while I enjoyed it a lot, I do still prefer some of the older games more. Wind Waker will always be one of my favorite games in general, Majora’s Mask not far behind, but BotW may be tied with Skyward Sword in third in the series for different reasons.
The sort of obvious main thing is the open world and non-linearity. SS to me had enough amazing level design for me not to mind it being too linear for once, but BotW offered a pretty nice balance of areas where not everything needed to be a puzzle or challenge and yet still had plenty of stuff to find. SS didn’t have the best sidequests but some decent stuff. BotW is a bit hit or miss in that regard but it’s hard to fault them as much with so many NPCs and at least they make good use of areas a lot of the time.
Problems they both have are a lack of enemy variety unfortunately, and I feel that it’s been on a steady decline since WW’s kind of gargantuan amount. Thing is, BotW really has no excuse to need to just recolor enemies and call it a day. I guess maybe they had trouble finding ways to implement some enemies in a far more open setting. SS I feel had more engaging one on one battles, especially the bosses and mini bosses, though the one that I really do like in BotW were the Lynels.
The one big tell for me was that I just wasn’t excited to play it when it came out. Ever since I first tried Ocarina of Time, I’ve at least been fairly excited for every new release. With this one, for some reason I just wasn’t feeling it at the start. It did eventually grow on me but it was a slow burn. Was probably more focused on Nier Automata at the time. BotW 2 I’m certainly looking forward to now but it’s hard to say how much.
Things I’d like to see changed or different, hmm. Less of those stables and more expanded villages presuming people are rebuilding easier. I don’t agree with people who hate weapon durability but I do think it should be far slower and have repair functionality. More variety in weapon uses and not just in combat but also for puzzles. Same with more unique enemies. More focus on story, better voice direction and dialogue. Dungeons that last way longer, good bosses. Maybe upgrades similar to those in SS? Missed having those a lot.