EatChildren said:
All true, but I thought TP was a particularly bad culprit, mostly for the sidequests/minigames that had double rewards. Oftentimes you'd recieve an adequate reward for completing some of the challenge, eg: bomb bag or wallet size increase, but the last reward for completing the entire challenge was worse, like a ton of rupees or some such useless shit. That po hunt comes to mind.
Hopefully having useful items to collect in SS that are used to upgrade equipment will give incentive to seek out and finish sidequests, as well as explore the land.
Honestly I think it's just an issue for any modern Zelda. They're just too easy.
They're still incredibly playable because they're smooth as silk and the dungeon design has never been better, but they're starting to get the little basics wrong.
Acquring heart pieces in ALTTP, for instance, was immensely satisfying because that game was quite difficult. There was real incentive for going out of your way for them. Same for getting rupees - they didn't hand out nearly as many things to the player, so you actually had to keep buying certain items. Which is how it should be - it teaches you to conserve your items and become a smarter player. These days you just have to chop up the closest piece of grass if you want a refill. And don't get me started on potions.
In modern Zelda games, you almost don't want to pick up heart pieces, because the games are so easy and forgiving that you're rarely in need of them - indeed, they tend to actually hurt the experience, because they make boss fights far too easy and remove any need to be cautious. It's no coincidence that the toughest parts of TP are the first few hours, simply because you're on a mere few hearts. If you're not careful, you can actually die to the Shadow Beasts, and lava in the Goron Mines can wipe half your health away. The problem is that the game doesn't keep ramping up the difficulty, even for its later bosses. It's a real shame, and WW was even worse.
The recent videos of bosses removing full - even multiple - hearts at a time is very pleasing. The important thing is that they keep making them harder and harder as your progress - it'll automatically make side-quests that much more rewarding.
