In 2016, 3D Zelda is making it's first ever leap into actual open world design. Previous Zelda games (and not just the 3D ones) have often taken notes from more open games, such as having huge overworlds or player choice progression, but Zelda for Wii U is going straight into the open world genre, as it appears. Nothing so far can tell us how exactly the game is going to play and work with open world elements, so pondering over whether 3D Zelda will remain in this style for entries to come is debatedly pointless right now. For now though, let's imagine Zelda U is an amazing open world game, basically perfect. 98 Metascore. Do you think 3D Zelda is going to be open world from then on?
Let's take a look at a comparable, relevant game: MGSV: The Phantom Pain. This game is pretty much the first ever Metal Gear game to be open world. Like Zelda, it used a lot of open gameplay concepts in previous installments, but was never aquainted with a huge world to traverse. Now MGSV is critically acclaimed for still having player choice be a big factor in gameplay, while mixing an actual open world. It may just be the perfect example of how open a game can be. However, many detractors have criticised the game for having a subpar, horribly paced plot, something that may be due to how focused the game was on gameplay (among other things). In a world where Kojima were still making MG games, I think he would go back to making the shorter, more story focused installments. The MGS series was a rare breed, where it could be easily stated that gameplay and plot were equally important. The story was what the games were known for!
For Zelda, the story ain't that important when compared to gameplay. But the thing that makes me think that it's not going back is the simple observation that Zelda has had the basics for what an open world game could be for nearly 17 years. Here, it's just making the game bigger and putting in less loading screens. The core isn't changing. And yes, traditional 3D Zelda and open world 3D Zelda are still going to be quite different in how the experience is, well, experienced. But only time will tell what effects Zelda U will have on the series.
EDIT: I guess I have to clarify. What I mean by open world involves using the open world itself for a less linear game, like actual open world games. The previous Zelda games are still extremely limited in terms of progression. As well, the overworld had always felt more like a place to get you to other important places, the world was never quite streamlined so that it blended towns and the like with the overworld, making it feel more alive. And Zelda 1 and other 2Ds were a precursor to what an open world game could have been like, they aren't exactly open world in a modern sense.
bet: lost
