it's a long read, i only made it ~2/3rds of the way but from what i read i have to agree with what i read.
"They offer elaborate contraptions reskinned with a nature theme, a giant nest of interconnected locks. A lock is not only something opened with a silver key. A grapple point is a lock; a hookshot is the key. A cracked rock wall is a lock; a bomb is the key. That wondrous array of items you collect is little more than a building manager's jangly keyring.
Almost everything in Zelda has a discrete purpose, a tedious teleology. When it all snaps into place, some call this good design. I call it brittle, overdetermined, pale. It's the work of a singleminded god, a world bled of wonder.
Players are constantly reminded that they're shackled to a mechanistic land. There is no illusion of freedom because the gears that keep the player and Hyrule in lockstep are imminently legible. You read the landscape all too easily; you know what it's asking of you."
That part stood out particularily for me. i have played all the zeldas except SS i just got tired of knowing how to progress long before the solution was even offered to me. it made the game tedious and boring and not rewarding. i like how he stated that each item is really just a different kind of key for progression.
anyhoo, demon's souls and dark souls are amazing games that fit the description presented here. i guess that's what i've logged ~400 hours into them and didn't even bother with SS.
