Really the only thing I wish would go the hell away is item durability. It makes the rewards for things less cool. Like, oh look I did this long ass chain of fetch quests and got a beautiful sword that’s a reference to a past game; better make the most of it before it fucking explodes. Get outta here with that.

I do wish the world was more open. I despise huge walls and climbing. Especially when explosives are abundant. We invented dynamite specifically to not have to deal with huge fucking cliffs everywhere; let’s use some bomb flowers and really open shit up.

BotW was my first Zelda and a gateway drug. I didn’t really enjoy TotK as it was too much of a sandbox. I preferred the creative ways you were forced to use your limited abilities in BotW. Then I played Twilight Princess HD and was at first disappointed at how linear it was but later absolutely loved the story and characters (it took the first spot for me). I guess I did myself a disservice by playing TP so early because I’m playing other Zeldas now and I’m still searching for that type of experience knowing that it may probably not be reproduced.

I’ve 100%-ed almost every Zelda (including BOTW and working on TOTK now). The thing about Zelda (and Nintendo) is that you never get what you think you want. If you look at almost every transition between games, there’s always new innovative elements that are off-putting. Some age well and others are mistakes that are never repeated. Whether it was MM’s time feature, WW graphics, TP’s wolf segments, SS motion controls and sky world, or BOTW’s openness… there’s always a catch, as I like to say. So if you want a repeat, Nintendo will always disappoint.

That being said, I feel that the innovation of Zelda has occurred a bit too rapidly in some ways. By the time you truly settle into the game’s new feature, the game is over and we don’t even get a sequel that perfects (or even includes) the convention we start to enjoy. And of course, then there’s a completely new convention to warm up to. Rinse and repeat.

For a minute there, TP seemed like the one exception to this and it looked like the series was going in a new direction. It perfected the OOT formula while also offering a fresh look into Hyrule, deeper story, more emotions, character development, and more open exploration for the time. And the graphics gave a new life to Zelda that fans waited their whole lives for. I was optimistic that innovations on this convention would have taken the series in an exciting new direction. But the next game was SS, which had a sky world of very disjointed environments, only a handful of small towns, and felt very campy and unrealistic (for example, it was the first game in the timeline but also had the heaviest emphasis on new technology in hyrule, such as robots, and new races that just felt completely non-canon and out of left field).This, and other recent decisions, made me realize that Zelda won’t ever be what I want it to be, but at the same time, they’re still excellent games that can be enjoyed for what they are.

Still I completely long for a better incorporation of the look, feel, and conventions of earlier games in the series. But it doesn’t have to be the same old, but more of a fusion of old and new. And one thing that we can probably all agree on: they really need to make a new game that takes place outside of Hyrule. Imagine an open-world game with Twilight Princess graphics set in Termina. Or a new Windwaker-esqe sequel for the Switch in a new land that can have much larger islands this time around and better water travel elements. Link and Zelda could even travel together to a new land and have an adventure together, side-by-side, instead of the ‘damsel gets kidnapped’ routine.

Unfortunately, with big open world games, you end up waiting over 7+ years between them. In the past, we’d have multiple releases in the meantime: GBC, GBA, DS, 3DS games. But now 2D Zelda is all but dead (LA remake was cool, but still a repeat of a past game). It’s just sad that games are so few and far in-between. I mean, judging from the time it took to make TOTK (which mostly reused the same map which saved them tons of time) I can count the number of 3D Zeldas I’ll be able to play in my lifetime. I just hope they don’t continue to abandon some of the incredible trademarks that made Zelda games feel like Zelda games.

When people say ‘traditional’, it’s very possible you’re only referring to a style of Zelda game that only started with N64’s Ocarina of Time. It was back then a change of pace for adventures that were sometimes too cryptic to decipher, or too difficult, for younger players.

Nintendo definitely spent a lot of the GameCube/Wii era trying to repeat the main appeal of that game; but most people I know still just enjoyed Ocarina more than the others. Even Majora’s Mask tried to take side roads with their time limit system to set itself apart.

So it does feel a bit like people constantly demand a “new Zelda just like the old ones” when the purpose of the old ones was to fulfill some new fantasy people hadn’t experienced. The ones that established themselves as “Ocarina of Time 2 / 3” just didn’t feel as notable. That practice of committing to new concepts does, by necessity, mean leaving some people with a poor taste in their mouths. I didn’t even feel that excited about Wind Waker back when it came out and popularized cel shaded art styles.