Here's how you do it:
- You can do the dungeons in any order
- Your starting tools will get you through the first half of each dungeon
- Each dungeon contains a unique item that gets you through the second half
- The unique item in one dungeon is NOT used in other dungeons
- However, each unique item gets extra optional use in the overworld
BAM
Not bad overall, but the bolded is weak for me. Mixing of items is really fun and having dungeons explicitly ignore all other items doesn't sound that enticing. ALBW suffered for this very reason of being able to do any dungeon in any order and only focusing on the central item because of the rental system. It really limits the overall complexity of the puzzles being fixed around one single item(even if the core abilities are still present) and how much progression there is to increase their difficulty with such limited use cases.
Absolute freedom has its limitations. I don't think it's a bad thing to have certain areas or progression through dungeons be gated by items/abilities. Personally finding an area I can't access isn't a negative, it inspires me and gives me motivation to find what I need in order to gain entry. It's not different from finding an enemy that's way tougher than what I can manage at that point early on in the game, I make a note of it on my map and then either go do something else or focus on doing what I need to in order to overcome that obstacle.
I think a main central dungeon allows for a good point of origin for new items/abilities that can then be leveraged elsewhere in the world and with additional stand alone dungeons that they gate. It doesn't leave anything up to chance or guessing. You progress the Central Dungeon to gain further access it new items/abilities. Everything else supports that. By exploring the world, wherever you wish to go, you'll find and do things akin to finding Shrines, that provide you with further access to explore the Central Dungeon. You're not explicitly forced to go in any one direction.
Lets say BotW2 starts out much like BotW. We begin with finding this Ganondorf corpse in an underground ruin, Hyrule Castle gets lifted into the sky. Instead of having the Great Plateau we can't descend from as the beginner's area, we now instead having the Great Cavern(or some such). Our main objective here is the find a way out of the giant hole/underground ruins. This could also double as the first Section of the Central Dungeon. Like the Great Plateau we'll get introduced to basic gameplay and new abilities, magic hand stuff to replace the Sheikah Slate/Runes. The culmination of this starting area would be the the equivalent of the Paraglider, but instead of being able to descend from up high, we'll instead be able to ascend to up high. This would be both our means of exiting this Central Dungeon as well as our means of getting to the now floating Hyrule/Ganon's Castle.
With that players will have a similar freedom as BotW to attempt the end-game whenever they like. They can go up there after 1 hour or 100 hours. It's their choice, but when it comes to the rest of the world exploring certain areas, accessing certain locations and so on will require the advancing of that Central Dungeon to acquire new items/abilities that can then be leveraged elsewhere in the world. A majority of the world would still be completely open for us to explore and interact with, but certain activities would require advancing that Central Dungeon.
Sure you can swim under water now and explore a massive amount of new locations, but without the Iron Boots from the central dungeon you won't be able activate that switch you saw in Lake Hylia to open that cool looking door you found down there. Or without the Silver Scale you won't be able to stay under long enough to explore it.
This is the part that's difficult to figure out though, and why they ended up completely leaving "items" out of Breath of the Wild.
What would "optional use" look like?
I suppose in Breath of the Wild, a Hookshot could've strictly been used for something like climbing mountains faster (I imagine something like Link launching himself off the side of a mountain he's climbing, you press the button to use the hookshot and it goes slow motion - you then get to aim at a higher part of the mountain to hookshot to).
The problem is, the second you start needing items to access certain things, you're back to square one. They have to do a delicate dance if they really want to maintain the freedom but also bring items to the table. I'd also be happy to see completely new items, that way they could tailor them to the game and not have to worry about things like "how could we add this item without making it a requirement, but while also making it so you should be using it at certain times?"
Oh man, this has been something I've wanted to do since I first played Link to the Past. I loved reading the instruction manual about it, seeing that illustration of the triforce sitting in the sacred realm, etc. Same with Ocarina of Time. I wanted to exit the Temple of Light (where the sages are) and just explore. Damn. Well spotted.
I would say optional use is a myth in a lot of cases, either it's necessary or it's not. The key is balancing the number of activities where said items are necessary with those activities where they are not. It would be a lot of work, but if there's enough stuff to do with the core abilities and gaining access to those additional items is relatively easy then those activities that are gated shouldn't feel so restrictive. You should instead always feel like you're advancing towards a tangible and attainable goal.
Stuff like combat they could be more optional as they could make facing certain enemies easier and more manageable while not being explicitly required to defeat them. And certain items like the Claw Shot could make traversal faster while not necessarily being required most of the time. But if you're making puzzles and challenges if said items aren't required for any of them then you're losing a lot of the value in having them at all.
We're not going to be able to recreate classic dungeons unless some amount of gating and fix progression is re-introduced. Unless people are fine with just not having that. I enjoyed Hyrule Castle, Yiga Hideout and Eventide Island a lot and would love to see more areas like them and developed further, but they're still not the same as traditional dungeons of old.
One thing I hope for whether it's this game or some future Zelda game is being able to explore the Sacred Realm. I know we got to kinda do this in A Link to the Past but I want to visit it uncorrupted. All we have really gotten is some brief cutscenes in past Zeldas.
I've been pitching my Alice in Wonderland inspired "Zelda in the Sacred Realm" for a few years now. No offers yet. Sacred Realm could be a really amazing and trippy setting that could be very unique on its own while also a fantastical amalgamation of lots of different stuff from all over the series.
