Looks very promising. Some things I really like include:
- Beautiful world. I want to get lost in it and make awesome discoveries.
- RPG elements: Crafting, loot, a variety of weapons and tools.
- Choices: A variety of ways to tackle challenges, obstacles, and traversals.
- Voices. How much there is remains to be seen, but it's there. Feels more immersive.
- Art style. I'm convinced the style actually helps the game from looking outdated. With games like Horizon Zero Dawn coming out a month before, Zelda just wouldn't be able to compete with that in the realistic realm. The style helps give the game some personality and life while compromising visual complexities that would come with a realistic style in a open world with Wii U tech. But anime is not mainstream around the world, and it's not going to start with this game, but I do like it and think it was a good decision for this last Wii U adventure.
But not everything is gravy. My concerns:
- Too easy. Push 'b' to win. Combat encounters don't look very interesting at all. Enemies don't appear threatening. I expect some context to the enemies being where they are will be given through the course of the story, but man are they pushovers. Obviously the challenge will increase as the game continues on, but by how much is still in question. Being too easy makes for a boring game and goes against the spirit of Zelda 1 which was a tense game that begged you to explore the world and gather money to make surviving that dangerous world achievable.
- Peaceful world/lack of danger. Zelda 1 had a dangerous world with a number of encounters that are best avoided. Not many squares were rest spots. BotW's world is very big and relaxing, which is not a bad quality, but it's not what I'm looking for in an epic Zelda. I'd like to see dangerous hostile encounters that you can win, but will mostly likely fail until you can acquire stronger gear. Make escape a convincing option worth taking.
- Link's design. No wonder there is a silly fan movement going on. Guy looks like a wimp. I bet if Aloy and Link got in a fist fight, Aloy would beat Link's head in.
- Music is hit and miss. Love the trailer song. That battle theme however is terrible. I don't like it. I guess it's fitting for the pushovers that are the games enemies though.
- Combat. Skyward Swords sword combat system will be missed. This game has a lot of potential though with the various items and exploits I've seen on the streams, but I remain concerned since options mean nothing if there is no value to them. Harder options in combat should yield greater rewards with higher risks while easier options are low risk and less rewarding. Right now, the reward of say, trying to exploit the physics by bowling a bomb down hill and destroying enemies is simply the fun of exploiting the game's engine. It'll get old fast. Give me a real reason not to barge in on enemies camps, guns-a-blazing.
Overall, I'm very pleased they're looking at Zelda 1 once again and watching how others have been evolving the open-world concept since. They've also trimmed a lot of the fat that's been destroying the pacing of other 3D Zelda's. Items no longer annoy with slow text and constant reminders of what they are and what they do. Game respects that the player has some semblance of intelligence to figure out how to survive in this world and doesn't bombard with tutorials. No annoying Fi, Midna, or Navi. Its about time!
Still a lot more to see and learn though. I'm curious what the story is. I haven't seen the dungeons yet, which is a series staple. I heard Audrey say the traditional dungeons are still in, and it's not just that trial crap. I hope those will be done in the style of Zelda 1 as well in that you can tackle them out of order, but some will be much harder than others ("this is hard, let's look for another dungeon and try that instead!"). I like to see my combat/difficulty issues addressed in them as well.
Again, I see lot's of potential and I'm eager to play. Not my favorite game of the show, but I liked a lot of what I saw. I look forward to learning more.