Wind Waker was beyond what I imagined. It isn't perfect, but it was close... much closer than any other game. To me, it's the first game to really look like hand drawn animation.
As a kid, I wanted to be able to play in a cartoon but I never really believed it to be possible. I was disappointed when I found out that Dragon's Lair only looked like a cartoon because it played scenes as reactions to button presses. Then Day of the Tentacle and subsequently other Lucasarts adventure games gave me very convincing and wonderful cartoon worlds to play in, and I loved them. But the animation was still scripted, in a sense, and therefore did not realize my dream.
When Mario 64 and thus, to me, true 3D came about, I wondered if 3D cartoons were possible. Before cel shading ever came about, I wondered if it were possible to outline polygonal models, keeping the outline on the contour of the model no matter what angle it was viewed at. I figured it was possible, just much too processor intensive for something like N64, and it was the only way games could have interactive cartoon worlds. That's basically what cel-shading did. But even back then I knew that it wouldn't look the same as hand-drawn animation without some complex animation and modeling.
Again I was disappointed when 3D cartoons didn't even look like cartoons, but ugly reality. The animation was almost always poor, and even the models turned me off. I was wowed when I first noticed 3D animation in the late 80's/early 90's, and I wanted it in cartoons, games and movies, but I've since all but lost interest. For me, the plasticity of 3D animation hasn't had the touch of visual beauty that hand-drawn animation can have. I want to see animators sculpt up a believable world (not necessarily the same as realistic) and make it move beautifully. It's possible, and I've seen some nice stuff, but the Shrek's and Toy Story's make the bulk of it and don't do it for me.
The first cel-shaded games like Jet Grind Radio were a big step towards interactive 3D cartoons, but the effect was lost on me. I still saw polygons, models and textures. It took Wind Waker to finally do it for me. It doesn't even use outlines, therefore proving my early outline theory wrong, but the animation and rendering create a believable world that is beautiful to behold.
In the SNES days, I dreamed of a 3D Link to the Past with Mario Kart technology. Obviously that was quite surpassed with Ocarina of Time, and it had its moments. It was a dream fulfilled: 3D Zelda (the cartoon aspect wasn't important to me for the Zelda series, as just having it in 3D was miraculous, and I didn't necessarily see a cartoon when I looked at A Link to the Past). But Wind Waker fulfilled an unexpected dream for me by putting me in a cartoon world with the style of hand drawn animation. That doesn't mean I'd rather have a sequel to Wind Waker with the same visual style... the new Zelda looks gorgeous. But I wouldn't trade Wind Waker for anything. It should be applauded for what it's accomplished even if it's not what a Zelda fan wants from the series.
Now the next step is interactive claymation in videogame form. Pikmin 3, I'm looking at you. Claymation may be a real world tool, but the visual effect of it can be very beautiful and unique. There is so much more to game visuals than mimicking reality. Even realism can be done with many different approaches. What really interests me is the animation and modelling. I haven't mentioned it at all, but lighting has a big effect on the quality of visuals, and Wind Waker did well there, too (nothing exceptional, but definitely appreciable).
As a side note, I dabble in hand/mouse drawn animation, and stop animation (as well as much observation of professional animation). Animation is a fantastic artform, and I think it gets undervalued by developers because of the pursuit of realism.
