Out of the Original Five™ (Tower of Druaga, Hydlide, Dragon Slayer, Gauntlet, and TLOZ), to me TLOZ is both the most boring of the bunch. I tried playing the original multiple times: it didn't hit. I tried playing the Satellaview remake: I zoned out. It's not entirely its fault, because the previous Four were also flawed in some shape or form, either because of lack of direction or being obtuse. But Tower of Druaga and Gauntlet had a lot of immediacy while Hydlide and Dragon Slayer had a progression system through fun mindless grinding. Zelda has neither of those.
It's very polished for the era and whatever ideas it didn't steal from Hydlide or Tower of Druaga are cool, but it's just not as interesting as its predecessors. But sure, when it released it was the most advanced fantasy game... for about 5 months before Return of Ishtar jumped past everyone. Honestly I think The Mysterious Murasame Castle used the smooth overhead fantasy action formula much better despite its obscurity (it was released the same year by Nintendo too!!!).
It's very polished for the era and whatever ideas it didn't steal from Hydlide or Tower of Druaga are cool, but it's just not as interesting as its predecessors. But sure, when it released it was the most advanced fantasy game... for about 5 months before Return of Ishtar jumped past everyone. Honestly I think The Mysterious Murasame Castle used the smooth overhead fantasy action formula much better despite its obscurity (it was released the same year by Nintendo too!!!).