* No Cel Shading: Not because I hate Cel Shading, but for me, it simply doesn't fit Zelda. Zelda was always "dark" and "serious" (Link's uncle who dies in ALTTP, the dark world, the cursed Deku Tree in OoT, the starving Gorons, Hyrule ruled by Ganondorf with the zombies, and many, many more in OoT, the the moon in MM with the time limit (And yes, I think that the time limit was a GREAT idea), et cetera. Maybe I interpret a bit too much in some of the older games, but I don't want the next Zelda to be a "funny" Zelda like Wind Waker or (to a certain decree) Skyward Sword. This DOESN'T mean that Nintendo should make the graphics anything close to realistic, I just want a more serious Zelda game. WAY more serious, even at his "death" scenes. Hell, when I was playing Skyward Sword, one of my parents started to laugh because of Links sound he made. FYI: Link fell into the lava.
* Better controls: The motion controls of SS were good, but nothing more. They were responsive (maybe sometimes a bit too much), but the whole "recalibrating" EVERY time you point out of the TV range with EVERY item was hella annoying. Also, I wish it would be for me (as a player) to decide when I use the motion controls of an item, since it wasn't even possible to focus at an enemy, because it always switched the perspective when I used an item like the bow.
* More (important) areas: Skyward Sword had... what? Skyloft, a forest, a volcano, a desert, and some minor areas like the bamboo isle or the isle of the songs (is it called like this in the english version?)
* A GOOD overworld / world map: Skyward Sword did pretty much the same as Wind Waker... But even worse. One of my major complains about the world map of WW was that there was... pretty much nothing to do. There were some treasures you could find, a few small islands, but... that was pretty much it. SS had even less to do. I wish they'd just make it smaller, but with WAY more content. Minigames, sidequests, heart pieces, treasure chests or something else.
* More, better and BIGGER dungeons with more puzzles: What I REALLY loved about the old Zelda games were the (sometimes) HUGE dungeons like the Fire and Spirit Temple with loads of puzzles where people really had to THINK about how to reach a certain spot or (in OoTs case) how to reach a Skulltula / whatever. SS's dungeons were ridiculously small compared to that and the puzzles were WAY too easy.
* Don't add crap that don't fit to Zelda. When I saw the train in Spirit Tracks, I was like "What the fuck are they doing?" and now, in Skyward Sword... Robots? Really? I mean, Zelda always had a few (more) modern elements and even a few robots like the Beamos, but I honestly couldn't care less about robots as a race >_> Really Nintendo, give me back my medieval (ONLY) Zelda! D:
* Don't restrict me / my gameplay experience in ANY way. I was really excited when Nintendo said that there's time traveling in SS, but ultimatily, it was the same crap as visiting Hyrule in Wind Waker. The only thing you could do after you traveled back in time was planting a stupid tree and fight at the outside. Nintendo could've easily doubled the content with something like this.
* No safe points. I want to save whenever and wherever I want.
* Try harder with the NPCs: Do it like MM, where most NPCs had a personality, a background story and a sidequest, not like this "demon wants item" bullshit, but something like the Anju and Kafei sidequest.
* Music: Give me back an instrument where I can play (like the ocarina of time / fairy ocarina and the wind waker) and has real music (but "full" songs like OoT/MM and not like the wind waker), not crap like the the lyra and let me use the songs for quests, dungeons, et cetera. What I liked about OoT/MMs songs was that they weren't just used once for opening something, but used during the whole game. Regarding BGM, I wish for more "dramatic" BGMs, e.g. when I fight a (mini)boss. Remember Majora's Mask when Link entered this jukebox-like house and you saw Pamela's father as a Gibdo? THAT's what I want to hear. THAT's what I consider great / damn near perfect boss music. Skyward Swords miniboss battle music was extremely boring, to be honest... no, the whole music in SS was pretty boring and not memorable at all. Even with the 5 songs you learn for the lyra, only 1 of memorable (Well duh, guess what song) and only 1 other was even remotely GOOD (Nayru's wisdom)
* Give me back some day and night cyclus, preferable like MM, but AT LEAST something like OoT, where some minigames and side quests can only be done at certain times and where NPCs were different / only available at certain times. Seriously, in SS, you couldn't even FLY at night... It's as if Nintendo wasn't even trying...
* A helpful sidekick: Phai (Or Fi in english, afaik) was great. The only thing that could have been done better about her: Give me USEFUL tips ONLY. I couldn't care less about useless information like "Ghirahim calls himself Demon Lord blablabla", and if I ask about infos about an enemy, I ask about infos about an enemy ONLY. No information about equipment, balance, time, whatever. Just about what I'm asking. If she doesn't have informations for me and if I have to click the A button like a hundred time to quit the dialogue, then there's something wrong with it.
* Give me an antagonist from the very start. Sure Ghirahim was always about "freeing his master" and whatever, but Demise appeared... what, in the last 5 minutes of the game? (And I'm not talking about his other form)
* Obviously, no voice overs, but make the NPCs look and sound less stupid. When I saw and heard this guy at this bamboo island for example, I honestly thought he was gay... Please no characters (design-wise) like Beedle, Bertie, Fledge and this boy with the pineapple head or crap like Ooccoo... >_>
* Add some nostalgic elements: What I'd really like to see would be elements from older games that have nothing to do with the gameplay or story, for example, I'd really love to hear the shop / basar music from OoT in newer Zelda games too. But that'd be just a small extra.
And last but not least:
Remove the GODDAMN stamina bar. Seriously. I hate this bullshit. If Nintendo gives Link the ability to run/swim/climb/whatever, he should be able to do it all the time without interruption.
My post probably has some(?) nostalgia in it, but ultimatily, this is what I want. A darker and more serious Zelda with bigger and better dungeons and better overworld with more focus on NPCs, better and more memorable music and less useless crap / more useful game elements.
