I keep reading many of you state how you want these seamless transitions into dungeons. Dungeons that feel extremely connected to the outside world. I just don't get it, maybe it is one of those small touches that need to be played to be appreciated, but I really don't see how that change much of anything. Anyone care to explain?
To me Zelda has become very formulaic. Part of that is the rigid structure of the gameplay. You go into a dungeon, you find a new item, you use the item on the boss, you leave the dungeon and use the item to open up a new area, you perform some side-quest in the new area, you go to a new dungeon, and the whole thing repeats.
If you have seamless transitions from the outside world to the dungeon or areas that are dungeon-like but are not so specifically a dungeon you break from the rigid structure. Same with items found in other areas. I think what people are looking for is some way to make Zelda feel fresh and ditching the formulaic design of it is an obvious way to do it. As long as you have one big interconnected world, non-linear progression, and the ability to interact with the world in realtime, you've got Zelda. With that very basic definition the developers have a lot of freedom.
But instead we'll probably get fire dungeon, ice dungeon, water dungeon, forest dungeon, etc. I actually find myself thinking of ways to change up the formula of other Nintendo franchises as well. Most of them are pretty old now and don't offer many surprises. The challenge is in changing the game enough to feel fresh while still feeling like part of the franchise. I think the way to do that is to narrow down the game to only its most core elements. With Zelda, Nintendo's definition is very specific and that's why it's getting stale.