Hmph. If this was a Zelda forum, I probably would not touch this thread with a ten foot pole. Why? Well, it is my personal experience that Zelda fans are among the most narcissistic, conceited, belligerent people ever to walk this earth. At times, it seems is their only unifying tenet is their thinly veiled animosity towards the developers and vehement exasperation at the current state of the franchise.
Less sardonically, one could say they are opinionated. Still, threads like these mostly ended with some douche throwing insults and blaming Aonuma for everything that is wrong with the world.
That said, I'm cautiously optimistic; this isn't the belly of the beast, after all.
So, what of my own opinion?
Well, I do think that what I value the most in a Zelda game, is the experience. For me, this is true for all games, to some extent, but the ideal of 'an adventure' is epitomized in Zelda. What is most important to me is not any single element of a game's design, but how they combine to meditate a journey that is larger than the sum of its parts.
The Wind Waker is the perfect example of this; as time passes, I find myself more and more appreciative of the Wind Waker experience. It is of a classic Zelda structure, combining elments of both Ocarina of Time and the earliest 2D titles, but it is also a game where the synthesis of elements is near perfect and every facet supports one another.
The aesthetics are simply marvelous. Not just the style, but the way it is used to breathe life into the world. In this case, one can literally see the call of adventure in the wind.
The same holds true for the music, which, more than in any other title, interactively infuses the game and adds its own element to experience.
Atmosphere is closely tied to esthetics, and is another element of importance to me, and again an area where the Wind Waker (and Majora's Mask) excels.
Of all the Zeldas, the Wind Waker is the one I found to have the most satisfying combat system; combining style and flair with dexterity and tactical depth. In this case, combat doesn't need to be overly challenging in order to be to be rewarding.
Exploration is limited, linear, and controlled, but is also among the most satisfying in the series. Even those who did not like the Wind Waker have fond memories of that first decent to Hyrule.
The Wind Waker's story develops striking narrative motifs and a lush thematic web using simple but sophisticated means.
Link and the player's relation is one of the central tenets of the series, yet that relationship has been cast in more than one light throughout the years. The way Wind Waker handles it is so different from the way Majora's Mask did, yet both have their merits.
Generally, these are some of the things things I look for in every Zelda. They way they are implemented, however, are different. I'm not against new schools of Zelda design, but I'm also appreciative of the merits of the current paradigm.
In the end, though, I can only ask that people play and hopefully appreciate the games in question. Nothing can be truly (de)constructed, and no two readings will be the same. In the words of Tzvetan Todorov: "Each work is its own best delineation; truly immanent and exhaustive."
