Aonuma Says That Open World Is Here to Stay in Zelda Games

It would be very sad if they completely abandoned the old format. I'm not opposed to more open world style games but like Mario, why not both?

"Legend Of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma has told Official Nintendo Magazine that he can't see Nintendo returning to standard button controls in future Legend Of Zelda games.

Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword is compatible with Wii MotionPlus and although Aonuma thought about scrapping the motion controls during development, he now concedes that it would be hard to go back to the button controls as used in games such as Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Ocarina Of Time.

Asked if future Zelda games will use the MotionPlus control method, Aonuma said: "I honestly think we cannot go back to button controls now, so I think that these controls will be used in future Zelda titles, too."

So what does that mean for Legend Of Zelda Wii U and the Wii U controller? Hopefully we'll discover more at E3 2012 when Nintendo reveal Wii U's final design."

[quoted from Official Nintendo Magazine, circa 2012]

IN SUMMATION: Aonuma doesn't know any more about the next Zelda than you do. Take nothing at face value. Breath of the Wild was supposed to launch in 2015.

Zelda Breath of the Wild = Open World
Super Mario Odyssey = Open World
So, better for next AAA Nintendo games like Animal Crossing and Pokemon should follow that footsteps. Open World style with a Huge Exploration and Swarming around. It will sold like a Hotcake.

I'd like to see the next Zelda reintroduce larger dungeons and thoughtful boss designs.

On one hand, I like the exploration this had, akin to the older top-down Zeldas. On the other hand, I absolutely loathed dealing with weapon durability and stamina.

If the next game is similar to this, I will probably skip it. Call me a heretic, but I never really liked any of the 3D Zeldas, Link Between Worlds being a technical exception.

@Anti-Matter Let's get an open world Pushmo game where you can equipt him with armor & gear.

In fact, let's just get open world everything. Kirby? Open world. Mario Kart? Open world. Pikmin? That's gonna be a giant world, that's open!

That's sarcasm BTW. Open world most things would be terrible.

@ThePoochyKid
It just only my suggestion, not a sarcasm.
It's up to Nintendo to create the game with Open World style or not.

I think it makes complete sense for Zelda games to be open-world. It always has been in some vein, but due to technical limitations, they could never truly make it as huge and non-linear as Breath of the Wild. I don't see any reason to return to the old style. They just need to expand on the concept they've already created and if they want to satisfy the whiners, include a few actual dungeons where you're forced to make linear progress. Because apparently that's more fun than being able to do what you want and being limited only by your equipment and/or upgrades.

I wouldn't mind some more bosses and a greater variety of enemies depending upon which areas you are in. Not just different skin colors on Bokoblins and Lizalfos.

I honestly never was a huge fanboy of Zelda. I certainly like some of the classics, don't get me wrong! But Breath of the Wild was the Zelda I craved for. It scratched my itch the way Ocarina didn't. Of course, I'm just one schlub! I think both traditional and open-air can coexist, but I loved this Breath of fresh air.

Breath of the Wild is exactly what open world games are supposed to be.

I'm all for this style, just so long as they don't make another game every year or two...

I think the open-world style Zelda could be taken in a variety of different ways, some even encompassing the original Zelda style. You could have a world like BotW, but then have a set story and destinations to reach, but allow for exploration. Just tweak the amount of freedom (but still have a fair amount of it).

I think with the engine they've made for BotW, and the upcoming story expansion at the end of the year, I could see them doing some new stuff in a similar manner to Majora's Mask. Use the same engine, assets, but make a new world/tell a different story.

I'm very excited for this!
It can only get better as they get more comfortable with creating open ended huge worlds, listen to criticism on BotW and study open world games in general.
At least the physics and chemistry system should stay, even if every installment wouldn't be as open as BotW.

@FNL I completely agree on more enemy/boss variety being needed! There should be more region/area specific enemies, small and big, like the desert dwelling Molduga.

And yes, more traditional, bigger temples should be a thing. And I'd like them to be region specific/themed.
One of the biggest disappointments in BotW was the Forgotten Temple. It looked so cool on the map, and going there was so awe inspiring, but it would have been better if there was a dungeon inside.

As a long time Zelda fan for the most part I'm okay with this. I just hope they add more traditional dungeons in the future and weapon durability shouldn't apply to the Master Sword in future 3D Zelda games. But I also don't believe this is the end for the traditional 3D Zelda game.

I believe the 2D Zelda games will follow the old formula while the 3D games will follow the new standard set by BotW.

I'm all for it just as long they do a new 2D Zelda next. I'm sure it'll be another 5 years before we get another open-air Zelda game.

I hope they pull a Majora's Mask on BotW. Same engine, completely different game. All of the best Zelda games in the franchise were ones which took the franchise sharpely in a new direction (Majora's Mask, Windwaker, Breath of the Wild)

I hope they don't completely abandon the traditional Zelda formula (started by ALTTP by the way, NOT Ocarina). There's definitely scope for them in smaller 'handheld style' games in my opinion.

Also, there's no reason DLC for BotW can't be a ring fenced quest more like a traditional Zelda game, with its own story and set of dungeons for example, using a unique set of items but in the BotW world. Certainly gets good mileage out of the effort they put into that world and engine, and I wouldn't complain getting a couple of DLC packages like that whilst we wait for the next open world Zelda game.

Im all for keeping it like this now. Just add traditional "dungeons" and old items like the Hookshot etc in the next one, and it should be even better.

I like the world to be like Botw, but like to see dungeons like SS and Oot return in the next Zelda game 5-6 years down the road.

Oh, I really didn't enjoy the open world at all if I'm honest. But I can see why everyone and their mother seemed to enjoy it as if it was the best game ever created... (Sorry but I'm salty af, people have been giving it too much credit and for some reason it annoys me) Legend of Zelda was my favourite franchise in existence so I'm slightly hurt by this. I guess it was a long time coming though. Hopefully in the future they decide to go back to their old format for a throwback game or something so I can have fun again. I'm going to miss this franchise.

I don't mind Zelda staying an open world game, but only if Nintendo learns more about that format. BotW was a good game, but nowhere near as good as other open world games available - most important point being lack of engaging side quests. Honestly, in Skyrim some side quests were as long as main mission in Zelda.

An open world game like Link Between Worlds would be perfect though. It has classic Zelda elements including interesting dungeons and all classic Zelda items. The world is smaller but at least there's something to do at every step other than climbing and I think that's the direction Zelda should move forward to.

I like the original Zelda which was open world. BOTW is the first Zelda game I got into since the first. I thought some others were nice, but I never got seriously into them.

I miss the large dungeons. If they could keep the open world and improve the dungeons I would be very pleased.

Spoilers in post
I quite enjoyed this game for its open-air concept. I absolutely think it is a flaw to continue only making open-air games. Each Zelda game has their own exploration or discovery.
While the mechanics of being able to go anywhere are to be coveted, the indecisive story for each area leads to sequence breaking at its worst. I cannot say how many different puzzles I cheesed in this game simply because I had abilities for areas that the game assumed I didn't. Fire arrows burn everything just as effectively as fire. No puzzle to get fire needed.
Should this style of game come back? Yes. Maybe in five or seven years. Should it be abandoned? Never. But, should the series only be open-air? Absolutely not. For storytelling, I feel this is one of the worst Zeldas yet. Only the side-quest and collectable purposes make this game all that much enjoyable to me. And I got hyped when I had to purify one of the dragons, thinking there will be event style bosses everywhere. I overestimated Nintendo I think.

Thank Christ that Skyward Swords controls never became standard. I can't stand them

Im a little torn by this.
I had a hard time getting into BotW and it took quite a while for me to "appreciate" it.
But in the end, i have to admit that it is one of, if not the only, open world that really managed to captivate me.

But it certainly lost some personality during transition.
Gone are the Gadget items, in fact, they turned the concept upside down. Instead of being confronted with a door (A Puzzle) and having to find the key (The proper Item) for it, you are handed the master key at the start and you're just hunting for doors to open.

Also gone are the themed dungeons.
The shrines are a novel idea, that overstay their welcome after the 20th physics based ball puzzle in the ever same "ancient high tech theme". And while the animal dungeons are a great idea, it doesn't help that the majority of them are as big as a single room with a slightly more complex (not necessarily harder) puzzle.

Gone are iconic boss fights. While the overworld itself has a handful of monsters to offer that could count as a boss or mini boss, most of them are just fought like the regular mobs.
The dungeon bosses are largely the same (design wise) while offering some light puzzles to beat them.

BotW is a great action adventure game but fails to be Zelda.
For me, its kinda like Resident Evil 4. While it was the title that started to split the community, it also was one of the best action games of its time. Just not a great Resident Evil.

With a reworked weapon system, more meaningful clothing (which basically just serve to counter temperatures) and with a little more "Zelda" thrown into the mix, the open world formula could lead to some phenomenal results.
But if this is kept as is, we might lose out on aspects, that made decades of Zelda games as fun as they were.

The BOTW open world formula allows for so many possibilities. They can keep the open world / campaign approach the same and change so much else. The next game is sure to be very different in keeping with what has been done in the past.

We will see, we will see. Botw is great, that's for sure. If they decide to continue this path here's one little hint: Big dungeons again, please! I loved those 1 or 2 hour long dungeons, so far doesn't seem like I get the same experience in Botw. But the gigantic world without boundaries, that's awesome!

I love botw.. how it looks, how it plays, cooking, secrets the world is hiding.. everything.. but I miss dungeons, bosses etc. just like everybody else..
They spent most of their development time creating engine for that huge open world and gave us too many boring shrines and too little dungeons to "make up" for taking them so long to release a game.
Now when they have engine and physics for that world, only the sky is a limit. Now they can do whatever they want and focus on things that makes zelda a zelda game.
Open world concept was made to attract newcomers to the zelda (nintendo) world.. and new console of course.
So, don't be afraid.. they know their job and they want our money and they know how to get it.. and they will take it.. from old zelda fans and newborn ones.

Just get rid of that weapon durability

Loving BotW, the Zelda's serie definitely needed a game like this, but at same time I can't really say I want more of it.
It may be just me, but all the time needed just for get from A to B is really wearing me off, I'll surely and gladly get to the end of BotW, but I shiver just at the thought of having to do that again, I think this is the first time I played a game I really liked and yet that is not giving me the wish to get more of it.

(Althought, to be fair, it could take another 5 years before the next Zelda, that may be, hopefully, enough time for recover from BotW XD)

So no more big complex dungeons? Just running around then small little temples? Sad times.

Also not a great fan of botws open world besides the looks of it. Quests were mostly really boring. Shrines also got boring very fast. And korok seed fetching was just glorified pidgeon shooting. I hate this stuff in open worlds. There was just nothing fun to do besides journeying for me. And that didnt last long.

I... I thought Zelda was always open world. They just did it pretty badly in the 3D home console Zeldas (except for Wind Waker).
Can we get a proper flying on a bird open world now? And maybe another sailing open world?

In any case, open world doesn't mean no dungeons. Zelda 1 had dungeons. A Link to the Past had dungeons. Love the shrines, but they need to be more themed, and we just need the deep thematic dungeoning from previous Zeldas. I loved this open world a lot and feel like most open world games have to take a very good look at it. However challenges need more themes than "sheikah tech" and be more... dungeony.

The problem is that this doesn't actually give the scale of the 'open-air' world he's talking about, and it only really refers to the overworld... future games could still have an open-air overworld, but keep that overworld relatively small (in comparison to BotW) to give a larger focus on dungeons... or even have the game divided between multiple worlds, with each being open-air, but still smaller individually.
My point is that there's a lot of flexibility within the implications of that statement, so we can't really tell how it will affect future games.

I love BOTW, especially the freedom, the challenge, and the size of the world. The only thing that disappointed me was the main quest, it was just too short. Maybe have some dungeons to do before the Divine Beasts or something like that. Specially if those dungeons were like Hyrule Castle is in BOTW, that place was so cool. Still, I love the game. Before it was over, I was already wishing I could explore that Hyrule for the first time, so I'm pretty excited for another game like this.

I'm just picturing an OoT or a TP in terms of story and dungeons just dropped into BotW world and it makes me very happy

It makes sense. This is really the kind of game Zelda was supposed to be from the start; you can tell that from both the original Zelda and Miyamoto's comments on what influenced and inspired him to make the original game.

Considering how good Breath of the Wild is I have no problem at all with them continuing with that format. Maybe we can even have a darker version of it like Majoras Mask was to Ocarina of Time but if not I do hope that they expand on the story next time around. The cutscenes that serves as memories in the game were great, and I wouldn't mind having more of them or a more traditional story like the previous Zeldas.

No problems here. I haven't been so engrossed in a zelda game since Windwaker and that was probably the most open world entry prior to Breath of the Wild.

Of course, I wouldn't mind the return of some traditional dungeons and caves with perhaps less of the huge number of shrines. It's totally possible to have them in an open world Zelda game.

Personally, I see Breath of the Wild as a massive experiment by Nintendo and an attempt to heavily shake up the Zelda formulae. Now that they have learnt from it, the next title will probably take what really worked from it and shake up a few things perhaps bringing back some older aspects in a new way.

The fact of the matter was Zelda games were becoming stale as they very much followed a set pattern. They needed this game to show that the series could evolve and offer something truly fresh.

And I totally believe they succeeded.

While I am not opposed to an "open world", I find that the story in BotW fell victim to this concept. When I started the game, I was quite impressed by the story and expected much more to come. Further into the game, I became disappointed that the story didn't evolve at all (besides the memory collections). I think it is very hard or nearly impossible to bring together a great story with the freedom to visit any dungeon at any time. In this regard, I rather prefer more linearity and a greater story than the other way around. After all, what is the big deal of not being able to visit some remote region at the beginning of the game yet? If I see that I can't get into a region, it tells me that I don't have the needed item yet. This actually makes me more excited to visit the region once I have the needed item in hand.

@Anti-Matter open world pokemon would be awesome

Loving BotW so far - 105 hours and 1.5 beasties done.

Like a few of the other commenters here, I don't see why the system can't do both.

I'd like a top down Zelda with multiplayer a bit like Gauntlet

Bring back some straightforward dungeons and a couple weapons from older titles. And let the dungeon items never break. Hookshot, BOING!

I strongly dislike open world games. Too much busywork in those games.
With pay to play online and the push of open world i don't see the need for a new Nintendo console at all.
Seems like n3ds and WiiU will be my last.

@TobieOBrown Yet BOTW does heavily use motion controls, so no, I think he was still right on this one.

As long as story-telling and bosses are improved, I'm fine with this. Also, it would be nice to have a villain you constantly bump into, like Ghirahim.

I just hope they will add more RPG stuff in a Zelda game... open world is fine but make sure you put very strong enemies at later part of the game by forcing you leveling up and able to wield stronger weapons when you reach a certain level. More reason to destroy those monsters.. and unbreakable weapons of course

@ThePoochyKid When you say "open-world," does 2D Metroidvania-style count? Cos Kirby: The Amazing Mirror already did that.

I support the idea of openworld Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Metroid and especially Fire Emblem.

@Alucard83
And... change the Heart meter into HP with numbers. Also, Damage /Healing numbers displayed.
The heart icons is too small to be counted one by one.

Take the breath of the wild engine, design game world, ram it full of Pokemon, 8 Gyms and the league.
Create your own trainer and off you go in any order you want. No story, no team name of the week; just you and your search for Pokemon.

@subpopz Yes i am pretty much done with console gaming.

Never picked up a xBox and stopped with the PS2.
My 3DS is still got some life left and i will enjoy that as long as i can.

Link Between Worlds port please

I love this style, but I would love to have more complex dungeons and more secret grottos/caves. Most of all, bring back the amazing music. There haven't been any real songs that stood out to me yet.

I think this is a good decision.

They can't go back now but as long as they add in proper dungeons, more people/towns, and some traditional items in the next game I will be happy.

I'm not opposed to this in the slightest. Breath of the Wild is one of the greatest games I've played, and I think the formula is great to expand upon.

They made the game they choose what they want to do, and I think it's a good choice.

It would be extremely disappointing if they returned to the old format.

Zelda was great before, but I hate puzzle games, and Zelda at times could be frustrating in that regard because you had to complete it in order to proceed. Now there's no lack of puzzles in BotW but I felt less obligated to do them, plus they actually helped break up the exploration.

I loved the sense of exploration in Botw. I couldn't put it down because I wanted to see what was over the next hill.

I think the dungeons (talking the divine beasts, not the shrines) were a good length and like the shortness of the shrines.

Despite claims they were open, the prior zelda games were very linear and controlled. It worked in the old games, but for zelda at this time with such a rich world and history, to not allow exploration like this, is like putting the training wheels back on the bike after learning to ride with two wheels...sure, you can still ride it fine, but you lose all sense of adventure

It's weird how people are saying Skyward Sword was ditched in this game. Link's animations are largely borrowed from it, as is the stamina wheel, the gyroscope aiming, and shield durability/parrying. Even the material hunting aspect and the equipment upgrade aspect are Skyward Sword leftovers. ._.

Like, if you liked this game, you basically liked 90% of Skyward Sword.

@Anti-Matter And Kirby!

@SirAileron Exactly, this game was clearly designed with Skyward Sword in mind.

I was hoping this was the case, but will the world be this big in future games?

Interesting. If there are to be future Zelda games in this style, I think they should focus on more densely populating the world with interesting content. A lot of Breath of the Wild's world just seems empty with Korok seeds sprinkled everywhere. More enemy variety would be good too.

Could 'open-air' please include an open underground? A lot of people miss the dungeons, and I think it'd be cool if there were some sort of extensive, interconnected underground maze to explore. I'd play that game.

Fine, as long as weapon durability and stamina meters don't stick around.

breath of the wild scale game that looks like the wii U tech demo and has 10+ dungeons again. everyone wins?

It just better have real boss fights and dungeons

The Legend of Zelda first started as an open world game so I'm glad Nintendo is returning the series back to its root. Hopefully they do the same to the Metroid series as well.

Yes, a few adjustments, add new stuff and they are ready to go.

I think there's plenty of room for more games along the lines of Zelda:ALBW in which there is free-form going on, yet there is specific progression. That top-down perspective is a tough one to let go of cause classic Zelda did it so well. But for 3D Zelda, I'm completely fine with open world-- I feel like this is what the original Zelda was meant to be, especially in 3D format. A true sandbox. Time will tell where we go from here.

Breath of the Wild is amazing, but the next one should definitely have wayyyy more main dungeons, and make the weapon duration a lot longer. Give us a number system for that like Dark Souls has.

@EverythingAmiibo he was talking specifically about the 1-to-1 swordplay. Motion controls were dialed way back in BotW and could be turned off via a menu option.

I'd never played an open world game before Breath of the Wild and, honestly, it's put me off them. It seems to me that they feature game worlds that are huge for the sake of being huge, rather than built to be an appropriate size for their features. For the next Zelda, Nintendo should make a set of good dungeons, bosses and locations, and then think how big a game world they need to fit them in, rather than make an enormous map and struggle to fill in the gaps.

I would also remove breakable weapons, cooking and crafting items, because it slows the pace down too much.

As good as BotW is, I think Nintendo could do a much better job next time. There are a LOT of areas where they built the terrain to lead you slowly towards your goal, with tons of monster battles on the way...but since you can just climb over everything, there's no reason to subject yourself to those trials. The scripted sections tend to get a bit weird when you sequence-break, also. I feel like they originally had something closer to TP/SS built, and then at some point decided to let you climb everything (not just trees and vines), so they just re-arranged the key locations a bit, and greatly stretched out the landscapes inbetween them. I've found at least one place where the in-game text doesn't match the actual map, and I wonder if there's more in there.

@SirAileron I think people mean that the motion controls from Skyward Sword are gone now. I know I miss them quite a bit, especially against monsters with shields, but time marches on...

I don't think they will exclusively make Zelda games this way. Trying new and different things is what will make them grow creatively. I'm sure they know this. I do think that they'll keep this feel for the major releases. But another Zelda like this won't come out for at least 5 years. Plenty of time to try something different in between.

Honestly I just want the next Zelda to take place 10000 years ago. You can't hint at a previous cycle like that and then just move on to another time period like nothing happened. I long to see the BotW world at its prime.

That's good news! And exactly what I expected.

I see some different opinions on this, but personally I love open-world games and I'd like to see how this style can be further innovated for Zelda.

Core set of non-brittle weapons and some normal dungeons/bosses plox

I've been playing ALttP again. was just for a bit of nostalgia..... but got totally hooked all over again. seeing parts I forgot. figuring out dungeons with my kid.

If BotW is what the first was dreamed as (open wander anywhere from the start) then I'd love to see BotW2 be like ALttP. Bigger, longer, but with those Zelda tropes back that make it feel like home (Tri-Force focus, dungeons for items to get to other dungeons, etc.)

Everyone is talking about the open air gameplay. I'm still wondering what kind of art style will be used in the next Zelda

Breath of the Wild is awesome. However, I'd really like to see 1:1 swordplay (motion and analog directional sword swingin') make a return to the series. We've seen how far pressing a button can take us in combat with Twilight Princess and Botw so this is the only path forward to improve in this area. As a motion alternative, you can map sword swings to the right analog.

Less shrines, add caves and a few more lengthier dungeons and ya have a winning formula. Also, there's nothing wrong with item gating "some" dungeons, content, etc.

@Gentlegamer

Agreed, there should be some weapons that don't break. Or at the very least, introduce a blacksmith to repair weapons, or an elixir that can do the same.

I don't think this is a good idea. The next Zelda game shouldn't be in league with Breath of the Wild. It has been too successful to top, in my opinion. It should be something like Link Between Worlds (in purpose, not necessarily gameplay).

I am okay with this. Loved exploring Hyrule. I just really hope that they find a more elegant solution to dealing with the story and that they have full sized dungeons alongside the mini-dungeons.

@Asaki But that's the thing, the only missing motion-wise is the sword controls, and bomb rolling. Everything else is there in some form, as even magnesis can use the higher acceleration of the gyro controls to cause more damage than using the stick aiming. And then there are the gyro shrine puzzles, which somehow got really confused any time something needed to be upside-down, which was strangely bad implementation when compared to the aiming controls.

There's no way Nintendo would only make one game out of all the years and money they've spent on assets, physics, world building, etc. I'm expecting at least two more open world "spin-off" zelda games in the switch's future.

I'm sure there's a middle ground somewhere. Open world, but with traditional Zelda tropes.

However, the weapon system needs to be improved or revisited

@RedMageLanakyn I'm sure they will. They never reuse assets in Zelda games, except for Majora's Mask (and only because it was made in one year, and even that game looked marginally better than OoT).
If they reuse them, it'll not be in BotW2.

Speaking of which, a BotW2 would truly be the best game of all time. BotW with more varied dungeons, better enemy variety, better bosses and no framedrops? GOAT.

After being spent on the franchise as its archaic standards were really running thin, this one he best stick to. I can't recall the last time I hammered my way into a video game, let alone a Zelda title that hard in a very long time and I'm still not bored of it. I'm just on a break as I have a I Am Setsuna I'm very deep into and a stack of other things that need time as well.

This one I'll go back to, last Zelda I felt that way was Gamecube's Wind Waker.

@Melkac Yup, take a year or so to optimize the engine for the switch, make some improvements/adjustments, instant classic.

Open world is fine. The Jap game developers are not known for open world game designs, imo. But the western devs are so really into open world games. The would pour down millions of budgets into this genre and cast them with realism graphics. Open world + realism graphics, is the target for most western devs.
The Jap game devs have a different definition when making a game; it is all about ENTERTAINMENT. It doesn't have to be vast open world and graphic realism. It is all about the GAMEPLAY.
One of the closest to this is Final Fantasy series. But even the game franchise have a really wild imagination on the world design, the gameplay and everything else. That what's make Japanese games so unique compared to western games. O
So, if they are going to proceed in implementing open world games for Zelda franchise, I believe this would take more time for the completion, more budget and more manpower. So, expect some delays. The trend nowadays is all about having beautiful and realism graphics. If it is not up to par to that modern standard, it is considered as outdated.

Awesome news. Eventually we will get the best zelda games that has what made BotW so awesome and past features.

Really hoping for the dungeons to be as big and complex like the old ones, but finding them through an open world.

I'd love to see it expanded upon but I don't want the old formula out for good. I want a direct sequel like PH, MM, or Zelda 2 to expand upon BotW's plot. It felt a bit dry.

I do like the change in formula and they pulled off the open world format quite well with LoZ Breath of the Wild, at this time, I don't think I'd want that to be the standard, though (they'd have to change the formula up a fair deal, I think, to make it interesting enough to be excited/buy into it).

One thing I think BotW sorely lacks are the large, cleverly made puzzled dungeons. I miss N64 Ocarina of Time style dungeons and thought it was quite unfortunate BotW did not have them. BotW did have some good puzzle moments, but most of the challenges were too brief imo, and some were way too simple.

The dungeons had a larger focus in previous entries, and I particularly like the ones created in Zelda 2, Link's Awakening, Link to the Past, and OoT.

@Anti-Matter
O yeah a pokemon like that or animal crossing, i will be first in line to buy them.

@SirAileron The sword controls were the best part, though, IMO. Bow controls were kind of fun too...I forgot about bomb rolling, that would've been pretty useful in several places in BotW. I'm also very surprised that although BotW is using Havok physics, they took out the feature of knocking down Bokoblin watch towers.

I didn't know you could swing Magnesis faster with gyro controls; I turned them off before the game even started. I thought they were kind of okay in the 3DS games, but it's pretty awkward to try to coordinate that when you're sitting comfortably. SS, most of the time I was in a standing/active position.

@Asaki The motion controls in BotW work best when you use the stick to get in the general area of where you're aiming, and then use the gyro to finetune. Unlike the 3DS games, the stick has priority over the gyro, so you can reposition your hands as you tilt the stick. You can tell it was Nintendo who worked on the controls for this game, as opposed to a 3rd party, as it was with all four remasters we got both for 3DS and Wii U (because oh god, the gyro controls were awful for WW HD and TP HD).

@Asaki

Ah 1:1 sword controls and bomb rolling... the good-old days!

@Turbo857 There is a weapon that doesnt break. And i use it soley to break ore and boxes. The sacrilege XD

There is really no point to a blacksmith and no need to get rid of the weapon durability. And they already did make it last longer. Its all in how you play.

Kill lots of monsters and they come back stronger and upgrade monsters and chests throughout the world. I have an inventory full of powerful weapons, bows and sheilds that take forever to break.

And if you log them in the compendium you can find a specific kind of weapon you want whenever you like. Way better than saving broken weapons in your inventory to go get them repaired. That would make it like other games where the weapon durability is actually an annoyance.

Thank Glob for this. Zelda finally returning to its roots and actually being Zelda again, instead of a zelda themed crystalis.

Finally recovering from the detour the series took when it went 3d.

Sorry whiners, this IS real zelda, and besides, you owe us twenty years, so deal with it.

@TNGYM

Yeah, those are some good points. Granted, I'm not very far in the game yet. I beat about 35 shrines but only one divine beast so maybe weapon durability does increase further into the game.

But regardless of what some may say of the game's mechanics, it's still a masterpiece.