On the rain - yeah, I agree that it’s not a problem. My main issue with it was in the first 15-20 hours or so when I was first presented with it. But after that it never struck me as an issue. I also said “sure” because I can’t think of anything offhand that it would break if it was an item (maybe armour feature of the final climb armour, or ingredient in food) to fix it. I could be wrong, I haven’t thought much into it, to be honest.
On the dungeons, I should clarify that I’m speaking more about the traditional Zelda style dungeons. Even in Breath of the Wild, my favourite part of a main dungeon was by far the big battle at the beginning. I like the story stuff too. I think there’s a reason many people’s favourite dungeon is the Forest Temple from Ocarina of Time - it’s not simply that it’s pretty to look at (others are too): it is straight forward, short, and the fact that the end boss was a simple Ganon clone didn’t bother anyone.
How I usually quantify the issues with dungeons is that many of them (3D in particular) are 90% searching for a hidden key/switch, or figuring out a series of vague puzzles. At least, this is how I found the experience - like finding a needle in a haystack most of the time.
Next, HAVING to do these beedle-in-a-haystack puzzles/portions to progress. I think some people like the idea of this: there were complaints the Shrines were “too easy.” IMO the Shrines required a great deal more thought and skill: where they are easier is that the goals are clear and you know what you’re doing and where you are supposed to be (no searching through 18 gigantic rooms to find that switch hidden under a vaguely located switch) - but you still might NOT be able to do it (at least right then): the older Zelda games were easy once you knew where you were supposed to go and what the goal of the puzzle was. And often I would look at guides to simply save time, and prevent the possibility of wandering around the same dungeon for potentially hours with NOTHING to show for it except a headache.
And these “trying to figure out where to go and what the goal is” sorts of “puzzles” DO exist all over BotW. BUT they are not apparent, nor are they in the critical path (in the dungeons blocking your progress, mandated for the player to complete). It’s the entire world. Best of all, none of it ever blocks you from moving forward - so it’s applied in a WAY more fun and rewarding way. Finding 1/3rd of what the game has hidden is more than adequate.
Personally, I found it incredibly liberating to finally play a Zelda game where I didn’t have to check up a guide every 30 minutes. In fact, I don’t think I looked up anything online ever, outside of reference documents for ingredients. Not to say I didn’t spend hours upon hours watching videos and guides for BotW, but they were about fun stuff players discovered you could do: a very different experience than “I’m stuck and need help finding out how to open that door.” type stuff.
But in the bend, from an emotional standpoint, (in my humble opinion) it’s a far more beautiful experience to live most of the game on the surface, in the world - rather than through a series of dungeons. Breath of the Wild emphasizes the overworld like no other Zelda game before it, and it does it spectacularly.
And this is another reason that, while I am big on elaborate narratives in other games, there’s something special about the freedom and the “living in the world” aspect of Zelda that helps make it special.
Building Stuff, why I like that idea:
That’s also why more building stuff can be interesting as well. Wouldn’t it be nice to build more towns up? Or have the ability to have a cottage in many different parts of the world, perhaps set up a more elaborate homestead with more trophy cases? For example, if a player has a house in Kakariko, they might be able to build ingredient growing fields for rice, grain, turnips: come back and harvest later. A lot of people already farm in Breath of the Wild and have fun doing so. A big one is the farming of Durians in Faron; why not allow the player to build a cottage there? Allow them to grow their own Durian tree outside the cottage.
These sorts of little additions are fun, IMO.
Hateno is the business capital of Hyrule, why not make a building game out of it? Or perhaps outside the city a game about restoring Fort Hateno as a part of it.
How about a trade route minigame? Using Link to complete quests to build up that infrastructure and have a little oversight on it: “Gordon the Gordon is bringing iron ore to Hateno” “Deagle the eagle is transporting feather pillows from Rito to Gerudo City.” etc... And perhaps this could be another way to develop towns - even if it only to expand the number of places Link can go and buy arrows, or other limited consumables.
Rebuilding Hyrule Town could be interesting too. Gathering settlers from around the world.
There are tremendous numbers of possibilities using Breath of the Wild as an example: but the next game will likely have a bit of a different landscape - though Gerudo city, Kakariko Village, and Goron Town are almost certain to be there in some form.
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
