Jumpin said:
Sorry to veer off the question a bit. But I have some thoughts on the implications of it beyond the cosmetic (which, IMO look great).
I’m not a dungeon crawler fan, and I generally prefer open world and sandbox elements, so I’m really hoping they don’t turn the next mainline Zelda into something more resembling Ocarina of Time. If anything, I’m hoping they shorten the divine beast style temples, those were the only places in Breath of the Wild where I felt “you know what, I think I’ll put this game down for a bit…”
More or less, I want more exploration, not the addition of linear.
I want more towns and more ability to live/make a life in the overworld, not more dungeon crawling through temples.
I want the next Zelda to feel even more unique from game to game. I’d say around 30% of what I saw in game 2 was stuff I was seeing for the first time (there was an entire canyon that was massive in scale, and a hidden and rather large semi-underground network of ruins). I want that number to be even higher. |
Zelda was always Dungeon First game, from its very conception, whether it's combat dungeoneering or environmental puzzle solving. Depending on era and person in charge, its overworld was more or less linear, but, until BotW, it was always (I'll repeat, always) item gated and in many ways akin to Metroidvania, with a goal of getting you to next dungeon.
Personally, I always thought Nintendo can theoretically make a game that will satisfy both (or more) Zelda fandoms, but obviously there are people like you who essentially don't like Zelda's core design pillars, so maybe there is indeed necessary divide in their future approach to IP and catering to different fandoms.
