The Legend of Zelda Should Return to an Ocean Setting
Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda has let players explore the land of Hyrule and beyond by land, by air, and by sea. For the most part, players explore the games on foot or while riding Link's trusted steed Epona. Skyward Sword let Zelda fans take flight for the first time, when Link's home was in the clouds above Hyrule. The Wind Waker made Link captain of the King of Red Lions, a sailboat that let the player explore the Great Sea. Wind Waker's large swathes of mostly empty space remains divisive among fans, but a new The Legend of Zelda game should make another attempt at a Hyrule set amid the ocean.
The sailing gameplay in The Wind Waker gets fairly criticized for its lack of excitement and the sheer amount of game time devoted to it. Almost every time a player needs to go to a new island, they choose the wind's direction with the Wind Waker and set sail in a mostly straight line until the destination is reached. Getting a fast travel mechanic was optional and somewhat obscure, and only attainable after the bow and arrow were acquired. The sailing especially became a slog late in the game when pieces of the Triforce had to be located and pulled from the depths, a section of the game that was abridged for Wind Waker HD.
Ever since The Wind Waker, Nintendo has avoided an oceanic setting for new Zelda games. Although it's true that the sailing gameplay in Wind Waker wasn't very compelling, a better, more optional implementation of boating mechanics could help bring something fresh to the series.
One aspect Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild share closely is a sense of exploration. Much in the same way Breath of the Wild lets players freely explore after the Great Plateau tutorial, Wind Waker sets players free on the open ocean relatively early in the game. The only problem is that there's a lot more interesting stuff to do in Breath of the Wild's general play area than there was in The Wind Waker. The islands in Wind Waker are few and far between, and, more often than not, going out of the way to explore a new island will just lead to needing an item that is found later in the game.
Solutions to this problem in a new The Legend of Zelda game lie in world design. Instead of a vast ocean, Hyrule itself could become a sprawling archipelago. Do away with the Wind Waker's grappling hook to retrieve chests, and implement some of BOTW's unused underwater features to let players explore for themselves. Don't tie an entire new Zelda game's identity to a sailing mechanic and then make it lackluster, but make it another option for exploring. Diverse biomes or different monsters on various islands would help evoke a sense of exploration like what can be found already in BOTW. Having a personal boat to sail around in was an interesting idea which, unfortunately, became a chore in Wind Waker. Just because sailing wasn't a hit once doesn't mean The Legend of Zelda should avoid it forever.