I feel whatever ire that game may have had in its debut has largely subsided since Skyward Sword and even Breath of the Wild. SS I feel is the most disliked of the "main games" with Tri Force Heroes probably being the most hated side game. While people who hated the direction of BotW now tend to cite TP as the last true Zelda.

Due to having forgotten a lot about the game, I've decided to replay A Link Between Worlds. To make this playthrough a bit more memorable for me, I'm playing it on Hero Mode, which I'm already regretting when dealing with the StreetPass nonsense as it takes me like six hits to kill a basic starter Link, while my opponent only needs to land two hits. Oddly enough, I almost feel like Hero Mode simply makes Link as flimsy as his Zelda 1 incarnation, so I do need to be more careful, and Heart Containers are way more important in this one.

I have just acquired the Wisdom Pendant. I've rented the majority of the tools from Ravio except the Fire and Ice Rods, which I know don't get much use until later. I really do feel they did a great job with the painting mechanic, it may seem silly, but unlike a lot of other gimmicks in the series, this one gets a lot of uses throughout the game, so I really appreciate that. The first proper dungeon was mostly a joke, but I did like the last section that tries to get you familiar with the painting mechanic.

The second dungeon at the windmill was much better, but I was a bit disappointed by how much the Wind Staff really trivializes everything in the dungeon. I did like the mini-bosses and the final boss of the dungeon, but I also feel like the game should have mixed things up and made one of them weak to a different tool. I feel my biggest issue with the Tool Rental mechanic so far is that it opens up Hyrule way too quickly, but more annoyingly, I feel the idea kind of cheapens the exploration of the game more. Like I'm kind of getting annoyed how often all these secrets I'm uncovering mostly turn out to be Rupees, whereas really useful stuff like Power Gloves and the Pegasus Boots are acquired really easily by just talking to a few NPCs. Getting Zora Flippers in LttP is a bit of a pain, even when you know what you're doing and they weren't even required to beat the game though they made doing so much easier. Here, the biggest issue is just the tedium of needing to go from Zora's Domain to Kakariko Village and back, and even then, the Warp mechanic unlocks early in this game, making even that problem a minor gripe at most. I guess my issue is that I don;t really feel like I'm earning my sense of accomplishment, but rather just being handed it. What rewards I do find is mostly there to soften the blow on the chance I get killed in battle and Ravio takes back all his loot, which considering I'm over 2000 rupees now, is hardly going to bother me, especially since there isn't really much of anything left to buy at the moment. I guess I just feel like the team made this game a little too user friendly...

I do like the characters though. The Blacksmith family is quirky and fun, the Zoras were hilarious, and I love my little witch girl. I am a little disappointed that the first two sages really don't get much screen time before they get captured. Yuga is okay, not exactly my favorite Zelda villain, but it's nice to have someone who is more prominent in the plot after playing through the DS entries where the villain is just some vague evil demon who appears at the end. I also love the Zelda fan theory that believes that Gramps, the old man who runs the Shadow Link Streetpass game, is actually the Hero of Legend from LttP. Made even more amusing if you ever complete his silly trials and actually unlock him as a hidden boss fight where he's the hardest enemy in the game.

Okay, so enough of my silly observations, more Zelda questions:

Which incarnation of Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, and Impa is your favorite?
Who is your favorite side character in the series?
Who is our favorite non-Ganon villain in the series?