General Zelda Is Exploration Really Gone from Modern Zelda Games?

[DarkestLink]

You say exploration needs to be rewarding as if it's a pain to do (and I'd agree, but I know that's not the case for you). The joy is in the journey. And Wind Waker's enemies were irrelevant. None of them could hit you unless you were a sitting duck.

 

[Yuki Cross]

It's a dumb complaint, in my opinion. People just always have to have something to complain about. XD Regardless of whether or not it's actually true. The modern games have lots of exploration. SS totally did. You had the entire sky full of various islands with different purposes. You didn't have to explore the sky, it was optional. Every island held it's own secret, and Skyloft had several hidden areas as well; Batreaux for instance. That wasn't necessary to continue through the game - so it was optional exploration. Everyone still finds something to complain about, even if they had the entire sky in their hands. You're right, the modern games have lots of exploration. And in Twilight Princess - Hyrule Field was huge, and definitely not empty. So honestly, I don't see how exploration is at all a problem. If anything, I think it's improved with the more modern games. But I guess everyone's different, right? Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.

 

[Ventus]

Exploration isn't gone, it's just been whittled down and the reward is practically non-existent. TWW rewarded me a crap ton, but afterwards? Rupee chests aren't my idea of rewards. Neither are rooms filled with field enemies (i.e. Skulltulas, Bulbins, Bokoblins, Keese, etc - the kinds that are defeated in one or two swipes).

 

[Night Owl]

It's not completely gone from most modern Zeldas, just lacking.

When we talk about the exploration being missing, It's that the games lack the feeling that there is more to discover.
As they have made the games more linear, They made all of the secrets too easily noticeable off of the main path.
This leaves the sad feeling of having found everything by the time you reach the final boss. SS is the biggest offender of this

We want games such as MM, ALttP, MC and a few others which had secrets that could only be discovered if you left the beaten path.
Secrets that you discovered because you were just goofing around, not because you saw the "carrot" just overlooking the road.

 

[ihateghirahim]

It's there. It's just not as domination as it once was, and I think that may be a good thing. It's really annoying when you can't proceed because you can't find something, but then again we have walkthroughs for that. . . I'm just not sure.