korl telling you something is irrelevant to the game limiting exploration
he has very compelling story reasons to tell you to hurry up
on your way to dragon roost and then forest haven, there's a decent portion of quadrants you're allowed to explore without korl turning you in the proper...
these are restrictions that largely don't exist in wind waker, the best zelda game
yes you have to immediately go to forsaken fortress then dragon roost but after that it's pretty much open world with progression and exploration locked behind key items
The "Zelda formula" just refers to its niche in the puzzle adventure genre with regards to design choices that have become embedded in the series due to inertia. Without the formula all that ties your game to others in the series is the world building.
I'm not going to beat around the bush
I...
Let's take out the Big Book of Zelda Design Pillars
the "spirit of the original" as you phrase it is something Luke Cuddy called "the Miyamoto Framework" in his book, "The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy". (Great read btw if you like thinking about zelda in any way other than just a game)...
I agree with you but
botw is the best selling zelda game so far, it beat out OOT and OOT3D put together by 2 million copies
it's what The Average Gamer wants
I like dark souls and skyrim so much better than botw
dark souls has problems, skyrim feels like it was a high school project coded in...