Linc To The Games

I enjoy your perspective as a game designer because you can tell you live by that with NRFTW because that level design is immaculate. With that said, I've played up to getting the 1st 2 gems and then immediately went back to the original version to play. Mind you, I haven't played the original in over 20 years because like you, I was always a LttP megafan and while I loved the jump into 3D gaming, I didn't love the controls and the emptiness as I time went on. With that said, this Remake NAILS the essence of what the game was without a need for that extra element you're talking about. Saying graphics updated is but a piece. The PRESENTATION and CONTROLS are finally in a place where it allows the game to shine in a modern era. All the extra animations, dialogue, world layout in towns makes the game feel so much better IMO. But to the core of your criticism — empty field. I think it's a bit of a catch 22. The game is already finely tuned. It knows what it's trying to achieve so it's already built all the items you need with the power ups that make sense. At this point, adding anything to it is just there to add something but it wouldn't be meaningful. Traditional Zelda leans into item progression based gameplay. At this point you'd have to think of something worthwhile to add that makes that extra effort worth it. In a game like NRFTW, drops are randomized so anything you do rewards you and there's leveling. In Ocarina, you can play it like a Resident Evil game and avoid anything anyway until you reach a locked room where combat is forced for progression. The root of what I'm saying is you risk changing something for an experience that's already balanced for the sake of adding more when the game is already a tight 20+ hour experience. If anything I appreciate these types of remakes because the focus is about bringing the game to modern standards while giving today's audience a peek into yesteryear's game design and the best part about it — a LOT of new people to the traditional Zelda formula are reporting they're loving it and see why so many loved it. In conclusion, I think you make a lot of great points but I think that this version isn't just a graphical uplift and three changes that were made allow the game to be appreciated for the finely tuned experience it always was.