Lots of the criticisms of wind waker absolutely do hold up. We're just past the point where it's peak nostalgia for the kind of audience that would still talk about WW at all, especially on a place like resetera.
The initial uproar about the graphical style obviously don't hold any weight at all, but the games dungeons are relatively poor compared to both what came before and after, the ocean overworld is the blandest zelda has ever had bar the Sky in Skyward sword, and the game has so clearly had chunks of content including at least two dungeons cut to be pushed out for an earlier release to try and save the floundering gamecube.
Well, yeah, there is a lot with WW that can be criticised. It all has been ignored back then because of the artstyle.
I still prefere it to TP in many aspects. Lore/Artstyle/Characters/Ganondorf are all better, the music is better, and imho links movement and the items feel more satisfying in Wind Waker. The dungeons are a clear downfall, the sailing is a bit to barren, hint for sharts at the end was just padding. Overall i enjoy it just more than TP.
Nintendo has no clue what to do with legacy games.
Well they did earn a lot with legacy games over the last 20 years for not knowing what to do with them.
(But yeah, they could handle them a whole lot better, no doubt, especially from a consumer perspective)
Yeah, Nintendo are known for creating story and cutscenes later on in the development process.
"late" can mean a lot. its better to create them late since youre not hampered with decision while designing the gameplay,
but late can mean 1-2 years before release instead of planning them from the beginning.