Hello Raykay, sorry if you've been receiving some harsh reactions for your opinion. I must say though, with the tone of a thread title like
"This Game's a Joke, Right?" it's already setting itself up to attract some negative responses. People are naturally going to get defensive about a game they are enjoying, especially when they read something like:
What the hell is this sh**?? Is that really zelda??
Take how you said that you're very fond of Ocarina of Time, and lets say you saw someone come in and say exactly that about it alongside a laundry list of cutting complaints. Naturally, you yourself would also get defensive in such a scenario.
That being said, I could try to address each of your points individually as many people in this thread have already been doing, but I don't think that's the way to go about this.
This is because beneath all those finer points, how you see the game is really driven by your mentality. I could sit here and try to shoot your points down one by one, but I don't think that's going to help you and I don't think that's what you came for.
Raykay, here's what I have to say to you instead of that, and I'm hoping it'll help:
First of all, it looks to me as though you are going into the game with predefined expectations for it, and you are constantly comparing it to other games, such as Ocarina of Time (Super Mario 64, The Wind Waker, etc).
You need to stop doing this. Clear your slate a bit instead of trying to place it side by side with your past game experiences, and try to play the game for what it is in itself. Otherwise, I don't think you will be allowing yourself to enjoy it properly.
Second, you have given up and gotten too frustrated based on some things you didn't like thus far that have caused you to view the entire game in a negative light, and thus your mentality to play the game overall is pessimistc: because you are predisposed to this mentality right now, its not going to allow you to enjoy the game when you sit down to play it now regardless.
You need to relax your impression of it a bit thus far and open yourself to the notion that your experience is likely to evolve into something else entirely if you just allow yourself the chance to really delve deeper into the game.
To be honest, I think what you've seen thus far has barely grazed the surface of all the content in the game, not yet far enough in to have developed an accurate impression of the game as a whole.
If it helps reassure you as to what I mean, take a look at this quote from Kotaku's Review:
Kotaku's Review said:
In its first 10 hours, it is a slow starter, establishing its version of Zelda standards; in its next 20 or so, it repeatedly shows off how its version of those standard might, mostly, be better; and in its final 10 it finally defies expectations, remixing the series' hallmark dungeon-exploration progression into something almost unrecognizable as Zelda formula. And then it ends, immediately sorely missed.
[Full Review here]
(Actually I do really recommend that you read this review, I think it'll speak to you specifically because of the concerns you've mentioned, and help instill some sense as to how you should approach returning to the game.)
Hopefully that helps you to open your eyes a bit and venture a little bit further.
---
A bit off topic, but I just wanted to address this bit:
This is exactly what irks me here at ZD lately. As much as I enjoy this community here, premature closure of threads and even bans seem to get out of hand, just because people have different opinions that don't conform to the apparently desired mainstream. People have the right to dislike parts or even the entirety of a Zelda game, we as fans should be able to deal with criticism and counter it if we think it's wrong.
If someone is on a minority opinion here, and the majority/you doesn't agree then you should be able to counter with good arguments and not with censorship. It's not that this guy has been just trolling for attention (that's an accusation made too quickly on the internet nowadays), there were some valid points we can discuss about, it's not that everyone else besides the OP has the same opinion here and that "everything is said".
I'm not sure what you're referring to with regards to the bans, but I think you are misinterpreting the reason for premature closure of such threads. It's not to discourage or smite out varying opinions that 'don't conform to the mainstream.' Rather than that, they are closed if they seem like topics that are going to invite more flaming than actual discussion, and upset people more than allow for a thoughtful exchange of ideas. While you may try to say this:
We as fans should be able to deal with criticism and counter it if we think it's wrong.
The keyword you used here is
should. This is an ideal with no guarantee that everyone posting in a thread will adhere to whether they intend to or not. Therefore the margin of error wherein people will come into the thread and cultivate drama has to be accounted for; premature closing of threads is done an effort to differentiate the topics that are likely to lead up to that from the ones that will manage to stay civil. The fact that this thread is remaining open just testifies that it is managing to remain an acceptable discussion. It'll only be closed if it spirals out of control, which I think is fair. Hopefully that clears up the qualms you had about such thread closures. ^^
name! You never used the name of the 'CITY IN THE SKY' 
(sorry about that) your basically trolling in so many ways.
