I’m rambling because I love Zelda, but I’m also working rn, but also want Lemmy to have content.

I’m in a mild counter-party. In totk, I went Goron first, but didn’t get to the temple. I then deviated back to Rito hoping to unlock the aerial boost from botw. That opening sequence to the wind temple (SPOILERS AHEAD) of Link ascending through the skies was, in my opinion, the greatest moment in Zelda history so far (I haven’t yet completed the water temple, desert temple, or the other). The mild puzzle for unlocking the water temple (the eye in the sky) was brilliant. The goron story was slightly dark, akin to older 3d titles like Majora’s Mask. I can’t wait to see what the other temples bring (diablo 4 hardcore sucking my time up).

Consistently in totk we see the hero doing epic feats we’ve never really been able to see him do before. The boss fight for the wind temple was absolutely bonkers and really gives credence to Link being worthy of the Triforce and being a hero of time. The way the music overtures slowly ramp up as you progress in the dungeon is phenomenal.

Do you think there is anything lacking in botw1/2 that bringing back items fixes? I think the reliance of fusing as a primary gimmick is terrible (especially for arrows). As a side application, it would be awesome. I’m really hope in the third installment they bring back some core items, but I just don’t see how it would work? Right now you can climb everything and be everywhere (which is something else I think is vastly underrated in botw+). In the 3d zeldas, Ice/Fire arrows were huge deals, but in botw you can just fuse berries on for the same effect. Arguing one is better than the other, idk. The openness of totk is superb. If you watched 10 people play the first 10 hours of the game, or even approach the same temple, I sincerely doubt any of them would look remotely close to the same. There’s definitely something to be said about that.

I miss the hookshot (more so the grappling hook from Wind Waker).

I mean, clearly it was an evolution on all fronts, but the inheritance is clear across the board. Light world, 3 dungeons, dark world, 7. In each dungeon you find the same compass, boss key, core item (I forget if map was in both).

Undeniably, both games were utter masterclasses. I still maintain OoT holds the GOAT title screen, just scraping by Halo due to the animation.

I would love to read an essay on Zelda games if you write it, I might even change my opinion :)

Also, since you seem to have lived through the times (did you?), what are your thoughts on totk-esque dungeons vs everyone clamouring for an “old school” Zelda game? I’m thinking totk combined with old school items, instead of attaching to weapons and arrows, but keeping totk exploration, would be sublime.

OoT, considered one of the greatest games of all time, is literally Link to the Past 3d. Majora’s mask is like a mod of OoT. WW was a huge deviation, but same dungeon structure. Twilight Princess is OoT, but edgier and with a weird platformer mix that was common in the latter stages of N64 and early Wii.

I’m general, Nintendo iterates on Zelda. I’d love for a Wind Waker 2 a la totk.

To be honest, other than theming, the old Zelda dungeons are overrated. Every dungeon from LttP and on – you’re going to get an item, and that item is critical to unlocking the 2nd half of the dungeon. It’s exceedingly linear. I don’t consider boomerang lock-on for 5 targets or using fire arrows to light torches amazing gameplay.

I do love totks crazy spinning fan torch puzzles.

I’m convinced lately the fan praise of Twilight Princess is due to youth having this as their first game. It doesn’t hold a candle to what OoT or Majora’s Mask was. Even then, OoT is LttP in 3d (for the first time, and it was phenomenal).

With Nintendo, I feel like it’s almost impossible to know which way they’re going to innovate - but in hindsight it’s all so clear. Really the only claim we can almost bet for is they’re not going to compete in the graphical fidelity market.