The problem is that the generation today grew up with Wind Waker,
Twilight Princess, etc… and (I feel old) it even seems particularly
rare now that Ocarina of Time is mentioned. Never mind the games that
came in the land before time like the NES Zeldas, Link to the Past and
Link’s Awakening.

To them, the game being about “the story and the characters” is what
Zelda is, which of course is what Aonuma Zelda is, with the actual
game play (besides puzzles) pretty much being an afterthought behind
the story he wants to tell. Classic-style Zelda is utterly strange and
foreign to them, and BotW’s (somewhat) return to it is just way too
different. They’re too used to the Zelda formula being like this:

– Long intro / tutorial sequence
– Game being in a straight line from beginning to end, where you go to
one dungeon, get the item and use it to beat the dungeon’s boss and
access the next dungeon, and repeat until the game is over
– “Story”

I played Wind Waker through for the first time last summer, 100%, and
boy am I probably never going to play it again. It paints itself as
the successor to Ocarina of Time even in-game but it’s anything but.

You’re probably right, emailer.

The issue is that the open world games (what Zelda used to be) are kicking Aonuma Zelda’s ass in sales. Skyrim sells. Zelda doesn’t.

Nintendo wants Zelda to sell again. All this is quite logical from a business point of view.

If we had more Aonuma Zelda, the Zelda franchise would be over. BoW “Wow!” saved the franchise.