"The upgrade system works. Whereas in Skyward it was a bust because you had to collect a lot of random things and the upgrades were basically worthless, things are different in ALBW. The aforementioned sidequest is a variation of the Skulltulla concept and for every ten you can upgrade an item of your choice. Not only is it fun to do the collecting, but many of the upgrades prove to be useful, particularly the fire and ice staves. The final reward for the sidequest isn't anything special, but at least it isn't a complete letdown like in Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword."

This is awesome. I hated how in Skyward Sword upgrades didn't matter at all. I'm glad they fixed that.

I haven't done any dungeons in Lorule, but I will give my impressions thus far.

I'm really glad there is no side-kick at all, I really hope they keep doing this in future Zelda games. The tutorial part is by far the best in modern Zelda games, sure you don't get the sword intermediately, but compare to Skyward Sword this is a blessing, and again I hope they keep doing this.

I honestly really enjoyed the 3 dungeons I have done thus far, all 3 were well done and simple fun to get through. All bosses so far (with the exception of the recycle boss from ALTTP on the Tower of Hera) have been amazing, don't really challenging, but then again, I can't remember the last time I had a hard time with a boss on a Zelda game.

The renting mechanic is great, at first I thought you could only rent 1 item at a time, but I realized you can just rent the whole shop, which is great because it avoids to go back to the house multiple times. Just being able to do as I please from almost the get go is a welcome addition that has been absent from a very long time.

The music has also been fantastic, the remixes of old Zelda games are really well done and the new music fits perfectly. My personal favorites so far are the minigame song and the battle theme during the second fight with Yuga in Hyrule Castle.

I agree with you that without using 3D, is sometimes hard to check your height. But I most say, for someone who doesn't give a crap about 3D, ALBW has really impressed me with the 3D effect, I still don't use it, but I will admit that it looks really nice.

As for the difficulty, I agree that hasn't been all that challenging, but just like I mentioned with the bosses, I rarely have a hard time with Zelda games, so this doesn't really bother me at all.

One "major" problem that I have with the game is that the story so far has been just "meh". Outside of Yuga fusing with Ganon, there's nothing of interest in terms of story, which is kinda sad, I hope it picks up later on. 

Edit: Also, extremely minor thing, but I love how the bartender in the Milk bar in Hyrule is Talon and in Lorule is Ingo. Small details like that really make the experience better for me.  

Yeah I understand why they did it, but I still don't like it. 

I just really like the Zelda universe, so the more story the better imo. Probably the reason why I like 3D Zelda games more than the 2D ones. 

Sounds like a great game! Your reviews always sound more honest than those from professional reviewers. It also sounds like Zelda has taken a step in the right direction; back to the roots.

Nintendo was kind enough to give us an official timeline  

While I really love the Zelda universe, I was never one of those people who came up with crazy theories to see what game came after the other to make a timeline and all that kind of stuff. I love the Zelda universe but mostly in each individual game. Before the official timeline I always look at Zelda games like their own universe and that (with some exceptions) one game in the franchise didn't had anything to do with the other. And I still do, because the Zelda timeline is so weird and confusing that instead of trying to learn what game came after the other, I just enjoy each Zelda world like their own individual thing.

That's pretty much how I used to view the series. It's the same story but told through different storytellers. Would've made things much easier for Nintendo but I guess they didn't want to piss of the crazy timeline conspirators.

TP,SS and WW all had pretty good stories. I believe most zelda fans will want a good story in their console zelda game which is why, I believe, 2D zelda games are usually less popular, they generally don't really have a story.

Good review. Would read more from you.

Good review, I wish I had money to buy this game

I gotta somewhat agree with you; Zelda on home consoles usually have pretty good stories. I would really like to see the openess and freedom  "old school" 2d Zelda offers with the story and gameplay of 3d Zelda (and just add more fights, like in the original LoZ)

Good review, I'll pick it up by Christmas or early next year.
I assume that SM3DW is next?