I don't really wanna make a whole post of my own about it because I do enough shitting on games in my posts, so lemme be on the low down when I say this. I don't get it... Speaking purely on the pre-BOTW games and that formula. I firmly believe that everything Zelda does good, some other game does way better. Isn't Zelda just good because they haven't played any other adventure games? Like what does Twilight Princess do that Dark Souls 1 doesn't do better.
Pretty much all the big Zelda games (again, pre-BOTW) are fake open world. "Here's your open world but only this specific spot on the map is accessible and anything else you can see you don't have the item for" is a problem in all of them. The combat is barely more than pretend combat (although credit to TP for adding some more moves), the puzzles and such are hit or miss, some dungeons are fine but some are just annoying. That's about the only thing I can think of that has a fighting chance. DS1 looks better, plays MUCH better, way more replayable, way better story told with way less dialogue, better variety in environments and gameplay. Why do people love Zelda so much?
Why stop at Dark Souls? You want a story? Pick ANY other game of a similar genre and you're in better hands. Ys for example isn't anything spectacular but with a similar amount of dialogue, Origin, 1, 2 and especially 10 (the ones I've played thus far) are far better at presenting a grandiose adventure. Ys X is really just Wind Waker if that game was actually good. Recommend it for anyone who likes Zelda, especially WW.
Idk man I just have never vibed with Zelda. Even if I admit they're not THAT bad just not for me, I still think they're grotesquely overrated and really it's only kept afloat because of who makes it... At least until BOTW, that game takes all of Zelda's crap and fixes it. Love that game. TOTK can fuck right off though. I really hope they branch out a bit with the next one in terms of story and gameplay because Zelda is always one I've wanted to love but I've only finished a handful of the games without dying of boredom.
In short, It's so normal, so sterile, so safe, so samey. Why is this franchise so beloved when all the games, while probably ok on there own, are totally defeated by ANY other examples of games that do anything similar. It does nothing spectacular, it's all just ok.