You pretty much nailed it.

When compared to other Zelda games, Breath of the Wild is significantly more difficult in the areas where it matters. You're probably not going to die more than a handful of times in any other Zelda game - minus the two NES titles - because there's not much in those games that can actually kill you; and probably not at all on a replay. Breath of the Wild will kill you often unless you keep yourself very well stocked - and it's likely that this game kills the average player many more times than the others.

With past (3D) Zelda games, the difficulty has always been with obtuse puzzle design - and it's not that they're difficult, but that they're spread across gigantic areas, so you kind of have to comb for things. I don't even mind that when it is done within reason - if I am already an hour and a half into a dungeon, and I have this huge area to uncover some small switch or find some key; then that's no fun.

And I agree, the next Zelda will follow the BotW template, and they really should, it's what's going to bring in the money and the high review scores. I think where they can improve is on the thematic aspect - and while cosmetic, really does add a nice touch for players. The overworld was BEAUTIFUL, bring some of that into the shrines in the next game.

I like the ratio of about 1 larger dungeon per ~30 shrines. Not that I was doing 30 shrines per large dungeon (it was more like 10-12), but the knowledge that there are THAT many out there makes me really like to explore around to see what I can find and where I can reach.

On the climbing element. The very idea that if you can see it, you can go there, is one of the major draws of Breath of the Wild (and similar to Xenoblade Chronicles X, being probably the main reason I still like that game the best in the meta-franchise since Xenogears). I don't think removing that element will do anything to improve the game, rather, it goes back to the old/stale linear handholding game that we get FAR too much of. The freedom of Breath of the Wild is one of the major reasons so many people are saying this might be the best game you can play right now. It's not the blocking of areas that is the progress, it's the massive world to explore and uncover - and you can do it in any order you want. Few people's orders are going to be the same, and even fewer people are going to tackle each point in the same way; this isn't your grandfather's Zelda (actually, since I'm a longtime fan, that grandfather would be me, since I began playing Zelda back in the 1980s when I was around 7).

Not only that, but BotW wouldve been an even better game in its intended WiiU form. I hope someone in the homebrew community restores it to its intended glory (gamepad shiekah slate)

You're right when you mention it.

SS was really the beginning of where the team said "Let's try some new stuff that deviate from the core" - and some of it failed, some of it didn't work as well as it could. But there were a lot of wins with Skyward Sword, and IMO, in spite of its flaws, it gave hope for the franchise as a whole. Link Between Worlds was also a precursor, and this time they did things in a more satisfying way.

I think with motion controls, on paper Zelda seemed like a good idea, but the reality is that precise motion controls are really only good when used indirectly - such as with aiming and such; when it comes to the level of implementation of SS, it came off as more of a hassle and less of a fun experience. At the time, the less precise motion controls of games like Just Dance were where it was at; but games like that lived and died with the Wii.

ARMS has much more precise motion controllers, but again, it works because the game doesn't require precise motions to execute anything. Certainly nothing on the level of Skyward Sword's requirements.

Not breaking the rules, but it feels to me like broken design - maybe poorly balanced world design would be more appropriate. I don't know, maybe I'm just too old, played too many open-world games and expected much more from such highly acclaimed game - actually, my open-world expectations tend to be quite high, since those are, IMO, most difficult games to pull off properly (hence, for example, I prefer Witcher 2 over 3).
Honestly, if they stick with this formula this will be 3rd IP that got wrecked for me in last 10 years (Fallout and Tomb Raider being other 2, though nowhere nearly as horrendous as Tomb Raider), so I'll just move on I guess...not to Darksiders, mind you, I tried first one, didn't like the setting...maybe I should try 2nd...

Anyway, maybe we can get back to this topic sometime in the future when (and if) From makes fully open world Souls...I think they are capable making that transition without compromising things that Souls games what they are, so that would be good comparison.

What balance aspects do you mean?

The easier to access stuff in the early parts of the game, on every path are all for the beginners, so basically, that gives you more introduction to the world. I watched my wife play Breath of the Wild, she took a completely different path than I did, had a vastly different experience, and yet it flowed like the game should have. When you explore out more, the shrines and thousands of other points of interest are spread out fairly nicely. There's no such thing as an overpowered weapon since you have a limit to what you can carry and a duration; the more usable tool-type weapons (like the hammer) have a higher durability but are less useful when attacking powerful monsters. Difficulty-wise, Breath of the Wild has the highest challenge since the NES Zelda games, easily, sure it does have some "fall off a cliff" moments, but usually, if you run into a challenge too difficult, you can escape, especially in the areas close to the starting point. But earlier Zelda games, the battles are far easier in general - and it clears out the majority of the BS "hide-n-seek" stuff where you can't progress in the game because what you need is hidden in a large area; and while Breath of the Wild is MUCH MUCH larger than other Zelda games, there's nothing critical that is going to take you hours of wandering to find while achieving nothing else; there's still the "takes hours to find" stuff, but there's LOTS of other stuff you discover to do in the meantime, and that's a major difference with past games.

Relative to other open world games? I'm not sure, my experience is limited to Ultima Online, GTA games, Assassin's Creed, Xenoblade, and a few others. Zelda took open world much further than all of those. I can't say I have played a game truly comparable outside of XCX, so I can't compare the balance, but BotW is clearly better balanced than XCX.

Unless there's some other element you're referring to?

I think it really depends on what direction they take the next game.

If they take the BOTW template and refine it with additions like themed dungeons and more enemy variety, and don't fuck it up somehow like with a lame gimmick or a chibi art style, I think it will also outsell every pre-BOTW Zelda.

When I mentioned balance in earlier post, I was referring to balance between overworld and dungeons. All 3D Zeldas were tilted toward dungeons, and many 2D Zelda fans were/are giving them flak for that. BotW is titled too much toward overworld - and no, for me shrines cannot and will never replace dungeons, they are not only terribly easy and terribly copy-pasted artistically, but from fairly early in the game they start to feel like grinding for orbs. Few environmental ones that were interesting cannot really make up for shitload of "yet another easy Portal puzzle or Test of Strength" shrines.

I could go on for quite a while about what I don't like in BotW's overworld, or in game in general, but it would require quite an effort, since there's a lot of things I didn't like, so, at least for now, I won't do it. I can only hope that some of the bad stuff in BotW will be fixed in the future and that next Zelda feels like Zelda again - and if not, oh well, not the first IP that I really like that got wrecked (though this one has the most chance to recover).

When was that as this week saw the release of the financial report and BOTW has sold 8.5m  on Switch and we know it's sold 1.5m on Wii U meaning it's passed 10m across both platforms.

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=235853&page=1