http://tevisthompson.com/saving-zelda/
Long article, but well worth the read. About halfway through, I already knew how it would conclude.
The author says, at the end, that Zelda could stand to be more like Demon Souls/Dark Souls.
I think I agree. He doesn't necessarily say the gameplay should be like DS, but rather the world and how the game treats the player. The world is already there when you arrive, it wasn't built for you, and you get the sense that it will continue to be there long after you're gone.
The thing that hooked me on Dark Souls wasn't the combat, or the gameplay, or the high degree of difficulty. It was the sense of wonder that the world provides. You can tell that something bad has happened here. The characters are few and far between, and you're always surprised when you see an NPC, especially one that's locked in a prison cell or something.
I've found myself wondering on occasion, "who put you here? How are you surviving? Are they coming back and feeding you?" When I find another NPC on a journey, I can't help but think, "Man, I had to fight some serious monsters to get here, this is not a safe place to be, why are you here?"
And the world of Dark Souls is so open. You can go anywhere you want, no keys required, no fake barriers or item requirements. If you can see something, there's a way to get there. It's very much like the original Zelda, where you could even beat some dungeons out of "order".
I could see a new Zelda game adopting this. Instead of levelling up and putting points in statistics, though, there would be more of a focus on finding and using different types of items.
A while back we had a thread where the question was, "How should Zelda change to make it new and refreshing?"
This is the answer.
Saving Zelda
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