Despite popular consensus online, the original Zelda did not allow you complete freedom in doing dungeons in any order. Nor did it allow you complete freedom in exploration. The game had item gating and would gate entire dungeons and areas of the map behind certain items which forced you to play the game more linearly.
The overworld was only added because the devs wanted something to put between dungeons to make the game more interesting.
Skyward Sword takes the original Zelda formula of dungeons gated behind item progression and cuts out the fat aka the empty fields of previous games, replacing them with actual interesting content. Yes, this does take away the sense of exploration that prior Zelda games had. However, I would argue it's a much better evolution of the formula than BOTW.
Botw really does not resemble Zelda 1 at all. Dungeons are not gated behind items. The dungeons themselves lack the labyrinthian design featured in Zelda 1 and its successors. Dungeons are more so simple multi solution puzzles or combat arenas.
The only thing you could really say resembles the classic Zelda is the sense of discovery. However, that's something any open world game can have. Zelda has always primarily been about the dungeons. That was the entire point of Zelda 1. Its sequels all built upon creating more fleshed out and complex dungeons. By focusing on the open world alone, BOTW is inherently an anti-Zelda game.
The overworld was only added because the devs wanted something to put between dungeons to make the game more interesting.
Skyward Sword takes the original Zelda formula of dungeons gated behind item progression and cuts out the fat aka the empty fields of previous games, replacing them with actual interesting content. Yes, this does take away the sense of exploration that prior Zelda games had. However, I would argue it's a much better evolution of the formula than BOTW.
Botw really does not resemble Zelda 1 at all. Dungeons are not gated behind items. The dungeons themselves lack the labyrinthian design featured in Zelda 1 and its successors. Dungeons are more so simple multi solution puzzles or combat arenas.
The only thing you could really say resembles the classic Zelda is the sense of discovery. However, that's something any open world game can have. Zelda has always primarily been about the dungeons. That was the entire point of Zelda 1. Its sequels all built upon creating more fleshed out and complex dungeons. By focusing on the open world alone, BOTW is inherently an anti-Zelda game.
