for me i didnt like:
1) lacking story
2) no sense of direction, you just ran aimlessly in the hope to find something
3) shrines were very basic and repetitive
4) devine beasts felt same as shrines but with a repetitive boss equal to ones before it other than its elemental power
5) weapon system was poor, especially when you obtained what is known as the legendary master sword and hylian shield
6) enemy ai was flawed, in most cases their health was set far greater than you, unlimited ammo for them but nothing for you
7) due to lack of levels you had no direction to take you from one place to the next
8) same applied with side missions, i would have preferred if at some point you had to do set side missions in order to gain access to or unlock mission based levels.
9) cant believe how hard it was to gain entrance to the castle walls and get to gannon then when you meet him the battle is a piece of piss, when some enemies (especially lynels).
considering we never had a new zelda title for the wii u, i find it hard to believe that this title was the reason why, the shrines and devine beasts just felt like a tech demo of short mini game/puzzles based on the joy con motion controls and then thrown into a massive map and slapped zelda in to it.
i dont get why the fans are exploding over this titles, yes wow you can:
run freely around a massive map..... yea weve already had this
you get to collect weapons and shields that break..... yea weve had this already too
you somewhat get to chose the order you do things, again been there done that
you get to collect food items and make meals, sigh again seen it done that
you get side missions, yup your right only difference is weve had games that have tied these into the main story
the only thing you dont get in botw is a story, this to the fans is not important because you get to do all the above, yet bore off, we have played games that offer all the above while still telling a story.
people seem to think i hate anything nintendo do, when fact is zelda has always been one of my favourite games, i wasnt keen on Wind Waker due to the constant sailing and then the part where you have to find all the triforce parts if i remember correctly there was a part where you had to do floor after floor (and loads of them) to get a shard of it.
wasnt that keen on Skyward Sword but still played it, i think its Twilight Princess model feel merged with Wind Wakers cell shading kind felt odd.
I didnt mind twilight princess but felt it didnt do good setting its what i thought would have done better, been horror setting with the dark twilight.
i never really played it on the nes, i was more for sega on that one, but then the snes came out and i enjoyed link to the past, even got the gba for that one, loved ocarina and still play it now and then on the N64, but majoras mask has always been my fave and think this was more open world than BoTW, it added more pressure having the 3 day limit, it had a story, it was simple to know where your next mission is without having to run aimlessly to find it.
it had side missions that were required in order to get access to other areas/levels and even to fully complete the game.
again to the fans if you dont like my reasons for not loving the game you love, then this is what you call opinion, if you dont share the same then dont quote me forcing yours. because in doing so claiming i must accept your opinion, then take a mental note and accept others opinions.