This thread is huge and I'm afraid to read most of it due to how everyone can see something different. I am a massive zelda fan, my favorite franchise, the best in gaming; im I the only Zelda fan kind of missing the old ways. The gameplay is brilliant, some of the best I've ever seen, the crazy stuff I have done is remarkable. The world is gorgeous but maybe too big. I miss the careful smaller but filled with activities of past zeldas. I miss seeing things I can't reach and later having a new item that adds a whole new gameplay element which allows me access to it. I miss mini games being tied to heart pieces and upgrades.
And I for sure miss dungeons, I have played 30 hours and I am just ready to do my first but I already know it won't be anything like the dungeons I love. In any other zelda game 30 hours in I would have done like 3 or 4 of them already. The shrines are great but even those feel disjointed and like something out of portal more than Zelda.
But yeah this game is amazing in its own way. The stuff I have discovered has blown my mind, like an island way out in the ocean which gave me one of the best gameplay moments this gen. The crazy ways to fight enemies or escape harrowing situations. The way everything about this world is alive and interactable, the total antithesis to witcher 3s static world. The way puzzles don't have just one solution.
This is MGSV all over again. A bold new direction with modern impeccable gameplay, the best the genre has ever seen but at the cost of removing the parts of what made the franchise special.
I still have a ton to go so obviously I can still fall deeply in love but for now I am kind of confused, I love what I am playing but its not scratching that zelda itch.