If you look back to any Zelda game all you ever needed was the sword, bow/boomerang, and a shield. That was largely it. It didn't matter how you tackled enemies or what weapon you used for the most part except a select few enemies. Though darknuts in Wind Waker were easy and you could use a boomerang and bow to get rid of their armor faster, and to stun them.
I do like that there are a variety of weapons they want you to use to tackle enemies. As shown in the TGA gameplay footage a fast melee weapon was good for lizalfos, a big heavy one would have been too slow, but that big heavy one is perfect for bigger enemies like that moblin with his club. I don't believe you'll have much issue obtaining lots of weapons as even some enemies can be weapons themselves (stal bokoblin) and they all drop a lot of weapons. I have no doubt there will be repair shops and ways for you to buy unique weapons as well.
It's open world so finding the balance in breakable weapons and obtaining weapons is key for Nintendo, and so far from what we've seen in all the gameplay footage we've never seen Link without a weapon.
You can also use your key items that you get from the mini dungeons as a weapon too like the magnet as well as physics based ways like rolling a boulder over, or heck cutting down a tree and have it fall on top of them or roll over the edge.
I don't mind if it's been done before in some form or another, it's exciting for me personally because it's being done in Zelda and doing a lot of things within the game that finally breaking free from the OoT ways.
However, one exciting thing people do seem to like is the OoT/3D way of handling and approaching enemies, and interacting with them and damage output. The waiting and tension during combat does seem to be there in the new Zelda, and damage output is considerably higher than past titles. Example from OoT3D on damage output: An iron knuckle in Master Quest will deal 8 hearts to you, meaning if you have 16 hearts, 2 hits will kill you. The new Zelda looks like Master Quest as a standard as seen by lizalfos doing 8 hearts of damage and that has me and a lot of people excited for the difficulty spikes during combat. It makes how you approach things more important especially if there are groups.
We also see the enemies interact with the world around them and with you. In E3 footage we see how the AI interacts with the world with bokoblins lighting their clubs on fire if there's a source of fire nearby and picking up items or rocks to throw at you. They will also chase around animals for food not waiting around for you to attack them. They have a life doing their own thing without you. And of course, boss type enemies will have the most tension looking for ways to approach and waiting to counter like steppe talus, the moblin in the shrine, and the guardians that can be found in fields and chase after you. Though interestingly, lizalfos seem to have lost their miniboss-like status and look to be more common enemies seen in the jungle spaced out and in groups, but they didn't seem to lose what makes fighting them so great to fight as a miniboss type enemy.
Another point to be made is the world design, and the TGA footage showing thought in looking around you, turning the area into a puzzle to find the shrine thanks to the bard and his rhymes. Giving you only a couple of key phrases and little else. They searched around the jungle and found the head of a serpent, following the direction it was facing, Bill, came to a clearing on a hill. The hill could be a vantage point to look around you and it also introduces you to your first lizalfos fight. From there you might be able to see something in the distance and come across what looks like an ancient ruin and even more lizalfos, meaning you're going the right way. Then they head in deeper and come across the shrine and get ambushed by lizalfos and a moblin inside protecting the shrine. There's clear thought in this and requires something out of you to find the shrine. they even showed 2 different approaches in the video like head on and stealth, navigating the area that helps to your advantage in these fights. And I love that!
I'm excited for Zelda. I'm excited for Horizon. But let's also not be reductionist when it comes to either one.
That's literally only true for Wind Waker because it's the only game with an OP parry mechanic. Knowing the movesets for e.g. the Darknuts in OoT, MM, lots of enemies in Skyward Sword and to a lesser extent TP is essential. The movesets were never a problem with enemies from Zelda. Damage output, enemy variety and just generally the difficulty were the "problem". And again, combat was never bad. The elements were always there, Nintendo just chose to make the game accessible and rather easy.
Yeah, and I believe the lack of big damage in most of these games reduced the tension and desire to wait most of the time. You always felt pretty OP. To get more tension out of Wind Waker I played it in Hero Mode and it was great. I think SS was the game that I really loved for its combat, tension and how you tackle enemies. It is slower than previous Zelda games, but there are good reasons behind it with general motion controls and how the enemies are focused on your movement and how you interact them them. It feels great to beat the enemies in Skyward Sword. Normally there are few enemy types that really allow for this style of combat but in SS I felt it throughout the game and with a variety of enemies. I still like SS despite what others may think of the game.
TP, despite having better combat you still feel pretty OP and darknuts feel like the only big threat. Unless you play on Hero Mode.
But you are right, that style of combat has always been there, it's just that the damage output hasn't provided the tension or necessary feedback to the player to really dive into it and feel it all out in a deeper way, I think.
Probably why some will comment about Dark Souls and OoT so often when it comes to the combat and the strong feeling of tension. BotW seems to be bringing a lot of that tension back and make you care about your own life again. You're not OP anymore.
