Such a shame. They really really should have rethought this rental/"open world" system. In theory it could work but they butchered it.
I think it was excellent, but it works differently than in previous zelda games, you cant think with the old system in mind.
in the old games, the new item in every dungeon was handled more or less like a key. you got it and you could access new areas with it.
ABLW though is much more gameplay focused, and with that I mean diversity in gameplay. the items are not longer only keys, they are an actual part of the gameplay, think of freezing lava with the ice rod, elevating the ground with the sand rod, every item works like that. its deeply integrated in the gameplay.
classic item design did that, too, but only on a very small level, the classic items still felt more like keys. and the rental system allowed them to design the whole dungeon with different mechanics, and not only the latter half of the dungeon. becaus otherwise the first halves would actually have been the same all the time. this way the dungeons are completely different as a whole. every ALBW dungen has a gameplay element, that makes it unique and actually play different.
I dont agree with you that the dungeons feel the same, quite the contrary actually. I replayed ALTTP after ALBW and the dungeons were really, really very much a like.not only in the dungeons'f rist half where you dont even have a new item, but even in the later half, the items mostly functioned only as keys.
no comparison to ALBW's diverse integration of the items in the actual gameplay.
another bonus of the rental system, of course, is that you can tackle the dungeons mostly in the order you choose.
I wrote bigger texts on the subject in this thread, if you're interested to look them up. I just want to say that, after replaying all 2d zeldas, I very much prefer ALBW's design, I think its the best 2d zelda and a true masterpiece.
