Yeah, it's just the realistic style return getting to people, and the tradition thing, as you said.
I expect Nintendo to reuse some elements that we don't expect. In Majora's Mask there were many similar characters, despite it having a radically different setting, plot, and mood (though MM will doubtlessly had it more than this will, MM being an alternate dimension situation). I think we'll see some characters returning, but only a few, and maybe some enemies (we've seen Lizalfos, Stalfos, bokoblins, and such, and we'll definitely see octoroks: another reliable Zelda tradition). Nintendo is unpredictable in what they include in the game for the most part, because while they do often pay homage to all the previous games in the series by using old characters (they should so have I AM ERROR in this game) and certain items and enemies, it varies from game to game and new elemnts are constantly being thrown in. I expect we'll be surprised by what the new one has to offer, but not too surprised because we expect being surprised like this when it comes to Zelda.