Botw and totk are my favorite games of all time!!!

Yeah, they do seem to like it. It's nice to chill but definitely not anywhere near the best Zelda like some people rate it. IDGI.

I think there's three kinds of Zelda fans:

1. New to series with BotW and love open world games
2. Like the Zelda brand
3. Like the dungeon gameplay loop

The first two seem to like the game, whereas the third... don't. I'm part of the third. The Zelda gameplay loop has typically been:

1. Explore world to find dungeon
2. Explore dungeon to find the items - new tool, compass, and map
3. Use new tool to solve puzzles, along with some puzzles using older items
4. Fight dungeon boss, using the new tool
5. Use new tool to find secrets in the overworld
6. Go to 1 until item slots are full
7. Fight main boss (a form of ganon), which is the most difficult fight in the game

BotW dumbed all of that down and added a lot of grindy mechanics:

• korok seeds
• shrine orbs
• fairy upgrades
• cooking

It's a completely different game and has just enough overlap with the established formula to disappoint. The older Zelda games don't have any grindy bits unless you really want some piece of equipment early.

So that's my take. BotW is a decent game, but it's my least favorite Zelda game. If it wasn't branded "Zelda" and hyped so much, I probably wouldn't have bothered with it. My kids love it though, so there's that.

Oh, and I finished BotW just before TotK launched (kinda late, I know), and instead of buying TotK, I bought Skyward Sword and Link's Awakening and absolutely loved them. If Switch 2 has more games with the classic formula, I'll buy it, otherwise I'll probably pass.