Zelda - Breath of the Wild

[A Black Falcon]

AAAAGH! ENOUGH ABF, I've heard it before. You aren't going to convince me of anything here, because, on an extremely FUNDAMENTAL level, we disagree on what makes a game good. Every single point you made, every last one, even the ice rod you hilariously missed, is something I'd put in the "plus" column, not the "minus" one.

Disagree with some of the things I say all you want, that's fine, but don't make up nonsense just to try to avoid a fun little discussion. So you disagree with "every single point"? That's not true one bit, I agreed with more than a few things you said. How about saying something actually true, like "unlike you, I like open-world games"? That's a fine, clearly true statement. But if you actually disagreed with "everything I say", which you don't, then to give many possible examples the DS Zelda games would be your favorites in the series, since they are probably my least favorites (not counting those CD-i games I've never played). You wouldn't be talking about LttP as one of your favorite Zelda games either, since it's one of my favorites too. Etc etc.

Seriously, I brought up LTTP to compare it to the new game.

I don't think it's trying to be like LttP, though. I think it's trying to be like Modern Open-World Game crossed with 3D Zelda, with some hints of other influences here and there (claiming that the open world calls back to the original Zelda, etc.)

You don't like that game and didn't have a fun time playing it. You've gone over it again and again, and I don't know what it is you want from me (if it's for me to change my mind, it isn't going to happen, I came to my position after very careful consideration I've also explained), but I really do get it. Now PLEASE let us never have this conversation again.

I(f you actually think anything you say here then I very much doubt you read much of my posts in this thread, because no one who "doesn't like" a game would say that it's a pretty good game they'd give an A- score to. An A- is not a bad score, and it's not something you give to games you dislike. LttP is a pretty good game, and I liked playing it on the SNES -- look up my posts from when I played it, I recall saying that I liked it more than I thought I would considering my its-only-okay feelings for the GBA version that was the first version of the game I got. It's only so over-rated because of all the "10.0/best game ever" things people say about it, not because it's bad or something!

Everything I love about LTTP, you hate. Everything I don't like about more modern Zelda games, you love. Let's move on.

And again you repeat your incredibly overstated, untrue line from before. Sure I disagree with a lot you say in the OP, but certainly not all of it! I know I said this already but

In their effort to give the player choice, it skews a little too close to Megaman-like stage design. All the dungeons are "equal" difficulty, save the "final" one unlocked after beating them. For that matter, every dungeon only requires one specific item to solve it's puzzles. There's no sense of steadily using more and more tools to solve ever more elaborate puzzle design. The items themselves can all be obtained without needing to dive into the major dungeons, but that's because you just buy them all from the sales bunny camping in your house. There's no real sense of accomplishment in getting those items.

is a quite well-said criticism that I agree with, unless you dislike Megaman that is (I think of of it as the exception to the general rule that this kind of design does not work).

And beyond that, things like the basic mechanics of Zelda -- the controls, items, etc -- we surely agree on how great the series' mechanics are as well. It's just often taken as a given that Zelda games control, play, look, and sound fantastically, but look at almost any other game that tries to be like Zelda and its' far from a given... and for all the faults I see its design, Breath of the Wild looks like it's got that Zelda magic in its controls and design, and that's why I'm looking forward to it despite it being an open world game.