Ok so basically let me reiterate that I think Zelda is a top 10 game of the year. I love the game mechanically and think open worlds should take inspiration by it in a lot of ways.
However, it was disappointing to me as a Zelda game because my favorite parts of Zelda are 1) The towns, story and characters 2) The music and 3) The Dungeons. BotW falls flat compared to the others on all three of these points imo.
To sum it up in an anecdote, compare sailing to Windfall Island for the first time and hearing that music. You go onto land and walk around and see characters like WW Elvis, the teacher and her students, the scammy shop keeper, the girl who sneaks around at night. All of these characters look very distinct. In BotW I walk into Hateno or Kakariko and hear more piano plinking while the framerate stutters and I encounter a bunch of npcs that look the same. Yes they go to bed at night. No they don't have anything interesting to say.
And then the dungeons goes without saying. Four very samey interiors that are super short and don't give you a cool item. Then the bosses are kinda lame.
Sorry I had to cut this short. Have to run to lunch. But you get the idea.
