This game blew me away the first time I played through it and I was immediately convinced it was maybe the best game ever made. The more time you spend with this game though, the more you see the problems. All the shrines look the same, all the dungeons look the same, all dungeon bosses (except the DLC one) look the same, there aren't enough unique enemies for such a huge world, and the final boss and ending are the lamest in the entire series by far. Most of the story already happened, almost all the interesting characters are already gone, Ganon is lame, there isn't enough unique music, and once your gear is good enough you stop wanting to fight enemies because you'd just be wasting all your good weapons to get clubs and boomerangs that pale in comparison to your badass lightning swords. Even the Master Sword runs on a battery and the Hylian Shield can still break eventually.
But that first playthrough is really something. Messing around with the physics engine, constantly having something interesting to run to, having to find it yourself instead of it being one of a million waypoints on your map, it's all really fun. The first time through it feels like the amount of fun things to do is endless. And of course, the slight RPG elements they added were something I wanted for a long time and it's awesome to play a Zelda game with all these different outfits and weapons to acquire. I especially like the interactivity of the temperature system and how the physics overall are the perfect mix of cartoony and "real" to feel intuitive.
All those flaws I listed in the first paragraph are real issues and something every major Zelda game after this needs to address. But I recognize them as growing pains for the series as they're trying something completely different and fresh with this game, something I respect immensely. There are five 3D Zelda games that are all variations on the same formula, so I'm totally fine with them making a game that tries to synthesize the classic Zelda essence with modern open world gameplay. The result is the first Zelda game in years that actually feels cutting edge for its day.
But that first playthrough is really something. Messing around with the physics engine, constantly having something interesting to run to, having to find it yourself instead of it being one of a million waypoints on your map, it's all really fun. The first time through it feels like the amount of fun things to do is endless. And of course, the slight RPG elements they added were something I wanted for a long time and it's awesome to play a Zelda game with all these different outfits and weapons to acquire. I especially like the interactivity of the temperature system and how the physics overall are the perfect mix of cartoony and "real" to feel intuitive.
All those flaws I listed in the first paragraph are real issues and something every major Zelda game after this needs to address. But I recognize them as growing pains for the series as they're trying something completely different and fresh with this game, something I respect immensely. There are five 3D Zelda games that are all variations on the same formula, so I'm totally fine with them making a game that tries to synthesize the classic Zelda essence with modern open world gameplay. The result is the first Zelda game in years that actually feels cutting edge for its day.