You're not an old-school fan.  If you were, you would love it for being a modern take on The Legend of Zelda.  You're a newer fan, and long for the linear games of the OoT period.  As a true old-school fan, I enjoyed those games but always longed for the open experience of the first game.  I don't know if I Z-targeted through 100 hours of gameplay, and I couldn't be happier.

Guys/Girls. I just wanted to show another explanation why BotW is great and what other devs could learn from it but that thread just turned into a war. Is it not possible to discuss normal without hatred? In the end we as customers should just care about good games. What i will get for my money. And in the case of Zelda it was worth every penny. I want that kind of games on my xbox/ps4 and pc too. And i hope that Nintendo dont even consider to go back to the "glory linear" days. Nintendo. Please do not.

People whose first Zelda game was Ocarina or Wind Waker saying that they are old school zelda fans!! Hahahahahahahahah

I hit 100 hours this weekend, one of the very few games I have done that with in my 30+ years of gaming.

This is the Zelda game I've wanted since 3D became a possibility for the franchise, since before Ocarina of Time was announced. Many Zelda fans dreamed of sitting on top of mount doom and looking over the vast Kingdom of Hyrule; this is the first game that succeeded in doing it, and on such a grand scale that it is beyond our dreams.

After about 10 hours of play, I figured this could be the greatest game I have ever played. After a few months and 100+ hours, I am absolutely certain of it.

I get that there are certain weapons that can be repaired.  I've beaten the game and cleared all shines.  The good weapons I have I saved for big fights.  I would always try and run through or avoid other enemies because there is literally no advantage to fighting them.

I'm wasn't ever that worried about dying with several fairies,  self revives and tons of full heal dishes. I'm totally fine with people enjoying the weapon mechanic but I don't agree that it makes it more realistic. 

If your going to have a weapon deteriorating system it needs to be backed up with a repair system imo. The fact that the game has some weapons that can be repaired only means the game agrees that it's plausible.  

So I can repair my bow but not my stick with a rock strapped to it.  I enjoyed the game but got only irritation from the weapon system. 

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have enjoyed the game nearly as much if the weapons were unbreakable.

This way I had to think tactically about which weapon to use in each situation instead of just overusing one weapon for most of the game. It also made me appreciate each weapon more because it was finite. Sure, it hurt to lose it, but then I'd find another cool one to replace it with. Or I'd hold an awesome one in reserve, and when I finally got the chance to use it on a powerful enemy it was immensely satisfying.

I personally had a twelve hour session with BoTW once during my over 100 total hours. I rarely do that due to priorities and such throughout my gaming life but I became so invested in BoTW that I didn't want to stop exploring and finding new things along the way. Whatever I see interesting I was determined to get there. I don't think I've invested in such hours in one session since Pokémon in my earlier years when I had more time. I was lucky I didn't need to do anything else at the time, but otherwise, it was special because I never felt so engaged and invested in a game that i didn't even realized I played that long at once. I was just happy to enjoy playing a video game without worry.

This was my biggest takeaway from the game. The verticality of the game was amazing...it feels disappointing playing exploration-based games and not being able to climb or glide wherever I want now. Or really any game...just the other day I was playing The Division with a friend was annoyed that I had to actually go inside a building to climb to the top.

*sighs*

So true. In pretty much every game I've played since Botw that has an exploration element it just feels so restrictive and static by comparison, not being able to climb everything or glide anywhere or interact with almost every part of the environment.

I do use the boomerang as a boomerang when there are multiple enemies. Knocks them down and deals double damage when thrown and its so satisfying.