As for the cultural change, it is rather unfortunate. There are a lot of people who won't buy a Nintendo product no matter how good it is because they disagree with their policies.
I'm pretty sure the game is already complete. They're just improving things. Iirc the physics engine, and a lack of a unified vision is what caused the delays.
It would be interesting to see, although there is no guarantee that this Link is an entirely new one. He might seem different, sure, but there is always the chance that we have seen this Link before. Hopefully BotW explores his background in great depth.