I think their design philosophy is strictly focusing on what’s new in this familiar world, which falls in line with gameplay being important first and foremost.
The Guardians and Divine Beasts and such were sort of emblematic of BotW and surviving in the wilderness that used to be Hyrule, dangerous relics of the past that were once far more elegant. Sort of a Dark Souls thing here mixed with Princess Mononoke. The story itself was stripped down to very basic elements, as much of it is left to be experienced firsthand by the player, fitting into the theme of intrinsic and inherent strength.
That’s why I figure this time around it’s a bit different with a lack of information given on what might have happened to any of the old Sheikah tech. We have a new threat in the Zonai constructs, sure, but they are far less immediately intimidating and really not the focus so much as Ganon’s actual forces themselves are. It’s my own headcanon but I just like to think Purah and Robbie and their constituents probably found better uses for and repurposed all the old tech, namely the new towers and Purah pad.
I will say, I’ve yet to finish it…I’m on my last main dungeon at Death Mt. There’s mention of the champions at least, and I feel is in service to better characterization for the new sages. Not as much as I’d hoped, but still. I actually felt much more appreciative of Sidon, having not really caught on to him like everyone else did prior. Ganondorf himself is a bit disappointing in this regard…there’s a tiny little bit of nuance here, but mostly he’s his plain old evil self. Such a shame with his design being a bit closer to Wind Waker’s.
So I’ve seen all the memories and got the Master Sword at least. I feel mostly it’s very good, not quite in the same way as BotW ones, but that’s more due to wishing there was just more that we saw, or perhaps a way more could have been implied with the same amount. Either way, I feel the approach this time was to be more engaged, to have more actual moving parts, but when it comes right down to it, connection. The whole thing with the hands clapping in the music, the amount of times you’re made to escort or help people out in battle, the fact that you’ve got plenty of buddies to help you, etc. It seems in stark contrast to BotW being very much about isolation and finding yourself.
Will agree it’s odd to have to wager which returning NPCs will and won’t recognize you. Why I wish more was done with transferring save data, but that could have been tons of work, so I don’t let it bother me too much. Mostly it’s kind of realizing a dream I had of playing the Oracle games long after you finish the main story in those.
