That's true, I didn't like that systems in BotW were quite limited and inconsistent - as I said in one of those old discussions, (as an example) if you give me an axe that can chop a tree, I fully expect it can chop through a wooden door or wooden sentry tower as well. Honesty, I don't see much changing in TotK in that regard.
Maybe that's my DM/GM brain talking, since in TTRPGs you let your players try whatever they want, and if it's consistent with the world they're in it should at least have a chance of succeeding (if they meet requirements). And as I said in that discussion, building a video game around that premise is a colossal undertaking - there is a reason why games that attempt to do it are very few, bordering still on experiments. I don't think that Zelda is or should be about that.

As for trains, motorcycles, steamboats, planes and all sort of other Aonuma's fetishes in Zelda, my view on that has always been - fuck no. ;)

Two Weeks to Go!!!

The vehicle mechanic doesn't bother me so much. At least it's not being overdone like that Banjo-Kazooie game we don't talk about.

Based on what I've seen, the vehicle mechanic just feels like an extension of the existing playground aspect of Breath of the Wild.  I'm not sure future Zelda titles will lean as heavily into this creative space as these two titles have, but I don't feel like they're damaging the established legacy of the titles by dipping tehir toes into physics/crafting.

The thing that worries me is the continual stratification of Nintendo IPs.  Nintendo is so focused on providing new, innovative ways to play their existing franchises that they often create entirely new franchises out of each of their IPs.  Zelda fans now need to wait patiently for 2D Zelda, 3D traditional Zelda, 3D Zelda-craft, and who knows what else in the future.  In my opinion, this is a good problem to have.  Variety is the spice of life and all that.  But I know there are fans of the more traditional Zelda games that have been waiting for over a decade for their turn to play their favorite brand of Zelda, and they'll likely be waiting for several more years.  I'm just glad I'm a fan of all of them.

A new 2D Zelda may not happen because of the failure of The Faces of Evil and Wand of Gamelon. -_-

I doubt your comment was sarcasm. This makes it sad instead of funny.

Anyway, regarding the crafting in TotK, I don't expect to do much with it, just like cooking was something that I ignored in BotW. Overall, I can't say that I am excited for TotK. Too much of its world will be the old familiar. It will be kinda like Baten Kaitos to Baten Kaitos Origins, but with much longer development time and fewer changes to the core gameplay. And yes, I am more eager to play Baten Kaitos on Switch than TotK. In regard to that, Tears of the Kingdom is like every Metroid game after Corruption; I can't trust the guy in charge, so I'll go in with low expectations to either have them met or hopefully exceeded.

At least I can say that Tears of the Kingdom won't be 2023's The Last of Us Part II.

No, I was serious. The games I mentioned were such butcherings of Zelda that Nintendo hasn't allowed a new 2D Zelda game since then. The only worthwhile legacy they left behind was being used in YouTube Poops.

Oracle of Ages, Oracle of Seasons, The Minish Cap, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks and A Link Between Worlds. So there has been a bunch of new 2D Zelda games since the Philips games. Not on home consoles, but the question of home console or handheld is irrelevant in the context of the conversation anyway.

The CD-i Zelda games have had zero influence on what Nintendo does, with the exception of Nintendo never licensing any of their IPs to someone else without the role of a supervisor since then.

Thinking about this again, I now realize that 2D might mean only sidescrolling like Zelda 2 to you. But top-down is also 2D and it is what super_etecoon also included when he said 2D Zelda.

I meant sidescrolling, sorry.

Well, we'd better make the most of TOTK, because the way production cycles are ballooning, we won't get another Zelda until the 2030s lmao