hyrule I scoured every inch of come back to how it was before Link went to sleep 100 years ago.

Very good points regarding A Link Between Worlds.  This is certainly a different situation when compared to BotW2.

As for what they can do differently, it is hard to say.  One thing I can think of is that whatever evil gets released from, what I believe to be the corpse of Ganondorf, puts Hyrule in an apocalyptic state.  This would alter the entire atmosphere and terrain in one go, and allow the Zelda team to use the original landscape as a base.  If they go this route, I do not see how anyone could complain as it would be an entirely different experience all together.  They did say this game will be very dark afterall.

Also they could pair that with what many, including yourself, have pointed out about the unexplored unground networks that could be utilized.  In the first game, the shrines and towers were risen from beneath the surface.  Furthermore there are various ruins that exist underground as well.  Who knows what else is down there.  I think that this theory is spot on, and at the VERY LEAST will have something to do with traditional dungeons making a return.

Another thing worth pointing out is how it looks like the land is rising from under Hyrule Castle, presumably from where Link and Zelda are in the trailer.  Whatever it is happens to be massive, much larger than a shrine or a tower.  There is a strong possibility that similar events could take place in other regions as well, which would alter the land of Hyrule entirely.

I am so excited to learn more about this as time goes on, as I am very curious about how it will be handled.  I highly doubt that Nintendo would just reuse the same map without significant changes to warrant a new game, and we have no reason to doubt them.  I am honestly suprised at how many people are jumping to worst case scenario with nothing to back it up to be honest.

Unless you acquire it by nefarious means.  Because it's out there.

The counter argument to this is that GTA has been revisiting places for years the's a 4 year gap between GTA3, LCS and GTA4 yet those games had no issue revisiting the same location this is why the nostalgia argument isn't really solid because this shows revisiting the same place has never been an issue with out any nostalgia factor and these games don't have long time gaps in the story either even a few years can warrant significant changes.

The person you responded to is not wrong in what they say as even if the game as I've played ALTTP and returning to the same Hyrule wasn't a factor for me it was how they made the experience new.

Edit: You're making assumptions now on BOTW2 saying the aren't any changes this is similar to people claiming the wouldn't be towns when they saw the first game.

We have known that since the towers in BotW!  🙃

It all makes sense now...😏

1- It's a counter argument because the context of his reply was that how the person he was responding to was coming from the angle of using the same setting feeling like an expensive expansion that's the context of that debate I brought up GTA because ALBW essentially did what it did, ALBW does well in quelling that as not everyone is as impacted by nostalgia as you're making it seem, the same way some people may have been the are people who it wasn't a factor for and would have had these same concerns back then but ended up enjoying the game and didn't feel like it's an expansion.

2- People did have the same concerns on ALBW, the flaw here is one BOTW was built for Wii U hardware the sequel is built for Switch different hardware secondly you're acting as if Zelda is a series that relies on ultra realism how long the game is after the original is not going to stop them making changes.

3- Misread this part although you didn't really say modest in your post you just said it doesn't appear to be the case which when considering all that's shown of Hyrule is the castle lifting the's not much you can judge from that how ever the castle region lifting off would straight away make a significant geographical

1 - Yet you keep bringing up nostalgia so your argument is coming across as saying anyone who played ALTTP had nostalgia so wouldn't have a problem, the point is the game is good with out it you can have concerns but we're talking about when you actually get the game does it feel like an expansion? For most people who I've seen give their opinion no that's the point of the post you replied to.

2 - The internet is far bigger than VGC mate as people in social media had varied views on the game they were looking forward to it but had similar concerns, you're also going on about why nostalgia was a thing for you and some others I already acknowledged that I'm just telling for just as many people it's not the same case especially as 3D Zelda goes the were more technically impressive games as even OOT Remaster was already out some people wanted that approach instead so the 3d jump for ALBW for some people was already lessened. Fact is BOTW is already a technically impressive game to begin with to the point it holds up well in comparisons to tech in RDR2 a games that pushes other platforms hard while beating out others on better hardware what drew people to it were the applications of the game world. The ultra realism part is reference to how you keep going on about how much time has passed like that's really going to stop changes in a fantasy/sci-fi game.

3 - This is what I meant by the ultra realism comment it's a fantasy/sci-fi game the world can change in an instant while you're playing like FFVI did or they'll just say the Kingdom rebuilt itself after Ganon's defeat time after the original story is not going to stop changes, if they want to do changes they'll do them.

Heyy guys! I made an account on here just to talk about this game... Okay so ya of course its gonna take place in the same hyrule, its actually a direct sequel. Buttt i dont think hyrule will play a huge part like botw. i think its mostly going to be under ground... An sadly i dont think zelda will be playable :( maybe in dlc hopefully...i just Hope its nnot like typical nintendo where the princess gets captured and we dont see her until the end...

One thing I will say regarding these concerns about it being on the same map...

Remember when all (many?) of us were concerned about this huge open world Hyrule being empty and there being nothing to do or explore. Most of us had a lot of confidence that it would work, but I think all of us were surprised by just how much Nintendo put in the game (900 korok seeds!!!). I have no doubt that the team knows we don't want to get bored in that beautiful world and they'll implement plenty of cool things to fill us with wonder and joy. And i could imagine plenty of easter eggs for those of us who have beaten breath of the wild. It's going to be a hoot any way you look at it.