The Official Legend of Zelda Thread: Nintendo Announces TLOZ: Echoes of Wisdom

[S.Peelman]

I’m with Wyrdness and the others on his side in this curiously long ongoing debate about whether or not BotW sucks but, I do have to say that I agree with the statement that BotW’s shrines aren’t real substitutes for ‘old-style’[sic] dungeons. They also aren’t supposed to be, but the Divine Beasts, fun as they are, don’t really scratch the itch either.

It’s the only real criticism you could give BotW, without resorting to nitpicking. Old-style dungeons could have had a place in the game, they could easily have been optional and they could easily have held old-style items. For example; one could have contained the Hookshot. I read about how the developers try to find ways to implement it before scrapping it, but as far as I’m concerned it could have just been a tool to help with climbing and something that reels in other stuff. Like it could just be used to propel yourself further up a cliff or be an aid to climbing in the rain or on a smooth surface. I think having such optional but helpful items would be enough incentive to explore an optional dungeon.

An example actually exists in the game; Hyrule Castle. You could skip it, but I’d want the best shield in there is so it’s better to not. Granted it’s not exactly old-style because it lacks puzzles or a central mechanic, and it would be hard to add those in a satisfying way in such a super non-linear dungeon.