So here are my more full thoughts on the hours of footage from the E3 presentation.
Overall, it's a little surprising at how effective this format was. Not long before people thought this was a gigantic mistake for Nintendo, to not even show a Direct. I think this worked out a LOT better than the vast majority of people thought it would.
But onto Zelda:
This game doesn't just bring about something new and fresh, but it fulfills what all the others were aiming for. A vast and expansive world that Link explores while on his main quest of restoring the Triforce.
World:
* Appears post-apocalyptic, a technologically advanced civilization fell, and a new fantasy world grew up in its place.
* Monolithsoft's brush can really be seen in this world. The staff also worked on Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Xenosaga, and Xenoblade.
* The world may feel more like a gigantic open world Legend of Zelda 1 world - where things felt more malleable than later Zelda games; i.e. Burning trees.
* You can set huge fields and forests ablaze, and even burn down Moblin villages.
* There are gigantic ruins and structures, gives a bit of an Assassin's Creed vibe when Link climbs atop them.
* There are shrines that have entrances very reminiscent of Zelda 1... Except there are over 100 of them instead of just 8.
* There are also very large "dungeons" in the world as well.
* High tech imagery is a bit of a cross between Xenoblade and Skies of Arcadia's own ancient technologically advanced fallen ancient civ.
* Dungeons are incredibly atmospheric. It looks like the first time Zelda has really gone to these lengths since Ocarina of Time. Not to say the other games don't have atmopsphere, it just wasn't as outstanding as this game and Ocarina.
* Some of the effects look Chrono Trigger inspired; maybe more Monolithsoft inspirations?
* There are little enemy forts and such ALL OVER.
* The devs said that they removed all people and towns from the game for the demo; so expect lots of people and along with towns and villages in the game.
* The snowy areas remind me of the film, The Revenant.
* A lot of games have short little mountains you can climb in 5-10 seconds. In this game the mountains are HUGE! You could spend a whole session climbing one, of course, with lots to do along the way; it's not just a chore.
* There's a LOT of geological and natural diversity in the game, it's had a lot of detail put into it.
* Another thing is the amount of personality everything has, even the enemies have a lot of personality.
Features:
* Voice acting, a first for the franchise
* No long intro segment, no Navi-like character, you're thrown into the world after a 1 minute intro
* Food and heal items replace heart containers
* The world is packed with LOTS of collectables that can be used and crafted into other items through various methods; such as mixing ingredients and frying them in a pan
* Unlike Xenoblade, collectables are all visually represented on the map, rather than glowing blue abstractions - a gold pulsing point is used as an indicator; it looks very nice
* Lots of terrain interaction, like cutting down trees and using the trunk as a bridge, or cutting it into firewood
* Link's items are higher tech, he has a visor (Sheikah Slate) that looks based on the Metroid Prime scanner visor
* Physics are a big part, round stuff rolls, etc...
* Day and nigh cycles with various creatures and such having their specific behavioural patterns linked to times of day
* Animals behave naturally; predators hunt prey, etc...
* Moblins and such will go and hunt on their own too. Everyone behaves very organically, including the enemies
* Map uses a fog of war type thing for exploration
* Link will get cold, heavier clothing and fires can warm him up, along with various types of foods
* Puzzles are not just "one way to solve this" type things like in past Zelda games. Like the Trine games, there are different approaches to just about everything that was shown
* Enemies hold and drop multiple items
* There are multiple types of bombs (like cube bombs, sphere bombs), the ones shown were detonated by player control
* There was an item that allowed for some sort of radio-wave like viewing, Link could see things under the water clearly with it, it looked a little like the Predator's infrared vision.
* There's a lot of "mousetrap" (like the board game) type chain reaction sorts of things that can be done, particularly in dungeons.
* Bees are back, not the bees!
* Your heart limit is not necessarily the max hearts you can hold; Link could have three hearts, but eat a special food and gain 5 extra non-replenishable hearts for a total of 8.
* Fleshed out hunting system, tracking, chasing, and such.
* Fleshed out cooking system, kind of like a more detailed Rune Factory.
* You can use explosives to fish, like rednecks.
* The UI is VERY polished; for example, it shows a very animated representation of Link and he will react based on the sorts of items you equip.
* Enemies are on HP meters, some are VASTLY more powerful than others. Like some Moblins with 30-40 HP, but then some had over 2000, you had to be creative to kill those.
* There appear to be a stat system, taking some pages from the RPG genre.
Cool Things Link can do:
* It's not just swords anymore, there are TONS of different weapons, many different types of swords, axes, clubs, maces, spears, etc...
* You can use LOTS of unconventional stuff as weapons too, even the arm of a Stalfos... Which they will also use in place of a more conventional weapon
* You can climb everywhere - reminds me a little of Assassin's Creed
* Link can use his shield as a snowboard, and fire arrows at enemies while boarding; Legolas style!
* Link can light arrows on fire, and fire them at trees and set them on fire; the fire can expand based on the world physics, so wind will blow fire to other burnable areas and such
* There's a magnetic sub-weapon that behaves VERY similarly to the magnetic thing in Elebits
Miyamoto Info:
* They aimed to make a modern 3D Zelda 1
* Original Zelda artwork matches the opening scene. He says the only difference is that Link comes out of a cave rather than appearing in front of a cave which he goes in for the first sword.
* Wanted to bring the mystery of the world and emphasize survival skills in a huge open world.
* Wanted the player to be able to go in any and every direction, and find lots of stuff to do, and open up their own story as they moved along their own blazed path until they discover goals to accomplish which will lead them to their ultimate goal.
* Physics are a big thing, rafting in a river, and the effects of water currents and such are demonstrated.
* Detail for how all of the elements of the world interact with each other are Miyamoto's main focus in this game.
* There's a lot of wildlife variety, and terrain gradually changes from one biome to another, there's intermediate areas rather than field area, desert area, swamp area, etc...
* Temperature systems are in place, and it opens up new objectives for the player in order to survive effectively in the cold; and they wanted to make sure this was fun and not burdensome.
* Years ago Miyamoto let slip that over 100 devs were working on this game, it appears that has stayed true; the team remains at over 100. 300 people in total. It is Nintendo's biggest game dev project ever, even surpassing Super Mario Galaxy; which, beginning after the completion of SM64, had a dev time of over 10 years - but the team was only around 60 during the main dev phases.
-Insert Inspiring Quote-