This is just an example of creative thinking. This is how people solve problems irl. This problem isn't easy because the resources necessary to solve it are readily available. It's complicated because players have to think about how to use those resources (and in ways that make logical sense.)...
Yet I look at what other developers can accomplish in their games, with half the development time and something less than ninty's budget over the same period and I see other developers doing twice as much in half the time with as much $$$ or less. It's not impossible.
So it comes down to one of...
"Horribly cramped" or more fun and challenging for players? Deus Ex and Thief are considered marvels of level design for the complexity of player options and paths through levels. Do I knock out that guard or use lethal force? Do I go in through the sewers with their automated security or do I...
That's not even remotely what I meant. Quite the contrary, in fact. Besides, what you described sounds to me an awful lot like what Zelda has been doing since forever. See hookshot target -> need hookshot. See eyes switch -> need bow. See cracked wall -> need bomb.
I'm suggesting multiple...
Having bleated about a return to a non-linear Zelda for years it would be rather hypocritical of me to suggest that BotW should have ever been linear.
I mean, yeah, there's nothing to say it wouldn't have been "good." Linearity wouldn't have necessarily detracted from the game's appeal. After...