Never felt that I lacked the freedom to explore and open world ALttP or ALBW or WW. Never felt like I was exploring anything in sandbox games like GTA or Infamous. I was always just shooting the fat or doing missions.

I get Skyrim, but I don't want Zelda's world to be stuctured like Skyrim, because Skyrim's world is structured in a boring way. Zelda's isn't. It's structured in a game-y way. There's puzzles and platforming and fun enemies. In regular openworld games, there's a mountain.

Debates over what qualifies as 'Open World' is probably why Miyamoto hates the term.

I hope it's something like Dead Rising open world.

Ugh. I hope not.

Fan fiction.

I'll say this, Nintendo really does know how to get its fans excited over nothing.

As far as what this statement seems to imply, I have a feeling I'm not going to like what it means.

I'm not taking this as "less linear". He said the open world style would be different, but still called it open world. That still means it's an open world game, so those "not really open world" arguments should be dead before they began.

What I'm feeling here is Aonuma's not going to make it "less or more" open world. It will be open world with dungeons out of order like A Link Between Worlds, but it will do so in a different way..with a gimmick that Zelda has become so famous for. A Link Between Worlds had the rental shop, this game will likely go about it some unique way as well.

(Also, A Link To The Past is very non-linear. It's style is to block paths off but allow secret ways to go around them..at least in the Dark World)

What could it mean that would make you dislike it, given what we already know about the game?

I see two scenarios. Either the deviation from the norm being implied is purely superficial, but they're under the impression that it should be significant, or they intend to deviate sharply from contemporary titles by shoe-horning in "innovative" features.

Pessimistic, I realize, but I would be very surprised to find out that what's being talked about is both substantial and constructive.

I see. Aonuma does tend to make superficial claims like that. Like in SS when he said that the overworld was dungeon like, or that the combat was like a mini puzzle, both of which I found to me laughably inaccurate.

Him working on ALBW and then WW really helps with my confidence, though. Especially if he can keep the "density" of SS's land sections, I think that it really can be a "different" kind of open world in both a substantial and constructive way. After all, WW itself is different from modern open world games, and I don't know your opinions on it, but exploring that sea was amazing for me. Having that essence, but on land and with more to do just boggles my mind. Honestly, just having the horse feel more like the sail to me would be a positive change. Making riding a more passive experience would lend more to absorbing all that the world had to offer.